(written by Islander)
At this point Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Minneapolis” is probably the most widely heard protest song to emerge from the ICE invasion of the Twin Cities and the murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti. But it hasn’t been long, only 14 days since ICE agents shot Pretti to death, even though it seems much longer than that.
Undoubtedly other songwriters have already started releasing their own protests across many genres of music, though I wouldn’t know (you’re looking at the wrong dude if you want insight into the breadth of modern musical culture). Where I do tend to notice things are in the genres of extreme metal, and I guess a few “metal adjacent” realms.
Over the last week I noticed a handful of songs from those realms that were either protest songs or tracks designed to raise money in support of the resistance in Minneapolis to the sweeping seizure of immigrants (and racially profiled U.S. citizens). In the first section of this Saturday roundup I’ve collected those songs, and one other that seemed appropriate. Fortunately, the music’s good, in addition to the artists’ hearts being in the right place. (If you know of more, please leave a Comment.)
To round things out, I added three other very good songs that surfaced last week. I could have added 20 more, because it was a big week for new metal, what with yesterday being a Bandcamp Friday. But we do what we can. Continue reading »
