ken6346
27th November 2010, 10:11
tl;dr - Enter Shikari have, since their second album, become very political, and you should listen to them if you haven't already. They're far left by the way.
So this is my first major post in this forum, and it'll be a bit long, but bear with me. It think that you'd do yourselves well to listen to Enter Shikari's sophomore album "Common Dreads" and the first four tracks of their compilation album "Tribalism." Their first album, as a post-hardcore piece of work, is okay, but a bit typical and underwhelming sometimes.
I just thought it was pretty interesting how this post-hardcore band went from being a pretty neat but ordinary hardcore/trance group in the mid 00s to something very very different by the time their second record "Common Dreads" rocked around. I'll talk about a few tracks off their second album and their new compilation of unreleased studio material and remixes, which are incredibly interesting by the way; the album's called "Tribalism." The first track on this record, (which I'll talk about in a moment) in my limited knowledge of all things political, has led me to believe that they're primitivists of some kind, but I think it's a little simplistic to brand them as such; they seem to be social democrats, or possibly communists or even anarcho-communists, speaking out against rampant capitalism and in favour of a limited government, it any at all. But I'll get onto that later.
The first track, if you haven't heard it, consists of an esoteric but effective intro, with a droning synth and heavily affected spoken vocals, including the repeated phrase "we must unite" spoken in many different languages. It sets the album out pretty well: this was going to be, if nothing else, a very "politically-conscious" album; if they weren't going to attack any particular ideologies or individuals/parties, they were going to be pissed about the current state of the political world in a general way. The second last phrase on the track, "to avoid disaster, we must unite," is important in the context of the album as a whole, and I'll discuss this a bit more later: they are scared of the current state of being. They are scared that, without uniting to combat the status quo, we are, for lack of a better expression, fucked.
Their second track is entitled "Solidarity:" it lives up to it's name reasonably well (hearing this song live, everyone moshing the FUCK out, and chanting the lyrics; it's an amazing experience to say the least). Allow me to post a few lyrics:
"Here tonight I clock a thousand heads,
Here to unite through common dreads...
...Now we can no longer hide
The immediacy of these fears
Our names will not be writ on water,
And we don't need an ark,
One day I know the dam will collapse,
And we will be the current." [I should point out that the breakdown begins here, and it's musically amazing, at least for listeners of hardcore]
Needless to say, these blokes are pretty pissed off. And it's clear why: they're scared of the current state of things. They've definitely got an audience; I think it's fair to say that we are all, if nothing else, scared of the way that the world is "going;" we're scared that the capitalists, the government, are in fact winning (and they are in a big way, at this stage, although the GFC has resulted in a move to the left, or at least the centre, in many nations, Australia included), and that the general population, in being "brainwashed" in one way or another about the perceived evils of the left in general, are not willing to step up (I'll get onto this phrase "Step Up" later; it's actually the third track).
So yeah, I think these lyrics essentially speak for themselves; the first four lines I quoted are very self-explanatory, and of course the biblical allusion and extended metaphor shown in the next four lines make the point that what I perceive as the Left (meaning this band and the views they stand for, as well as all people red in general) is essentially fated to rise against capitalism and government - "the dam will collapse and we will be the current" - and that the individuals involved, in the context of the song (again, called "Solidarity"), will be so united, that "[their] names will not be writ on water," because they are one integral cohort, one group that stands together against oppression and capitalism, as opposed to a "bunch" of individuals who would act in a way that is contrary to this idea of utter unity and that their immense power will be self-evident and all-encompassing - "we don't need an ark." I think you get the picture: this group called for not reform, not fair play, but outright revolution, and theirs is the opinion that this revolution is inevitable (some here may argue against this point, but for a group which does play to the capitalist game of the music industry, they make a very conscious point; if they were to say that a vanguard or any other means of direct action was necessary for revolution, they'd probably be arrested for "inciting immanent violence" or some bullshit).
I'll talk very briefly about the third track on this album, which is called "Step Up." I'll start with the first two lines:
"If our own lives aren't directly affected,
then it don't need to be corrected" - I don't think this even needs a separate paragraph; this is the harm principle, clearly stated in the vernacular of a modern context.
