In recent months the situation in Gaza has gotten worse and worse every day. What Hamas did on October 7th was vile and evil, but the Israeli government’s response has been thousands of times worse. Let’s not forget, that despite what much of the mainstream media is saying (or perhaps not saying), this war did not begin last October it has been going on for many years. More than 300,000 innocent Palestinian people, many of them children, have been killed and over 70,000 injured since October 7th. The Palestinian people are not Hamas in the same way that the Israeli people are not their government. In Palestine, countless neighbourhoods, towns and cities have been decimated, and most of the population has been displaced and left without food, clean drinking water, electricity and fuel. This is truly heartbreaking and the response of many countries across the globe leaves me ashamed to be human. The UK government, and many opposition MPs, have refused to back a ceasefire in Gaza even on humanitarian grounds and with a majority of the UK population in favour of a ceasefire.
I know that music cannot solve this problem, but maybe it can play a small part electronic label Human Endeavour (part of Ransom Note Records) has pulled together a wonderful compilation album to raise funds for two charities that are working incredibly hard in Gaza in awful conditions providing support and humanitarian aid. All proceeds from the album will be split equally between two charities, Medical Aid Palestine and War Child UK. A wide range of artists have donated their music to this cause with a smorgasbord of sounds that includes electro dance, Italo House electro, UK techno, chill, electronica, wonky electro, acid-baked dance, and some awesome Middle East vibes and flavours. Artists include D Twitch, Ambien Baby, Lisene, GoodMostlyBad, Jurango, Sofia El-Harifi and Azo. Every track is incredible, contributing artists have shown unequivocal support for the cause by providing some of their finest cuts. The gorgeous artwork for the cover was created by Jeena Ra.
The full track listing is below. Click here to purchase the album on Bandcamp
Jon Beige – Complète
C.A.R. – 19s
Malcolm & Glitter55 – Damâa (Instrumental)
Jurango – Burwood
Sofia El-Harifi – bayati beach
Azo – Peace on Planet Earth
Reda Saiarh – New Beat Against The Machine
Zillas On Acid – Sleep Mode
REES – Mystic Daze (Downtempo Mix)
JD Twitch – Question Authority
Kitsta – Glisten
Lisene – Hydrophonic
Ambien Baby – La Tia
Albino Sound – Bell Anklet
Nuevo Prohibido – Pantano Slurp
GoodMostlyBad – No Disco Just Disco
Jeena – Love Is Resistance
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Shane Lynch Irish 47-year-old former member of Boyzone, alleged singer, and born-again Christian has said that Taylor Swift and many other rock and pop artists perform satanic rituals in their stage performances and send demonic messages in their music. He made the claims in an interview with the Irish newspaper Sunday World. Perhaps Boyzone would have been a tad more exciting if they had dabbled with satanic messages in their songs. How about “Love Me For A Satan”, “Satan And Son” or “Satan Can I Hold You” for starters. Lynch said “I think when you’re looking at a lot of the artists out there, a lot of their stage shows are Satanic rituals live in front of 20,000 people without them realising and recognising,” and “You’ll see a lot of hoods up and masks on and fire ceremonies.” I wear a hoodie and dance around at gigs, do I also worship the devil? Of course not, but then I don’t worship an imaginary friend in the sky either. Shane droned on and on about it, adding “Even down to Taylor Swift – one of the biggest artists in the world – you watch one of her shows and she has two or three different demonic rituals to do with the pentagrams on the ground, to do with all sorts of stuff on her stage. But to a lot of people, it’s just art and that’s how people are seeing it, unfortunately.” He went on to say that this is the reason he’s given up listening to several genres of music, including hip-hop.” Personally, I would be very pleased if he said he was never making music again, although to be fair has he ever made music?
Mr Lynch borrows Lucifer’s pitchfork
The devil has been an ever-present in music for years ever since Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul at the crossroads. So many satan related tunes are out there from the Rolling Stones with “Sympathy For The Devil” to Cliff Richard (yes the Christian Mr. Clean with “Devil Woman”. Is rock and pop an easy way into satanism? Of course not. Does Taylor Swift worship satan? I doubt it. Is Shane Lynch talking utter bollocks? Of course, he is! OK, dear readers I would love to hear your thoughts regarding Satan in rock and pop!
