Sound of Our Revolution | January 2026: Best Protest Songs of 2025

Contributed by Jonny Collins

…How do I even start this year’s playlist? I usually try and start these things with a lil summary of the year and prominent themes to give a bit of a contextual background to the songs I’m about to showcase. But 2025 has…honestly just not felt real.

After all the chaos that was 2024, 2025 has kinda blurred into itself and just hurts my head to look back on. So much wild shit has happened that it’s hard to believe that it’s only been a year of Trump’s second term as President.

What do you mean only last January Elon Musk was doing Nazi salutes on stage at his inauguration? Remember when he fell out with Nigel Farage and endorsed Rupert Lowe over him? Remember Zelensky’s visit to the White House where he was told off for not wearing a suit?? What do you mean we’ve had the Tories out of power for a year and a half now and yet it doesn’t even remotely feel like it??

This year has been such an incoherent bombardment of increasingly shitty and horrifying occurrences and despair fodder, that I am genuinely at a loss for words.

That being said – despite everything, it has also been a year of hope, resistance, and resilience. The left has had small but not insignificant wins by way of Zohran Mamdani’s decisive victory in the NYC Mayoral elections. Here in the UK, the Green Party have surged in popularity making them a significant political contender for the left on a national scale for the first time in their history following one of the most disappointing first years of a labour government in their history. Even Blair gave us some things to be excited about before he shat the bed. And there’s just… a feeling that the far right, while no less of a threat than they have been in recent years, are starting to show their cracks and are losing power and credibility among their electorate.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s no reason to be complacent about any of this. They can and will still do a lot of damage in the meantime. The Republicans have one more year at least of complete control before the mid-terms hopefully squash that a little bit, and over here Reform UK are still far and away the most consistently high polling political force.

But they are hitting a ceiling. There is the beginnings of a reckoning for politicians who weaponize hate for absolute fascistic power, while the centrist enablers that have led to the gradual shift further right of political discourse over the last decade and a half at least have also lost all confidence and credibility. This is an opportunity for us to really steer the political landscape in a better direction – but it needs an organised and united progressive force to do so. Zack Polanski’s been closer than anyone possibly in my lifetime to achieving this with his leadership of the Green Party, and the tireless efforts of those at every level of the party and in grassroots community efforts to grow the movement.

For the first time since maybe 2019, I am feeling properly hopeful again, and excited to be a part of this moment.

So yeah, bit of a whiplash of a year. Thankfully, these 24 artists have done a fantastic job of capturing at least a part of my political mood in lyrics and music in the past year. So without further ado I’ll let them take us through the year as we look back on some of my favourite protest songs from the past year – and ooh boy we had some BANGERS I can’t wait to share with you.

See my picks on these platforms below:

Or if you wanna read about my choices in more detail keep scrolling…

(Disclaimer that all opinions expressed in this blog are my own unless strictly quoted from others. I am not claiming to speak directly for any of the artists I feature on this blog, and they may not agree with my takes/readings of their music. Also these picks aren’t ranked, they’re just ordered by release date. Being higher or lower on this list doesn’t mean I prefer it – all of these are fantastic and conveying the energy and message they were written to in their own way. Your mileage may vary based on your preferred genres and the songs that speak more directly to you, but all of these are very worth a listen if you are also a malcontent leftist like us.)

1: Bad Apple – Lambrini Girls

Who Let The Dogs Out
10/01/2025
Riot Grrrl
https://lambrinigirlsband.bandcamp.com/album/who-let-the-dogs-out

“Officer, what is the problem?
Can we only know post-mortem?
Not just bad apples, it’s the whole rotten tree”

The first album I picked up in the new year was “Who Let The Dogs Out” by Lambrini Girls – a band I’d been slowly getting into since about 2023. I was already obsessed with their name, and the fact they promoted their album with the tag line “Angry music for gay sluts” made me pick it up without hesitation.

And yeah, this album turned me from someone who enjoyed a couple songs to an actual fan. This album showcases Riot Grrrl feminist rage in the 2020s perfectly, with stripped back and grungy production that gives every track a sense of raw power and anger that underlines the lyrical content perfectly. Amazingly balanced tone of humour and lividity as one, throwing in a couple of one liner quotes that properly make me cackle yet not remotely in a way that undermines the content.

Picking one track was hard, but ultimately Bad Apple felt particularly pertinent as I’m writing this, where law enforcement and police forces continue to murder innocent civilians in the street for no justifiable reason. The fact is that, both here and in the States, there are just too many examples of this shit happening for me to pinpoint specifically which incident inspired this track speaks volumes about the levels of corrupt horror present in these institutions.

