Party scene sparks LGBTQ music label
Since David Richardson and Kelly Lovemonster started Swagger Like Us in 2012, the party has become one of the Bay Area’s most important platforms for local and touring LGBTQ artists. But not until three years into producing the parties, when the business partners took Swagger Like Us on tour in Australia, did they realize they were meant to do something more for that vibrant music community.
“I think together we have the resources to really further along queer artists outside of just one show,” Richardson recalls thinking.
So the San Francisco-based duo began signing a handful of the artists featured at their parties to their new label Molly House Records, which is celebrating its first compilation with a release party on Friday, April 28, at Elbo Room. The EP, titled “Molly House Volume 1,” comes out digitally on May 5.
Richardson said that a major impetus for starting Molly House Records was a lack of support for queer and trans artists in the Bay Area. The independent artists he and Lovemonster booked for
Molly House Records Debut EP Release Party:
10 p.m. Friday, April 28. $7. Elbo Room, 647 Valencia St., S.F. http://bit.ly/2pj9LxA To listen to “Molly House Volume 1”: https://soundcloud. com/molly-house-records For more information on Swagger Like Us: www.swaggersf.com/casa
Swagger Like Us often devoted so much energy to marketing themselves that it prevented them from focusing on music. “Artists can get so burnt out on making their product really strong that they don’t have time to make the product anymore,” he said.
Few labels across the country work closely with the LGBTQ community, making it even more difficult for queer and trans artists to get widespread recognition. Richardson, who DJs and produces under the monicker davOmakesbeats, experienced these limitations firsthand with his own music project, the electronic hiphop duo Double Duchess. “Yes, people are into queer music right now, but it kind of comes and goes,” he said. “We wanted to provide some sort of structure.”
“Molly House Volume 1,” which Richardson produced in its entirety, is a five-track teaser for what’s to come from the label. The project is eclectic and upbeat; its genre-bending sounds traverse hip-hop, pop and dance music genres like vogue and house as well as Baltimore club (Richardson is a Baltimore native). Its lead single, “Dark and Lovely” by Bbymutha, a raspy-voiced female MC from Baltimore, is full of the kind of defiant attitude and sex appeal that makes Swagger Like Us parties so much fun. Bbymutha is just one of the artists Richardson said is confirmed to release a solo EP through Molly House later this year.
“Molly House Volume 1” also features a track by Saturn Rising, a San Francisco singer, dancer and performance artist who first gained notoriety for his colorful choreography at queer parties. Saturn Rising’s fan base knows him primarily through his live shows, so his upcoming solo EP with Molly House will be a step toward solidifying his reputation as a recording artist.
“To have queer best friends start a label with each other, and take on other queer acts to ensure that they’re OK and ensure they have space to put their music out, is awesome,” said Saturn Rising. “There’s so much talent in San Francisco and queer artists don’t have the avenues to get out there.”
A savvy producer, Richardson cultivated unexpected collaborations throughout the tracks on “Molly House Volume 1.” Many of them pair East Coast and West Coast artists of different genres: TT the Artist, another Baltimore rapper who frequently performs at Swagger parties, has a track with a rare guest verse from San Francisco vogue dancer Sir JoQ. Berkeley singer Ah Mer Ah Su, who usually makes downcast, sparse electro-pop, lends her delicate vocals to a hard-edged stomp with Baltimore rapper DDm.
“The compilation is definitely a mix of club tracks, but not exclusively,” said Richardson. “It sort of widens your club experience. There’s the going-out-to-dinner and getting-ready and goingout tracks. There’s the afterparty-into-earlymorning tracks. The whole experience is how we’re looking at it.”
It’s music that can easily be used to get hyped for upcoming Swagger Like Us parties, which they plan to continue as they embark on this new endeavor (the next edition is set for May 7 at El Rio in the Mission District).
But most importantly, Molly House Records is Lovemonster and Richardson ‘s effort to ensure LGBTQ artists’ work lives beyond the club, “so it’s less of a single-transaction, one-night-stand thing.”