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In my humble opinion companies like Viagogo are, in simple terms ticket touts that have somehow become legitimate. These companies refer to themselves as “ticket resale agencies” a rather cuddly and friendly title for what feels like industrial-level scalping. But there are other “ticket resale agencies” I hear you say. Yes, there is Stub Hub, but did you know they merged with Viagogo? There is also Seat Geek which has branched out beyond resale and is now a ticket agency in its own right. In fact, it is the ticketing partner for numerous sports teams and venues in the USA and in 2020 signed a similar deal with Liverpool Football Club in the UK. There are other scalping agencies, perhaps too many to mention.
Recently Taylor Swift tickets for her Eras tour became available on Viagogo at pretty much the same time they went on general sale, including pre-sale tickets, that smacks of some kind of high-level scam. Some were on sale for more than £3,500. The price for most legitimate tickets for her UK tour were reasonably expensive to start with, between £100 and £200. Cris Miller who owns Viagogo was asked at the time to justify the huge price of Taylor Swift tickets for her ERAS tour on his site, According to MyLondon, the BBC, and other press publications, he said that Viagogo was “ensuring that there’s a secure, safe transaction“. So does this mean safer than the more legitimate ticket agencies like Ticket Master (another company I am not a huge fan of, but they will be covered in a future article). He also stated that “There’s not going to be enough seats. So, from our perspective, ensuring that there’s a secure, safe transaction that takes place is the single most important thing“. Well, there never are enough seats to satisfy demand when artists on the scale of Taylor Swift tour, unless she played three shows a day every day for six months that is unlikely to ever change.
So, the bottom line suggested by that comment is that Viagogo is all about creaming as much money from fans as possible right? Well, that is certainly my takeaway. Miller went on to claim that “fans prefer to buy more expensive tickets on Viagogo”. Seriously? What the actual fuck is that about? How many people do you know who would honestly prefer to buy tickets at ten times the face value? I know people do, but do they prefer doing that? Of course, they don’t. Miller said, “I wake up every single day, as does everybody else that works at the company, thinking about one thing, and that’s getting fans into these events all over the world”. That might be true, but it is more likely about how much money they can scam off said fans.
Scammers like Viagogo and their ilk pay a lot of money to Google and other similar sites to promote themselves as legitimate ticker agents, falsely in my opinion. This enables them to show up on the top of page one of a Google search when you search for gigs and shows. They operate in an incredibly devious and sophisticated way to give genuine fans and ticket buyers the impression that your tickets are direct from the authorised seller. They often charge an increased base price for tickets and add an inflated booking fee. There have also been many incidents of fans buying tickets for shows only to find that on arrival at the event their tickets were not valid. This impacted fans of the Rolling Stones and Take That in the years leading up to Covid. In 2018, even the UK Government expressed negative thoughts about Viagogo when the then Minister for Digital and the Creative Industries, Margot James stated clearly on BBC Radio “Don’t choose Viagogo. They are the worst.” However, the company is now legal in the UK and that statement from Margot James was possibly the last sensible thing a UK Minister has ever said in public.
A few years before Covid I used Viagogo to purchase a ticket for the Reading Festival, that is the one and only time that I have ever or will ever use them. I had left it a bit late to get a ticket and weekend tickets had sold out. So, believing Viagogo to be a genuine fans resale company I purchased via their website. It cost me almost double the face value. Never again! I would rather not go than pay ridiculously inflated prices. This happens for almost every major event not just Taylor Swift. The same thing has impacted recent shows by Harry Styles and many UK festivals. What makes it even worse for me is that since Covid many shows struggle to sell out and having large tranches of tickets in the hands of legitimised touts and scalpers will not help change this. Late last year Rammstein mounted a successful legal fight that forbids Viagogo from selling tickets to their shows, let’s hope more artists do the same. Also last year UK independent TV channel ITV worked with the Fan Fair Alliance to discover that nearly all tickets on Viagogo’s site are supplied by just three traders, which means that only around 10% of tickets on the site were on offer by what we might call ordinary punters.
Meanwhile, there is the NME who, back in the day, were bastions of positive and liberal thinking and even recently they have written some quite strong pieces that slagged off Viagogo. But now, presumably thanks to advertising revenue, the once proud NME who, back in the day, really knew how to “stick it to the man” is licking Viagogo’s tarnished golden rim by publishing paid-for advertising features for Viagogo. Is Viagogo legitimate? Sadly, it is in most places, they currently have operations in more than 60 countries. Is it ethical? Well for me that is at best a very grey area, personally, I don’t believe that they are. Can I stop anyone from using Viagogo? No, I can’t. Can I implore people to avoid the company forever? Yes, I can and I really believe you should do some research into this awful organisation before you consider using them!
