Various artists
Contra-ICE Vol. 1: ICE Out
SOUNDSGOOD
Decades of neoliberalism in the US from both sides of the political aisle have led the country to where it is now: not even on the verge of fascism, but fully ensconced in it. It’s been creeping up for years, but with the Trump administration’s unrestrained deployment of ICE agents across the country over the past year or so, the authoritarianism has become tangible, unavoidable, fatal.
Alongside art, music has always been an integral part of protest and revolution—a visual soundtrack to the civil disobedience so often necessary in overthrowing totalitarian regimes. Contra-ICE Vol. 1: ICE Out is the latest in a long line of protest music. Funded by Build Art Make Change, an organization that supports vulnerable communities and fights social injustice through artistic expression, this compilation consists of 47 tracks made to protest the federal law enforcement agency that has been terrorizing (and murdering) US citizens to a higher degree than usual throughout Trump’s second term. While most protest music is intense and aggressive—a way of capturing the anger and frustration about the situations that inspire it—this comp offers a more diverse range of sounds, from spoken-word to glossy pop to experimental, glitchy, and sample-laden missives.
The end result is one of understated humanity, of quiet and intelligent defiance—whether that’s the hushed beauty of “Call in the Angels” by Gretchen Parlato and Jazmine Becerra Green or the dreamy instrumental of “Compact” by Fred Armisen (yes, really); Al Madrigal and Chris Estrada’s self-aware and postmodern examination of what a protest song should be in “Al and Chris vs. ICE” or Filer Coleman’s haunting pairing of audio clips from actual encounters with ICE with gloomy but beautiful soundscapes on “Eat Your Greens”; Of Mexican Descent’s profoundly moving “Gulf of Mexico” or the fascinating collaboration between Kathleen Hanna, Ad Rock, Money Mark, Fredo Ortiz, and Frank Figueroa as they cover Justin Bieber and DJ Snake.
All of those—as well as all of those not mentioned—create a rich sense of hope, something that’s actually incredibly rare in protest music. These are songs born out of terrible times and terrible crimes, but they stand tall and proud against the horrors that inspired them. So as much as this doesn’t feel like traditional protest music, it’s exactly what’s needed.
