JD Samson | |
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 JD Samson | |
| Background information | |
| Born | August 4, 1978 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Labels | |
Jocelyn Rachel Samson (born August 4, 1978), known professionally as JD Samson, is an American musician, producer, songwriter and DJ best known as a member of the bands Le Tigre and MEN.
Samson grew up in Pepper Pike, Ohio, and attended Orange High School. Samson came out as a lesbian at age 15 and is well known for their support of both LGBT and feminist causes. In high school, Samson played field hockey and was involved in their school's gay-straight alliance. [1]
Samson graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2000, with a degree in film. [2] While at school, Samson held jobs as a manager of a coffee shop, a campus tour guide, and as a research assistant for her queer-theory professor. [1] Additionally, she co-produced and directed the Sarah Lawrence College Film and Video Festival while at school. [1]
Samson joined Le Tigre in 2000 when co-founder Sadie Benning left the band before the album Feminist Sweepstakes was recorded. [3] Samson had previously worked as the band's projectionist and slide-show operator during live performances in support of their first record, Le Tigre . The self-proclaimed "underground electro-feminist performance artists" combined visuals, music and dance in their performances. Samson's contributions to Le Tigre include the song "Viz", which deals with her experiences as a member of a sexual minority, [4] and "New Kicks," which contains excerpts of a protest that Samson recorded.
Feminist Sweepstakes came out in 2001 and was released on Mr. Lady Records & Videos in North America and on Chicks On Speed Records in Europe. [5] Le Tigre's final album, This Island (2004), was Le Tigre's first on a major label (Universal Records). Ric Ocasek of the Cars produced one track, "Tell You Now". [6] Samson and her Le Tigre bandmates Kathleen Hanna and Johanna Fateman also produced the Christina Aguilera song "My Girls ft. Peaches", for Aguilera's album Bionic . [7] In the second half of 2006, the band decided to take an extended break.
In 2016, Le Tigre reunited to show support for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, releasing their first song in a decade entitled "I'm With Her". [8]
In 2007, Samson and Fateman formed a new project, MEN, as a DJ, production, and remix team. After initial songwriting and outside remix work, Fateman took time off to have a child, and Samson recruited the members of her side band Hirsute, including Ladybug Transistor's Michael O'Neill and Ginger Brooks Takahashi, to perform live as MEN. Samson has said that their music speaks of "issues such as wartime economies, sexual compromise, and the demand for liberties through lyrical content and an inventive, high-energy stage show". [9]
In 2009, MEN self-released an EP called MEN that sold out following US tours with Peaches and Gossip. MEN also toured in the UK and Europe during this time. Their debut album Talk About Body was released on February 1, 2011, via Iamsound in the US and through Sony/Columbia in Europe. The album included singles for the songs "Who Am I To Feel So Free", "Off Our Backs", and "Credit Card Babies".
In the spring of 2012, MEN changed their name to JD Samson & MEN and released an EP Next in April followed in September by the song "Let Me Out Or Let Me In" in support of the Russian feminist punk-rock collective Pussy Riot. JD Samson & MEN's second full-length album was titled Labor . [10]
Samson also has performed as a member of the band The New England Roses and as keyboard player of electro-punk artist Peaches' live band, The Herms, with Radio Sloan and Samantha Maloney. [2] Samson collaborates with Nick van Hofwegen of Young N' Sick on their electro disco project, SHARER. In 2020 Samson released a minimal live to tape record with Roddy Bottum and Michael O'Neill under the name, CRICKETS.
Samson has a songwriting and publishing deal through Universal Music Publishing Group. They have written songs for Christina Aguilera ("My Girls ft. Peaches"), Junior Senior ("Can I Get Get Get"), Cobra Starship ("Shwick"), French Horn Rebellion ("Girls ft. JD Samson and Fat Tony"), The Aikiu, Bitch and Ferron, Pelifics ("Spray Painted Knuckles"), [11] among others.
Samson is a co-founder of the performance art group "Dykes Can Dance". In 2003, she released 'JD's Lesbian Calendar', a collaboration with photographer Cass Bird, which was followed up in 2006 with 'JD's Lesbian Utopia', a calendar documenting Samson's travels around the U.S. in an RV. [2] Since then, JD has worked closely with choreographers Vanessa Anspaugh, Katy Pyle, Julie Cunningham. Samson collaborated with filmmaker, Sam Green on a project for the 2019 Whitney Biennal and is currently working on another project with him.
Samson appeared in John Cameron Mitchell's 2006 film Shortbus as "Jid", a patron of the Shortbus club. [12]
In 2010, Samson served as a judge at the 9th annual Independent Music Awards. [13]
In 2016, Samson appeared in the Netflix series The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show as a musical guest.
Samson hosted several Broadly interviews such as Last Lesbian Bar about the disappearing lesbian bar, and interviews with Margaret Cho, and Kate Nash.
In 2017, Samson plays a small role as a New York artist in Odd Mom Out.
In 2019, Samson makes a brief appearance as a Postmates employee delivering food in the Netflix series Russian Doll. [14]
Samson wrote a widely quoted piece on the economics of being an artist for The Huffington Post [15] in 2011. Titled "I Love My Job But It Made Me Poorer," the article examines the financial realities of a long-term career in music. In 2013, she began writing for Talkhouse. [16] Samson has also written for Tom Tom Magazine and Creative Time Reports. [17]
Starting in 2016, Samson started teaching at NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, where she is currently an assistant arts professor. [18] Additionally, Samson has lectured at the We Make Waves Festival, Bard College, TED X (CLE), and the Artists with a Conscience Conference at Amherst College [17]
Samson calls themself a lesbian, gender-nonconforming, and non-binary non-exclusively. [19] Samson was in a relationship with Australian singer Sia between 2008 and 2011.