This is a screenshot taken from the Viagogo site on 27th July 2023 for Taylor Swift tickets for the Liverpool shows. These are just floor tickets!
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Kunt and the Gang a.k.a. the Kunts and now a.k.a. the Krown Jewels are back. They have previously released some cracking poppy, punky tunes about our “illustrious leaders” including such classics as “Boris Johnson Is A Fucking Cunt”, “Boris Johnson Is Still A Fucking Cunt”, “Prince Andrew Is A Sweaty Nonce”, “Fuck Off Boris You Cunt”, “Fuck The Tories” and “Rishi Sunak Is A Rat Faced Cunt”. Every one of these songs (and all the seemingly endless remix versions) are stone-cold pop classics and I can’t understand why they haven’t all been to the top of the charts and never been played on the radio, can you? Anyway, they are about to take another shot at the chart summit with a new song, “Scrap The Monarchy”. Marvellous lyrics, great hooks, and something to sing along to while you do your damndest to avoid the vile spectacle of the coronation on 6th May. The video below is, I think, an early version of the single which will be released on 5th May according to the Kunt and the Gang Twitter feed, on which they share what looks like an updated lyric video, click here to check that out. I love the lyric about King Charlie Tampon “He propagates the narrative, he’s a climate protester. But his best friend was Jimmy Savile, Britain’s foremost child molester” along with “and his brother Prince Andrew is a nonce case too”. They also mention the pegmeister himself, Prince William with lines such as “maybe we have pegged him wrong”. Get ready to download or stream this worthwhile, spiffing well needed tune on 5th May by clicking here. Oh and apologies if you are offended by nasty words and profanities there are a lot included in this post, a bit late for that warning I know. But maybe you should be more offended by the obscene wealth and privilege of the Royal Family and that in a so-called modern world, the UK has an unelected head of state. Do everything you can to get “Scrap The Monarchy” to the top of the charts!
If you want to sing along here are the lyrics. Printed here without permission, is that ok with you Mr. Kunt?
[Intro] What do they do? What do they do? What do they actually do? What do they do? What do they do? What do they actually do? What do they do? What do they do? What do they actually do? What do they do? What do they do? What do they actually do?
[Verse 1] The coronation seems a good occasion to discuss Why one family live in palaces, all subsidised by us While folks rely on foodbanks, and we’re supposed to rejoice As a crown is chauffeured round in a custom-made Rolls Royce It’s time for this to stop, let’s give the royals the chop
[Chorus] Scrap the monarchy, scrap the monarchy Their pampered lives are vile while people live in poverty In inhumane conditions, while out-of-date traditions Mean we all pay for the royals to live in luxury, so Scrap the monarchy
[Verse 2] King Charles’s fingers are so fat, swollen, sore, and red From swans that he gets fed and things he does in bed He propagates the narrative he’s a climate protester But his best friend was Jimmy Saville, Britain’s foremost child molester And his brother Prince Andrew, he’s a nonce-case too
[Chorus] Scrap the monarchy, scrap the monarchy They turn a blind eye to their pedos like the BBC They think they can pay for it all to go away But covering up for nonces is their lasting legacy, so Scrap the monarchy (Oi) Scrap the monarchy (Oi) They stand for racist values and inequality It’s time to have a vote, then stick them all in a small boat And let them take their chances in some far-flung colony Scrap the monarchy
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Delilah Bon is back (not that she ever went away) with a new single, “I Wish A Bitch Would”. This is another track that directs Delilah’s anger at misogynists and those who see harming women as ok. This one is perhaps even more political than “Dead Men Don’t Rape”, particularly lyrics like “don’t trust no man, don’t trust the police“. Sadly the men that this is directed at are unlikely to change, but the way Delilah spits these words clarifies again that she has the backs of all those who love what she does, especially the women and LGBTQ fans, even more those that have suffered and still suffer in abusive relationships. Delilah Bon uses her voice and position so well and so eloquently, it should at least embarrass or even scare those in power, although it will probably do neither. That is the nature of the twisted world we live in. The track has some supremely bassy beats and an eerie synth hook and she spits lyrics with passionate, and justified anger. Every sound on this track is performed by Delilah and she also produced it. This single and “Dead Men Don’t Rape” have given me huge excitement and expectation for the next Delilah Bon album. Good people of the world, Delilah Bon has your back, make sure you check her out if you haven’t already. Delilah’s Mum pointed out that “I Wish A Bitch Would” was released on the day that UK authorities confirmed that Gary Glitter had been released after serving just 8 years of a 16-year sentence for molesting young girls. He has a history of abusing young girls and for me, I concur with a line from “I Wish A Bitch Would” in respect of how Glitter should be treated, “rip every single limb off of this child molester“. But even if we didn’t take it to that level, he should never be released. But this just proves the dark sickness that still exists in our world.
