Fatoumata Diawara, from artist Bandcamp Another month has passed and here is your monthly recap of notable socially conscious music. Songs/Videos: America Has a Problem (featuring Kendrick Lamar) – Beyoncé This remix of the track off Beyoncé 2022 album Renaissance features poignant contributions from Kendrick Lamar. Save the World – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit This is the latest […]
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From the artist’s Bandcamp No-No Boy is a multimedia project formed by Julian Saporiti & Erin Aoyama while pursuing their doctorates at Brown University. The project employs music as an educational tool to teach historical lessons about the Asian American experience. It is a topic that they both shared a personal connection to. Saporiti’s family were refugees during the Vietnam […]
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Armed with his weapon of choice, a guitar that bore the sticker, “This Machine Kills Fascists”, Woody Guthrie was a pivotal contributor to the canon of protest tunes. During his lifetime, he composed nearly 3,000 lyrics, many of which remained unpublished. This has allowed a new generation of musicians to set these unused lyrics to music and create anthems that […]
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Yaeji, from artist Bandcamp Another month has passed and here is a small sampling of socially conscious music released throughout the month. Songs/Videos: Cast Iron Skillet – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit This is the third single from the respected singer-songwriter’s upcoming albums Weathervanes, which drops on June 9. Like many of Isbell’s tunes, it explores his Southern heritage […]
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RIP Mark Stewart (August 10, 1960 – April 21, 2023). From the artist’s Bandcamp Mark Stewart made several contributions to the canon of protest music as part of the pioneering UK post-punk band The Pop Group, his solo work, and various other projects. Sadly, he passed away on April 19, 2023, at the age of 62. Several musicians including the […]
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From the artist’s Bandcamp Dawn Ray’s is a UK anarchist black metal band that effectively incorporates the folk traditions of rebel songs. On their latest album To Know The Light, the trio conveys a rousing anti-fascist message. It balances the bleakness that black metal is known for with a sense of optimism. They have released a video for the album […]
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By now it has become obvious that I’m bad with introductions, so let’s get right into it. Here is a small sampling of socially conscious music released during the past month. Songs/Videos: Safe To Run (featuring Hurray for the Riff Raff) – Esther Rose The latest single by the country-folk singer fantasizes about escaping a world that is on the […]
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Founded in 1911, The Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children was a juvenile correctional facility in the Mount Meigs community near Montgomery, Alabama. The juvenile facility was notorious for the abuse inflicted on Black youth. As late as the 1960s, inmates were forced to pick cotton from early morning to late evening, with physical and sexual abuse commonplace. “This was […]
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Born Evan Pang, Aysanabee is a Canadian Indigenous multi-instrumentalist, producer, and singer-songwriter. He is Oji-Cree and began creating music under his mother’s maiden name in order to reclaim his family name. Aysanabee’s mother gave him the last name Pang because she felt that a non-Indigenous name would make it easier to find employment. His 2022 debut album, Watin was named […]
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February may be a shorter and typically shitty month, but it did manage to produce a decent amount of socially conscious music. Here is a sampling. Songs/Videos: SAGA (Acoustic) – Hurray for the Riff Raff This is a powerful acoustic reworking of a track that appeared on Hurray for the Riff Raff’s excellent 2022 album Life On Earth (one of […]
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