I Ainโt So Blue is Australian folk musician Emmy Ryanโs debut EP, and itโs an incredible showcase of her inner world, which is inevitably influenced by the world outside her. Comprised of seven songs and with a runtime just shy of thirty minutes, the EP is delightful, straightforward, topically relevant to the world at large, and, above all, honest. And itโs precisely this, Emmyโs honesty as a songwriter, that allows I Ainโt So Blue to feel like a unique display of talent and a promising sign for the music she will compose in the future.
As it is only fitting to start from the beginning, the EP opens with two tracks that effectively introduce us to Emmyโs sensibilities: Solo, So Low and A Place to Call Home. On the first song, weโre shown the meditative side of Emmy, as she is reminded of a past relationship, prompting her to reflect on the loneliness she is currently feeling. On the second one, she brings these meditative feelings to the world outside her mind, as the track is focused on the rise of interest rates on land, and how folks like her struggle to find a place to call home in the face of landlordsโ monetary desires.
These two songsโ core elements can be found in many of the tracks on I Ainโt So Blue, as Emmy is capable of drawing us into her mind and the thoughts that inhabit it; but she can also get us to rally behind a just cause through the same process. The songs In My Dreams and How Many are great examples of this, as one is about navigating the insecurities around love and attraction, and the other is effectively a protest song that, thanks to the cover image used in the single version, we know is about the ongoing conflict in Palestine.
This is not to say that Emmy has a template when approaching music, rather, pointing this out shows how the fundamentals of the EP make it a cohesive and direct endeavor. Nowhere is this clearer than in the title track, I Ainโt So Blue, which is a fascinating song to choose to represent the project. The piece shows us a series of vignettes of Emmyโs world, intertwined with the chorus about how sheโd tell the world she ainโt so lonely, that she ainโt so blue, but only if sheโd convince herself thatโs true. Considering that phrase is the first thing we see when opening the EP, thereโs a sense that in the process of singing us these songs, with all the intimate feelings and worries attached to them, Emmy has in a way matured to tell us that, really, she ainโt so blue.
As for room for improvement, there is some space in the current folk music landscape that Emmy could use as inspiration for her next project. For starters, I Ainโt So Blueโs musical palette is perfectly suitable for the songs featured on it, but other folk musicians, take Mount Eerie as an example, have explored a diverse array of sounds that could also suit Emmy’s thematic ambitions in a more dynamic way. In terms of songwriting, Emmyโs intimate style could lean more into the vivid imagery already present in songs like Rainbow Trout, with artists such as Adrianne Lenker and Kara Jackson as possible guidance for this direction.
This is to say that Emmyโs future looks promising, as she is no doubt a talented and sensitive person who will continue to look inside and outside her world for inspiration. Hopefully, we get to hear more from her sooner rather than later.
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 thatโs 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 wonโt let themselves be convinced itโs 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 whatโs 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.
Itโs not about musically recreating the atrocities at hand, rather, itโs 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, โBABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUDโ, 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 โan identity, an ideaโ has, continues, and will survive for as long as there are people standing with it.
In addition to this, the album also isnโt 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 โNO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEADโ which immediately brings into focus the situation in Gaza, and makes you wonder where the numbers stand today. Besides this, the song โRAINDROPS CAST IN LEADโ 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 whatโs 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 โmolotov hot tracks.โ This Summer saw the release of many great protest songs, most notably songs about the upcoming US presidential election and songs against Israelโs ongoing war/genocide in Gaza.ย I aired most of these songs on my show last Wednesday 9/25, (during the stationโs Fall fund drive) which you can listen to an archive of here. Iโve 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 โwrites anthems for a world worth saving.” She describes this one minute viral song, which was inspired by some internet trolls, as โa new song to unify the working class.โ
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 MLKโs 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.โ
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 Ghostโs 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, โWhere The Colours Meetโ 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 โit’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.โ
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 Stevieโs 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, โI write the songs I need to hear. I share them just in case someone else might need them too.โ 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 Arivuโs 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 โthe worldยดs most radical swing band,โ 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 Israelโs war on Gaza, The Sound Of War, was released in August.
Harris J ft. Lowkey – Hourriya (Freedom)
Harris J, AKA โthe Muslim Justin Bieberโ 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 Israelโs 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 โabout corporate life sucking a** while being at work is weird and disorientingโ.
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 โHindโs Hall 2โ 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. Sheโs back after ten years with a brand new album, called โ1 of 1โ. 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 Francisโ Strange Famous Records. About his stage name, he said โI donโt believe a no-name nobody has ever dropped a debut album from out of nowhere, in their late 30โs, featuring a bunch of genre icons.โ On โAmerican Pyramids,โ 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 bandโs three core principles of community, charity and change. This anti-police brutality single, released in August, is off their new album โDarker Whiteโ, 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. Itโs 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, โAmnesia Everybodyโ is about โnon-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 โ one of negative stereotypes that victim-blamed First Nations Peoples for our own marginalisation and systematic decimation.โ
CLAMM – Define Free
CLAMM are a Melbourne-based Australian punk trio. Their songs are about โtrying to navigate systems of power and oppression while retaining a healthy sense of self and mental health.โ About this song, off their new EP Disembodiment, the band says โDefine Free speaks to the idea that even within the privilege of a first world country, how free is the individual?โ
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 Punkโฆserving up fresh satire and catchy anti-corporate rock and roll.โ Theyโre 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, โMonarchy in the USA,โ 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 โThe Shutupโ 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 โcentres trans liberation, opposing the conventional, embracing the bizarre and uplifting the oppressed.โ 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 โThe OโReillys,โ and a little later mutual friends joined them as the โPaddyhatsโ and turned the duo into a full band. This anti-fascist song is โdirected against political and social currents that endanger democracy โ and calls on people to speak up, rise up and fight together for freedom and justice.โ
Problem Patterns – I Think You Should Leave
Problem Patterns are โfour shouty queers who write songs for right now.โ 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 โaims to explore and free the listener from the titular psychic prison apparatusโ is off their upcoming album Mรถbius 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 โWhen the world gives you lemons in the news and mediaโฆmake some f**king lemonade and embrace it.โ
