“Sally’s Pigeons” originally appeared on Lauper’s 1993 album Hat Full of Stars. The biographical tune related the story of a friend of Lauper who got pregnant as a teenager and died from a back-alley abortion. This moving song of mourning isn’t a direct protest, but it draws awareness to the fact that making abortions illegal doesn’t stop them, it just makes […]
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The veteran New York-based singer-songwriter and folk artist Steven Keene has established a reputation for composing timely social critiques. For example, his 2020 album Them and Us features the galvanizing title track and the stirring “Save Yourself”. He recently released his latest single “Soon”, his first release since Them and Us. Keene masterfully exposes a numb world sleepwalking towards the […]
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Katie Alice Greer, the former lead vocalist of Washington D.C. punk band Priests, recently released her full-length solo debut Barbarism. Greer wrote, produced, and recorded the entire album herself. She previously released music using her initials KAG, but in an NPR interview she mentioned the reasons for the change: “It’s two reasons. The first one being I started getting an […]
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Back on January 21st, 2017, singer-songwriter MILCK went viral when she organized a flash mob performance of her song “Quiet” at the Women’s March On Washington. The tune was motivated by her past experiences with sexual and physical abuse. It ended up becoming an enduring anthem of empowerment. Since then, she continues to write and record socially conscious music. The […]
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The influential indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs has recently released their first tune in close to a decade, “Spitting Off the Edge of the World,” off their upcoming album, Cool It Down, out Sept. 30. The song is a collaboration with indie-pop artist Perfume Genius, whose voice well complements front women Karen O. There is also a music video starring […]
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May 25 marked the 2nd anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, and sadly nothing has really changed. Racially motivated killings and cops murdering black people continue to be an ongoing concern. In connection with this, twin sisters Naomi and Lisa-Kainde Diaz of the Cuban-Venezuelan duo Ibeyi address the issue with their reworking of Black Flag’s 1981 classic hardcore punk […]
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Bob Vylan is a grime punk duo who recently released their 2nd full-length album Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life. Just like their 2020 debut album, We Live Here, the album features incisive political commentary addressing issues such as systemic racism and poverty. It features radical potent slogans such as ‘Wage war against the state’, ‘England’s fucking dead, let […]
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Back in 1973, Seattle singer-songwriter Patrick Haggerty released what is widely considered to be the first gay-themed country album under the moniker Lavender Country. At the time only 1000 copies of the self-titled album were printed. In later years the album started to generate interest among music journalists, historians, and record collectors. This resulted in the album eventually being reissued […]
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Since forming in 2014, Soul Glo has established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. Being a black hardcore band already made the simple act of making music a political statement. Added to that is the radical rhetoric of their music. They recently released the stunning new album Diaspora Problems, their debut on the known punk label Epitaph. One […]
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Zeal & Ardor is the brainchild of Swiss-American musician Manuel Gagneux. It started as an online project where Gagneux was seeking feedback about blending two musical genres that don’t traditionally go together. After receiving feedback, he decided to go with the unlikely pairing of black metal with spirituals. What was originally intended as a one-off, resulted in three full-length studio […]
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