10-11-05, 9:27 am
The Kissers Good Fight Skeptic Rock/Oarfin
Good Fight ain’t the soundtrack to Riverdance. The new release by The Kissers from Madison, Wisconsin, far-removed from the birthplace of Irish folk rock only by time and space, will nevertheless transport you to when The Pogues rocked the new wave scene in the 1980s. The Kissers bring the traditional political edge to the genre as well. Violin, accordion and banjo accompany guitars and drums along with antiwar lyrics, a working-class pathos, and plenty of thumb-nosing at the ruling class.
Being a real rock band may not have been the number one priority for some of The Kissers. The band formed in the 1990s as a cover band playing Monday nights at a one Madison punk bar. Mainly addressing the work of Irish rock icon Elvis Costello, the punkish Pogues, and country rock legend Johnny Cash, The Kissers spent almost three years honing their sound, writing their own music, but mainly refusing to be serious. It was just fun.
When the band went to the studio in 2001, they turned in a series of songs on their first CD, Fire in the Belly, that reflected their feelings about a career in music. It was mixed with political and social satire and party music. They had something to say and a unique style of saying it, but it wasn't finely tuned... yet.
Their latest album, Good Fight, released this September, is a big step forward. Songs like the opener, 'What They Can,' 'Captain George' and 'No War' are molded by real life. They speak deeply to those of us who work for a living and are exploited and abused, and are estranged by a government sending our brothers and sisters to die in a war based on lies. Says lead vocal Ken Fitzsimmons, 'we have been moved tremendously by the evens of the past few years.'
So the band decided to lend its voice to the growing upswell of opposition: 'Whereas we once felt that politics should stay out of music,' says Fitzsimmons, 'we now feel that it is our obligation to keep people aware of the world around them. We also like to show people that you can care about these things and have a good time in the process.'
This CD, a provocative mix of electric and acoustic, fast-paced rhythms and authentic Irish folk ballads, is full of anger and fight (as the title suggests) but it is also beautifully written, touching, and poetic. The CD contains added features: a cool music video and thematic art that invokes both Diego Rivera and Tom Tomorrow.
You will fall in love with Irish folk rock...again.
Take Penacilin Now Compilation G7 Welcoming Committee.
G7 brought you the likes of Propaghandi, warsawpack, Submission Hold, and spoken word albums by Noam Chomsky and other left-wing firebrands. Much of the musical repertoire fits a range of punk and hardcore metal to folk and heavy metal. Take Penacilin Now is an anthology of the label producers’ favorites. It is a tag team of anarchistic punk, Australian folk, political core metal, and left-wing political propaganda.
The hour-long CD contains an exclusive new track from Propaghandi (probably the strongest on this high-powered collection), unreleased titles from Submission Hold, folksy Greg MacPherson, Hiretsukan and others. Also, appearing are warsawpack – the poor person's Rage Against the Machine – now defunct (but unusually ethereal and beautiful) Clann-Zu, hardcore and explicitly political GFK, mind-bending Che:Chapter 127, and, to round it off, the effervescently electronic Bakunin’s Bum.
Find out more about G7 and its stable of bands at .
--Clara West reviews music for Political Affairs. Reach her at pa-letters@politicalaffairs.net.
