Thurston Moore Launches Online Protest Label
(Thom Yorke checking site daily for future
album titles)
Ryan Goldman reports:
The Internet was conceived as a tool of democracy.
Although demonized by corporations and feared by the
government, the World Wide Web is a community at the
frontier of change everlasting, giving new relevance
to old concepts like Diaspora and social movement.
Especially now, as mainstream media proliferation
threatens our objectivity through embedded war
reporting and spin-off cable news networks, the
Internet is a haven for dissent, discussion, and
recreation (the Elizabeth-Cheney-as-human-shield story
comes to mind).
Pitchfork has tried to keep its readers up-to-date on
pop artists' postings of protest song MP3s over the
past couple of weeks, ranging from the good (R.E.M.'s
"The Final Straw") to the bad (Beastie Boys' "In a
World Gone Mad") to the predictable (Zack de la Rocha
and DJ Shadow's "March of Death"). While some artists,
like the Dismemberment Plan's former singer Travis
Morrison, seem to be suffering from Fox News
poisoning, hundreds of others continue reassuring fans
that what's happening over in that country just ain't
right.
On March 22nd, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and New
York designer/Sonic Youth webmaster Chris Habib
properly took up the cause of creative moral objection
with the launch of their online-only music label,
Protest Records. The site features free MP3s, original
graphics, and news links related to the war in Iraq,
political opposition, and the campaign for freedom of
expression. Moore recently told The New York Times
(ahem) that he was inspired to form the label and
website after hearing the Fugs perform "Go Down,
Congress" in New York to an audience of less than one
hundred people. He and Habib curate the site, which
posts submissions from all artists willing to share
their music free-of-charge, with special emphasis
placed on unusual and thematically significant songs:
"[Protest Records] exists for musicians, poets and
artists to express LOVE + LIBERTY in the face of
greed, sexism, racism, hate-crime and war."
After only three days of file-sharing, Protest Records
already hosts 50 tracks, with contributors ranging
from Cat Power, The Evens (featuring Ian McKaye), and
Mike Watt & Thurston Moore, to Damon & Naomi, Jim
O'Rourke & Glenn Kotche, and DJ Spooky & Saul
Williams. Here's what Chris Habib has to say about his
stand against war and conspicuous consumption,
characterized by the label's burning flag logo:
"I think that what Thurston and I are doing is one of
the most patriotic gestures anyone could make. We are
working to huddle together the voices of those who
have something to say about the aimless direction in
which this country is tumbling. As it becomes
increasingly more apparent that this government for
and by the people is becoming increasingly more
comfortable ignoring said people and sacrificing them
on the battlefield for resources and empire, we need
to speak up and we need to speak out. Contrary to the
opinion of a man we never elected, we are not a 'focus
group.' We are the government. We are this country.
Our rights are being trampled. Our working class and
poor are being led to slaughter. Our privacy is
becoming evermore a diaphanous myth. Corporations, the
lobby groups who represent them and the courts have
more control over the power structure in this country
than any electoral college could ever dream... If this
pisses you off, ask me why I did it and then help me
make it right."
.: Protest Records:
http://www.protest-records.com
.: Sonic Youth:
http://www.sonicyouth.com
Taken from
http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/03-04/02.shtml#story3
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