Merrill Nisker, better known by her stage name Peaches, is a Canadian electroclash musician and producer.
Kathleen Hanna is an American singer, musician and pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, and punk zine writer. In the early-to-mid-1990s, she was the lead singer of feminist punk band Bikini Kill, and then fronted Le Tigre in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2010, she formed The Julie Ruin.
Le Tigre is an American electronic rock band formed by Kathleen Hanna, Johanna Fateman and Sadie Benning in 1998 in New York City. Benning left in 2000 and was replaced by JD Samson. They mixed punk's directness and politics with playful samples, eclectic pop, and lo-fi electronics. Like with many bands in and from the riot grrrl movement, many of the lyrics addressed feminist themes and ideas. The group also added multimedia and performance art elements to their live shows, which often featured support from like-minded acts such as the Need.
Sook-Yin Lee is a Canadian broadcaster, musician, film director, actress and multimedia artist. She is a former MuchMusic VJ and a former radio host on CBC Radio. She has appeared in films, notably in the John Cameron Mitchell movie Shortbus.
Sadie T. Benning is an American artist, who has worked primarily in video, painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and sound. Benning creates experimental films and explores a variety of themes including surveillance, gender, ambiguity, transgression, play, intimacy, and identity. They became a known artist as a teenager, with their short films made with a PixelVision camera that have been described as "video diaries".
Johanna Rachel Fateman is an American writer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. She is a member of the post-punk rock band Le Tigre and founded the band MEN with Le Tigre bandmate JD Samson.
Julie Ruin is the debut solo album by Kathleen Hanna, released on September 29, 1998, through Kill Rock Stars. She recorded the album in 1997 whilst taking a break from Bikini Kill. Hanna recalled:
[It] was made as Bikini Kill was in breaking up, a guy who worked across the street from my apartment building was stalking me and I was being treated, in my own community, like a historical oddity. The solo record helped me remember that I was just a fucking person who liked being creative.
Mr. Lady Records was a San Francisco-based lesbian-feminist independent record label and video art distributor. Artists on the label included Le Tigre and The Butchies. OutSmart magazine noted that Mr. Lady was "queercore's strongest label."
Samantha Maloney is an American musician best known for playing in the bands Hole and Mötley Crüe. She has also performed live with Eagles of Death Metal and Peaches.
Women's music is a type of music base on the ideas of feminist separatism and lesbian-separatism, designed to inspire feminist consciousness, chiefly in Western popular music, to promote music "by women, for women, and about women".
Feminist Sweepstakes is the second studio album by American dance-punk band Le Tigre. It was released on October 16, 2001 by record label Mr. Lady.
Le Tigre is the debut studio album of American music trio Le Tigre. It was released October 25, 1999 on Mr. Lady Records. The album combined pop music with the band's feminist political lyrics. It received positive reviews from music critics.
This Island is the third and most recent album by American dance-punk band Le Tigre. It was released by Universal Records on October 19, 2004. The album was the band's only one for a major label and reached number 130 on the Billboard 200. As of 2008, the album had sold 90,000 copies.
JD Samson & MEN, originally named simply MEN, was a Brooklyn-based band and art/performance collective that focuses on the energy of live performance and the radical potential of dance music. MEN spoke to issues such as trans awareness, wartime economies, sexual compromise, and demanding civil liberties. The collective disbanded in late 2014.
The discography of Le Tigre, an American electro–punk band, consists of three studio albums, seven extended plays, four singles, one video album and seven music videos. Le Tigre was formed in 1998 by Kathleen Hanna, Johanna Fateman and Sadie Benning. The band is known for its left-wing sociopolitical lyrics, dealing with issues of feminism and the LGBT community.
Bionic is the sixth studio album by American singer Christina Aguilera. It was released on June 4, 2010, by RCA Records. Inspired by Aguilera's taste for electronic music, Bionic is characterized as an electropop, futurepop and R&B record. The first half consists of electronic songs incorporating synthesizers and electronic beats, while the second half displays a balladic production. The album's main themes include sex and feminism.
"I Hate Boys" is a song recorded by American recording artist Christina Aguilera for her sixth studio album, Bionic (2010). The song was written by Aguilera, Ester Dean, William Tyler, Bill Wellings, J. J. Hunter and Jamal Jones, who also handled the production of the track. "I Hate Boys" is a glam rock, pop and electropop song, containing elements of urban pop and synth-pop. Lyrically, it is a hate-driven song about ridiculing all boys.
"Elastic Love" is a song recorded by American recording artist Christina Aguilera, taken from her sixth studio album, Bionic (2010). The song was written by Aguilera, M.I.A., John Hill and Switch, while production was handled by the latter two. Originally, "Elastic Love" was recorded by M.I.A., but later it was given to Aguilera. However, M.I.A. was disappointed when Aguilera didn't want to do her "trademark warbling" in the studio. "Elastic Love" is an electro and electropop song with strong elements from 1980s new wave music. Lyrically, Aguilera compares her love to office supplies, from paperclips to rubber-bands.
The Punk Singer is a 2013 documentary film about feminist singer Kathleen Hanna who fronted the bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, and who was a central figure in the riot grrrl movement. Directed by filmmaker Sini Anderson and produced by Anderson and Tamra Davis, the film's title is taken from the Julie Ruin song "The Punk Singer", from Hanna's 1998 solo effort.
"I'm with Her" is a song by American electroclash trio Le Tigre, released on October 19, 2016. It is the band's first single in eleven years following "After Dark" in 2005. The song was released as a one-off single in support of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and her unsuccessful 2016 Presidential campaign. The song also takes swipes at the Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who would be elected President of the United States two weeks after the song's release. The song's title was a campaign slogan for Clinton.
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