Sylvie Nehill and Takiaya Reed of Divide and Dissolve
“R.I.P. Patriarchy”
The following inscription appeared on a tombstone which was featured on the cover of Petra Glynt’s 2017 album This Trip. There is a renaissance of socially conscious female artists who are playing a role in not only trying to restructure a male dominated music industry, but society. Right now we are going to focus on ten women artists who are currently redefining protest music. Of course it needs to be acknowledge that a number of vital voices have soldiered on for decades. For example both Mavis Staples and Buffy Sainte-Marie made the list of the best 50 protest songs and 25 albums of 2017. But for the sake of this list we are going to focus on newer voices. None of these artists have released music prior to 2010.
Camp Cope
Camp Cope is an all female trio hailing from Melbourne, Australia. They released their debut self-titled album in 2016. Their record label Poison City Records posted the following statement about the album: “The eight tracks on CAMP COPE’s debut discuss real life working shifts in a hospital, living in rundown share houses in Footscray and what it’s like to be a woman in the world. ” One of the highlights from the albums is “Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams” which address certain lies that are used to justify the harassment of women such as “What you gonna do about it dressed the way you are?/ Yeah, it’s a very common lie / They say you’re asking for it/ When you’re walking home alone at night”. It also addresses the pro-gun propaganda that is used to keep the masses in fear: “The only thing that stops / A bad man with a gun/ Is a good man with a gun/ The lies they use to control you”.
They continued to focus on feminist concerns and real life issues with their outstanding 2018 followup How to Socialise & Make Friends. The opening track, The Opener addresses the challenges of being an all female band in a male dominated industry. They also addressed their own #MeToo sexual harassment experience with the timely “The Face of God”.
Divide and Dissolve
Divide and Dissolve is a female instrumental metal duo based in Melbourne, Australia. They released their debut album Basic in 2017. The songs on the album deal with issues of black empowerment and indigenous rights. It was a refreshing blast of doom that proves that testosterone isn’t a prerequisite to deliver the heaviness. They followed up their ambitious mission to decolonize metal with their 2018 album Abomination. Songs such as “Assimilation”, “Cultural Extermination” and ” Indigenous Sovereignty” wail with righteous rage. Divide and Dissolve proves lyrics aren’t always necessary to make powerful social statements.
Downtown Boys
Downtown Boys are self-described as a “bilingual political dance sax punk party”. The multi-racial and multi-gendered band released their first self-titled album in 2012 but started to garner increased attention with their 2015 album Full Communism. That album, along with their explosive live performances resulted in Rolling Stone declaring them as “America’s Most Exciting Punk Band”. They followed that up with another milestone, the 2017 album Cost of Living. Front woman Victoria Ruiz continued to rage against social injustices in both English and Spanish. They tackled issues such as police brutality, labor rights, gender equality and xenophobia.
Petra Glynt
On August 1st, 2017, Petra Glynt posted the following on her Instagram account “I want this to be known to the men of the music industry and those men booking and promoting shows. I am tired of being in the opening slot for your bills of all male musical acts. I’m so tired and I feel used.”
Glynt is the experimental indie pop alias of Montreal, Canada born Alexandra Mackenzie. Since she released her first EP in 2013 she has fought against tokenism and has provided poignant commentary on a variety of differing social ills. Her 2017 full length album This Trip provided a timely soundtrack to the current political landscape. Glynt made the following statement about the intent of the album, “It was a journey, a trip in itself. It’s not in the psychedelic sense of like ‘tripping out,’ it’s about people, the world, our political system, our economic system, and the world with Trump. We’ve been taken on this wild ride. The music is in support of social movements and in support of people power.”
MILCK
MILCK is the alias of Connie Lim, who started to generate buzz when a video of a flash mob performance of her tune “Quiet” at the Women’s March On Washington on January 21st, 2017 went viral. The song which was written back in 2015 and was released online in 2016, was based on her personal experience with sexual and physical abuse. The song has since become a stirring anthem of female empowerment, which especially resonates in light of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements.
