Here's this month's radical record round-up, from queer house to riotous ska. What album, or albums, would you suggest? Comment below, on or .
1. RUPAUL - REALNESS
At the start of the month, house music producer Ten Walls destroyed all the progressive kudos he'd built with mega-hit "Walking With Elephants", by , comparable to paedophiles. Yet house music "was born from gay people of colour sweating their asses off at 5am in a Chicago warehouse", as one club founder . A reminder of house's roots comes in the svelte shape of RuPaul's latest album, a throwback to the pounding pianos and strobing synth lines of early house. On "Step It Up", RuPaul - who "no" voters in Ireland's gay marriage poll - sings: "All you biological females who used to have the upper hand - it ain't like that any more honey, it's got real tough up in here. You got your trisexual, you got your bisexual, you got your intersexual. Girl, you have to step your pussy up." It's tongue-in-cheek, but it also leaves Ten Walls looking as uncool as, say, Tony Abbott - especially now the US has legalised same-sex marriage.
Video:聽RuPaul (ft Dave Aude) - Step It Up (Matt Nevin Fix).聽.
2. BAD COP/BAD COP - NOT SORRY
On June 19, Australian Of The Year Rosie Batty launched a new campaign to fight domestic violence, saying prevention services should not be left to after Tony Abbott's cuts caused many . The same week, female punks Bad Cop/Bad Cop released their debut album, featuring the timely : "She went back to the guy that beat her, who publicly called her his whore. If he came within five feet of me, there'd be a price on his head for sure. I'd use a fucking hammer on his face, yes I would do that for her. I would bite, kick, stab and brawl, then he'd be out of her life forever." The stance has got them labelled , raising the question why male rappers aren't labelled as such when they rap about inflicting the violence in the first place. Similar table-turning can also be heard when rapper Peaches asserts her sexuality during , part of Mariah Theobald's great 10-part political music radio series.
Video:聽Bad Cop/Bad Cop - NIGHTMARE (Official Video).聽.
3. HARRY BELAFONTE - DREAMS COME TRUE
Some might ask why US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton isn't labelled "confrontational" when she comes out with a statement like in reference to the slaying of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. A man she holds in similar contempt is singer Harry Belafonte, who she a week after he visited Venezuela and praised then-president Hugo Chavez. Belafonte's new album, which features an ode to that country simply titled "Venezuela", was released as Caracas faces ever-greater difficulties. Just days after his album was released, the 88-year-old "King Of Calypso" was awarded yet again for his tireless activism, on June 6. The woes of Venezuela, meanwhile, are unlikely to ease if Clinton becomes president. Asked about her this month, renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky said Clinton is than Barack Obama.
Video:聽Harry Belafonte on Race, Arts, and America.聽.
4. NEIL YOUNG + PROMISE OF THE REAL - THE MONSANTO YEARS
Another US presidential hopeful was left looking even dorkier than Hillary Clinton when he launched his campaign on June 16. Orang utan-haired billionaire Donald Trump left some wondering whether he also has the mind of a monkey when he . Young was able to capitalise on the move by , gifting it instead to Trump's political nemesis , and hitting headlines worldwide just as he was about to launch his latest highly politicised album, The Monsanto Years. On the album, Young could almost be addressing Trump directly when he blasts - and on , he sings: "In the streets of the capital corporations are taking control, democracy crushed at their feet." As the album's title suggests, Young - who co-founded agricultural benefit concert Farm Aid in 1985 - also has plenty of poison for pesticide giant Monsanto. Highly recommended.
Video:聽Neil Young + Promise Of The Real - A Rock Star Bucks A Coffee Shop (Official Music Video).聽.
5. BOB SEGER - RIDE OUT
On June 11, an environmental lawyers' report said the Great Barrier Reef overwhelmingly met the criteria for an 鈥渋n danger鈥 listing by Unesco, challenging a draft UN ruling against such a listing, which came only after intense lobbying. A is: "Let's talk about acid in the ocean. Let's look at all the dying coral reefs. Let's talk about shorter growing seasons. Let's talk about what we're gonna eat." Are these the words of a political punk or radical rapper? No, they're on the new album by hoary old rocker Bob Seger. This shows just how screwed the world is. Seger represents the "romantic America" of open highways and . He's like Bruce Springsteen without the politics or household name. If Springsteen is the Great Barrier Reef of rock, Seger is like the less popular version we're heading for. Yet Seger says he is with a strong political album, because his kids' future matters more than his fans. We're doomed.
