The new Godspeed You! Black Emperor album is not about Palestine, in the sense that for the band, nothing can be about Palestine. There is nothing to talk about. The evidence overwhelmingly points to a genocide, and that’s supported by UN findings on the matter. So, what can we do? What can we say? Every sympathetic person already knows about it, and the people on the other side won’t let themselves be convinced it’s happening. What good is awareness when people shut their ears? Posed with all these questions, the band decided to make the album about something specific: hope.
For decades now, the post-rock legends have embodied the spirit of the genre, helping to define what it truly means. There is rock, yes, but there is also what’s after it, before it, and everything in between. The band would create a powerful riff to symbolize a storm and then hit us with the calm texture of the rain and the subsequent static. Like a true post-rock classic, GY!BE’s new album aims to sonically capture what surrounds the ongoing conflict in Palestine, but in a way that feels respectful towards the people involved.
It’s not about musically recreating the atrocities at hand, rather, it’s about showing how the people there grieve, mourn, and admirably persevere towards a better future despite it all. Case in point, the second song on the album, “BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD”, where a melody is set up in the beginning, appears to fade away halfway through the song and triumphantly returns by the end. As the title effectively describes, in spite of the atrocities, there is something that endures in Palestine, something young and fragile, but with the potential to eventually overcome its obstacles. That something —an identity, an idea— has, continues, and will survive for as long as there are people standing with it.
In addition to this, the album also isn’t shy about bringing attention to the situation or denouncing those who choose to ignore the atrocities being committed. The official title of the album is “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD” which immediately brings into focus the situation in Gaza, and makes you wonder where the numbers stand today. Besides this, the song “RAINDROPS CAST IN LEAD” features a poem written and recorded by Michele Fiedler-Fuentes, in which she talks about women and children who were murdered before they got to experience the beauty of sunrise. In other words, a better world was taken away from them, a world that was just within reach, and that is a tragedy everyone should know about.
Regarding its technical aspects, there is plenty worth praising the album for, like the production or the mastering, but relevant to the subject at hand is the structure. The album begins by bringing us into the situation, then driving us through the people living it and the way they react to what’s happening to them. Then, as the city appears to be completely dead, a pale spectator takes a photo and what remains, what we see, is grey rubble. But, among that rubble, there are some green shoots. There is still hope for Palestine, something can grow, but we must nurture it before it’s too late.
The message is clear then: Palestine will persevere, but it needs our help. As for what we can do, on a collective scale, we must champion policies that support Palestine and reject all of those that benefit the perpetrators of the genocide; on an individual scale, continue talking about the situation and not let the atrocities be forgotten.
At the moment of writing this article, there are 43,992 dead.
Greetings comrades, this is DJ General Strike, host of the weekly protest music radio show, Protest Tunes on 91.3 KBCS FM in Seattle, WA. I broadcast 2 hours of radical protest music of all genres and eras every Wednesday at 9 PM. Every quarter, I put together a radio show and playlist of my favorite new protest songs released that season, which I call “molotov hot tracks.” This Summer saw the release of many great protest songs, most notably songs about the upcoming US presidential election and songs against Israel’s ongoing war/genocide in Gaza. I aired most of these songs on my show last Wednesday 9/25, (during the station’s Fall fund drive) which you can listen to an archive of here. I’ve organized these 40 protest songs by genre below (and alphabetically within genre). You can also listen to all 40 songs on this Spotify Playlist. I hope you all are inspired by these molotov hot tracks!
Folk
Carsie Blanton – Ugly Nasty Commie Bitch
Carsie Blanton is a singer-songwriter and guitarist based in New Orleans. Blanton says she “writes anthems for a world worth saving.” She describes this one minute viral song, which was inspired by some internet trolls, as “a new song to unify the working class.“
Crys Matthews – The Difference Between – (feat. Melody Walker & Chris Housman)
Crys Matthews is a former drum major and clarinetist turned folk singer, who is using her voice to answer MLK’s call to be “a drum major for justice.” About this song she said “This is a reclamation not just of the space Black artists have been denied in Country and Americana music, not just of the space LGBTQ people have been denied in communities of faith, not just of the autonomy women have been denied over our own bodies, but a reclamation of the South that raised me.”
