Midorexia Club

In October, a New York Times report revealed the Trump administration’s plan to narrow the definition of gender as biological, denying the lived experience of millions of people who do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. Public outcry immediately followed. At rallies, on social media and even during the World Series, pink and blue banners carried the message: Trans People Won’t Be Erased. This lent a timely significance to Powerhouse, the latest album by Jam Rostron, which came out on DFA a few weeks later. As Planningtorock, the Berlin-based artist, who chooses the pronoun “they,” makes their genderqueer identity as visible as possible. Their past track titles—"Misogyny Drop Dead,“ "Patriarchy Over & Out” and “Let’s Talk About Gender Baby"—are just as clear as the "Won’t Be Erased” slogan. Rostron has exhibited this defiance through their work for the past decade. 
 Powerhouse was written and recorded across Berlin, London, New York and Los Angeles. It comes couched in the precision-tooled synths that have become Rostron’s signature, though critics and fans will hear a subtle, ear worm-y shift in style here: from the Noughties US r&b swagger of ‘Transome’ and the bubbling oldschool ‘90s house of 'Beulah Loves Dancing' and ‘Non Binary Femme’, to the funky, flute-laced ‘Much To Touch’ (the only track on Powerhouse to feature a co-producer, long-time friend and collaborator Olof Dreijer of The Knife).

Powerhouse  (Spotify)