
Zerobridge – Refugee Citizen
We’re all silenced. Worst of all, nobody even has to demand that we shut up, stop publishing, stop posting. We all get the gist. Things work the same way in any environment when someone’s boss is fronting the bills.
A newspaper columnist once told me that he and his colleagues would never receive requirements from those in charge of them. They’d never be asked to cover a subject and avoid writing about another one.
Nobody needs to go through with the extra work. People just naturally figure out what’s wise for them not to say. When it comes to pop music, that used to only affect the big pop stars who wouldn’t want to risk losing their corporate endorsement. Nowadays, with everyone online, it means that no protest songs should get written, period.
Zerobridge are brave in writing a protest song and not even extreme in their approach. The music of Refugee Citizen recalls the more adventurous alt-rock and nu-metal bands of the 2000s. And the lyrics speak about people who have nothing left and nowhere to turn to. It is a song about the Palestinian crisis. It is a song about war and destruction. And it’s a good song that dares ask important questions. It’s a good protest song. Where are the protest songs from Green Day, or Coldplay, or even a clever post once in a while? On Beasley Street, silence is the code.
Marshal and The Hats – Monkey king
One fateful day one of the asteroids cruising around the Earth will finally hit and plant a hole in the size of China. Few will be amused by the world being reduced to looking like an American-style doughnut. It’ll all end quickly, I bet, although I ain’t no scientist. And, in that moment, few people will be sadder of the time that they’ve wasted as the musicians who spent years acquiring the chops to play complicated but boring music.
Many people dream about being fluent in a musical instrument. Acquiring the ability to express yourself on the instrument just as smoothly as you speak or work a joystick is sensational. Spending all that time learning to play dull or downright depressing music for people who will critique whether you hold your index finger at the right angle while doing so is no way to spend your life before it goes up in planes.
Marshal and The Hats are adults who seem to have been reminded of just how much they liked The Jungle Book. They also sound like the kind of people that could’ve been tricked by evil forces into playing jazz. They chose to do “Monkey King,” music that is riotously fun and optimistic. It’s the kind of tune that can get the toddlers and the drunks cheering. And it’s better use of your time until the asteroid finally ups its game.