Comments on: Indie Songs of Sex

Question: Indie Songs of Sex

divabat — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:49:29 -0800

Suggest some non-mainstream songs about sex, the erotic, and especially seduction. Bonus points if Australian.

I'm participating in a digital radio workshop hosted by a community radio station here where we aim to produce & host our own shows. My show's going to be about sexuality and the erotic, and I'm looking for music to play.

I saw the other AskMefis about sex and music, but almost all the recommendations are Top 40 tracks, which our station doesn't do. The station aims to showcase non-mainstream music, and we've got a push for Australian music, new music (within the last year-ish), and music with female involvement.

The first episode I'm working on is about seduction, hence the request for songs about that, but anything of a similar vibe works too.

By: Greg Nog

Greg Nog — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:53:51 -0800

Five years old, American, but female and non-mainstream and SLAMMIN: Sleater-Kinney - Let's Call It Love

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:54:30 -0800

Australian, female, but unfortunately mainstream: "I Touch Myself."

There are probably some lesser-known Divinyls tracks you could mine, though.

By: mannequito

mannequito — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:55:56 -0800

Not Australian, but the first thing to come to mind was Lovage. Also, as I was reading the question I had my music on shuffle, and a Lovage track came on so .... it's a sign!!

Since you're looking for individual song recommendations, try this one..

By: divabat

divabat — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:59:51 -0800

Oh they don't have to strictly be Australian - the only dealbreaker requirement here is that they not be Top 40, but the rest is fungible.

(huh, I didn't know I Touch Myself was Aussie...)

By: zagyzebra

zagyzebra — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:02:21 -0800

Anything by Peaches!

By: lalex

lalex — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:04:47 -0800

Liz Phair's delightfully explicit Flower fits the female and not-top-40 part of the bill.

By: divabat

divabat — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:05:49 -0800

mannequito: That Lovage song is great! Can't seem to find a place to buy the track though...

By: Ashley801

Ashley801 — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:07:48 -0800

Just how non-mainstream and female-involved do you want to get? There's Granville Bantock, a Victorian composer who set the poems of Sappho to music. (He did the same with the Song of Solomon and other ancient erotic works.)

By: kdar

kdar — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:09:46 -0800

Lovage - Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By on Amazon. Doesn't appear to have mp3 downloads but the entire album is amazing and worth paying for.

By: divabat

divabat — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:10:32 -0800

Ashley801: If there's a way to get those MP3s today that would be AWESOME. *note to self*

By: zamboni

zamboni — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:12:53 -0800

Suggest some non-mainstream songs about sex, the erotic, and especially seduction. Bonus points if Australian.

Ooh, I know this one. Penelope Swales.

By: Lovecraft In Brooklyn

Lovecraft In Brooklyn — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:20:16 -0800

non main-stream, but Australian and obvious - anything by Nick Cave that isn't a religious song or a murder ballad. try Heathen Child off the most recent Grinderman album. 'Breathless' is another good one (as the Bad Seeds)

Snowdroppers' Good Drugs, Bad Women is Aussie, about sex, and pretty misogynistic. there's no official video, unfortunately.

there's got to be a few Magic Dirt or solo Adelita songs that fit. try 'Girlboy' by Magic Dirt. can't find a video, but the lyrics work: "Makes me feel cool when I say your name
Especially now when I masturbate
Makes me feel cool when I'm in control
Of the power you dish out like a salad roll
Watch me now as I pull down the blind
Take off your shirt and show me your white side"

it's Aussie and female-fronted

Jane Badler has just done an album with SiR that's apparently some kind of lounge cabaret seductive thing

Rowland S Howard - Dead Radio. Aussie. '

By: Rinku

Rinku — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:24:38 -0800

A good number of cuts off of 69 Love Songs.

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:28:22 -0800

Rob Clarkson - With My Hand on My Heart and My Futon The Mattress
Rob Clarkson - Don't Sleep With Your Best Friends
Rob Clarkson - Only With Boys Now

By: rhizome

rhizome — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:37:39 -0800

Plenty of club tracks, but K-Alexi made an all-time classic.
Also, Sheila - Love Kiss

By: aubilenon

aubilenon — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:40:43 -0800

The album Liquid by Recoil is intensely sexual and quite dark. Want. Breath Control. Recoil is a side project by a former Depeche Mode member, so it's not that non-mainstream, but it's not like it's a billboard chart topper.

By: Houyhnhnm

Houyhnhnm — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:43:05 -0800

I don't know if she's mainstream or not, but PJ Harvey's songs "Rid of Me" and "Rub 'til It Bleeds" are definitely erotic and noteworthy.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:43:33 -0800

Proposition by Liz Janes

By: ottereroticist

ottereroticist — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:45:23 -0800

Map of Tasmania by Amanda Palmer.

By: hansbrough

hansbrough — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:47:31 -0800

Not new or Australian, but Leather by Tori Amos

By: scody

scody — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:54:16 -0800

First thought: I got someone into bed in college in about two minutes flat with Peter Murphy's His Circle and Hers Meet (lyrics here).

