Allison Russell, from the artist’s Bandcamp Here is a recap of some of the socially conscious music released in August. Songs/Videos: Snakelife – Allison Russell This is the latest single and video from the Canadian singer-songwriter’s upcoming album The Returner, due September 8th. Russell describes the poignant tune as “an invocation of the Afro-Future-Rainbow-Coalition-Transformative Universe I wish to inhabit and […]
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Billy Bragg, one of the artists who recorded a response song to Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Man North of Richmond”. Via artist’s Bandcamp The history of protest music has a long-standing tradition of songs written in response to other songs. For example, Woody Guthrie’s protest standard “This Land Is Your Land” was composed to critique Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America”. This […]
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RIP Sixto Rodriguez (July 10, 1942-August 8, 2023), photo courtesy of guah, via Flickr On August 8, 2023, Detroit-born singer-songwriter Sixto Rodriguez sadly passed away at 81. Under the name Rodriguez, he released two studio albums between 1970-71, Cold Fact and Coming from Reality. The albums achieved little success in America, but he did find success in a few countries, […]
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Kimmortal, from the artist’s Bandcamp Here is a recap of some of the socially conscious music released in July. Songs/Videos: Hot Planet – Snotty Nose Rez Kids This recently released video is for a track off the Canadian Indigenous rap duo 2022 album I’m Good, HBU?. The tune and video make reference to climate change and indigenous issues. The album […]
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RIP Sinéad O’Connor (December 8, 1966-July 26, 2023) Photo courtesy of Man Alive, via Flickr Sadly, influential Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor died on July 26, 2023, at the age of 56. During her career, she established herself as a controversial and uncompromising figure. An example of this is when she performed a cappella reworking of Bob Marley’s “War” during an […]
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Cheekface, from the artist’s Bandcamp Often I’m sent suggestions of artists, albums, and songs. These have sometimes been spotlighted as a Daily Dose of Protest or part of the monthly recaps, but I often don’t get around to posting. It is a while since I did one of these, but here is a sample of some of the musical gems […]
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HMLTD, from the artist’s Bandcamp We are just a little bit beyond the halfway point of 2023 and there has already been plenty to protest, and the music being made reflects that. It was difficult to narrow it down to 30, but here is a sampling of the best socially conscious albums released so far. Most of these albums have […]
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Home Is Where, from the artist’s Bandcamp Another month and another recap. Check out a sampling of the socially conscious music released during June. Songs/Videos: John Wayne Was a Nazi – Fucked Up & The Halluci Nation This collaboration between Canadian hardcore band Fucked Up and Indigenous EDM act Halluci Nation is a reworking of a tune by hardcore pioneers […]
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From artist’s Bandcamp “John Wayne slaughtered our Indian brothersBurned their villages and raped their mothersNow he has given them a white man’s lord‘Live by this, or die by my sword!’” These are lyrics from “John Wayne Was A Nazi” a scathing tune by hardcore pioneers MDC. The single was originally released a year after Wayne’s death in 1980 when they […]
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From the artist’s Bandcamp. Divide and Dissolve is an Australian-based instrumental doom metal duo featuring saxophonist and guitarist Takiaya Reed and percussionist Sylvie Nehill. For the female duo, the act of simply inhabiting a prominently white male genre space is political. Reed is descended from “indigenous people of the so-called United States”. The duo also collectively stated: “Our music is […]
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