Looking for indie rock love songs, specifically of the lesbian variety.

July 8, 2007 11:48 AM

I'm looking for some lesbian friendly indie songs for a mixtape, as well as just regular old indie love songs.

I've been trading mix tapes with my girlfriend and I'd like to include a few that are girl and girl as opposed to just some combination of boy and girl. It doesn't help that I don't know much about her favorite genre, indie. Even if the song isn't specifically girl to girl, I'd still appreciate any suggestion. Bands from her I-pod (I am fairly certain these are her favorites):

Brand New
Flaming Lips
Ad Astera Per Aspera
Dr. Dog
Balloonsex
Wax Mannequin
Aaron Ackerson
Gordian Knot
The Rosebuds
Lemon Demon

posted by Suparnova to media & arts (32 comments total)

The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs has a lot of gender-flexible compositions that might fit the bill, particularly the ones sung by Claudia Gonson. "Acoustic Guitar" springs to mind, for example.
posted by flod at 12:02 PM on July 8, 2007

It's a cabaret song, so I don't know if that counts as "indie," but the song "When the Special Girlfriend" is fun and cheeky and girl/girl. It's on the album All That Jazz: The Best of Ute Lemper.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:07 PM on July 8, 2007

So Jealous by Tegan & Sara is pretty good. Mostly they seem to focus on relationship drama, but the songs are well put together.
posted by lekvar at 12:14 PM on July 8, 2007

Kind of explicit for a love song, but L.P.'s song "Little Death" is sung by a woman to a woman. I don't think any of her other songs specify gender, but she's openly gay, so they're sort of intended to be about women.
posted by needs more cowbell at 12:27 PM on July 8, 2007

jill sobule's "I kissed a girl" and a wide variety of indigo girls songs might work well.
posted by B-squared at 12:39 PM on July 8, 2007

Indie wedding songs

Indie love songs
posted by k8t at 12:47 PM on July 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Don't forget Mr. Androgynous Lyrics, himself. Morrissey.
How about his "All The Lazy Dykes" from 2004?
posted by BillBishop at 12:49 PM on July 8, 2007

Anything by Mirah. See esp "Pollen"

Also, how about boy+boy, if you're just looking to get away from teh het?

Rufus Wainwright is always a winner:
Oh What a World
My Phone's on Vibrate for You
Gay Messiah

You might look into The Hidden Cameras, too. Self-described "gay church music" that I think would appeal to a Flaming Lips fan. Can't speak on the lyrical content specifically, but there's probably something there for you.
posted by wemayfreeze at 1:16 PM on July 8, 2007

Yeah, the answer is always 69 Love Songs.
posted by ludwig_van at 2:10 PM on July 8, 2007

ani difranco?
lots of her songs, especially from the 1990s, are lovesongs about girls. not so sure about the more recent stuff, i fell off the ani wagon. but here are all her lyrics, if you wanna browse that way. for starters, check out the albums from 1994-2000.

fefe dobson's "don't go"?
it's a poppy rock song with the chorus "girls and boys should be together; girls and girls can rule the world, boys and girls should be together, boys and boys can rule the world", etc.
posted by twistofrhyme at 2:12 PM on July 8, 2007

For individual tracks, She's Losing It by Belle and Sebastian comes to mind.
posted by willpie at 2:20 PM on July 8, 2007

what about The Butchies?
posted by lunachic at 2:30 PM on July 8, 2007

My college roommate played Ani Difranco's "Both Hands" and "Untouchable Face" on repeat for half of my sophomore year while she was crushing on a then-straight girl. Apparently she then put them on a mix tape, and that worked!
posted by web-goddess at 2:36 PM on July 8, 2007

I was going to say:
Ani Difranco
Morrissey
Tegan and Sara

but people upthread already beat me to it.
So thanks for stealing my thunder, guys.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 3:19 PM on July 8, 2007

on review, i need to stop trying to make jokes that rely on intonation in type.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 3:20 PM on July 8, 2007

Hanne Hukkelberg - Ease (lesbian undertones: "when I'm with a girl..." sung by a girl)
posted by Jaltcoh at 3:22 PM on July 8, 2007

Ben Gibbard covering All Apologies ("everyone is gay")
posted by Jaltcoh at 3:23 PM on July 8, 2007

phranc is an awesome lesbian folk singer, with lots of girl-girl love songs, and versions of traditional guy-girl songs that take on new meaning when sung by a female lead.
posted by nomisxid at 3:31 PM on July 8, 2007

Lots of songs by The Smiths.
posted by rancidchickn at 4:10 PM on July 8, 2007

Tanya Chua actually has a lovely cover of Drops of Jupiter.