Others:
- don't know if it's outside your parameters, but The Beatles' I Want You (She's So Heavy) is a great musical depiction of that sort of semi-obsessive sexual yearning for someone. Also David Bowie's Cracked Actor also may be out of the indie parameters, but it's a great dirty song about hot, cheap sex!

- oh, the mighty Polly Jean!! PJ Harvey, Ecstasy and This Is Love

- The Gossip, On the Prowl

- Billy Bragg, Sexuality

- Lucinda Williams, Right In Time

- Crowded House, When You Come (Aussie connection, though their popularity in Aus probably disqualifies them; not sure if this particular track was a hit, though)

- Divine Comedy, Generation Sex

- Happy Mondays, Bob's Yer Uncle

- XTC, I'd Like That

- And to finish, a cynical little ditty: Alex Chilton, No Sex

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 18:05:08 -0800

Here's the full trifecta: The Cannanes - Not Quite Right

By: camneely

camneely — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 18:15:43 -0800

Gang of Four - Damaged Goods

The Night Marchers - Open Your Legs (sorry, couldn't find a link to this one)

T.S.O.L. - Code Blue

Milemarker - Sex Jam Two: Insect Incest

By: Danf

Danf — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 18:17:29 -0800

Seeing Scody's Lucinda and raising her.

By: kimdog

kimdog — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 18:29:35 -0800

Velvet Goldmine- David Bowie
Right Hand Man- Joan Osborne

By: unliteral

unliteral — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 18:37:39 -0800

Is Lykke Li too mainstream? If not - Get Some.

By: wondermouse

wondermouse — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 18:43:22 -0800

Esthero - If Tha Mood, from her Wikked Lil' Grrrls album
I couldn't find a studio recording of it on YouTube, but it sounds great on the album. Since it's hard to understand her in the live recording, here are the lyrics.

By: acidic

acidic — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:10:20 -0800

The Weeknd - What You Need

By: Danf

Danf — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:22:01 -0800

Runaway Train by Kasey Chambers. . .an Aussie! Also an old favorite in the Danf household.

By: russm

russm — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:55:53 -0800

baterz - fifteen

By: ivan ivanych samovar

ivan ivanych samovar — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:26:10 -0800

TISM's Everyone has had more sex than me is Aussie as fuck.

By: monkeymonkey

monkeymonkey — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:30:36 -0800

CSS - Let's make love and listen to death from above
Deer Tick - Spend the Night and Dance of Love
Dionysos - Cunnilingus mon amour (the song itself starts 30 seconds into the video; if you don't speak french, it's about a hamster who happens to be named Cunnilingus)
Hawksley Workman - Striptease

I'm afraid none of those are new or Australian, though. Maybe Architecture in Helsinki's Heart it Races might qualify, for at least one of those categories?

By: evilbeck

evilbeck — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 21:03:35 -0800

Machine Gun Fellatio - Mouth, Amorous, Pussytown, Not Afraid of Romance.

Dirty Australian songs!

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 21:46:30 -0800

I think Gravy Train!!!! would be right up your alley.

The Grates are Australian. Here's "Trampoline."

If Prince is too mainstream, how about Arto Lindsay covering Prince?

By: wilful

wilful — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 21:56:46 -0800

another Rob Clarkson - The housemate who brought a moaner home.

By: Lovecraft In Brooklyn

Lovecraft In Brooklyn — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 22:36:25 -0800

The Grates are Australian. Here's "Trampoline yt ."

I followed them around but forgot about them. Seconding Trampoline. Or 'Message'.

You need Abbe May. Perth female blues singer who mostly sings about sex. Hawaiian Disease will make you melt.

Brand New's Sic Transit Gloria is about the unwilling/nervous seduction of the narrator. I think

By: blackkar

blackkar — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:01:28 -0800

Do you take it? by The Wet Spots

By: solarion

solarion — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 01:21:48 -0800

MOMUS and MOMUS and in case you missed it MOMUS. I don't know another songwriter who speaks so frankly about sex.

Even better, six of his earlyish albums were given away for free on his livejournal, seeing that they're now out of print. Timelord in particular is a touchstone for me but HERE'S a link to some blog with further links to each of the albums individually. You'd probably like Tender Pervert or Hippopotamomus more.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:03:26 -0800

Australian Indie...(I'll probably keep coming back with l'esprit de l'escalier suggestions):

Nick Cave: Hard on for Love.

Art of Fighting: Just Say I'm Right (which is about sex & seduction but in far more bittersweet, grubby, poignant, resigned kind of way: "by the time i wake you'll be no-one i know / just a see through shadow at the bedroom window [...] Just say I'm right")

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 04:08:43 -0800

Another Art of Fighting: Give me Tonight. They do bittersweet so well.

By: lydhre

lydhre — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 06:00:06 -0800

Melissa Ferrick - Drive

By: saveyoursanity

saveyoursanity — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:20:20 -0800

Man, as an obscure public radio DJ you think this would be right up my alley, but I'm coming up mostly blank. Still, here's what you get off the top of my head.

Thick Dick - Orgasm is a great song, but good luck googling it.

Louis XIV - Paper Doll.

