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 - it's sometimes听just 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 July 2022.
1. JESSE JETT - THE GRIFT听
On July 4, just days after the US Supreme Court strengthened gun rights, a white man shot into a crowd celebrating US Independence Day. Despite killing seven people, he was quietly arrested only hours later. The same day, police shut down protests after a video was released showing by cops. Shooting down such racism and hypocrisy is the acerbic new album from radical US poet Jesse Jett, released the same day. It takes aim at duplicitous Democrats as much as rifle-racking Republicans. On "The Oil Baron Rescue Plan", he puts oil-backing, sabre-rattling US president Joe Biden in the cross-hairs as he spits: "Biden鈥檚 born to leap at any war a donor鈥檚 cheque demands. Turns out that you can鈥檛 cure greed once it infects a man. Once they lose respect for human life and focus all their fucking efforts on the Oil Baron Rescue Plan."
2. AL-NAMROOD - WORSHIP THE DEGENERATE
On July 15, Biden visited Saudi Arabia to beg its leaders to increase oil output, despite the global climate catastrophe. He said he also confronted the country's de facto ruler for the notorious murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But . Pulling no such punches are Saudi black metal band Al-Namrood. Their aptly titled new album, Worship The Degenerate, was . Interviewed about the album, the band, who have to stay anonymous for their own safety, said: " through extreme music and sending out a message to all freedom fighters around the world that you are not alone, if you can not speak up, use art as a tool, remain safe but make your point, collaborate to do what you can do - and this is what we strive for." 听
3. VIAGRA BOYS - CAVE WORLD听
As the actions of Saudi-schmoozing former US president Donald Trump were scrutinised in the Capitol riot hearings, Swedish punks , which mocks his alt-right followers. 鈥淚 definitely use the States as a reference point because it鈥檚 a real melting pot of insanity,鈥 said the band's US-born singer, Sebastian Murphy. 鈥淚 mean, those types of people definitely exist here in Sweden, but they鈥檙e not storming the Capitol or anything.鈥 On the song "Troglodyte", which he calls "", Murphy sings: "He says he don't believe in science. He thinks that all the news is fake. And late at night he sits on his computer and writes about the things he hates. But if it was a million years ago and we were still living in caves, you would not be welcomed by the other apes, 'cause you evolved a bit too late."
4. CIME - THE INDEPENDENCE OF CENTRAL AMERICA REMAINS AN UNFINISHED EXPERIMENT听
On July 18, the "Trump of the Tropics", Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, signalled he was planning to ape Trump by contesting the results of Brazil's upcoming election. The poll looks set to be won by leftist former president Luiz In谩cio Lula da Silva. On July 22, revered Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil, who previously served as Lula's culture minister, warned that ", an opposition to any advance". On July 13, Trump's former national security advisor, John Bolton, boasted of his involvement in coup plots against Brazil's neighbour, Venezuela. And on July 1, Honduran-American musician Cime released their new album, The Independence Of Central America Remains An Unfinished Experiment, which condemns such US meddling in the region.听"I want to tell stories that stick with people, politically-oriented or otherwise," .听
5. AHMER - AZLI听
On July 5, described how her family's home had become one of many bulldozed by the Hindu nationalist government of "", Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Four days earlier, Kashmir-based , which documents how Modi has turned the Muslim-majority northern region into an open-air prison. The song 鈥淛anaza鈥 describes the to prevent funeral processions that often evolve into protests. On it, Ahmer raps: "Another funeral today, but the body hasn鈥檛 been returned. I heard gunshots but they want you to believe no bullets were fired." The album came as protests in neighbouring Sri Lanka brought down the government of the Rajapaksa dynasty, who have long used similar chauvinistic, divide-and-rule policies in their bloody persecution of Tamils.
6. CAPTAIN SKA - LA ISLA DEL BREXIT听
On July 7, Britain's Trump, clownish Prime Minister Boris Johnson, resigned amid ever-mounting scandals. As he did so, , 10 Downing Street, after British film star Hugh Grant asked them to. A week later, London ska band Captain Ska released their new album, La Isla Del Brexit, which skewers Johnson. On "Britain Trump", they sing: "Get that flag out my face, making not so subtle digs about race, cos where I'm from that's the language of the National Front. The ridiculous hair and a word salad addiction deliberately blurring the lines between Britain Trump. Nationalism, the last refuge of a scoundrel. Not something you can easily clean with anti-viral hand gel. And just when you think the worst they've got is Jeremy Hunt, the Russians and their partners in sleaze go and pull out this cunning stunt:听Britain Trump." 听
7. OUTRIGHT - KEEP YOU WARM听
On July 15, flooded-out with two weeks of the month still to go. The same day, Melbourne hardcore punks , which features climate change anthem "Silent Spring". On it, singer Jelena Goluza seethes: "As climate deniers change their approach from deny to delay to prolong their gains, powerful industry lobbies protect fossil fuels, PR campaigns designed to confuse and greenwash the truth. The science is there for those who choose to look." Two weeks earlier, Australian jazz musicians Laurence Pike and Cameron Deyell released their new album, featuring and inspired by Australia's devastating bushfires. 鈥,鈥 said Pike of the 2020 fires. 鈥淎s a musician this couldn鈥檛 help but feed into my music.鈥
8. MERZBOW - ANIMAL LIBERATION - UNTIL EVERY CAGE IS EMPTY听
On July 19, Australia's听fossil fuel-pushing Labor government at the severity of the , released that day. The report showed Australia's unique wildlife was going extinct at a devastating rate, threatening to collapse the ecosystem that supports all life. Summing up humans' disregard for their fellow animals is the new album from Merzbow, self-described as a that only the King of Japanese Noise can provide". "There is a theory that Covid-19 broke out from the poor conditioned wet markets where live animals are sold," he said. "Human beings' cruelty to animals, animal abuse and species discrimination are all adding up to a disaster for mankind and the whole planet." The album's relentless, nightmarish music - conjuring up the inescapable hell such animals endure - is probably like nothing you've heard before. 听
9. SAUL WILLIAMS - UNANIMOUS GOLDMINE (THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK OF 'NEPTUNE FROST')
On July 14, Europe was reported to be "". The same day, a after his news anchor colleague told him to be 鈥渉appy about the weather鈥 instead of warning about deaths. On July 19, as London broke temperature records, in the heat - ironic, given that . On July 11, said it was as Australia鈥檚 biggest export. Ten days earlier, actor and rapper Saul Williams released Unanimous Goldmine, his soundtrack album to . Neptune Frost shows that despite technology's shiny, progressive image it is actually "the product of physical labour, of real exploitation, of bodies dead and buried".
10. LIZZO - SPECIAL听
Despite honorable exceptions such as Saul Williams, most male rappers hypocritically spout misogyny while railing against oppression, punctuated in their use of the word "bitch". But with her new album released on July 15, US RnB star Lizzo reclaims that word in the same way rappers have reclaimed the n-word, repeating it until it becomes her own thing. Revered music magazine Rolling Stone went so far as to say that, in the context of the US Supreme Court's recent ban on abortion, the album could only be seen as "". "And all Lizzo did to make a political statement," it added, "was to let us in on what it feels like as a thick Black woman in the 21st century who doesn鈥檛 tiptoe around who she is and what it鈥檚 been like." As protesters worldwide put it: "" It's also about as fun as political music gets.
Video:听Captain SKA - Britain Trump.听.
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