OUT100: Andy Butler

Photography by JUCO | Retouching by Anna Glen at Wet Noodle

The Moment: September 8, 1982: Querelle, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, opens in theaters.

In the church of disco and modern house music, Andy Butler remains the high priest. "Blind," his 2008 breakthrough single with his revolving collective, Hercules and Love Affair, told the story of the Denver-raised producer coming out and moving to New York City, heralding the arrival of a new strain of dance music that placed queerness at the forefront. Since then, Butler has collaborated with a rotating cast of LGBT performers that has included Antony, Bloc Party's Kele Okereke, and alt-folk singer John Grant. Hercules' third album, The Feast of the Broken Heart, is a pulsing, Larry Levan-style throwback that swings from the reflective to the provocative. What the record's songs share is a sense of liberation and an almost spiritual celebration of the self.

Photographed at the Hollywood Loft, Los Angeles on October 7, 2014

Styling by Alison Brooks. Groomer: Ananda Tuyes

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