“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat is a tremendous historical thesis into the early years of post-coloniality and the crunching, brutal machinery of Western imperialism. America’s puppeteering of foreign governments in the Global South during the Cold War warrants little elaboration, and what makes Johan Gimonprez’s effort a revelation is that it argues that American arts and…
Category: music
introduction to “Smash The System! Punk Anarchism as a Culture of Resistance” (2022)
“Our subculture will be Dionysian—sensual, spontaneous, wild—an uncontrollable geyser of raw feeling. The Apollonian (the rational, the intentional, the orderly) will follow the chaotic energy that drives this movement, not precede it. Intellectual proposals can build on adrenaline, lust, violence, and pleasure, but they can’t substitute for them. So nothing sanctimonious, nothing triumphalist or moralistic.…
Malin Bång: “splinters of ebullient rebellion”
“We are also seeing many influential institutions, organizations, even governments gradually facing collapse when their actions and manifestations are colliding with the core values of the individuals they are made up by. We see how this friction generates a new spine of idealism with the aim to shift back the focus from simplified, one-dimensional explanations…
Julius Gavroche: “Song is a weapon: For José Mário Branco (1942-2019)”
“If his music reflects a particular history which may seem dated to some, his art is a rare example of ethical-political engagement for a world without oppression. Below, we share songs (most with lyrics translated), interviews and a lecture.”
“4 Musicians Chart 100 Years in the Life of a Runaway Slave”
‘Hans Werner Henze’s “El Cimarrón” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art‘
“How the Performance of a French Opera about a Neapolitan Revolt Sparked a Belgian Revolution”
The plot of the fiery libretto of the grand opera The Mute Girl of Portici by the French composer Daniel Auber revolves around the Neapolitan revolts of 1647.
Simon Callow: “How Wagner Tried to Revolutionize Art and End Capitalism”
“Persuaded by Röckel’s arguments, he became increasingly radicalized, connecting his idealistic views of the position of art in society with Röckel’s vision of a world where the power of capital was annihilated, and class, position and family prejudices would disappear. In the new order, Röckel assured him, everybody would participate in labor according to their…
Depeche Mode: “Where’s The Revolution”
Depeche Mode: “Where’s The Revolution” from the new album ‘Spirit’ out March 17th, 2017 “You’ve been kept down You’ve been pushed ’round You’ve been lied to You’ve been fed truths Who’s making your decisions You or your religion Your government, your countries You patriotic junkies Where’s the revolution Come on people You’re letting me down…
“You Say You Want a Revolution? Records and Rebels 1966-1970”
“You Say You Want a Revolution?Records and Rebels 1966-1970” How have the finished and unfinished revolutions of the late 1960s changed the way we live today and think about the future? A major exhibition at Victoria & Albert explores the era-defining significance and impact of the late 1960s, expressed through some of the greatest music and…