Freestylers - Push Up.

The cover of U.K. Girls (Physical) by Goldfrapp although they might be too mainstream.

And who could forget The Magnetic Fields - Underwear?

By: Sutekh

Sutekh — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:00:57 -0800

I don't think these ones have been mentioned yet. Sorry, none of these are from the last year.

Headless Chickens - Mr. Moon

Don't leave me alone tonight
Cause I need so much to feel your golden touch
Mr Moon you walk upon the water
You shine like oil on machinery
You're sharper than a knife
And I'll love you all my life

and more mainstream, there's Neil Finn - Sinner

Those things I should keep to myself
But I feel somehow strangely compelled
Under moonlight I stood wild and naked
Felt no shame just my spirit awakened

Crowded House - Whispers and Moans

Then I wake up in your room
To share one piece of your life
I'd give anything to be a fly upon the wall
And hear your whispers and moans

By: no relation

no relation — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 09:47:45 -0800

While the band is very mainstream, what about Berlin: Sex (I'm A...) (or the extended version).

By: ifjuly

ifjuly — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 11:30:21 -0800

Maybe a stretch, but Bill Callahan has a bunch of songs about sex--"To Be of Use" (most of my fantasies are of making someone else come...), "Nineteen" which is about losing one's virginity, "Dress Sexy at My Funeral" (about the triumph of life/sex/vitality over death), etc.

Songs: Ohia's "Captain Badass" (so a hot kiss is alright/and a long kiss is alright/and all night is alright) and "Hot Black Silk" maybe? And "Nervous Bride" (women are dressed up and they are up to no good/you're dressed up for liberation). His pal Scout Niblett has a few songs where she's refreshingly frank about wanting to have sex in a matter of fact tomboyish sort of way (can't remember which offhand..."Fire Flies" where having a crush on a guy coincides with her wanting to watch fireflies go at it, and "Miss In Love With Her Own Fate" where she sings about the rhythm playing drums getting her off I think? And "Dinosaur Egg" at the end when she sings I'd much rather be a golden ball of light/but still have sex).

Barcelona's "Everything Makes Me Think About Sex".

Will Oldham has tons of raunchy songs (he of if I could fuck a mountain/I would fuck a mountain and "Boy, you have cum in your hair and your dick is hanging out" fame). Arab Strap too--"Dream Sequence" which is lyrically a pretty horny song has, after all the smutty talk, the concluding line one day we'll be old and we'll both be past our peak/so until then all we can do is master our technique. For a super cynical downer take there's also "Packs of Three" though it might be too explicit (it was the biggest cock you'd ever seen/but you've no idea where that cock has been/you said you were careful/you never were with me/I heard you did it four times/but johnnies come in packs of three). And for a little happier, that song with the line you can be my teenage Jenny Agutter swimming naked in a pond. And on the dating/seduction front, "Speed Dating" and "Serenade" (don't get me wrong, I've always had plans for your lips and my lips/the first time I saw you/I saw all my future right between your hips/you're...the kind of girl I want to bathe and dance with/but just ignore me 'cause I understand/I only go for girls I've got no chance with). They also have a song about abortion ("Pro [Your] Life").

And as mentioned, Liz Phair is like, the queen of this, albeit a very cynical one. She has an early demo or two somewhere coming into her own as a teenage girl and wanting to have orgasms and asking her mom to take her to buy a vibrator and her mom wouldn't do it, or something. "Animal Girl" isn't about sex so much as teenage girl body freakout "whoa" revelation, also.

Thalia Zedek's "Evil Hand".

For seduction/allure there's always Twilight Singers/Afghan Whigs as 90% of Greg Dulli's persona is the smooth talking horny cocky but self-loathing asshole who wants to get in your pants. Upbeat examples: "66", "Somethin' Hot" (I dream a while about your smile/and the way you make your ass shake, "The Killer" (she smelled exciting/I wanted some).

As for S-K, there's "Turn It On" which is kind of, ahem, frisky towards the end (it's too warm inside your hands/it's too hot, it's too good/it's just that when you touch me I cannot stand up/oh I fell until I fell down...turn it on, turn it on, turn it on!).

Dunno if by "sexuality" you're including non-erotic depictions of being gay/queer, but in terms of downers, speaking of S-K there is no finer gay anthem than "Call the Doctor".

Section 25's "Dirty Disco/Je Veux Ton Amour" comes to mind for sleazy seduction, as does Ike Yard's "Cherish 8".

By: Devika

Devika — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:09:57 -0800

Cars Can Be Blue's "Dirty Song" (strange YouTube video but I think better than the other extremely strange option) lives up to its name. Female lead singer and very indie; I don't even know how I know it, but it has an unfortunate tendency to get stuck in my head.

By: Starmie

Starmie — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:31:58 -0800

The Scala version of "I Touch Myself." Way, way more female; way, way less top 40. Moves from Australia to Belgium, though. :P

By: knilstad

knilstad — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:38:19 -0800

Je t'aime (moi non plus) - Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin (lyrics)

Shave 'em Dry - Lucille Bogan (lyrics below video)