Jesse Welles – The Poor
Jesse Welles, AKA Welles, is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from Arkansas. Welles was also the frontman of the bands Dead Indian, formed in 2012, and Cosmic-American, formed in 2015. In 2024, Welles garnered attention on social media for authoring and performing folk protest songs, like this one. He released an album of these protest songs called Hells Welles, in July.
Sister Wife Sex Strike – From the River to the Sea
Sister Wife Sex Strike is a Seattle-based anarchist folk punk band comprised of Sister Pigeon and Sister Moth. The band’s name is inspired by a real life sex strike that they went on in 2021. They released this anti-zionist single on July 4th, off their new album Sister Wife Sex Change, which dropped August 2nd.
Rock and Roll
Ghost – The Future Is A Foreign Land
Ghost is a Swedish rock band known for combining theatricality, heavy metal, and arena rock, formed in 2006. Renowned for their costumed stage presence, Ghost’s members are known as “Nameless Ghouls” and the lead-singer is called “Papa Emeritus”. The track is off the soundtrack of Ghost’s debut movie, Rite Here, Rite Now.
Scarlet Rebels – How Much Is Enough
Scarlet Rebels are a five-piece melodic rock band from Llanelli, South Wales, formed in 2018. They’re known for their efforts to raise money and collect donations for local food banks and charities. This track is off their new album, “Where The Colours Meet” released in August.
Sleater-Kinney – Here Today
Sleater-Kinney are a riot girl turned indie rock band formed in Olympia, WA in 1994 by Corin Tucker of Heavens to Betsy and Carrie Brownstein of Excuse 17. The group’s name derives from Sleater Kinney Road, where they used to practice together. This single released September 3rd will be a bonus track on the deluxe version of Little Rope coming out in October.
R&B/Pop
She Drew The Gun – Mirrors
She Drew The Gun is a psych pop band known for its often political lyrics, from Wirral, England. Louisa Roach, started She Drew the Gun in 2013 as a solo project, then expanded it to a four-piece band in 2015. About this song, Roach said “it’s about trying to heal, and about getting sick of trying to heal but also about how healing in a neoliberal world is also recognising your oppression.”
Stevie Wonder – Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart
The 74 year old living legend, had his first Billboard No. 1 hit at the age of 12, and has won 25 Grammys (the most by any solo artist). This is Stevie’s first new song since 2020, which encourages people to get involved and seize the crucial moment that the country and the world find themselves in right now.
Tune Yards – Rally
Tune Yards is an Oakland-based music project of Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner. Their music draws from an eclectic variety of sources and uses elements such as loop pedals, ukulele, vocals, and lo-fi percussion. Rally was a bonus new track on the 10th anniversary deluxe reissue of their 2014 album Nikki Nack, released 8/9.
Zeshan B – Change (Is On the Way)
Zeshan B is an Indian-American singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and recording artist from Chicago. He started his music career as an opera singer, but early on in his opera career, he formed a world music string band with some of his colleagues and left the world of opera behind him. This hopeful song is off his new protest songs album O Say, Can You See? released in late July.
Reggae/Ska
AHI – My People
AHI is a Canadian singer-songwriter, of Western Caribbean descent, from Toronto. His stage is an acronym of his full name Ahkinoah Habah Izarh. About his songs, AHI says, “I write the songs I need to hear. I share them just in case someone else might need them too.” AHI released this black pride single August 16th.
Arivu – Billions
Arivu, is an Indian composer, rapper, singer and songwriter. He was a member of The Casteless Collective and leads the 10-piece band Ambassa, founded in 2022. He is best known for his independent singles, like this one. This global justice song is off Arivu’s new album Valliama Peraandi, released in July.
