Transgender Dysphoria Blues
*Transgender Dysphoria Blues* is a powerful album that features many changes. Two previous band members (drummer Jay Weinberg and bassist Andrew Seward) had left the group, leaving just guitarist James Bowman and guitarist/leader Laura Jane Grace. However, as the album title and songs make clear, Grace—who’d made previous references to wishing she’d been born a woman—was now going through the changes and issues that come with transitioning one’s gender. As music, the songs on *Transgender Dysphoria Blues* are more powerful than ever: electric punk-pop (in place of folk-punk-pop) that shows that this Florida band are fully capable of performing under pressure. In fact, Grace now writes songs with stronger hook-filled melodies and a better-defined sense of purpose. The emotions of the agitated bellows of “Drinking with the Jocks” and the hummable melody of “F\*\*\*MYLIFE666” are so refreshingly honest and heartfelt that it’s just as incredible that Grace and Bowman crafted the record as a universal cry for anyone who\'s struggled with their identity or place in the world.
On their sixth album Transgender Dysphoria Blues, Laura Jane Grace and Against Me! draw a hard line between “identity” and “ideology.” Produced by Grace and put out on her own label Total Treble, the band splits the difference from old and new into a compact sound that skews more Sex Pistols than Foo Fighters.
On their sixth album Transgender Dysphoria Blues, Laura Jane Grace and Against Me! draw a hard line between “identity” and “ideology.” Produced by Grace and put out on her own label Total Treble, the band splits the difference from old and new into a compact sound that skews more Sex Pistols than Foo Fighters.
Against Me! has always been the Tom Gabel show. As the founder, singer-guitarist, and sole constant member of the Florida-based punk band since its inception in 1997, Gabel has sung candidly, if not brazenly, about the most intimate of topics, and in doing so he built up a cult following around his public identity. So…
Against Me! has always been the Tom Gabel show. As the founder, singer-guitarist, and sole constant member of the Florida-based punk band since its inception in 1997, Gabel has sung candidly, if not brazenly, about the most intimate of topics, and in doing so he built up a cult following around his public identity. So…
Grace’s gutting honesty on this not-so-universal experience is the realest thing I’ve heard in...shit, I really couldn’t…
Grace’s gutting honesty on this not-so-universal experience is the realest thing I’ve heard in...shit, I really couldn’t…
Check out our album review of Artist's Transgender Dysphoria Blues on Rolling Stone.com.
Check out our album review of Artist's Transgender Dysphoria Blues on Rolling Stone.com.
Transgender Dysphoria Blues lives up to its title, yet remains accessible, writes <strong>Kitty Empire </strong>
Transgender Dysphoria Blues lives up to its title, yet remains accessible, writes <strong>Kitty Empire </strong>
Against Me!'s first album since singer Laura Jane Grace came out as transgender is a ragingly triumphant half hour of powerchord catharsis, writes <strong>Charlotte Richardson Andrews</strong>
Against Me!'s first album since singer Laura Jane Grace came out as transgender is a ragingly triumphant half hour of powerchord catharsis, writes <strong>Charlotte Richardson Andrews</strong>
In a year of women who rocked, Gainsville punks topped the charts. CD review by Lisa-Marie Ferla
In a year of women who rocked, Gainsville punks topped the charts. CD review by Lisa-Marie Ferla