In 2018 MILCK released her debut EP This Is Not The End. With the release, the “one woman riot” continues to be an inspirational catalyst for positive change.
Lido Pimienta
Lido Pimienta is a Colombian Canadian who released her first album in 2010 but started to garner attention with her 2016 sophomore album La Papessa which won the 2017 Polaris Music Prize, which is awarded to the best Canadian album based on artistic merit. She also collaborated on multiple tracks of the 2016 album We Are the Halluci Nation by acclaimed aboriginal Canadian EDM group A Tribe Called Red. Her Spanish language songs explore such issues as surviving in the patriarchy, heteronormativity and the global water crisis.
She also strives to create safe places for marginalized people. In a move that has been controversial and misunderstood, she often invites women of color to the front of the stage during her concerts.
Margo Price
When you think of country music you generally don’t think of left leaning politics which is part of what makes Margo Price a rare breed. She is not afraid to get political and sing about non traditional country music subjects such as gender equality.
Price released her first album, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter in 2016. The acclaimed album wasn’t as political as her 2017 follow-up All American Made but it still possessed a keen social awareness. It addressed living through hard economic times and addressed issues like losing the family farm (such as on the heart breaking “Hand of Time”). All American Made greatly expanded the social commentary to address issues such as wage inequality (“Pay Gap“), and agriculture rights (“Heart of America”). The album’s poignant title track addresses American greed and corruption.
Priests
Priests started in 2012 releasing a couple of self released cassettes prior to their 2014 breakthrough EP Bodies and Control and Money and Power. The EP was a 17 1/2 minute blast of political punk. Compared to other US Presidents, Obama came off relatively unscathed in the cannon of protest songs, but front woman Katie Alice Greer isn’t afraid to express her disillusionment with the lyric “Barack Obama killed something in me” on the tune “In, Breeding”. In an interview that took place for Under The Radar, Greer was asked if she felt differently about Obama now that Trump was President and she made the following response: “We’re all sad that he’s gone now, but he was a President like any other. He was dropping bombs on brown people and furthering the prison-industrial complex. There was lots to be desired with him as President and I think that broken neo-liberalism is to a large extent what elected Donald Trump. Thus, I still do feel the same way. I’ve been changing the line to “Barack Obama killed something in me, fuck Donald Trump and his white supremacy” when we play it live now.”
They released their debut full length Nothing Feels Natural on January 27, 2017, a week after Trump’s inauguration. The album tackled issues of consumerism, identity politics and exposed the flaws of the two-party political system. It is a timely soundtrack of political disillusionment.
Pussy Riot
Pussy Riot are Russian feminist activists who use music as a vehicle to get their message out. Since 2011 they’ve created waves with their anti-Putin protests. In March of 2012 they garnered increased notoriety when three members of the collective were arrested for protesting inside a Russian Orthodox church. Two of the three members ended up being convicted which resulted in international attention with lead to group’s like Amnesty International getting involved. The international outcry lead to them being granted amnesty in December 19, 2013.
After the imprisoned members obtained their freedom, the collective continued to make their voices heard, both in their native Russia and abroad. In 2015 they released their first English song “I Can’t Breathe” which was in response to the last word of Eric Garner who was choked to death by a New York City police officer. Anticipating a Trump election victory they also released the song and video “Make America Great Again” on October 27, 2016. The song attacked Trump’s anti-immigration and anti-woman views. Since then they have continued to release music in both Russian and English and have toured the US for the first time.
Raye Zaragoza
Raye Zaragoza is an artist with a diverse ethnic heritage (Native American, Mexican, Taiwanese and Japanese) and it is that heritage that helped shaped her music. She started to gain attention in 2016 for her Dakota Pipeline protest song, “In The River”. In 2017 she released her debut full length album Fight For You. Multiple songs on the album deal with the Dakota Pipeline which is being built near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. She addresses how that project adversely affects Native land, water and future generations. The album also addresses issues of women empowerment and the importance of speaking out for what is right. Zaragoza socially progressive tunes are making a much needed contribution to the cannon of modern day protest songs.