DJ Pamplona & Soom T – War and Bombs
DJ Pamplona is an independent audio engineer from Rio de Janeiro Brazil, of the group Dub Ataque. He is now based in Florida where he owns his own studio and record label, Pamplona Beats. This anti-war on Gaza song features Soom T, a Scottish reggae singer of Indian origin.
Peetah Morgan, Zion I Kings – Who Run the World
Zion I Kings, a family of producers and musicians from three respected roots production houses, finished and released this posthumous track by the late Peetah Morgan in July. Peetah, who passed away on February 25th, was the lead singer of Grammy-winning contemporary reggae band Morgan Heritage, formed in 1994 by five children of reggae artist Denroy Morgan.
Jazz/Swing/Spoken Word
Cats and Dinosaurs – Neoliberalism Is Dead
Cats and Dinosaurs, known as “the world´s most radical swing band,” are a socialist and feminist swing collective from Gothenburg, Sweden. They make vintage jazz and blues music with political lyrics, and stop motion music videos in Swedish and English.
Meshell Ndegeocello – Tsunami Rising
Meshell Ndegeocello is a singer-songwriter, poet, and bassist. Her music incorporates a wide variety of influences, including funk, soul, jazz, hip hop, reggae and rock. She’s been nominated for 11 Grammys, and won two. This epic 8-minute track is off her new album, No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin, which pays homage to the eminent writer and activist James Baldwin.
Morley – Where Are We
Born and raised in New York City, Morley, blends jazz, soul, and folk traditions with lyrics about human rights and environmental justice. This song is about healing ancestral trauma and building a better future for the next generation. The chorus is a traditional hymn from Nigeria, sung in Yoruba, meaning, “Giving thanks to the most high.”
Hip-Hop
Eddie Mack – The Sound Of War, Pt. 2
Eddie Mack is an Arab-American Hip-Hop artist from Detroit. Mack engineers and produces and writes all of his own music. His distinct sound combines vintage Hip-Hop tracks with contemporary production methods. This sequel to his October 2023 protest song against Israel’s war on Gaza, The Sound Of War, was released in August.
Harris J ft. Lowkey – Hourriya (Freedom)
Harris J, AKA “the Muslim Justin Bieber” is a young British Muslim artist whose debut album, Salam, was released in 2015. This song features rapper Lowkey, an Iraqi-British rapper and activist from London. These two London-based Muslim artists collaborated on this anti-war track against Israel’s war/genocide in Gaza.
Heems, Vijay Iyer – Manto
Heems is an Indian-American rapper from Queens, New York, best known for being part of the alternative hip hop groups Das Racist and Swet Shop Boys. Heems is also an activist and board member with the South Asian community organization SEVA. This song is about the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan, and features Indian-American composer and pianist Vijay Iyer.
Hyphen – Deskjob
Hyphen is an English rapper and songwriter of Indian origin. He was working in finance and feeling depressed and lacking purpose, and started making music to help him deal with depression, which gave him a new sense of purpose. Hyphen said this song is “about corporate life sucking a** while being at work is weird and disorienting”.
Macklemore – Hind’s Hall 2
The Seattle star rapper released this follow-up to his viral Spring protest single on September 20th, and performed it live for the first time in Seattle the next day at the Palestine Will Live Forever benefit concert. The track features Palestinian-American artists Anees and Amer Zahr, Gaza-born rapper MC Abdul, and the LA Palestinian Kids Choir. Just like the first song, Macklemore is donating the proceeds from “Hind’s Hall 2” to UNRWA.
MC Lyte – Change Your Ways(feat. Stevie Wonder and Common)
Considered one of the pioneers of female rap, MC Lyte first gained fame in the late 1980s, becoming the first female rapper to release a full solo album in 1988. She’s back after ten years with a brand new album, called ‘1 of 1’. In this song MC Lyte, Stevie Wonder, and Common address systemic injustice and the pervasive impact of racism on African Americans.
