cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/14452579
Hello people
Im trying to find music that aligns with my views and opinions, so that I can listen to it guilt-free and simply enjoy it. I have some prerequisites/requirements and some preferences. I want to ask you if you can share any artist/band (or songs if you dont know any artists) that matches all the prerequisites and if possible any of the preferences.
The prerequisites about the artists(/songs):
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They have leftist (and anti-capitalist) opinions
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They have feminist (and anti-patriarchist) opinions
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They are friendly towards all the queer community (including non-binary and trans people)
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They have atheistic/agnostic opinions
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They have anti-racist opinions (I forgot to add this, I took it as granted, provided all the previous requirements were passed😅. I'm editing my post to add it.)
The preferences about the artists(/songs):
a) They dont promote self-destructive behaviours (like substance/alcohol abuse). I dont have any issue with them singing about such behaviours, but I want to see them trying to help people get out of this situation. (This one could be a prerequisite too, but then there would almost no artist that would pass my requirements..)
b) They express their opinions in the songs by singing about social issues and such
c) Their genre is rap/metal/rock (generally I tend to prefer songs that have some anger/that are powerful)
d) They sing mainly in either English or Greek (the languages I know well so that I can understand them😅). I also know some German, so that could be a good option too. And I'd like to learn Spanish some time. (If you know artists/songs that sing in other languages, you're welcome to share them)
Please, I would like anything you share to pass my prerequisites and to mention any of my preferences that it matches (in case it doesn't pass any of the prerequistes at least mention it). I have them all in order to make it easier for you.
So for example, the band "Rationalistas" (a greek rap band) passes the prerequistes and seems to match b), c) and d) preferences (I listen to them almost exclusively this week, lol).
Another artist that seem pass my requirements seems to be Macklemore (as seen on "Hinds hall") and matches c) and d) of my preferences (and in some songs I think he matches a) and b) too).
Demi Lovato in her HOLY FVCK album seems to pass my requirements (though not sure about the 1.) and probably matches all of my preferences.
Jesse Welles seems to pass my requirements as well and matches at least b) and d) of my preferences.
Lemmy seems to opinions similar to what my requirements are, so I kinda hope I might get good recommendations here.
Here I’m gonna list ~anything you and I suggest:
List of artists/bands (and album/song picks)
Against Me! (Their politics have become a bit more "softer" over time, but were left-anarchists at first. Feminist and the singer is a trans woman. Picks:"Reinventing Axl Rose" and "As the Eternal Cowboy")
AJJ (Andrew Jackson Jihad) (Folk punk.)
Bad Religion (Punk/Rock.)
Bands that publish under libre/free licences, they are often leftist, feminist and they are political by design.
Billy Bragg (Folk/Rock/Protest. Left wing. Picks: "Red flag")
Bloc Party (Indie Rock)
Bomb the Music Industry! (Lefty ska-punk.)
Circus Marcus (Piano/Emotional music.)
Crass (Anarcho Punk. The logo was designed to look "fascist" to draw in youth that, at the time, were drawn to fascism through the iconography. The hope was to expose these fascist at risk youth to Crass' version of radical politics involving anti-racism, anti-sexism, anarchist socialism. Picks: "Best before 1984")
Dad Bods (Rock. Their youtube page because it's hard to find them: https://www.youtube.com/@dadbods1328 Picks: "System")
Danger Dan - (German Rap. Unfortunately Antideutsche. Picks: "Sand in die Augen")
David Rovics (Folk/Ballads. Picks: "Who Would Jesus Bomb")
Dead Prez (Rap.)
Defiance (Folk punk.)
DJ Spooky (Electronic/Hip-Hop.)
eta (Punk Rock/Grunge. Their discogs page because it's hard to find them: https://www.discogs.com/artist/7205-ETA)
G.L.O.S.S. (Anti-capitalist, anti-fascist punk rock made by trans women.)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor (Post Rock.)
grandson (Rap/Rock Picks: "Blood in the water")
grim104 (German Rap. Picks: "2. Mai")
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKByGkH3_rqBVE7gvYaL3rQQDWOKbUcuL (Very angry anti-fascist Youtube playlist. Mostly metal and rap. The artist themselves may not all be leftist but I picked songs that work. Immortal Technique don't pass the feminism and queer friendliness requirements. The songs in the playlist should be unoffensive on that front though. Used when the only way to get through the day is with pure rage at the injustice of the world.)
