In 2001, Raws Schlesinger, a metal and punk drummer in Lincoln, Nebraska, embraced his leather-clad dance-music heart and founded Plack Blague—an industrial electronica project intended to unleash the rowdy gay headbanger inside every hard rocker. The project was initially something of a goof, but the audience for loud sexy gay disco proved to be bigger than anticipated. Nearly two decades later, Schlesinger continues to sweat and hump his way through albums and live shows with a never-failing barrage of floor-shaking single entendres. The 2017 Plack Blague album Night Trax (Ormolycka) is a fine intro to the project’s testosterone-fueled aesthetic. “Body Talk” cranks the drum machine up to thrash speeds, and Schlesinger manages to sound robotic and snarky while intoning lyrics like “Each man in this meat market / Has his own personality!” “Placktuality” rides a deep, burping bass into panting vocals and subterranean slink. In the video for album opener “Just Another Man on the Street,” Schlesinger gets ready for action—pulling on a studded jockstrap, leather boots, and gimp mask—before picking up a likely prospect to a backdrop of thrusting synths. Though this music is ostensibly for men finding men, anyone with a fetish—or just an affection—for heavy leather will find something to love when Plack Blague performs live. v
Plack Blague straps a heavy metal jockstrap to disco