Old Boy Rhymes – American Pyramids (feat. Mr Lif & Sage Francis)
Alaska-born, third world-raised OldBoy Rhymes, released his debut album in August on Sage Francis’ Strange Famous Records. About his stage name, he said “I don’t believe a no-name nobody has ever dropped a debut album from out of nowhere, in their late 30’s, featuring a bunch of genre icons.” On “American Pyramids,” all three emcees liken the American currency structure to a large pyramid scheme.
Wax and Eric Krasno – Things Are Changin (feat. Marlon Craft)
Indie rap legend Wax and modern funk guitarist Eric Krasno (AKA Kraz), have been friends and occasional collaborators for many years and released their epic collaborative album LIGHT YEARS this August. This track features NYC-based Rapper Marlon Craft, known for his politically conscious lyricism and throwback jazzy beats.
Metal/Hardcore
BODY COUNT – F**k What You Heard
Formed in LA in 1990, fronted by rapper Ice-T who first established himself as a rapper then co-founded the group with lead guitarist Ernie C out of their shared interest in heavy metal music. Body Count have been credited for paving the way for the rise of rap metal and nu metal, even though Ice-T does not rap in most Body Count songs. This track critiques the American two party system, comparing the Democrats and Republicans to warring gangs.
Corporate Avenger- War Is Won
Corporate Avenger are an 8 member native rap metal band from Southern California, including members of The Kottonmouth Kings, 20 Dead Flower Children & No Doubt. Their first album in 2001 was met with backlash by conservative and religious watchdog groups leading to some retailers refusing to stock their album. This single which dropped August 31st is their first release in 19 years.
FEVER 333 – No Hostages
FEVER 333 is a political rap-core trio formed in Inglewood, California, in 2017 by members of Letlive, Chariot and Night Verses. Originally named The Fever, 333 represents the band’s three core principles of community, charity and change. This anti-police brutality single, released in August, is off their new album ‘Darker White’, set for release on October 04.
Serj Tankian – Justice Will Shine On
Serj Tankian is an Armenian-American musician and activist, best known as the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, keyboardist, and occasional rhythm guitarist of the heavy metal band System of a Down, formed in 1994. Tankian says he wrote this song during the early days of System of a Down. It’s about the Armenian genocide that took place during WWI, and how it still impacts his family and the broader Armenian community.
Punk
Chasing Ghosts – Amnesia Everybody
Chasing Ghosts are an Australian-Aboriginal-lead indie-punk band. According to the band, ‘Amnesia Everybody‘ is about “non-indigenous Australians and their failure to acknowledge not just the atrocities of our past, but in also choosing to not think about them at all. Instead, a different history arose in Australia – one of negative stereotypes that victim-blamed First Nations Peoples for our own marginalisation and systematic decimation.”
CLAMM – Define Free
CLAMM are a Melbourne-based Australian punk trio. Their songs are about “trying to navigate systems of power and oppression while retaining a healthy sense of self and mental health.” About this song, off their new EP Disembodiment, the band says “Define Free speaks to the idea that even within the privilege of a first world country, how free is the individual?”
Destroy Boys – You Hear Yes (feat. Mannequin Pussy, and Scowl)
Destroy Boys are a teen punk band from Sacramento, CA. Their name was taken from words that singer Violet Mayugba wrote on her chalkboard at home during a period of relationship troubles. This feminist anti-assault/harassment anthem from their new album, Funeral Soundtrack No. 4 features fellow feminist punks Mannequin Pussyfrom Philadelphia, and Scowl from Santa Cruz, California.
Mike and the Molotovs – Monarchy in the USA
Mike and the Molotovs are a country punk band, self-described as “Spaghetti Punk…serving up fresh satire and catchy anti-corporate rock and roll.” They’re a supergroup made up of country and punk luminaries based in Phoenix, Arizona. This song is the title track off their 6-song EP of irreverent working-class anthems, “Monarchy in the USA,” released in August.
