Do you think there's no good protest music these days? So did I, until I started looking for it. The truth is, it's always been out there, but it's sometimes a bit difficult to find. Every month, I search it out, listen to it all, then round up the best of it that relates to that month's political news. Here's the round-up for September 2022.
1. WORKER & PARASITE - POLITICS: A CASE STUDY OF THE NEXUS BETWEEN POPULISM, APATHY & EXPLOITATION听
On September 1, nurses in New South Wales struck again over patient ratios and pay rises. A week later, early childcare workers across Australia took strike action against staff shortages and low pay. Two weeks after that, Australia's National Tertiary Education Union struck for a 7% pay rise as workers worldwide took pay cuts amid high inflation. On September 8, appropriately-named Melbourne punks Worker & Parasite released their new EP, which skewers such exploitation. On the song 鈥淎political鈥, the staunchly-stylised socialist band, who , reassure any doubters that almost every aspect of life is political. 鈥淚deology is everywhere,鈥 it intones. 鈥淚t is the intellectual, cultural and political fabric from which society is woven. It is an integral part of life, pervasive, invisible and essential, akin to the air we breathe. Ideology is inescapable.鈥澨
2. GOGOL BORDELLO - SOLIDARITINE听
Also calling for solidarity against ideology is the new album from Ukrainian "gypsy punks" Gogol Bordello, released on September 16. The album's title comes from its opening track, 鈥淪hot Of Solidaritine鈥. " and our full human potential, which is supposed to unite us in overcoming our common problems,鈥澨齟xplained the band's singer, Eugene H眉tz. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a brother of adrenaline ... 听... Take a group of people who have endured immigrant traumas and dislocation ... All of a sudden, humankind encounters these problems like the pandemic and the war. This is when rock 'n' roll is the most necessary and where we perform the best.鈥澨鼳lso referencing Ukraine is , named on September 7. The record gives the Chernobyl disaster a personal twist.
3. MEHDI RAJABIAN - IT ARRIVES
On September 13, 22-year-old Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amina was arrested and tortured by Iran's 鈥渕orality police鈥. She died days later, sparking protests worldwide. On September 10, Iranian musician Mehdi Rajabian, who has been arrested, jailed and placed in solitary confinement for his music in the past, risked prison again by releasing his latest album. 鈥淎nything can happen when you produce music," he told Billboard magazine on September 8. 鈥.鈥 Also taking on the powers that be is . He released , which tackles his country's corruption, on September 1, two days before its corrupt, ousted president flew back into the country. And as the United States鈥櫶齝orrupt former president听, industrial music stalwarts , which targets Trump's Capitol riot. 听
4. STRAY FROM THE PATH - EUTHANASIA听
On September 8, the Queen died, sparking endless media coverage. Joining in the mourning were . Conversely, US rap-rockers Stray From The Path tweeted: 鈥. Disrespectful if you ask me.鈥澨齋he wouldn't have approved of the album, but certainly missed out. The prophetically-titled . It's about as close as you'll get to a new Rage Against The Machine album until they put out a new record. And if you like your protest music as hard and heavy as that, check out the , released five days after Swedes swung to the right in the September 11 election. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really scary that such a large part of Sweden鈥檚 population voted for a party which is deeply rooted in Nazism and racism,鈥澨齮hey said.
