Out Artists on the Rise
Team Gina’s expressive brand of rap combines their shared experience as children of the ’80s, and their love of all things pop.
The Seattle-based duo of Gina Genius, 27, and Gina Bling, 26, audaciously sample Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” simultaneously referencing My Little Pony, and themes from the queer rights movement.
“We’re synthesizing all the elements of pop culture that we grew up with and mashing them up to create something new,” Genius. “We’re also trying to bring a perspective that’s kind of utopian—we want to represent the perfect queer paradise that doesn’t exist yet, that maybe exists at our shows.” Components? “Well, there’d be really great outfits,” muses Genius, giggling. “And really great dance moves.”
While Gina Bling is a Seattle-born former “musical theatre junkie,” Genius, who hails from D.C. via Brooklyn, is a former folk singer. The beat-heavy duo, who met in 2006 at a Scream Club show, sport matching attire (think booty shorts, wristbands) when they break it down every first Friday at Seattle’s Wild Rose bar. Their debut CD, gina gina revolution, was released this year by Crunks Not Dead and Don’t Stop Believin’ Records.
The two giggly femmes, who just finished touring with MondoHomo Dirty South, share one other love: butch girls. Hence these memorable lyrics from their Sir Mix-sampled track “Butch/Femme”: “I like butch girls and I cannot lie/You other femmes can’t deny/When a butch walks in all the femmes wanna fuss/’Cause it’s like one of them and thirty of us.”
For more on Team Gina, visit myspace.com/teamgina. –Melody Wells
Hip-hoppers to country crooners, this year’s up-and-comers are here, queer and ready to entertain
Marni & Melissa
The folksy, softly sweet, poetic rambling sound of Marni & Melissa is intensely soulful and mature, belying the duo’s youth. Likened to Shawn Colvin and the Indigo Girls, a love of nature, simple living, and spirituality connects these 24-year-old Montreal, Quebec singers.
Marni Kellison, originally from Ottawa, took up guitar in middle school, partly as a coping mechanism to survive teen angst. “I remember my first song at 13 was about all that sort of catty drama involving preteen girls,” she says. “It was mean, it was gritty and angry. When I got an electric [guitar] in high school, I thought I was the shit.” She honed her warm alto voice performing in coffeehouses around Montreal, and met Melissa Drysdale at a friend’s potluck in 2004. Organically, says Drysdale, “I started singing with her right there, and we didn’t interact with any other guests for the rest of the night.” A month later, the duo started performing together.
While Kellison’s songs recall a bluegrass twang, Drysdale’s conjure true folk. Comparatively, “I use more metaphor, and I’m more detatched,” says Kellison. “Melissa’s more of a poet. She uses really strong imagery. She’s got a lot of feelings, that girl.” Writing independently of each other, they each add harmonies and instruments to the other’s compositions. Their richly textured songs draw comparisons to Ani DiFranco, and like her, they’ve never contemplated the closet. “We look pretty dykey,” says Drysdale. “I don’t think we have to say it. People just assume. And then, they shrug.”
For their self-titled CD, visit myspace.com/marniandmelissa. –MW