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So, as expected, the tabloid media, particularly in the UK, have got their knickers in a right twist over the video for Sam Smith’s current single “I’m Not Here To Make Friends”. The video features drag queens, dancers, corsets, leather, a gold helicopter, nipple tassles, and amazing camp costumes, and is frankly stunning. Yes, it is sexual, but sexual with a sense of humour. This to me has a large element of Sam Smith sending themself up. Would the mainstream media have got so upset if a similar video was made by a svelte-like female pop star? Of course, they wouldn’t, but Sam came out as non-binary a couple of years back and the tabloids just love to attack anything they see as different, so basically anyone who doesn’t fit the usual heterosexual, nuclear family tropes. The tabloid media barely hides its homophobia and transphobia these days and they mix it with an element of body shaming too. I think that with this video, Sam Smith, has produced one of the finest pop videos in years, and “I’m Not Here To Make Friends” is, without doubt, a classic slice of 21st-century disco. I am an old, straight man and I bloody love the video and the tune! I have not been a huge fan of Sam Smith’s music up to now but this song has definitely won me over and the video is the icing on the cake (or maybe the tassle on the nipple!) The song and the video are direct descendent of “Relax” by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and “Outside” by George Michael. Sam Smith, you are priceless, UK tabloids, you are worthless! I would love to hear what you folks think of the video.
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Tomorrow, 7th October, the fabulous Captain Ska release another take on their classic “Liar Liar”. It started with one attacking Gideon, Dodgy Dave, and Clegg, and the rapid merry-go-round of Tory Leaders since then means that there have also been versions of the tune directed at Maybot, Uber Liar Johnson, and the new one is aimed fairly and squarely at Thick Lizzie. To be fair it has been touch and go as to whether Truss would stay in post long enough for the new release, but it looks like she has. Although I suspect that Captain Ska will need to fashion yet another new version before the next election given the rather entertaining fighting and backstabbing that the Tories are doing at the moment. It is nice to see the Conservatives implode and what better to soundtrack that implosion than “Liar Liar #TrussMix” from Captain Ska. As usual, the video is excellent and, for me, it shows just how out of touch with reality and out of her depth Truss actually is. It is a great ska-pop tune and works for whichever hapless loser the Tories offer as their leader. Instead of M People’s Moving On Up” Thick Lizzie should have walked out to “Liar Liar” yesterday! Spread this tune around, let’s get it into the charts! Use the YouTube link below tomorrow to watch the video, download links will all be available tomorrow too.
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In the 60s when Eric Clapton was revered by many as one of the greatest living guitarists. Graffiti stating that “Clapton Is God” was seen in numerous locations in London. When Clapton first saw Jimi Hendrix play he was allegedly truly blown away. Apart from the odd gem with Cream and perhaps “Layla” (although it was Duane Allman who was mostly responsible for that iconic lick), I believe that Clapton’s solo output has been somewhat mediocre. I saw him at the Royal Albert Hall in the 90s and my conclusion then was that he was a good guitar player with an ok voice and not many great songs. Perhaps the nadir arrived earlier this year in his collaboration with fellow Covid anti-vaxxer, or at least vaccine sceptic, Van Morrison. In June under the name Slowhand & Van he released a song called “The Rebels”. It was pretty atrocious in my view. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse they released “This Has Gotta Stop” in September. If you wish to check out more dire recordings search for Van Morrison’s “No More Lockdown”. So that you can see how poor both songs are the videos are included in this post. Yes, I recognise the irony of giving such crap airtime, but I thought it was appropriate for this post. I would be happy to step out from behind my computer screen and debate this.