IDLES (Punk Rock. Picks: "Samaritans:")
Irie Revoltes (German Punk/Reggae/Hip-Hop)
Johnny Hobo & the Freight Trains, Wingnut Dishwashers Union (Projects from Pat the Bunny. Folk punk. A lot of his music deals with substance abuse but not in a glamorizing way. They mark his stages of recovery in a way that is very interesting.)
K.I.Z. (German Hip-Hop. Warning: Wikipedia says "Characteristic for the group are sexist, provocative lyrics containing black humour, irony, sarcasm and cynicism." I don't know enough German to tell how "ok" are their lyrics. Yet they were recommended to me, so I put them in the list. Picks: "Görlitzer Park")
Krav Boca (French/Greek Rap.)
Laibach (Industrial.)
Lupe Fiasco (Leftist Rapper. Picks: "Mural" and "American Terrorist")
Michael Franti and Spearhead (Hip-Hop/Reggae.)
Modest Mouse (Their real strengths come out in their more reflective songs. Picks: "Lonesome Crowded West")
NT (Picks: https://ntband.bandcamp.com/album/present-recover-past)
Ohio (Folk punk.)
Osiris Saline (Classical/Gothic/Symphonic/Progressive Punk)
Pablo Hasel (Catalan Rapper)
Plagiat (French Rock. Songs in some kind of bizarre French. Their bandcamp page because it's hard to find them: https://plagiatbros.bandcamp.com/)
Propagandhi (Conventional punk. Picks: "Less Talk, More Rock")
Punk bands. folk punk.Try checking out smaller punk bands on Bandcamp.
Rage Against the Machine (Rap/Metal/Rock)
Refused (Swedish Hardcore band with leftist themed music. Their singer Dennis Lyxzén is an outspoken socialist and vegan. They broke up for about 15 years after TSoPtC, but reunited and have been releasing new albums and playing shows since 2015. Picks: "The Shape of Punk to Come"
Rise Against (Melodic Hardcore/Punk Rock. Picks: "Make it stop(September children)"
Sebkha-Chott (French Metal/Jazz/Fusion. Old band from Plagiat members.)
Stray From The Path (Hardcore Punk. Picks: "Goodnight Alt Right", "Guillotine" and "Euthanasia".)
Streetlight Manifesto (Lefty ska-punk.)
System of a Down (Nu Metal. You probably know them already.)
The Clash (OG Leftist Punk.)
The Residents (Art Rock.)
The Warning (Rock. Band comprised of 3 Mexican women.)
Ton Steine Scherben (Oldschool German Rock)
Utah Philips (Folk music.)
Vandalismus (German Rap. Picks: "Maskulina")
Zugezogen Maskulin (German Rap. Picks: "Alle gegen Alle")
List of unreviewed Artists/Bands that I don't know if they pass my prerequisites, using suggestions from this comment thread https://mander.xyz/post/14380057/11458375
Ashenspire
boundries
Brkovi (Balkan Punk.)
Chat Pile
Clarion Knell (Marxist band)
crust
Destrage (Italian metalcore band)
Dubioza Kolektiv(Balkan Punk.)
dying (pro-palestine before it was cool)
Feminazgul (RABM (Red/Anarchist Black Metal) band)
foreign hands
Incendiary
Iskra (RABM (Red/Anarchist Black Metal)
king gizzard and the lizard wizard
kittie
Knocked Loose (Metalcore band)
Kultur Shock (Balkan Punk.)
Maximum the Hormone
Misery Index
nothingface
Panopticon
Protest the Hero
Realm and Ritual (RABM/Dungeon Synth tape label)
S.A.R.S (Balkan Punk.)
Sankara (Marxist band)
seeyouspacecowboy
sepultura
soulfly
stick to your guns (melodic heavy hardcore)
unearth (anti-fascist, eco-anarchist, closer to traditional metal then metalcore)
Wolves in the Throne Room (not political but spoke out against fascists)
Yellow Eyes (not political but spoke out against fascists)
Danger Dan is a massive Zionist, though.