Millie Manders and The Shutup – Me Too
London born, classically-trained multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Millie Manders, formerly of Second Sense, launched her solo career in 2013 and formed her punk band “The Shutup” in 2015. This song, inspired by the #MeToo movement against sexual violence is off their new album Wake Up, Shut Up, Work released in August.
The Oozes – Piggies In Blankets (feat. Grove)
The Oozes are Queer-Punk band from London. Their music “centres trans liberation, opposing the conventional, embracing the bizarre and uplifting the oppressed.” This anti-police brutality track features Jamaican-British rapper, Grove, a genre-defying, non-binary femme artist based in Bristol.
The O’Reilly’s and the Paddyhats – Rise Up, Tear Down
This 7-member Irish Folk Punk Band from Germany, started out as a duo, playing in small barns and pubs as “The O’Reillys,” and a little later mutual friends joined them as the “Paddyhats” and turned the duo into a full band. This anti-fascist song is “directed against political and social currents that endanger democracy – and calls on people to speak up, rise up and fight together for freedom and justice.”
Problem Patterns – I Think You Should Leave
Problem Patterns are “four shouty queers who write songs for right now.” They don’t have a front person, they swap instruments and roles to ensure that each member of the group has a voice. This single, released at the end of June, tackles negative attitudes towards their hometown of Belfast and was inspired by a journalist who disparaged Northern Ireland.
Rent Strike – Escape from Mobius Strip Mall
Rent Strike are a Lansing, MI based folk punk band. Their sound falls somewhere in the intersection between folk, indie, punk, metal, and jazz. This prison abolitionist song which “aims to explore and free the listener from the titular psychic prison apparatus” is off their upcoming album Möbius Strip Mall, due out October 4th.
Zebrahead – Doomsday on the Radio
Zebrahead is a punk rock band from La Habra, California, formed in 1996. All 4 band members, whose bands at the time shared the same practice space, met each other experimenting with different music styles together. This led to them all leaving their old bands and forming Zebrahead. About this song the band said “When the world gives you lemons in the news and media…make some f**king lemonade and embrace it.”
Greetings Comrades, I’m DJ General Strike, host of the weekly protest music radio show, Protest Tunes on 91.3 KBCS FM in Seattle. I broadcast radical protest music of all genres and eras for 2 hours every Wednesday at 9 PM. Over the last three months I’ve been compiling new protest songs released this year (as I’ve done for the last 3 years). This Winter saw the release of a wide variety of protest songs, most notably anti-war songs against the brutal wars in Gaza and Ukraine, songs inspired by the upcoming US presidential election, as well as a few protest songs harking back to the 1920s. I aired most of these songs on my show this Wednesday, which you can listen to the archive of here. I’ve organized these 40 protest songs by genre below for ease of listening, you can also listen to all 40 on this Spotify Playlist. Without further ado, here’s my top 40 Protest Songs of Winter 2024.
Folk
David Rovics – Song for the Houthi Army.
Rovics is a Portland based activist singer songwriter, and anti-Zionist Jew from New York. This track is off his new album about Israel’s war in Gaza, Notes From A Holocaust, released in January. While there are a lot of great protest songs on this album, I think this one about the Houthi Red Sea blockade stands out the most.
Joe Solo ft Commoners Choir- A Better Way
Joe Solo is a musician, writer, poet, activist, broadcaster and washing machine engineer from Scarborough, UK. His musical odyssey began in 1987 fronting the pop-punk band Lithium Joe. He described this song as “a big protest singalong in defiance of the times we live in.”
Grace Petrie – Fixer Upper
Petrie is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leicester, England. She began performing in 2006 but in 2010, the advent of the Conservative-led coalition government influenced her, as a socialist, feminist, and lesbian, towards an increasing emphasis on political songwriting. This track is off her new album Build Something Better released March 8th.
Cheekface – Don’t Stop Believing
Cheekface is an indie folk-rock band based in Los Angeles, formed in 2017. Some of Cheekface’s fans refer to themselves as Cheek Freaks. This song about alienation in late stage capitalism is off their new album It’s Sorted released in January.