5. THE PROCLAIMERS - DENTURES OUT听
The included clouds that looked like the monarch in an apparent message from heaven. The supposedly progressive Guardian led with 19 pages on her plus a 20-page supplement, then a 40-page special the next day. As the media continued to churn out royalist propaganda, released their on September 16. On the catchy 鈥溾, they sing: 鈥淥n the page, you're a sage, you're a real superstar. And every page is engaged in keeping things as they are. The paper you write for it is a loss leader, it's hemorrhaging readers like a heavy bleeder. They shuffle upstairs for a chat with Saint Peter then nobody comes to replace them. So why own these papers when money they're losing? For someone like me it can feel quite confusing, unless it's their help with the choices we're choosing.鈥澨
6. DUBROW - OPINIONS听
Released just days earlier was the new album from . As Australia's Labor government pressed ahead with resources projects that would wreck ancient Aboriginal rock art sites as well as the climate, he pointed to the mining money that helps get politicians in power. On 鈥淰ested Interest鈥, the former singer-songwriter with iNsuRge, Soulscraper and Blackbreaks sings: 鈥淰ested interest. Invested interest. Vested interest. We鈥檙e ruled by vested interest. It鈥檚 like a popular minister, another free ride. A brown paper bag, a little more on the side. Swings a little to the left, then a little to the right. Just keep the people happy, and their hair just right. And you can listen real carefully and you can hear them as they try to sing (La-la-la lee-lee!) 鈥業ntegrity, in a democracy! Integrity will be the death of me.鈥欌澨
7. TRIPPLE EFFECT - RIPPLE EFFECTS听
Also flaming the fossil fuel industry and its government backers is , released on September 3. The folk trio from the Australian coal-mining town of Newcastle sing on 鈥淵our Dirty Black Coal鈥: 鈥淟ike Nero you play while the world鈥檚 all ablaze, but we know who鈥檒l pay for all that you raze. Those children unborn whose futures you burn will repay your scorn when they get their turn.鈥澨齌hey slam the move to chop down Newcastle's fig trees on 鈥淐hainsaw Rippin' Blues鈥. And on 鈥淢urray's Lament鈥澨齮hey address the destruction of the Murray River through irrigation: 鈥淲ith your ploughs and your ditches you made all your riches from the bounty that I bestowed. And your sons and your daughters all drank from my waters with no thought for the debt that they owed.鈥澨鼺our days after the album's release, for the decline of its endangered species. 听
8. THE HU - RUMBLE OF THUNDER听
On September 22, Western Australian socialist Sam Wainwright pointed out that Australia should be fighting climate change, not preparing for war on China. No doubt in agreement is , who released their new album on September 2. Anglo-Australian mining company over its Oyu Tolgoi mine in the country north of China. As of the mine, The HU听released their environmentally-conscious record, which blends traditional horse fiddle with heavy guitars on tracks such as 鈥淪ell The World鈥澨齛nd 鈥淢other Nature鈥. 鈥,鈥澨齮hey told the media while discussing the album. 鈥淚gnorance is the biggest issue human beings have, and that is still true when we are discussing about nature.鈥澨 听 听
9. JAKE BLOUNT - THE NEW FAITH听
On Jake Blount's new album, released on September 23, the queer African-American multi-instrumentalist 鈥渃ommunicates how much he's seen of鈥, as America's National Public Radio put it. The dystopian Afro-futuristic concept album 鈥渁ims to envision what Black religious music would sound like in a not-so-distant future world devastated by climate change鈥. On the album, after Earth has succumbed to global warming, a group of 30 Black refugees, strangers to each other, find shelter on an island off the coast of Maine and rally around a shared musical tradition. The record was released a week before . Two weeks earlier, a Rural Australians for Refugees conference called for a further 20,000 emergency visas for asylum seekers from Afghanistan, the scrapping of offshore detention and ending of mandatory detention.
10. COSEY FANNI TUTTI - DELIA DERBYSHIRE: THE MYTHS AND THE LEGENDARY TAPES (ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK RECORDINGS)听
Women can often seem like illegal aliens in the . The issue is front and centre on the latest album by musical trailblazer Cosey Fanni Tutti, which soundtracks a new docu-drama about pioneering 1960s electronic musician Delia Derbyshire. 鈥 for bringing electronic music into the mainstream,鈥澨齭aid Fanni Tutti. 鈥淗er goal, right until the end, was to introduce people to the beauty and remarkable diversity of electronic music, but she was often passed over where credits were concerned 鈥斕齛s was Daphne Oram and other women who worked at the [British Broadcasting Corporation's] Radiophonic Workshop.鈥澨鼶ocumenting similar sexism, on September 30, Tepete Records released a new compilation album inspired by music writer , Revenge of the She-Punks.
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