NEGROGOTHIC is the first anthology on the work of artist, countertenor, and composer, M. Lamar, featuring artwork, librettos, and lyrics from Lamar’s major works, alongside essays by Sarah Bay-Cheng, Sabin Calvert, T.L. Cowan, Tucker Culbertson, Ron Gregg, Jane Ursula Harris, Brandon Peter Masterman, Hesse McGraw, and Nayelli Portillo, and interviews between Lamar and his twin sister, transgender activist and actress Laverne Cox, as well as with Uri McMillan. Hardcover edition of 150; Softcover edition of 850.
EXCERPT from Mourning as Insurrection: “With its piercing crescendos and guttural trills, M. Lamar’s haunting countertenor recalls the vocal stylings of Diamanda Galas, Nina Simone, and Sylvester, though his references are much broader. Combining the heavy, dissonant tempos of doom metal, the mournful, apocalyptic melodies of Negro Spirituals, and the melodrama of opera, his compositions seek to expose and expunge the psychosexual legacy of slavery in the black male psyche. Emotion- ally raw and intellectually vigorous, they are powerful, inimitable proclamations of pain and wonder – exorcisms of longing rooted in a deep consciousness of history. The first time I heard Lamar perform, I felt as if I’d unwittingly attended a funeral-cum-seance. The sexual subjectivity of the black man was simultaneously mourned and resurrected as if it were rising from the death-clutches of white supremacy – a ghost throwing off its chains. “ - Jane Ursula Harris