Sean Brady – Child of the Troubles
Seán Brady is a well known entertainer and recording artist on the Irish circuit in Britain and a regular performer in venues across europe. This heartfelt anti-war song draws on his personal experience growing up during the 30 year period of violent conflict in Northern Ireland, known as The Troubles.
Maddie Morris – Marsha P Johnson
Maddie Morris is a British queer feminist folk artist from Leeds. She wrote this song for LGBT History Month to commemorate Stonewall activist Marsha P Johson, about whom she said “Marsha is an activist I have looked up to for a long time, and I wrote this piece about the way it’s easy to feel ‘wore down’ by the constant micro-aggressions and homophobia experienced by queer people in Britain today.”
Aoife O’Donovan – War Measure
Aoife O’Donova is folk-rock singer and Grammy award-winning songwriter from Boston, best known as the lead singer for the string band Crooked Still. She also co-founded the Grammy-winning female folk trio I’m with Her. This track is off her new album, All My Friends, a commission to celebrate the centenary of the 19th amendment, inspired by the life and mission of suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt.
Rock
Real Ones – Stop The War
Real Ones, also known as Reelones, is a folk/rock band from Bergen, Norway. The band was formed in 1994 when the founding members were 14 and 15 years of age. They describe this song as “in sympathy with those who go to bed each night not knowing whether they or their loved ones will be wiped out by a bomb before sunrise. “
Average Joey – Indifference
Average Joey is a traveling songwriter and folk musician from Pennsylvania. He now lives full time on the road touring and performing music. This track about systemic indifference and individualism is off his new album Impermanence released in February.
Gossip – Real Power
This Indie rock band was formed in 1999 in Olympia, Washington, by vocalist Beth Ditto. All three band members are originally from Searcy, Arkansas; the drummer moved to Olympia to attend Evergreen State College and the rest of the band followed. This protest song is the title track of their new album just released March 22nd.
Peter Garrett – Meltdown
Peter Garrett is an Australian musician, environmentalist, activist and former politician, best known as the lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil, which he joined in 1973. This climate change protest song is off Peter Garrett’s second solo album (backed by his band The Alter Egos) The True North.
R&B/Pop
Carsie Blanton – Empire
Carsie Blanton is a singer-songwriter and guitarist based in New Orleans. Blanton says she “writes anthems for a world worth saving.” This anti-imperialist song is off her new album After the Revolution. About this song she said “Who says you can’t write a pop song about imperialism, American hegemony and the decline of capitalism”.
Shaina Taub – Keep Marching (from the Broadway musical “Suffs”)
Shaina Taub is a Vermont-raised, Brooklyn-based composer, singer-songwriter and performer. This song is newly written for Taub’s musical about the Women’s Suffrage Movement, “Suffs” upcoming Broadway run. Taub wrote the music, lyrics, and book for the musical and also stars as Alice Paul in “Suffs”.
Jazlynn Q & Eddie Mack – My People
Arab-American Hip-Hop Artist, from Detroit, Eddie Mack, released this great compilation album against Israel’s war on Gaza, this February, called The Art of War, featuring many Palestinian and Arab artists. This song is by Jazlynn Q, an 18-year-old singer/songwriter from Miami, via New York, of Palestinian and Dominican roots.
Gruff Rhys – Cover Up The Cover Up
This Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author performs solo and with rock band Super Furry Animals, who obtained mainstream success in the 90s, and the electro-pop band Neon Neon. He’s considered a figurehead of the era known as Cool Cymru, a Welsh cultural movement in music and film in the 1990s and 2000s.
