• Send us Mail
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe to our RSS Feed
  • Search Site

Polari Magazine

  • Home
  • Up Front
    • Editorial
    • Clementine: The Living Fashion Doll
    • Polari Safari
    • WTF? Friday
    • Bulletin Board
    • Polari Facts
  • Features
    • Interviews
    • Features
    • Gallery
    • Opinion
    • Heroes & Villains
  • Community
    • Oral Histories
    • Coming Out Stories
    • Relationships
    • IDAHO
    • LGBT History Month
    • Blogs
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • Film and Television
    • Music
    • Stage
    • Visual Arts
    • Classics: Books
    • Classics: Film and Television
    • Classics: Music
  • About
    • About Polari Magazine
    • Contributors
    • Contact

You are here: Polari Magazine / Features / 2012 Retrospective 3: Music

2012 Retrospective 3: Music

  • Polar Magazinei 2012 Retrospective. Part 3: Music
30 Dec 2012 / Comments Off / in Features/by Editor

The Editor looks back at the year 2012 in Polari Magazine and how it has explored the LGBT subculture. Part 3 looks at this year on the music scene.

Polari 2012 Retrospective Music

Part 3: Music

2012 was a great year for music, as well as for Polari‘s music coverage, with new voices and raw excitement.

Music is, needless to say, a powerful force in most people’s emotional lives. This year Polari revelled in established, new & emerging artists, and given its writers the space to really get their teeth into the music scene, with a uniquely alternative view of mainstream music, as well as a captivating medley from the alternative scene.

Interviews

Darren Hayes

We started the year with a Darren Hayes video interview. Darren is a mighty force from the world mainstream pop who has advanced the cause of LGBT rights because he is uninhibited when it comes to talking about his sexuality.

Click here to watch the interview with Darren Hayes.

Click here to read the interview with Darren.

Karin Park Taking A Walk On The Dark Side

Karin Park’s Highwire Poetry is her fourth album. Park, who is Swedish, started out in mainstream pop-folk, and won a huge following in Norway. For her third album she turned toward a darker, louder sound, and perfect this with Highwire Poetry. She’s extremely talented and extremely cool and this interview was one of 2012’s highlights.

The Presets

Polari‘s energetic and idiosyncratic music man Little Bastard talked to Julian Hamilton of The Presets about the album Pacifica, and the writing process that led to this musically diverse and mature album.

Click here to read the interview with Julian Hamilton.

LGBT History Month 2012

The first great undertaking of the year in Polari’s music coverage was delivered courtesy of resident Duckie DJs, The Readers Wifes, who chose 29 songs of LGBT significance to mark LGBT History Month. From Morrissey’s ‘Piccadilly Palare’ to Joan Jett’s ‘I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll’, this was a wonderfully diverse immersion into the history of LGBT pop stars.

Click here to see the coverage from LGBT History Month Music days 1-7

Click here to see the coverage from LGBT History Month Music days 8-14

Click here to see the coverage from days LGBT History Month Music 15-21

Click here to see the coverage from days LGBT History Month Music 22-29

Gig reviews

Karin Park

The Polari love-affair with Karin Park started at a gig to launch the album Highwire Poetry. As the first song started, the smoke machine triggered the fire alarm. This cut most of the power, leaving Karin with only a functioning microphone. With only her brother on drums, the gig went ahead, and the result was exceptional.

Click here to read Little Bastard’s review of the Highwire Poetry album launch gig.

Madonna MDNA Hyde Park review

The tour to accompany Madonna’s MDNA led with controversy. Thankfully Nick Smith went along to the London performance to offer an alternative to the whining that punctuated the coverage in the gay press, so much of which was little more than a post-Lady Gaga backlash.

Read Nick Smith’s review of the MDNA tour in Hyde Park.

Hunx And His Punx

Little Bastard went to see the gender-bending Hunx and His Punx and concluded, “they could give Jake Shears and Ana Matronic a lesson in stagecraft and musicianship, and would probably scare the shit out of Rufus Wainwright, and that’s right up my dark, beer stained alley”.

Click here to read Little Bastard’s celebration of Hunx and His Punx.

