Degenerate Effeminate: ELLiS•D is a Blast Through Glam Rock's Past

My teenage obsession with glam rock primed me to fall in love with this darkly frenetic new artist, and now I'm begging you to listen.

In a rush? Scroll all the way down for the TikTok video.

I’m always curious to find out what people’s first big music discovery was. That is, the first time in their childhood or teenage years when they felt incredibly excited to learn about a band (or an entire genre, as you’ll see in my case) and how it set them down the path of music obsession.

I’ll skip over my obligatory preteen Beatles phase and quickly tell you about how it played out for me.

You may remember Velvet Goldmine, a film made explicitly for horny 14-year-olds and not at all worth the rewatch. I still feel a tiny bit of embarrassment when I admit that the OST for this movie is what introduced me not just to several of my most beloved artists (Pulp, T. Rex, Roxy Music/Brian Eno, Lou Reed, Teenage Fanclub) but to glam rock as a concept. It’s the only CD I still own.

Seriously, how impressive is this lineup?

Hedwig and the Angry Inch came not long after:

As a staunch hater of musicals, I can’t explain or excuse my affinity for this one, except to say that it pulled me deeper into the Lou Reed/David Bowie orbit¹, and this time from an “Eastern Bloc child can’t listen to Western rock’n’roll” perspective… as if I knew anything about that beyond having parents who immigrated from the USSR.

Though their songs were nowhere on the soundtrack, Hedwig’s approach to music consumption gets partial credit for my high school fondness for Tom Waits, Talking Heads, Rufus Wainwright, Manic Street Preachers, and anything else that wasn’t getting mainstream radio play circa 2001.

Maybe because I felt I had somehow missed the boat on “real” classic rock, having not grown up with any in the house, glam rock became my true inroad into music inquiry. It became a springboard into my love of finding connections between old and new.

I’m always listening for those connections now, regardless of the genre, but one recent discovery captures that feeling of striking gold that I had when I watched those movies.

It’s very rare for me to fall in love with an artist on first listen, and rarer still for me to trust that first impression when that happens. So why is it that when I came across Brighton’s cheekily-named ELLiS•D, I was so immediately confident he would be a playlist mainstay?

It’s not enough that he’s clearly pulling a lot of inspiration from glam rock (though not just). What makes him so exciting is how lovingly and artfully he showcases his inspiration in his work. If this isn’t somebody who has a deep knowledge and respect for rock’n’roll history, then his ability to emulate without simply imitating is an unbelievable coincidence.

In the interest of contextualizing influences (or similar sounds, at least), let’s actually take a listen to some of them. Starting with “Straitjacket Blues,” which blends glam with psych, garage, krautrock, and art rock…

…we can then do a little compare/contrast with some older favorites:

The distinctly jittery vocals are the most immediately noticeable as a direct nod to both David Byrne’s nervous energy and Tom Verlaine’s odd tenor. But there’s a swagger there, too, something that reads a bit like Jarvis Cocker, Lou Reed, or David Bowie. Like all these artists, he nails a certain duality, a push-pull between frenetic and upbeat with a darker, sexier atmosphere.

If you need a more recent reference point, I’m reminded of Ezra Furman — yet another Lou Reed devotee.

Of course, I’d love to know what else you hear, too. The last time I listened to a band that felt so heavy with the history of its own influences was Horsegirl, and much as I enjoy them, I must say their approach is far more heavy handed.

You can listen to ELLiS•D’s new single, “Carousel,” on Bandcamp.

You can also find his single “Humdrum,” along with many other excellent tracks released this year, on the following playlist.

Need a TL;DR?

@meandtimoryPlease oh please let me out of FYP exile because the people have to hear Ellis•D #newbandsforoldheads #artrock #bestnewmusic #musicrecommendations

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Next week: get ready to share (or reshare!) your favorite under-the-radar bands for the next edition of Known Unknowns.

1. The urge to make a satellite pun is very strong.