Reggae/Ska
Protoje – 30 Million
Protoje is a reggae singer and songwriter from Jamaica. His mother is Jamaican singer Lorna Bennett ,and his father is former calypso singer Mike Ollivierre. About this song Protoje stated “I’ve been able to witness the transformation of my country over the last twenty years and wanted to make a statement on the Jamaican situation. This song speaks about what is, what was and what can be, as it relates to the quality of life that we experience here in Jamaica”
Jahneration & Capleton – When We Gonna Rise
Jahneration is a Reggae / Dancehall / Hip Hop duo of singers from Paris, founded in 2009. Diversity, Unity and Sharing of Music are their main slogan, which they apply to their lyrics and ways of working. Capleton, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall musician, also known as King Shango, King David, The Fireman and The Prophet.
Evil Ambition – Soul Rebel Project
Soul Rebel Project are a Reggae/Rock band hailing from Boston. This song features Grammy award winning reggae songwriter, musician and composer MediSun, who is also from Boston, now based in LA, plus Maine-based DJ-Producer duo Green Lion Crew.
Jazz/Spoken Word
Moor Mother – ALL THE MONEY (feat. Alya Al-Sultani)
Moor Mother is a jazz poet, musician, and activist from Philadelphia. She is one half of the collective Black Quantum Futurism, and co-leads the free-jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements and the experimental hip hop group 700 Bliss. This track about the history British imperialism is off her new album ‘The Great Bailout’ released last month.
aja monet – for the kids…
aja monet is a poet, writer, lyricist and activist based in Los Angeles. She was the youngest poet to ever hold the title Nuyorican Poets Café Grand Slam Champion at the age of 19 in 2007. This song was inspired by Langston Hughes 1938 poem, “For the Kids Who Died.”
The Brkn Record – Cut the Cheque
The Brkn Record is a new project led and produced by Jake Ferguson, the co-founder and bass player for the UK’s foundational deep jazz outfit the Heliocentrics, with fellow Heliocentrics co-founder and drummer Malcolm Catto. This single calling for reparations for slavery is off The Brkn Record’s forthcoming sophomore album, The Architecture of Oppression Part 2.
Hip Hop
Arrested Development – For Free (feat. April So Lyrical, Configa & Speech)
Arrested Development was formed in Atlanta in 1988 by rapper and producer Speech and turntablist Headliner. They were the first hip hop band to win a Grammy for Best New Artist, in 1993. This track is off their new album Bullets In The Chamber, released in January, which is so full of great protest songs, it was hard to pick just one.
Víctor Jara -Ceschi (feat. R.A.P. Ferreira & Zeta)
Ceschi is a hip hop musician based in New Haven, Connecticut and a member of the punk-hip hop fusion band Codefendants.He is also co-founder of the record label Fake Four Inc. This track inspired by legendary Chilean protest sing-songwriter and activist Victor Jara is the 4th single from Ceschi’s upcoming album “Bring Us The Head Of Francisco False Part One”
Brother Ali – The Collapse
Brother Ali is a blind, albino rapper, community activist, and member of the Rhymesayers Entertainment hip hop collective from Minneapolis. In this track Ali, who is Muslim, and Jewish producer unJUST tackle Israel’s assault on the Palestinian people.
Heems, Lapgan, Saul Williams – Accent
Heems is a rapper from Queens, New York, best known for being part of the alternative hip hop groups Das Racist, and Swet Shop Boys. This anti-xenophobia song, is the lead single off Heems’ new album Lafandar and is a collaboration with veteran slam poet, Saul Williams.
My People – Sean Toure’ (feat. Ras Kass & DJ Face)
Sean Toure’ is an underground hip hop producer/emcee from Baltimore. This black history song features LA rapper Ras Kass of Golden State Warriors and the hip hop supergroup The HRSMN, and DJ Face from True School Corporation and The CrossRhodes.
Frank Waln – Seven
Frank Waln is a Lakota hip hop artist, producer, audio engineer and activist from the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota. He has been awarded three Native American Music Awards and received five nominations, both individually and with his group Nake Nula Waun. This track is off Waln’s new album Songs Against Colonialism.
Tonio Sagan & Far Eye House – Country Code Number 1
Tonio Sagan is a Massachusetts born and bred producer, lyricist, and hip hop scholar, and grandson of astronomer Carl Sagan. Far Eye House is a Hip-Hop and reggae producer from Springfield, MA. This protest song against American exceptionalism was released December 29th of 2023, just missing last year’s cut.
