New music this week from Exploring Birdsong, Muse, Swim Deep, Beth Orton, Telescreens, The Rolling Stones, sleepazoid, Linda Perry, Jon Lampley, Jesus Jones, Sugar, Chris Reed and the Anime Raiders, Inspiral Carpets, MUTT and much more. Enjoy!
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I knew Linda Perry was working on a new solo album, and now
that it's out I find myself needing to reset my expectations. "Let It Die
Here" is a good album, but it's much more straight-ahead pop than I was
expecting from the founder of 4 Non-Blondes. That shouldn't be a surprise
though, given all of the pop artists she's written for and produced over the
years. Like I said, it's a good album. Just don't expect 4 non-Blondes.
If you like Muse you're going to like the new album.
"The Wow! Signal" is most definitely a Muse album, but some of it
sounds like a retread of things they've done before. You really can't knock
someone sticking with the same formula that's been winning for them. Just ask
AC/DC. Maybe I was just expecting more.
A couple of bands from my mid-20's dancing days dropped new
singles this week. The new track by Jesus Jones, "Shot in the Chevy",
is unmistakenly them, but the track is a bit more laid-back than I had
expected. On the other hand, Inspiral Carpets dropped a new track called
"Drag the Bag" and it's the same stuff they were doing in the 1990's.
Of the newer bands sleepazoid impressed me a lot with their
latest, "New Age". The Australian group have dropped a solid alt-rock
album that's hooky and just a bit heavy on the reverb. They're worth checking
out.
Finally, the latest from The Rolling Stones would fit right
in with what they were doing in the 1980's. Everyone focuses on their blues
driven rock and roll but this is a band with some pretty solid ballads and
"Jealous Lover" ranks right up there.
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With a number of Progressive Democrats, dare I say
Democratic Socialists, winning primaries in the past week in seats that are
safely Democratic - they're going to go to congress - it has got me thinking
about something said by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) a few weeks back
that really hasn't got a lot of traction in the press. The basic gist was
asking if she had her sights on running the Democratic Party or perhaps running
for President, and her reply was that she wasn't thinking that small.
And I'm starting to believe she has a point. Believe me, I'd
like to feel hopeful again.
Let's face it, the current administration has pretty much
destroyed the American experiment in democratic governance. Our "Republic,
if we can keep it" is pretty easy to bungle as it turns out. All it needed
was a narcissist who ignored every norm we had celebrated for 250 years and for
no one to call his ass out on it. He tried to take over a party and then a
nation and the people best set to prevent it rolled over and gave him the keys.
The Democratic Party has been putting out a message of
taking the fight to him if given the chance, and attempting to reset everything
to where it used to be. Remember we were once civil with one another? Remember
debating? Remember checks and balances? That's the big one - checks and
balances. Give them a shot and they will restore checks and balances. Hit the
reset button on American Democracy.
That's just not good enough.
Don't get me wrong, I'm going to vote for the people who
don't actively support fascists. Generally speaking that has been the
Democratic Party for a while now. That said, I don't want just a reset (or even
a just reset) of American Democracy. I want to do better.
We need to swallow the fact that other nations in the world
are now doing things better than we are. Yes, taxes are higher in The
Netherlands. You know what they don't have? Medical bills. People in Europe
don't live longer because they drink wine, they live longer because they have
free healthcare.
Why the hell can't we have free healthcare? In case you
haven't noticed we're about to become the only country on this continent
that doesn't have free healthcare.
The Japanese have higher taxes than we do. You know what
they also have? Working public transit. You can get anywhere in the country in
a few hours without driving and unless you're going to Okinawa or Hokkaido you
probably don't need to fly either. You can travel hundreds of miles in only a
couple of hours. Most people in Japan don't own cars.
Why the hell don't we have bullet trains?
Last summer a sinkhole opened up in a suburb of Tokyo. It
swallowed up a number of cars, infrastructure, and caused significant damage.
You know how long it took to repair? 24 hours. It happened that fast because
they have a responsive government and infrastructure to handle emergencies like
this.
Why the hell can't we have functioning infrastructure
support?
A lot of newsworthy names, stalwarts of the Democratic
Party, have been moaning about this supposed uprising from the left, asking for
moderation and trying to calm "fears" and talk about a united party
led by the old guard, who have a plan - we are told. I haven't heard said plan,
but they keep saying as long as they get back in power we should expect rapid
change!
To the center again.
Fuck that.
Moderates don't change the world and the world needs changing. We need this
coming from the left, and hard. Positive change doesn't come any other way. It
never has. We've already seen what change from the right looks like and we as a
people and a country are paying the price.
It's time for change from the left. I'm not talking Obama, who as a Senator and later President was mostly moderate and I'll be honest I don't blame him for that. I'm talking Biden, who was the most progressive President in a century. I'm talking even further left.
How else do we get a national healthcare system? Infrastructure support? Transportation? I higher standard of education as the expectation and not the exception? We can do this. We can do better. But it's only the left that is trying to lead us there.
It's not Progressive. It's not Democratic Socialism. It's HUMANITY.
It's where I choose to live.
We might be able to compromise with the Democratic Party, but we cannot compromise with the right-wing. We need to move the whole concept of "moderate" back to where it once was, which is pretty far to the left of where it is now. Every Democrat from McGovern on has been called a Socialist or worse, or did you not remember that. I am waaaaaay the hell to the left of those people. You know, I don't actually give a damn whether a government is big or small. I want it to fucking work. If that takes more people working then so be it.
But I need to emphasize something important - it's not that the left needs to work with the moderates; it's that the moderates need to compromise with us.
Because in case you haven't noticed it, the message of the
progressive left is winning.
And because I love you, more proof that Anna Taylor-Joy can
act in just about anything:
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