Browsing Tag

Political Pop

J reshaped the landscape of protest music with his jazzy guitar score, Shame on You

Posted on 28 January 2024

Busting the myth that protest songs need to antagonise in the same vein as Rage Against the Machine or Black Flag, the Brighton-based artist, J, exhibited how mellow sonic political activism can be with his latest release, Shame on You.

Paired with an aptly endearing official music video, the ‘oppressed version’ of the single, sans the snippets of dystopian diatribes from Trump and Bush, allows you to embrace the absurdity of our tumultuous political waters while rising above them as the lighter-than-air guitar lines seemingly defy gravity.

J’s guitar work is nothing short of phenomenal – his strings sing with a life of their own in the genre-fluid fusion of jazz, pop, and classical guitar, but notably, the secret ingredient is his unflinching sense of humour and his lack of artistic ego. It’s a rarity for an artist to be so talented and not locked into the singular vision of rock stardom; J always endeavours to create sonic experiences that resonate with his soul; in doing so, he opens up cathartic worlds with his virtuosic tongue-in-jazz-groove flare.

Shame on You will be available to stream from January 26th; stream the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Christian Schormann – The Ballad of Captain T: A Warmly Resolving Attack of Satire

Posted on 2 October 2020

Lockdown has inspired artists in many ways. Christian Schormann created the perfect Pop track after witnessing the lack of leadership in the US during the pandemic. Sounds dreary right? Wrong.

In The Ballad of Captain T, disdainfully playful rage pours over the warmly resolving instrumentals which ooze soul-soothing choral appeal. Tracks such as The Ballad of Captain T can all too easily fall into the novelty category, yet, there’s enough nuance and prowess for it to easily diverge away from that pigeonhole. There’s a sincerity within the single, a sensitive understanding that the problems which the lack of leadership has caused have had a detrimental impact on peoples lives, and deaths.

In short, you couldn’t ask for a more perfect Pop single. The unexpected guitar solo was the aural cherry on the cake.

You can hear it for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Vana Blu brings politics into Pop with their essential hit “T-Erase-Her (Him)”

Posted on 13 November 2019

Given the lack of politically-inspired music on the airwaves from Pop artists right now, you’d be forgiven for being under the impression that everything is peachy in parliament. Thankfully, up and coming Pop artist Vana Blu has made up for the shortfall and provided us with the ultimate sticky-sweet liberal aural treat “T-Erase-Her (Him)”. Not only is it a flawless feat of Trap-infused synth Pop, but it’s also one of the cleverest attacks on the frustratingly absurd state of the Tory party I’ve heard yet.

Artist’s such as Vana Blu are essential right now. Everyone with the ability to make art from the crushing weight of capitalist despair should be following their lead. T-Erase-Her (Him) proves that it doesn’t matter how political you get with your lyrics when they’re paired with the right melody, tracks can still pull together to offer a danceable feel-good vibe.

You can check out the inventively comedic official music video to Vana Blu’s single by heading over to YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast