It took so much to make Transgender Dysphoria Blues. First, Laura Jane Grace, the leader of one of America’s great punk bands, revealing herself to be trans, becoming the first major rock star ever to do so. Then there were label issues (the band leaving its major-label home), lineup issues (half the band leaving), and whatever issues you go through when you put out an album yourself. It was a fight to make the album happen. But Transgender Dysphoria Blues is a clean and fearsome hook-machine, unburdened by drama or ideas about representation. It’s hard and strummy and impassioned, and if Grace has a point to make about trans personhood, she makes it just by being the best punk rock bandleader in the world. –Tom [LISTEN]