Man's Tyrannical Dominion

Man's Tyrannical Dominion

Rocking folk music... A selection of both old and contemporary broadsides and topical songs as we turn to musing on the state of the world and human development. A critique of the given civilisation narrative & the key foundations/conclusions upon which that myth was built, that which shapes all our lives today. A dominance hierarchy, a security state that sanctions violence to protect who & what? Divide to rule. Organised and carefully sanitised religion which channels people away from spirituality towards worship of the great, all-powerful, all-seeing, most-unholy, generally patriarchal God state and its supreme currency - wealth. How did humanity lose all balance with nature and devalue, turn its back on higher knowledge to become obsessed only with self gratification? Taking a look at historical civilisations and prehistoric creation myths, how mankind seems to have travelled with a celestial procession from darkness to light and back into the dark over and again. Are we due another reset? As we keep on ramping up the rape of Earth resources and pollution we approach an anthropocene scenario and time is running out. The way things are going, it appears that some kind of great & popular revolution is not only desirable but may now actually be inevitable. Dick Gaughan, David Rovics, Jake Brount, Billy Strings, Jesse Welles & The Rainbow Girls form the musical vanguard here. Plenty of good vibes despite the weight of the topic.

 

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 Ethnomusicologist musician Jake Brount tackles civilisational questions with his The New Faith concept album from 2022. He laments the advent of the fall of a legendary fallen civilisation, or perhaps he points to the future fall of ours? Either way he weaves a curiously textured tapestry calls upon traditional African-American songs and sounds ranging from burro drumming & jonkonnu-style dance beats to the blues and utilising the African diaspora banton storyteller tradition to carry his narrative. Excellent. Fellow raconteur & original roving troubadour Rory McLeod weaves more deep and meaningful tales of a broken world and twisted order. Stranger-God takes a clever swipe at national theology, colonial attitudes and refugee 'crises'. He also lambasts the Church on What Would Jesus Do & God Loves Me all from his astounding 2000 double LP Mouth to Mouth. Spokesperson of the time Jesse Welles keeps the protest tradition at front & centre as he rolls out his brand new album Masks Off with more forthright topical songs like Join ICE & Domestic Error. This guy just keeps on coming with more & more amazing lyrics and tunes, absolutely sensational! The Billy Strings legend keeps on growing with four albums (3 self-released) in the past decade. While usually labelled as a bluegrass musician, Strings is much more than that and is on a one-man mission to bring Appalachian-style music to new audiences, breaking new boundaries. While not overtly a protest singer like Welles, he is however known for left-of-centre views and has recorded several songs about environmental & societal concerns. Four topical songs from the ever effervescent Rainbow Girls, including tracks from their American Dream LP (2017). Australian folk rock legends The Bushwackers lift spirits with three lively trademark jigs but also highlight poverty with the beautiful historical broadside Weevils in the Flour from the Faces in the Street LP (1981). Maggie Holland sings the curious fable A Taoist Tale which reveals truth (at least as far as we can tell). Classic Guy Clark ballad Homeless.

Short spotlight on the great Scottish protest singer Dick Gaughan with two cuts of his roaring broadside Revolution and a witty ditty about a religious fanatic, The Devil & Pastor Jack. Three covers of songs first made well-known by Gaughan: Solas' Song of Choice, Karine Polwart's brilliant interpretation of Now Westlin Winds (a Robert Burns composition 1773), here called Tyrannic Man's Dominion, and Workers' Song by David Rovics. Two live Rovics tunes from his 2008 LP The Commons: The celebratory After the Revolution and sarcastic but deadly accurate Who Would Jesus Bomb? Critiques of civilisation and organised religion abound heavily throughout with further commentary from The Johnsons, Ralph McTell, Woody Guthrie, Ben Harper and Cat Stevens. The eternally external Wild Willy Barrett brings his homemade plywood guitar to the party for the experimental & (almost) tongue in cheek Please Don't Throw Me to the Christians (1986) arhhh!.. We begin and end with deep astral vibrations from legendary Shivite Hindu rockers Quintessence. That PROCESSION FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT, AND BACK TO DARKNESS again...

Continuous mix 3hrs

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