Jon Ewing
Playlists
Tear The Fascists Down – Woody Guthrie
9 October 2018
Woodrow Wilson Guthrie’s folk songs chronicled the plight of American people during the Great Depression. With his debut album, Dust Bowl Ballads – considered retrospectively to be the first ever concept album – he became one of the nation’s leading spokesmen for labour rights; he was an anti-fascist, anti-racist iconoclast determined to debunk the myth of the American Dream…
The Idiots Are Taking Over – NOFX
25 September 2018
As we near the end of Donald J Trump‘s second year in office, it is chastening to hark back 15 years, half-way through an earlier Republican leader’s first term, to a time when it seemed impossible to imagine a US president more self-serving, ill-educated and unworthy of office…
Made An America – The Fever 333
4 September 2018
The Fever 333’s Made an America owes a mighty debt to epoch-making Nineties LA alternative rock act Rage Against the Machine, delivering music with a purpose, bringing the vicious vitality of Killing in the Name up to date for the Trump era with a song that reminds all Americans that their nation was founded on the backs of black slaves.
Charlottesville – NIGHT featuring Guillem Duquette
11 August 2018
A downbeat, trip hop giant, pregnant with heart-bursting emotion, Charlottesville is simultaneously a tribute to those who risk their lives to stand up against race hatred and a declaration of rage against right-wing extremists – especially those in the highest office.
Samaritans – IDLES
31 July 2018
The pernicious effect of keeping silent when you ought to be screaming and sobbing is explored in Samaritans, the latest track from IDLES, from forthcoming album Joy as an Act of Resistance. But this article isn’t exactly about IDLES, the intense alternative five-piece from South-West England. Instead, it’s about a group of their fans who, in the last year, have changed each other’s lives and restored their faith in humanity. And if their motto, “All is Love”, means something to you, they would like you to join them.
Poison In The Well – 10,000 Maniacs
24 July 2018
Natalie Merchant’s folksy college rock vocal is the perfect conduit for this bitter ballad about corporate negligence tearing apart the lives of helpless, ordinary people, inspired by the true story of a neighbourhood of 221 families completely destroyed by chemical contamination,…
Haters – Dead Agents
17 July 2018
Black Country alternative rock band Dead Agents remind you to stand up and fight for what you believe in in this pounding revolutionary anthem from the West Midlands of England. With the pop sensibilities of Kasabian and the gruff gravitas of Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman, Haters urges you not to tolerate the intolerable one moment longer. “Give it up, give it up keep waging war,” sings frontman David James Foster insistently. “Suck it up and make the haters hate you more”…
Let Him Dangle – Elvis Costello
9 July 2018
In 1998, Derek Bentley was finally pardoned for his part in the death of a British police constable during a bungled burglary 46 years earlier. Bentley, who suffered from learning difficulties, was proved innocent after years of campaigning by his sister, Iris. His story is the inspiration for this chilling song by Elvis Costello…
The Kids are Alt-Right – Bad Religion
2 July 2018
Legendary Californian hardcore punks Bad Religion enter the Trump era with their first new material since 2013’s True North album, a mosh-friendly 150 second burst of upbeat agit-pop, speeding up the riff from London’s Burning by The Clash, with sneaky references to the Solomon Burke soul classic Everybody Needs Somebody and of course the Who’s mod anthem The Kids Are Alright.
Call Me Baby – Charlotte Morris
18 June 2018
Enough is enough. This anthem for the Time’s Up generation draws on a lifetime of catcalls and vulgar remarks from men who treat women like sexual objects. And this is the moment when one woman can’t take any more. “I’m a strong resilient woman who knows how to kick your ass in,” warns New York singer-songwriter Charlotte Morris. “So call me baby one more time and then we’ll see who’s walking away laughing”…
Hot Topic – Le Tigre – Every Name-Check Explained
10 June 2018
This long-lost end-of-the-century dance track is nothing less than a reading list of feminist and LGBT cultural and counter-cultural icons. A chorus of female voices chants noteworthy names to a hypnotic beat and the message to those who were still living at that time was clear and unequivocal: “Don’t you stop / I can’t live if you stop”.
Read My Rights – Mike Frazier
30 May 2018
When you think of the archetypal protest singer, the image that comes to mind is probably a weary, earnest, lank-haired folk troubadour gently strumming a battered acoustic guitar with all the energetic tempo of your geography teacher on a Monday morning. But along comes Mike Frazier to wipe the slate clean with a take-no-crap four-to-the-floor protest song powered by the Energizer Bunny with Tony the Tiger on lead guitar.