Vortis
“God Won’t Bless America”
(Thick Records)
The album opens with, “For some reason the Bush administration has an obsession with Iraq and Saddam Hussein.” Then they kick into a war protest song. Protest music really is the heart of rock and roll. I don’t care what Huey Lewis has to say. The right wing has stolen the minds of the rock and roll community. I see rockers out there wearing their swastikas, wearing confederate flag designs and they think they’re being rebellious. Sid Vicious was a tool of capitalism. Your confederate flag symbolizes not rebellion, but rather hate and oppression. You people are scum. How do you pronounce “turbonegro?” Fuck all y’all bought and sold Schwarzenegger shoe polishers.
Vortis is real rock. They’re saying what they have to say and doing it live in the studio in front of friends & fans in one take. The writing is smart: “The real axis of evil is plunging us into a war without end.” The music is lo-fi and intoxicating. The vocalist is a political philosophy professor at Purdue University, which isn’t necessarily important, but is worth mentioning to know that there’s some life experience and intelligence behind the band. My God! Rock with intellect? Say it isn’t so. Let’s get stoned and listen to Nebula, dude.