Yupp, that seems to be the case. Antideutsche are a very weird, very German phenomenon. I know one, and I would generally call him a friend, but we haven't really talked since the latest happenings, and we had some rather heated debates in the past.
Now, on paper, what he (my friend, I don't know much about Danger Dan) told me about what he believes to be the core of it all is, it wouldn't sound that bad: A leftist group heavily and fundamentally dedicated to combating antisemitism within leftist circles through critique and provocation. I do think that some leftist groups do have the problem of teetering on the edge of antisemitism, it is very easy to fall off a superficial, reductive and uninformed critique of capitalism into antisemitism, and anti-Isreal sentiment can be antisemitic for sure, although usually when coming from leftists, it at least actively works not to be and tries to self-reflect. Some of his points and analysis I did agree with, too, like - one should be wary when groups specifically single out Israel and glance over other imperialist crimes.
But then... It goes so much further. They fervently belief in Zionism as the only way to permanently guarantee another Holocaust will never happen. I think not only is it a very poor solution to ensure the Jewish people will never again be treated as outsiders without a home, to give them what is essentially a colonial state that materially cannot function without imperialist and colonialist exploitation (a common half-joke in Germany is, that they should have just given them Bavaria instead), but it ironically is also a "final solution to the Jewish question" in a way, that some of the more moderate Nazis would have been okay with - as long as the "parasitic Jews" are given something outside of Europe and banished to there.
It also doesn't guarantee safety in the way they think, I fear. Even now, debates happen which Jews are the proper Jews that are allowed to benefit from the "unconditional" protection of the Jewish people within the borders of their new nation state. And with a right-wing-extremist government, which itself arose from the material conditions of having a de-facto colonial state, this isn't going away easily. Do you really think that if Jews were persecuted on Nazi levels again in Europe or the US, that leftist, anti-Zionist Jews would find a safe haven without discrimination in the state of Israel? It may be safer than in a state actively trying to exterminate them - if the fundamental legal guarantee that any Jew at any time can become a citizen held up in that potential future - but they would still be far from safe and accepted.
Lastly, what makes Antideutsche so "German" is something about a core part of traditional German ideology grown from its history. Germany in the 19th and 20th century built a huge myth around being the potentially powerful victims of the other powers in Europe, held back by being victimised. Not completely without any basis even, the 30 Years' War for example did really have a traumatic effect, with some parts of Germany-to-be being practically cleansed of population, and it had political maneuvering that indeed was carried out to prevent any kind of unified German national identity arising. But it was a myth, nonetheless, one that led to the two most horrible wars of modernity. Because the German myth of victimhood was used to justify the imperialist expansion and horrible crimes of Germany in the modern era.
Now, a psychological analysis here, why I think Antideutsche have, very ironically to their name (Anti-Germans), a very German mindset: They tend to project the desire to be victims onto the same people Germany so horribly victimised. It is in a way perfect, the projection means that they can fully disavow being affected by the original German myth (not consciously, mind you), and the Jewish people definitely really were victims of the most horrible, shocking genocide of the 20th century, with people literally reduced to value to be extracted by extermination with industrial efficiency and a well-oiled bureaucratic apparatus. That reality of victimhood does not remove the pathological nature of the myth, unfortunately. As Lacan showed: A pathologically jealous husband has a pathological problem with jealousy, even if his partner is betraying him. And to protect the security of the victimised people at any cost and prevent them from being victimised again, they need their own nation, on the backs of the victimisers if necessary, and with the right to use any means necessary. Essentially, that is a variant of the German foundational myth, projected onto another people.
It leads to some very weird scenarios. There you have a guy like my friend, who I honestly value for being able to genuinely discuss Marxist minutae with me at times, so it's not like he is stupid or just a leftist without any knowledge at all, and most of his leftist positions are genuine and if not good, at least valuable to be debated.... But then he also is deeply caught up in the swamp of ideology, willing to literally defend or deny genocide because of some unfortunate mind virus and subculture he's caught up in.
As I said, we haven't talked since last year, and I dread what might happen between us if we did... Antideutsche are a weird phenomenon here in Germany...
Sorry for the rant, it's just a topic close to my heart.