Music: Saturday mixtape: Considering musical activism, post-Obama
- 1. Looking outward: A few years ago, Ted Leo
pulled off a neat trick with “The Ballad of the Sin Eater,” turning in solid commentary of America’s place in the world during the height of the Bush era. With the Iranian election still fresh, it’s a line of thought in need of reevaluation.
3. Questioning the spiritual: Fucked Up’s “The Chemistry Of Common Life” was an amazing, vitriolic statement on spirituality, with “Twice Born” playing centerpiece. From Sufjan Stevens to The Thermals, religion plays a huge role on both sides of this debate.
3. From the outside in: M.I.A.’s done more to bring radical politics to the mainstream than any other modern musician – especially the Sri Lanka conflict. Songs like “Sunshowers” excel at exposing audiences to political opinions outside of guy-with-a-guitar rhetoric.
4. Indifference: Not having an opinion is still an opinion. Cass McCombsanalyzes the nature of indifference with “Don’t Vote,” which plays like a modern “Okie from Muskogee.”
5. Going conservative: If you look around the internet for the phrase “republican indie rock,” you’ll be surprised at how little shows up. Cold War Kids