And then of course there's the spoken word that proceeds the breakdown:
"We have greatness within us; innovative, giving, determined -
it's time for the best in us to come out" - A very clear statement of solidarity as demonstrated in the previous track, and an advocacy of socialistic ideals of labour being for the betterment of mankind rather than for a capitalistic profit.
The rest of the song is along the same lines; the idea that the harm principle is the sole rationale for authority to be exercised against another individual, and that, once again, the proletarian revolution is utterly inevitable, regardless of the fact that, in our current state (meaning that in most countries, disregarding the UK and Greece, amongst some other minor movements [as far as my knowledge is concerned]), the working class is for the most part absolutely comatose to the idea that they're being utterly exploited (as long as they can get an XBox or PS3 for Christmas, they're fine in their opinion). I think that you can connect the dots (and this isn't a complete cop out because I've had three glasses of gin and a glass of wine. Yeah...)
I'd discuss the first track on their compilation album consisting of unreleased studio material and some live and remixed material, but I'm in no state to do so to be honest. So I'll post a link:
edit: apparently I can't post YouTube links; I don't know why, because I've got enough posts to, but here's the link anyway: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El0UWCFmEPI
enjoy it, it's a great song even if you don't think there's a poignant political message to be made
and I'm sure you guys can figure out what's going on (and the reason I said that they may be partial to anarchist primitivism, but given their most recent studio work, and some of the sympathies expressed in this song, I think that that's a bit of a simplistic interpretation).
So yeah, I hope that you guys consider listening to this band, if you haven't already - while their music is pretty cool (they're pretty much second best to Type O Negative in my last.fm profile), in terms of sheer popularity, these guys are ABSOLUTELY VITAL; their influence reaches all across the UK, and they've got significant fan bases in the USA and Australia. These guys, while somewhat undeveloped in their views, make a very important point: that the current political and economic system is fucked, and that, as that not reform, but revolution is absolutely necessary to attain some sense and state of social and economic egalitarianism.
And finally, I'm so sorry if this post isn't reasonably understandable; for at least the second half of it, I was pretty much pissed, and for the first half it, I'd had a few glasses of gin.
So this is my first major post in this forum, and it'll be a bit long, but bear with me. It think that you'd do yourselves well to listen to Enter Shikari's sophomore album "Common Dreads" and the first four tracks of their compilation album "Tribalism." Their first album, as a post-hardcore piece of work, is okay, but a bit typical and underwhelming sometimes.
I just thought it was pretty interesting how this post-hardcore band went from being a pretty neat but ordinary hardcore/trance group in the mid 00s to something very very different by the time their second record "Common Dreads" rocked around. I'll talk about a few tracks off their second album and their new compilation of unreleased studio material and remixes, which are incredibly interesting by the way; the album's called "Tribalism." The first track on this record, (which I'll talk about in a moment) in my limited knowledge of all things political, has led me to believe that they're primitivists of some kind, but I think it's a little simplistic to brand them as such; they seem to be social democrats, or possibly communists or even anarcho-communists, speaking out against rampant capitalism and in favour of a limited government, it any at all. But I'll get onto that later.
The first track, if you haven't heard it, consists of an esoteric but effective intro, with a droning synth and heavily affected spoken vocals, including the repeated phrase "we must unite" spoken in many different languages. It sets the album out pretty well: this was going to be, if nothing else, a very "politically-conscious" album; if they weren't going to attack any particular ideologies or individuals/parties, they were going to be pissed about the current state of the political world in a general way. The second last phrase on the track, "to avoid disaster, we must unite," is important in the context of the album as a whole, and I'll discuss this a bit more later: they are scared of the current state of being. They are scared that, without uniting to combat the status quo, we are, for lack of a better expression, fucked.
Their second track is entitled "Solidarity:" it lives up to it's name reasonably well (hearing this song live, everyone moshing the FUCK out, and chanting the lyrics; it's an amazing experience to say the least). Allow me to post a few lyrics:
"Here tonight I clock a thousand heads,
Here to unite through common dreads...
