Album of the day here at Shouts HQ’s is Ow by riot grrrl act Pom Pom Squad out of New York City. This sophomore piece is noisy, beautiful and real. Check it out!
Cover photo from the Pom Pom Squad’s Bandcamp page.
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Category Archives: Spotlight
Spotlight On: Jon Davis
Our spotlight today will be on a conscious musician out of New York City. Jon Davis is a classically trained artist that beliefs in the empowering side of mainstream music.
Jon told us via email how it is his goal to “to inspire people to connect to a greater inner spirit of positivity, and inner growth, and challenge the constructs that all commercial music has to be unidimensional and focus only on indulgence rather than love and growth.”
What issues drive you or motivate you to write a song?
I’m a big advocate for spiritual health, and mental wellness. I believe that mainstream music too often focuses on negative emotions, and reactivity. Life isn’t perfect and art has a responsibility to capture all layers of the experience; however people still need art that reflects hope, even in the expression of pain. I look to modern day artists like Sia, P!NK, and Lady Gaga who have managed to bridge the gap between the mainstream media and lyrical substance. I also pull a lot of my inspiration from Whitney Houston, Luther Vandross, Michael Jackson, and Freddie Mercury.
Both the substance of the music and substance of the artist inspires the listener to think creatively about about life. That to me is the ultimate accomplishment a musician can have, commercial success while still inspiring thought and substance in your music.
I focus on love and inner power in my music. I aspire to create music that communicates honestly to the listener, while shedding light on both the romantic and undesirable side of the journey to self discovery, the thrashing pain when dreams don’t manifest in the way we were promised they would as children, and the draw to continue pursuing an ideal even after defeat and disappointment.
Ultimately, my goal is for my music to push people to go inward and listen to the little voice inside more than the enormous and subduing voice of the collective, which is why there is a blend of commercial sounds mixed with “anthematic” and “rallying cry” inspirations. I try to always express my emotions openly while showing the inner struggle to push past the voices of doubt, shame, guilt, and feelings of unworthiness.
Do you partake in any sort of activism outside the music?
I donate music to an organization called Songs of Love which writes custom music for terminally ill children. As a performer and writer, the most challenging thing to give away is energy and time, but it’s also the most impactful thing a person can give. Donating music for such a compassionate cause keeps me humble and pulls me out of the egocentric, and often negative reality of working in the music industry.
It reminds me that despite all the challenges, this whole profession is about touching people, even if only for 3 minutes, and that momentary disruption in the day to day can save lives. It brings us freedom from the confusion and disappointment of reality, and makes life more interesting, manageable, and ultimately conquerable.
Check out more of Jon’s music on his webpage: https://www.officialjondavis.com/music
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4 Bangin’ Antifascist Albums For The End Of Summer
Future You by The Mommyheads
The Mommyheads are an indie-prog-pop band who were signed and sacked by a large record label in the late 90’s and who developed a pretty big cult following during that same decade. They split. They got back together. Now they are just about to release a new album, their twelfth effort, and supposedly it is quite the political piece. In any case, it is a stunningly entertaining album. I caught up with Micheal from the band and he said that this political roll they are on started two albums back:
“Our second-to-newest album, Soundtrack to the World’s End, is full of warnings about the profound sickness of industrialized society, and its destruction of the Earth. Our newest album, Future You, expands on those societal and environmental alarms, and adds political ones, by feeling into the fascist, nationalist currents creeping across our world.”
“Our new, political songs aren’t polemics that hit you over the head with one-dimensional messages. They are thoughtful explorations of contradictions in contemporary life that hope to arouse complex questions and emotions, not give easy answers.”
The Mommyheads will be touring Scandinavia and the eastern part of US this autumn so stay tuned through mommyheads.com.
Drowning In Shit by Spichard Rencer
This album has four tracks totaling a length of 2:14 minutes. This is extremely powerful grindcore. More importantly it drips empathy and anger towards the state of the world today. Check this band out if you’re into this sort of thing. If you can’t handle the music, read the lyrics and count your blessings that there are creative people out there standing up for the rest of us.
Avoc – Hassis, Flows and Schlappen by Absoluth
This album is a year old but we just had to include it when we heard the old school style, bangin’ hip hop beats with political German spoken lyrics. This band is pure joy. Blast this for your end of summer fiesta and never look back.
Pull The Plug EP by Jow Goddard (ft. Kool Keith)
“AF Trax’s message is very simple. The far right ultimately wish for the destruction of our way of life and indeed the lives of many of the people we love. The message is love. The message is solidarity. The message is No Pasaran – They shall not pass. It is a call to stand together, it is a call to stand up, it is a call to ACT. Individually we may be powerless, but together we are strong.
If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention!
All label profits will be donated to Hope Not Hate (www.hopenothate.org.uk) which campaigns to counter racism and fascism. ” – from the album’s Bandcamp page
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