Clapton has a history of racism, his drunken rant on stage at a UK gig in 1976 where he asked foreigners to put their hands up. He then told them they should leave, stating “Not just leave the hall, leave our country… I don’t want you here, in the room or in my country, The Black w—s and c—s and Arabs and f—ing Jamaicans don’t belong here, we don’t want them here,” This is England, this is a white country, we don’t want any Black w—s and c—s living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome.” This racist rant concluded with Clapton calling England a white country made for white people. This rant went some way to help start the whole Rock Against Racism movement. He has addressed this attitude in at least one interview, although to be fair that was with the Daily Mail. He described himself in the ’70s as a “semi-racist” and said that he was “so ashamed of who I was” at the time. He also said that he once dated a Black woman, had Black friends, and said that he “championed Black music.” That old chestnut of racists, “I have black friends” really doesn’t wash Mr. Clapton, particularly 42 years after the original statement. Thanks to Clapton’s Covid related views acclaimed guitarist and decent human being Robert Cray has pulled out of touring with him.
The icing on the cake arrived this week when it was reported that Clapton’s lawyers had sued a woman who was selling a live compilation CD of Clapton playing in the 80s entitled ‘Live USA’ which she said her husband had purchased from a German department store years ago. According to the lawyers it was a bootleg recording. The woman now has to pay legal costs of nearly £3,000 for a CD that she was offering for sale at less than £10. Clapton, through his lawyers, claims that bootlegging is rife and that he has been unable to earn during Covid. Seriously? Wobble your head, Clapton, this woman was really taking nothing from you with a cheap CD of recordings that to my knowledge have never been commercially released. Click here to read the full report in the Guardian. I can no longer bear to listen to Clapton’s music, nor Van Morrison and for that matter Ian Brown and Morrissey too. If Clapton really was God then he has made a shit job of it!
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Regular readers will know that I love a protest song and I bloody love the best all girl band there has ever been, the Tuts. Well the Tuts are back, with some great friends as Solidarity Not Silence collaborating on a bright, angry, sharp and powerful song about their trials and tribulations since they took a stand for the abused. It has most certainly not been an easy ride and sadly it ain’t over yet! I have copied below the message from the Tuts social media. Kathleen Hanna’s involvement has helped greatly and even Rolling Stone have picked up the story. Please contribute to the cause and stand in solidarity with them and everyone else involved with this song and all the survivors of abuse. If you can’t afford much how about leaving the song on repeat overnight on Spotify? I’ll be doing that and I have also pre ordered the vinyl single! Let me make that bit easy for you, click here for the Spotify link. Very special thanks to the Tuts, Petrol Girls, Kathleen Hanna, Colour Me Wednesday and Personal Best . The scales of justice is weighing on the wrong side right now, let’s help swing it back!
“Hello, we’ve been quiet for a while but TODAY we launch our brand NEW SONG ‘THIS IS SISTERHOOD’. We’ve formed a SUPERGROUP under the name SOLIDARITY NOT SILENCE ft The TutsPetrol Girls Kathleen Hanna Colour Me Wednesday, Personal Best & loads of feminist musicians & choirs, who have provided us with the most powerful gang vocals. We would like to say thank you to everyone who’s featured on this track (you know who you are) and Alcopop Records for releasing it with us. Gingerdope for the video Tunnel Of Reverb & Patrick James Pearson for recording it. This song release is not only to raise funds and awareness for our case and survivors but it’s for the wider issues at hand. It’s for anyone who wasn’t believed, who spoke up and got shut down, for the fuckery caused by the CPS, for that person who is too scared to speak up, who has to live with the haunting trauma. We hope that this song is somewhere you can feel safe, believed and less alone. We hope the message reaches you and the people who need to hear it and helps them as much as it’s helped us. We’ve been fighting this for over 4 years and it’s taught us resilience but also how hard it is to get JUSTICE. We have so much admiration for survivors. FULL VIDEO: https://youtu.be/GDHNlUY2V24 NEW MERCH & VINYL: www.solidaritynotsilence.bandcamp.com Please share it, download it, donate and support each other. Love,The Tuts xxx“
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Captain Ska are back with a wonderfully brutal take down of this scummy, vile UK government! Johnson and his Cabinet most definitely have blood on their hands. Let us not forget that the next time we get the chance to vote. However good the vaccine roll out is, let us not forget that the NHS is organising that, not SERCO or some new company set up by a cabinet members mate! This government is the most inept and evil pack of scumbags I have ever experienced. More than 100,000 dead? That is an absolute fucking disgrace. Don’t give me all that “aw but they are doing their best”, no they’re fucking not! Everything Johnson and his gang have done during Covid has been self centered or arse covering. They are liars who refuse to take responsibility for their actions! Never forget these times, hold these bastards to account and share the fuck out of this video!
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