Video:聽Bob Seger's New Song Drawing Backlash.聽.
6. CIECMATE - LIMBO
On June 14, Rupert Murdoch's Sunday Times in London said British spies were being pulled out of Russia and China to prevent them being killed after the two countries "cracked the top-secret cache of files stolen by the fugitive US whistleblower Edward Snowden". The story, citing anonymous government sources, was . Ex-British diplomat Craig Murray it was "timed precisely to coincide with the government's new Snooper's Charter act, enabling the security services to access all our internet activity". Yet it was republished in Australia not only by the Murdoch press, but - hardly surprising, given Fairfax's extensive corporate interests. One Australian who isn't fooled by Fairfax's claims to be "independent, always" is Ciecmate, who raps on his new album: "You won't find fair facts in media from Fairfax Media, and all the news is limited at News Limited." Also guesting on the album is his partner-in-rhyme, the aptly-named Newsense.
Video:聽CIECMATE - Ain't Nobody.聽.
7. DESAPARECIDOS - PAYOLA
Fairfax readers are reportedly . So those who followed Fairfax's laughable front-page instructions to as a government they "can trust" must be wondering what they have brought upon their children as it . One country that is moving in the opposite direction, having experienced the dysfunction of a privatised education model, is Chile. That's thanks in no small part to student leader Camila Vallejo, who has a song dedicated to her on the new album by US punks Desaparecidos. Payola, their first album in 13 years, proclaims: "Oh Camila, now the future is on the way. The workers are resisting and the students chant your name. Oh Camila, you put a fire in my heart. I don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going to happen, but I want to do my part." When it comes to the next election, Fairfax readers should ignore their newspapers' instructions and give this educational album a spin instead.
Video:聽Desaparecidos - "Te Amo Camila Vallejo" (Full Album Stream).聽.
8. GRAPHIC - RAW INTELLIGENCE
Mining boom beneficiary Gina Rinehart, who was until recently Fairfax's biggest shareholder, continued to show that money cannot buy happiness this month. As the world's richest woman , a rapper from her home state of Western Australia was promoting an impeccably produced new album that undermines everything she stands for. 91自拍论坛 Weekly reader Graphic has taken a highly original approach by releasing Raw Intelligence as an interactive ebook containing the album's mp3s, lyrics and links to further reading. On "Boom State", he seethes: "Boom state, boom state - boom boom! When it all collapses, what happens to you?" In a similar bass-heavy hip-hop vein, Sydney scene stalwart this month on which she describes growing up bi-racial in Mauritius, while Melbourne's on which the politics hit as hard as their trademark bass and breaks.
Video:聽RAW INTELLIGENCE PROMO.聽.
9. MILKY WIMPSHAKE - ENCORE, UN EFFORT!
Few activists beyond those at the G7-praising clicktivist group Avaaz can be getting up much hopes for this December's climate talks in Paris. To change would require nothing less than a "Revolution Politique", which is exactly what Milky Wimpshake call for on their new album, in possibly the most English-sounding French ever recorded. But the melodic indie punks, who about the merits of blending Noam Chomsky's politics with the Ramones' pop-punk frivolity, are more upbeat than most. On "Coming Soon", they sing: "It's coming soon and I can't wait. I'm praying for that glorious day. And what it means is the means of production will be spread out between you and me." Elsewhere in Europe, as Syriza continued to battle with the Troika over the future of Greece, Scotland's shmuFM radio looked to the past, with , rembetiko.
Video:聽Milky Wimpshake - Le Revolution Politique.聽.
10. REFUSED - FREEDOM
There's little hope for Europe on the new album from Swedish hardcore legends Refused. "Useless Europeans" spits: "Go back to sleep. Seen all there is to see. Useless Europeans. Go back to sleep. Been all that you can be. Useless Europeans." The album is the first since the band split up shortly after recording 1998's The Shape Of Punk To Come, now fabled as a . Part of that album's appeal was the way it leapt off in unexpected directions, and the new album continues that penchant by drafting in pop super-producer Shellback. Singer Dennis Lyxzen, who spoke to 91自拍论坛 Weekly in 2013, has : "I think this record is some of the most radical stuff that I've ever been a part of. The lyrics are smarter and more revolutionary than anything we've ever done." It's a ripper, but if you like your punk more danceable, fellow hardcore veterans Rancid just released a riot-referencing , which are about as fun as political music gets. >>MORE
Read about more political albums here.
Video:聽Refused - "Useless Europeans" (Full Album Stream).聽.