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Tag Archives: protest songs
Ball of Wax 38 Songs of Protest: Scott Pinkmountain and the Golden Bolts – “Baghdad Blues”
Scott Pinkmountain makes his Ball of Wax debut, backed by up by the muscular Golden Bolts rhythm section, with this beautifully discordant and dissociative tune. The performance is blistering, keening, heart-piercing: Scott’s voice and guitar scream and cry in counterpoint, … Continue reading
Ball of Wax 38 Songs of Protest: Levi Fuller & the Library – “I Won’t Go to Mexico”
Levi and his Library declare “I Won’t Go to Mexico,” a song set in the Mexican-American War and told from the perspective of a defiant potential conscript who decries “I have no wish to participate / in such glorious butcheries” … Continue reading
Ball of Wax 38 Songs of Protest: Emory Liu – “Plastic Future”
Veteran Ball of Wax contributor Emory Liu offers up “Plastic Future” for volume 38, a song protesting how mass commercialization alienates and anesthetizes people. The song opens with the lines “this plastic future / a fixture of vultures / keeping your head … Continue reading
Ball of Wax 38 Songs of Protest: Virgin of the Birds – “In 1970, Across Philadelphia, Frank Rizzo Broke the Black Panther Party”
Jon Rooney of Virgin of the Birds (and also, it must be said, of this here blog) strips down to his one-man low-fi roots for this tune, with a languid bed of guitar, bass, keys, and tambourine backing up a … Continue reading
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Tagged Augustine of Hippo, black panthers, frank rizzo, MOVE, Pelagius, protest songs, virgin of the birds
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Ball of Wax 38 Songs of Protest: Robert Deeble – “Not on Your Team”
Robert Deeble‘s “Not on Your Team” is a stately, elegant pop song in protest of the Mars Hill church, an emo evangelist institution that’s enjoyed more than it’s share of bad press. As a Papist transcendentalist myself, I find it … Continue reading
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Tagged mars hill church, protest songs, robert deeble
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Ball of Wax 38 Songs of Protest: Colin Ernst – “Assholes and Fuckheads”
What would you do if two of your close friends and artistic collaborators were murdered in broad daylight by a gun-wielding maniac? For most of us, fortunately, this is a hypothetical (and horrifying) question, but Colin Ernst and many others … Continue reading
Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song
Tagged cafe racer, Colin Ernst, guns, protest songs
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Ball of Wax 38 Songs of Protest: Mindie Lind – “For Palestine”
I don’t think Mindie knows this, but this song is part of the reason I decided to make Ball of Wax 38 a collection of protest songs. It was one of those particularly awful weeks this summer, when the violence … Continue reading
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Tagged inly, mindie lind, palestine, protest songs
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Ball of Wax 38 Songs of Protest: The Harvey Girls – “Cool, Free Water”
Portland’s the Harvey Girls make their first contribution to Ball of Wax with “Cool, Free Water,” a noisy, scratchy collage of sound that declares the seemingly self-evident human right for free access to clean drinking water. Vocal soundbites decrying the … Continue reading
Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song
Tagged protest songs, the harvey girls, water rights
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Ball of Wax 38 Songs of Protest: Julia Massey & the Five Finger Discount – “Nuclear Disarmament”
Singer-songwriter Julia Massey and her gang have been making delightful noises around Seattle for at least a few years now, but this is their first appearance on Ball of Wax. I’m so glad they had a protest song all ready … Continue reading
Ball of Wax 38 Songs of Protest: The Foghorns – “Sons and Daughters of the Molly Maguires”
Ball of Wax mainstays the Foghorns gift us all another gem with “Sons and Daughters of the Molly Maguires,” a seething, smart foray into our largely-forgotten history of labor strife and largely-suppressed tradition of class struggle. The Foghorns do righteous … Continue reading
Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song
Tagged labor, molly maguires, protest songs, the foghorns
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