Propagandhi

Today's Empires, Tomorrow's Ashes (2001)

Anonymous

Its been nearly 5 years since the last Propagandhi album. What have these guys been up? Some years back Propagandhi went out and formed the G7 Welcoming Committee Collective (a worker owned and operated record label dedicated to the expansion of resistance culture through music, print, and spoken word) rather than putting out their own new material-until now.  

The big question here is that in music today, is there a need for these guys? While in the late 70s and early 80s you may be able to name off about 1000 Activism/America Sucks bands, today theres only a few left. Why is that? Bands have moved on from their roots and sing about girls now, times have dramatically changed. I myself can only think of a small handful of people I know who lives are all about activism and anarchy and their pool of supporters and fellow "comrades" are very tiny. Most people who like bands like Propagandhi or Anti Flag for example love their music, just not their messages that they speak of.  

There was a twinge of excitement when it was announced that this album could be downloaded from Napster. I must inform you that there is much more this time around to their c.d. as a whole. Besides getting new songs, stick your c.d. into the c.d. rom drive in your computer and its a multimedia experience. Although most people will care less about the multimedia features and just about the music you can't deny that you cannot experience this with just downloading the album off Napster.

There are numerous video presentations on here including "Ward Churchill: To Disrupt, Discredit, And Destroy", "The G7 Welcoming Committe", and "William Blum: U.S. Foreign Policy-A Study In Hypocrisy".  

There are also various pamphlets you can view via Acrobat Reader which also comes on the c.d. The activist William Blum contributes a whopping 189 page essay called "To Disrupt, Discredit and Destroy-The FBI's secret War Against The Black Panther Party" and there is also a 16 page thing on why you should chose to be a Vegan.

There is also a presentation from AK Press Audio where you can read all about Anarchism, Vegetarians, Animal Rights, Zapatisa, all written by "progressive intellectuals and activists".

The music is the same, they mix together mid 80s political hardcore and early 80s speed metal. Like all the multimedia features, the themes are the same, "Fuck The Border, Bullshit Politicians, and Albright Monument Baghdad". There are some pretty decent songs on here.

So is this c.d. for you? If you live for anarchy and activist issues I couldn't recommend anything more than this. Its perfect because of the added multimedia experience besides getting new material from Propagandhi. If you are not into hardcore and you especially hate anything to do with politics whatsoever then stay away.