...Now we can no longer hide
The immediacy of these fears
Our names will not be writ on water,
And we don't need an ark,
One day I know the dam will collapse,
And we will be the current." [I should point out that the breakdown begins here, and it's musically amazing, at least for listeners of hardcore]
Needless to say, these blokes are pretty pissed off. And it's clear why: they're scared of the current state of things. They've definitely got an audience; I think it's fair to say that we are all, if nothing else, scared of the way that the world is "going;" we're scared that the capitalists, the government, are in fact winning (and they are in a big way, at this stage, although the GFC has resulted in a move to the left, or at least the centre, in many nations, Australia included), and that the general population, in being "brainwashed" in one way or another about the perceived evils of the left in general, are not willing to step up (I'll get onto this phrase "Step Up" later; it's actually the third track).
So yeah, I think these lyrics essentially speak for themselves; the first four lines I quoted are very self-explanatory, and of course the biblical allusion and extended metaphor shown in the next four lines make the point that what I perceive as the Left (meaning this band and the views they stand for, as well as all people red in general) is essentially fated to rise against capitalism and government - "the dam will collapse and we will be the current" - and that the individuals involved, in the context of the song (again, called "Solidarity"), will be so united, that "[their] names will not be writ on water," because they are one integral cohort, one group that stands together against oppression and capitalism, as opposed to a "bunch" of individuals who would act in a way that is contrary to this idea of utter unity and that their immense power will be self-evident and all-encompassing - "we don't need an ark." I think you get the picture: this group called for not reform, not fair play, but outright revolution, and theirs is the opinion that this revolution is inevitable (some here may argue against this point, but for a group which does play to the capitalist game of the music industry, they make a very conscious point; if they were to say that a vanguard or any other means of direct action was necessary for revolution, they'd probably be arrested for "inciting immanent violence" or some bullshit).
I'll talk very briefly about the third track on this album, which is called "Step Up." I'll start with the first two lines:
"If our own lives aren't directly affected,
then it don't need to be corrected" - I don't think this even needs a separate paragraph; this is the harm principle, clearly stated in the vernacular of a modern context.
And then of course there's the spoken word that proceeds the breakdown:
"We have greatness within us; innovative, giving, determined -
it's time for the best in us to come out" - A very clear statement of solidarity as demonstrated in the previous track, and an advocacy of socialistic ideals of labour being for the betterment of mankind rather than for a capitalistic profit.
The rest of the song is along the same lines; the idea that the harm principle is the sole rationale for authority to be exercised against another individual, and that, once again, the proletarian revolution is utterly inevitable, regardless of the fact that, in our current state (meaning that in most countries, disregarding the UK and Greece, amongst some other minor movements [as far as my knowledge is concerned]), the working class is for the most part absolutely comatose to the idea that they're being utterly exploited (as long as they can get an XBox or PS3 for Christmas, they're fine in their opinion). I think that you can connect the dots (and this isn't a complete cop out because I've had three glasses of gin and a glass of wine. Yeah...)
I'd discuss the first track on their compilation album consisting of unreleased studio material and some live and remixed material, but I'm in no state to do so to be honest. So I'll post a link:
edit: apparently I can't post YouTube links; I don't know why, because I've got enough posts to, but here's the link anyway: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El0UWCFmEPI
enjoy it, it's a great song even if you don't think there's a poignant political message to be made
and I'm sure you guys can figure out what's going on (and the reason I said that they may be partial to anarchist primitivism, but given their most recent studio work, and some of the sympathies expressed in this song, I think that that's a bit of a simplistic interpretation).
So yeah, I hope that you guys consider listening to this band, if you haven't already - while their music is pretty cool (they're pretty much second best to Type O Negative in my last.fm profile), in terms of sheer popularity, these guys are ABSOLUTELY VITAL; their influence reaches all across the UK, and they've got significant fan bases in the USA and Australia. These guys, while somewhat undeveloped in their views, make a very important point: that the current political and economic system is fucked, and that, as that not reform, but revolution is absolutely necessary to attain some sense and state of social and economic egalitarianism.
And finally, I'm so sorry if this post isn't reasonably understandable; for at least the second half of it, I was pretty much pissed, and for the first half it, I'd had a few glasses of gin.