Here for the political pop moment

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I've been pretty under the weather since last week and have been a bit too chronically online because of it. The benefit is seeing how much new music in the mainstream is aligning with me politically.

The argument that having a right-wing government will bring back good punk rock is not one I want to engage with. We don't need a certain administration to be angry about world politics, as has been clear for my entire adult life. Whatever is going on right now, though, is certainly bringing some creative attention to topics I care about deeply.

If you need some tunes to remind you that somewhere, someone is on the right track, I have a few recommendations.

Welles - "United Health"

I don't think this song is officially released yet but I cannot get it out of my head. This singer-songwriter from Arkansas writes some of the best activist folk I've heard in a long time. This one explains how we got private healthcare and how it's screwing everyone over. Here are the lyrics to the chorus, but please go listen to the whole thing wherever you can:

There ain't no you in United Health.
There ain't no me in the company.
There ain't no us in the private trust.
There's hardly human in humanity.

Paris Paloma - "Labour"

Anyone who manages to get lyrics about women's unpaid and emotional labor on national television with a homage to Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party gets my vote. If you'd like to read more about how capitalism is built on women's unpaid labor may I suggest the following books:

• "Caliban and the Witch" by Sylvia Federici
• "Women, Race, and Class" by Angela Davis
• "Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale" by Maria Mies

AGiftFromTodd - "Hostile Government Takeover"

If you also just listened to the episode of The Daily about the attempt to dismantle the Department of Education and need something to shake off the dread, look no further. I originally heard this song when Dave from The Arrivals made a duet with it and it's brilliant. A retro soul jam for the apocalypse.

Anything else you've been listening to lately? Put it in the comments!

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