Configa, Tommy Evans, Speech – They Are Not Expecting Us to Fight
Configa and Tommy Evans are the world’s first producer-rapper-PhD combo. Configa rose through the ranks as a battle rapper and produced and released his debut album in 2000. Tommy Evans is based in London but was born and grew up in Leeds. This single, taken from the duos forthcoming album “Jolicoeur” also features Speech from Arrested Development.
Abe Batshon – Palestine Will Rise
Abe Batshon is a Palestinian American songwriter, artist and entrepreneur born in San Francisco and raised in Hayward, California. This single released in February about the war in Gaza also features Lebanese singer Samer and Detroit-based Palestinian-American hip hop artist Sammy Shiblaq.
Sole, DJ Pain 1 – Land of Stolen Milk
Sole, is an American underground hip hop artist from Portland, Maine. He also hosts a podcast about revolutionary politics and radical philosophy called “The Solecast.” DJ Pain 1, is an American record producer and DJ from Madison, Wisconsin. They released this unpatriotic, anti-Trump single March 1st.
Metal
Bob Vylan – Hunger Games
Bob Vylan are an English duo based in London who play a style merging elements of grime, punk, metal and hip hop. Bobby Vylan is the singer/guitarist of the band and Bobbie Vylan is the drummer. Both go by stage names to protect their privacy, and call themselves ‘the Bobs’. This song is about the “economic crisis” happening in the UK, and the hardships faced by those struggling to afford food.
Hacktivist – Crooks and Criminals
Hacktivist was formed when rapper J Hurley began recording vocals over some of metalcore guitarist, Timfy James demos and the tracks were so popular online, they decided to become a band. About this song the band said, “This is a call to question what you’re being presented in politics and media. What dealings are influencing the information you see and the policies which govern you?”
New Model Army – Reload
New Model Army are an English band formed in Bradford, West Yorkshire, in 1980 by lead vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Justin Sullivan, the only continuous member of the band in its 44 year history. While being rooted in punk rock, their songs often sound more like metal, and have always been difficult to categorize. This track is off their new album Unbroken released in January.
Ministry – Cult Of Suffering
Ministry are pioneers of industrial metal and were founded in Chicago, in 1981 by producer, singer, multi-instrumentalist and sole original band member, Al Jourgensen. This track is off their new album Hopium for the Masses, released March 1st, which is mostly protest songs, (many of which were released as singles last year). This track is about Putin and the war in Ukraine.
Punk
JER – Say Gay or Say Goodnight
JER is a nonbinary musician, composer,and music educator who hosts the YouTube channel Skatune Network, where theypost ska covers of popular songs. JER is outspoken about the history and present state of ska music, earning the fan nickname “The CEO of Ska”. This track is a protest song against Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
BIFF – KILL ALL THE MEN IN THE GOVERNMENT
BIFF are an Australian Garage Skate band, with strong roots in Melbourne’s rebellious punk rock scene, formed in 2019. This single off their upcoming EP, BIFFTAPE #4, was recorded at a Ukrainian campground in Buxton over a weekend.
Green Day – Living in the 20s
Pop-punk superstars Green Day formed in the East Bay of California in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, together with bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt when they were both 14 years old. This song which tackles many of the issues of the day is off their new album Saviors.
Sham 69 – War of the Words
Sham 69 are an English punk rock band that formed in Hersham, Surrey in 1975. They were one of the most successful early punk bands in the UK. This song about political polarization is from their new album To The Ends of the Earth.
The Menstrual Cramps – Class War
This queer feminist punk band was founded in a broken bedroom when the members were on the verge of homelessness, in Bristol, UK in 2016. They describe themselves as “DIY, loud, queer, anti-fascist, anti-racist, pro-choice, intersectional, and feminist.” This anti-capitalist track is the second single off their upcoming new album.
