Propagandhi
““Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes””
(Fat Wreck Chords)
So Propagandhi went out and read a coupla’ books, used a painting by Lawrence Ferlinghetti on the cover of their album, and tried to make a difference. They almost achieved. Their latest release, “Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes” is a stab at politics and the rage so many young people feel towards the land that allows them the space and freedom to make these silly albums. One minute their rambling about “Suharto a Trojan horse” the next minute it’s a “shining dildo” and then the all time abstraction: “Fuck The Border”-Well, I know City Lights Bookstore is an alluring place, but just because you hang out there doesn’t mean you can spout off some toothache intellectualism into the microphone over some power chords. On “With Friends Like These Who Needs Cointelpro?” singer Shit C. Face (Chris) even goes as far as to shout out: “The crippling Judas kiss to christen thee a sinking ship. . .” Thee? What has happened? Apparently Mr. Face should release a spoken-word CD full of this archaic language-not shout it around the same old music everyone is playing these days in suburban America. Propagandhi whines about the “fucking Pentagon” on “Albright Monument Baghdad,” but that’s pretty much all anyone can hear if the lyric sheet (tagged with quotes by Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and George Orwell) is not right in front of their face. Shit C. Face needs to polish up his singing style a bit-he continually cuts off phrases in the middle of the sentence, making the already scrambled and rushed lyrics more confusing. The CD is also a multimedia thingamajig that rants and raves about superpowers, hypocrisy, The American Indian Movement of Colorado, and racial studies. At least these three guys aren’’t bubble gum “what’s my age again?” teenyboppers-they are legitimately trying to make a difference, even if they chose the wrong medium to do so.