It's not explicitly lesbian, but Petra Hayden has a great cover of God Only Knows by the Beach Boys. I always assume it's about two girls when I listen to it.

And Ani DiFranco, Ani DiFranco, and Ani Difranco, as said above.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 4:22 PM on July 8, 2007

Chick Habit - April March
If You Should Try And Kiss Her - Dressy Bessy
Both of the above are from the But I'm a Cheerleader soundtrack.
Seconding phranc, I saw her open for the Smiths way back in the 80's.
posted by Sailormom at 4:26 PM on July 8, 2007

God is My Co-pilot. Straight not is my fave but they've put out a lot of stuff.
posted by neustile at 4:38 PM on July 8, 2007

Also Seeing Other People by Belle and Sebastian.

And you can't understand why all the other boys are going for the
New, tall, elegant rich kids
I'll admit it is a bitch, kid
But if they don't see the quality then it is apparent that
You're going to have to change
Or you're going to have to go with girls
You might be better off
At least they know what they're doing

It's not explicitly lesbian, but Petra Hayden has a great cover of God Only Knows by the Beach Boys. I always assume it's about two girls when I listen to it.

Huh. Do you assume that about Mandy Moore's cover, too?
posted by ludwig_van at 5:09 PM on July 8, 2007

Zoe Lewis' "Elizabeth". To me, as a musician, one of the sweetest love songs ever written.
posted by FlyByDay at 6:05 PM on July 8, 2007

Check out Kat Devlin, my favorite lesbian singer-songwriter. The four songs she's got posted there on her myspace page are all downloadable, so you could put any of them on a mix CD. They're all beautiful, and feature girl-with-girl harmonies as well as lyrical themes.
posted by vytae at 7:35 PM on July 8, 2007

I will keep on recommending the Indigo Girls till the cows come home. They're a great lesbian folk group, and I think a number of their songs could be considered indie rock-ish.

Some of their songs I'd recommend: Become You, Collecting You, Yield, Rise Up.
posted by Zephyrial at 9:07 PM on July 8, 2007

Investigate the queercore genre. Despite being a hetrosexual guy, I'm partial to Team Dresch, whose disbanding brought about The Butchies (mentioned by lunachic) and who worked with Phranc (mentioned by nomisxid).

As far as the artists mentioned above I would stick to the following albums:

Ani Difranco - Living in Clip
Ani Difranco - Not a Pretty Girl
Belle & Sebastian - Tigermilk
Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
Belle & Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap
Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs Disc 1

I've seen Ani Difranco, Belle & Sebastian, the Magnetic Fields, and the Butchies in concert if that adds weight to my opinion.

I tend to avoid sappy love songs but solid music is solid music.
posted by hendrixson at 9:35 PM on July 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Swati - Stay is very hypnotic, love that one.
posted by swiffa at 9:39 PM on July 8, 2007

Lesbians on Ecstasy ... their 'Sisters in the Struggle has been getting a lot of play on CBC Radio 3 (the first time after it finished Grant Lawrence said 'Hmm, an interesting sentiment'). It's pretty catchy.
You can probably download their songs in there somewhere.
posted by Flashman at 2:02 AM on July 9, 2007

KT Tunstall, maybe? Folksy-indie, but Suddenly I See has always seemed like a love song to a girl to me.
posted by corvine at 5:52 AM on July 9, 2007

They are sadly broken up now, but yes, the Butchies. Totally infectious poppy fun. Some possibilities: from the most recent album, "Your Love," or from Population 1975, "Love in the Hour."
posted by yarrow at 7:25 AM on July 9, 2007

If you can find it (and it's a little tough now for under $25), Two Nice Girls Like a Version is amazing. Five wonderful cover songs (including "Feel Like Making Love" and Sonic Youth's "Cotton Crown," which is really beautiful) and the classic country original "I Spent My Last $10 on Birth Control and Beer". I was thinking they may have worked with Phranc, but I could be wrong. I'll have to think about it some more, but that EP is wonderful.
posted by sleepy pete at 11:15 AM on July 9, 2007