#political-themes

#political-themes

While shoegaze bands are often known for their wall-of-sound volume tactics, there's a clever amount of distance employed in Softcult's style. When a Flower Doesn't Grow, the duo's long-awaited debut album, relishes in the contrast between delivering harsh truths about trauma, oppression, and growth and cloaking those ideas in a pillowy-soft exterior; throughout its 11 tracks, the album channels windswept beauty and fierce intensity, containing Mercedes and Phoenix's most illuminating meditations on personal and systemic injustice yet.

A month after MC dälek teamed up with This Heat drummer Charles Hayward for the very cool HAYWARDxDÄLEK album, dälek have announced their own new album, Brilliance of a Falling Moon, due March 27 via Ipecac ( pre-order). "The whole project was very influenced by what's happening in the world and this country," says MC dälek. "During the initial days of the I.C.E. raids, it got me thinking. You see those powerful photos from the sixties when Black men were marching with the 'I AM A MAN' sandwich board signs. It was powerful then; it's powerful now."

Elphaba, exiled after defying both gravity and the fraud who calls himself a Wizard, is creating as much havoc as she can with just a broom. Glinda, meanwhile, is spreading Wizardly propaganda and "obsessulating" over the motorized pink bubble she's been given to make her appear magical. They both have issues with the blowhard Wizard, who is pushing fake news, and is also, let's say, dictatorious, or maybe, fascistified.

It's unreasonable to consider that the deathcore metal band, Kublai Khan TX, from Sherman, Texas, wouldn't be controversial. Redditt will give a person an eyeful of disconcerting and dissenting opinions, but it's the music that should give them the heads up between right and reich. With a songbook filled with shredding/grinding, takes on seemingly progressive social issues, like being ANTI: police brutality, organized religion, social anxiety and depression, and violence against women-this recent spike of far right signaling, is hopefully just a blip on an otherwise solid foundation.

We've been robbed of our freedom. It’s a direct rallying cry, echoing singer Ken Casey's recent sentiment that America is embroiled in a class war.

"To understand and respect reggae, we have to go back to its origination - to the Afro-Latina culture that put it on the map and made it a global phenomenon."

Elsbeth is such a fun show - the bold and bright costumes, the cheeky humor, the parade of notable guest stars... it can be easy to miss the bleaker themes thrumming along below its sprightly surface.

Daredevil: Born Again revitalizes the Marvel Cinematic Universe by tackling political themes, showcasing the brutal reality of corruption and the complexities of vigilante justice.