Vancouver, B.C. band Submission Hold has been around for 11 years and have released 15 CDs. So why haven’t you heard of them? Well, take a listen because this genre-defying band has broken through creatively with their latest CD What Holds Back the Elephant (G7 Welcoming Committee).
Submission Hold’s strongest suit is its improvisational style (as on "Sealed), its variations from fast-paced punk themes ("Dirt") to thoughtful anthems ("Democracy") and the borderlands of jazz. Jen Throwup, the band’s front woman, poses poetic challenges to conventional songwriting and throws down the lyrical glove against the homogeneous, mass-produced, pre-packaged, corporate-owned "alternative" style. What Holds Back the Elephant screams "do something creative rockstars or die on the vine."
But Submission Hold isn’t busy just looking back at the wasteland of pop music. It is about making something new. Surrealist musical and poetic images on this album intervene both creatively and politically in the stagnant present of rock and roll. Poetry and socially relevant politics could save rock. Even if this album may not be where the world of rock is heading, it should be.
Travis Morrison
Republic of Travistan
Barsuk, 2004
www.barsuk.com
Republic of Travistan
Turn on your local "alternative" radio station for an hour – if you can stand to. When you recall that these stations are owned by one or two huge monopoly media corporations, the funny sensation you get that you can’t tell where one song ends and another begins will no longer surprise you. So is rock about rebellion or is it about becoming a commodity mass produced for consumption bearing labels – like hip-hop, alternative, metal, punk – to please certain population niches? Well, tune out that scene and turn on some Republic of Travistan.
Travis Morrison, of DC-based The Disbursement Plan, has actually produced a human-made album that evokes the sarcasm and wit of the "indie-style" but also the politics and demystification of history that distances him from his gooey counterparts. This album levels its sights at hypocrisy of the "moral values" crowd (in "The World Cop") and challenges young buyers of Che Guevara memorabilia to more than a life of consumption and the façade of politics.
--Clara West
Eminem
Encore
Aftermath, 2004
When Eminem pitched his anti-Bush anthem "Mosh" from his latest CD Encore, I bit. Before the full album came out I downloaded the provocative video for the song from the Guerilla News Network web site. The video was a call to unite and defeat Bush in the November elections and made a vital contribution to the struggle for democracy and peace. Is this a new Eminem, I wondered? Has he gotten away from the self-obsessed, hate-filled kid who is now ready to use his popular voice to say something socially relevant?
Then I got Encore in the mail. Garbage. When Eminem was chastised a couple of years back for his violently homophobic and sexist lyrics, he defended himself by saying that his craft required those types of expressions to maintain authenticity. Nobody bought it then, and there is less reason to believe that now. Aside from "Mosh" this album represents little change. And in addition to rapping the continuing saga of how much he hates his ex-girlfriend (what did she ever do?), listeners get to hear vomit and other bodily noises.
Maybe Eminem didn’t want to get labeled as a political guy and used this frat-boy humor combined with politically and lyrically incoherent songs as "We as Americans" and "Just Lose It" as cover for the one serious thing he seems to have accomplished. Maybe belching is his way of saying political music isn’t his bag. Well, what is? Flushing toilets? That’s wonderful, but it isn’t original.
Chalk up another promising artist to corporate cultural garbage. Maybe the joke is on his fans: look at how asinine I can be and still get rich, he may be saying. This might seem to be a funny parody of capitalism, but if you pay full price for this CD, you’ll pay way too much.
--Roberta Jones
REM
Around the Sun
Warner, 2004
REM may be the kings of feel good rock. I don’t mean "don’t worry, be happy." I mean something deeper. When you listen to Michael Stipe’s poetry against Peter Buck’s gliding guitars on Around the Sun, you can’t help but feel their deeply felt personal solidarity with the downtrodden of the earth. This extremely emotional album is good for chasing away the blues. Of note are the slyly political songs "I Wanted to be Wrong" and "Around the Sun," which are a salve in the bitter post-election period (though written months ago).
If you are into heavy and hardcore metal, but want something equally hardcore politically than GFK’s If Liberty Isn’t Given is for you. GFK stands for Government’s Fury Kills. And this driving, headbanging album will get you on your feet. With songs like "Matthew Sheppard, Carlos Giuliani…," "Rethinking Basic Anti-racism," "Todos para todos," and "Direct actions are more than wearing a Che Guevara Shirt," this CD is a political education in liberation politics, democracy, and anti-monopoly struggle. Get it at your own risk.
This benefit collection includes previously unreleased recordings and live performances by U2, REM, Pearl Jam, Eric Clapton, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, The Nightwatchman (Tom Morello), and numerous others. The CD was released to raise support the international campaign to free Nobel Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi from the brutal right-wing dictatorship controlling Burma (Myanamar). Aung San Suu Kyi was imprisoned after she led the progressive coalition, the National League for Democracy, to electoral victory in 1990. This album is a 2-disc collection of very good songs for a worthy cause.