2012 Highlights in Music

Patrick

Patrick Wolf: Brumalia

First Aid Kit

First Aid Kit: The Lion’s RoarLanaLana Del Rey: Born To Die

iamamiwhoami

iamamiwhoami: kin

Wallis Bird, featured in Polari Magazine, a gay online magazine

Wallis Bird: Wallis Bird

Molotov Jukebox Tick Tock

Molotov Jukebox: Bang EP

Fiona Apple, drug arrest

Fiona Apple: The Idler Wheel …

Gabby Young and Other Animals The Band Called Out For More

Gabby Young and Other Animals: The Band Called Out For More

Sundark And Riverlight Patrick Wolf

Patrick Wolf: Sundark and Riverlight

Classics

Polari has run a Classic Music section from the day it opened its virtual doors in 2008. This year there has been a different flavour in this section, the idea of which a few websites have adapted for their own use – only to feature predictable content.

Pansy Division

Walter Beck celebrates the Pansy Division album Undressed.

Pansy Division: Undressed.

Once Upon A Time Donna Summer

In the wake of Donna Summer’s death, Alex Jeffrey looks back to Once Upon A Time, ” truly is a journey with far more depth and complexity than you would ever expect to hear in a disco album”.

Click here to read the review of Once Upon A Time.

George Jones

Walter Beck considers George Jones’ I Am What I Am: “no flag-sucking phoney patriotism, there’s no spit and polish sound, and there’s nothing about pickup trucks and chicks that run around with their tits hanging out. This is a dark album, full of heartbreak, copious amounts of whiskey and the best male voice in the genre”.

Click here to read the review of I Am What I Am.

Unforgivable

Rhianna Beaten Up by Chris Brown

Rhianna’s Unapologetic made Little Bastard angry. “Ain’t nobody’s business but mine and my baby,” Rhianna sings of her tempestuous relationship with Chris Brown, which left her beaten and battered. “When pictures of Rihanna’s beaten face hit the papers and the courts, it ceased just being their business,” he concludes, and “to openly go back to a violent abuser, and feed that message to your fan base through your album leaves a nasty taste in my mouth”.

He gave the album 1 star, because it’s not just about the music, it’s about the message, which he found unforgivable.

Click here to read this in-depth look at Rhianna’s Unapologetic.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
Tags: 2012 retrospective, darren hayes, iamamiwhoami, karin park, lana del rey, lgbt subculture, m, molotov jukebox, patrick wolf, polari magazine, rhianna, wallis bird

Related Posts

Did you like this entry?
Here are a few more posts that might be interesting for you.
Related Posts
Pure Heroine • Lorde
Polari Magazine 2012 Retrospective. Part 5, Credo 2012 Retrospective 5: Polari’s Credo
Patrick Wolf • One Night in Heaven
Darren Hayes Interview: Text
What Are We Listening To? Polari Magazine, a gay online magazine, regular feature. Polari HQ • What are we listening to?
LGBT Heroes – Day 8
Step Into The Light
Clementine Announces: In The Life
Extra material – interview with Patrick Wolf
Karin Park • Highwire Poetry, Album Launch

Search Polari

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

About Polari Magazine

Polari Magazine is an LGBT arts and culture magazine that explores the subculture by looking at what is important to the people who are in it. It’s about the lives we lead, not the lifestyles we’re supposed to lead.

Its content is informed & insightful, and features a diverse range of writers from every section of the community. Its intent is to help LGBT readers learn about their own heritage and to sustain a link between the present and the past.

Polari is designed to nurture the idea of community, whether that be social and political, or artistic and creative. It is your magazine, whether you want to read it, or whether you want to get involved in it, if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, or queer.

Polari Magazine is all these: it's a gay online magazine; it's a gay and lesbian online magazine; it's an LGBT arts and culture magazine. Ultimately, it is a queer magazine.

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

Twitter

Tweets by @PolariMagazine

Archive

  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • July 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • May 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
© Copyright - Polari Magazine - Wordpress Theme by Kriesi.at
  • scroll to top
  • Send us Mail
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group
  • Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Website Privacy & Cookies