“Can we only know post-mortem?” is a line that makes me shiver every time it’s delivered. Powerful stuff, and the Lambrini Girls style blends excellently with the severity of the topic they dissect here.

2: Pardon Me – The Narcissist Cookbook

Pardon Me
05/03/2025
Acoustic
https://thenarcissistcookbook.bandcamp.com/track/pardon-me

“Yes I learned my lesson, I guess
The best defence is a president
Who lets us get away with whatever we please”

I don’t hugely love putting sarcastic songs on these lists. I always worry that, heard out of context, folks might think the song is endorsing or saying something that it is actually criticising. But here I think The Narcissist Cookbook delivers the message in such a blatantly tongue-in-cheek way that it’s basically impossible to misinterpret the views of the artist.

This track is obviously referring to the January 6th riots back in 2021, or more specifically Trump’s decision to pardon all of the perpetrators as soon as he took office again. Because of that, the song weirdly feels a bit more dated than it is – until you realize that nah, despite claiming he had nothing to do with inciting those riots, the guy couldn’t wait to show his support for those who took part by absolving them of any further criminal consequences as soon as he was able to.

Trump is one of those figures who routinely just leapfrogs so far over the line that at this point it’s so easy to not even realize how blatantly corrupt and batshit the things he does are because he has normalised it to the point of almost mundanity.

Anyway, this is a nice simple lil acoustic track from the perspective of one of the Jan 6th rioters, a true classic of satirical folk music. Singing to Trump like a proper submissive simp, asking for “forgiveness” in a tone that seems deliberately likened to be embarrassingly horny and needy, and is frankly a really funny portrayal of these folks.

Taking the weird sexual undertones out, it’s very clear these most obsessed MAGA lot are, or at least were, borderline worshipping this guy. The attitude exaggerated in this tune really isn’t that far removed from how they behave, just with extra homoeroticism (which I am always a fan of in my media, for the record).

Is it problematic to liken a group of probably very homophobic people to gay simps for the fascist daddy? Probably. BUT is it also funny as fuck to me, an actual certified gay simp? Yes, 100%.

The Narcissist Cookbook has a great delivery of satire and humour. Their songs frequently make me truly burst out laughing, while often giving me legitimate pause for thoughts and occasionally making me cry at how earnestly lovely they can be. Highly recommend you check out more of their work if you enjoy this.

3: PUT A LANDLORD IN A LANDFILL – DAMAG3 ft. Rob Apollo, $leaezy EZ & Chandler

PUT A LANDLORD IN A LANDFILL
18/03/2025
Alternative Hip-Hop

“I know your papa raised you capitalist, he probably proud of you
But you a leech
Get a job, you a bum, you a fiend
I bake yo’ pie and you still take a slice from me.”

Moving onto something a lil bouncier now, we have this absurdly catchy track from radical trans rapper DAMAG3.
Another artist I discovered fairly recently and have just become obsessed with in recent years. She’s got such an infectious swagger to all of her bars and delivery. Just honestly one of the coolest people I’ve ever seen, I am utterly gobsmacked, and her music really stands the replay test as well, as I find myself coming back to this one in particular over and over again.

I feel like this track doesn’t need me to explain or analyse it. It’s a tune all about how fucking awful landlords and landlordism is – a subject matter that is sorely lacking in my library honestly, which is wild because they are and it is.

It’s got a nice weird but boppable beat, all the rappers on this track complement each other really well while also having their own distinctive flows and takes on the subject matter that comes together to form a really cohesive song. It’s so full of memorable lines and moments that anyone who’s ever had to rent to survive can relate to. The gunshots and sound effects embedded in the beat are also a very nice touch.

Look, I’m not encouraging anyone to go out and murder landlords – but if you were so inclined to do that, there are few songs that would soundtrack that moment better than this one.

While we’re locked in this infuriating debate about whether we should tax wealth and assets or whether maybe there’s a better way to structure housing in your society without kissing the boots of private landlords – this is a breath of fresh air to hear from the point of view of renters how they unambiguously hate and want landlords dead. And hoarding wealth by gatekeeping basic survival necessities is just objectively immoral.

“I’ve been paying all your bills bitch you work for me” is such a great stand out line. I think it’s important to frame the transaction in that way. You’re not a customer purchasing a service, you are contracting this person to provide you housing. And when you look at it like that, it is absolutely abysmal how fucking useless the vast majority of landlords are when it comes to basic maintenance and acceptable quality of life shit.

In a just world or system, where tenants had decent rights or powers, these guys would’ve lost their contracts decades ago, and landlords would never have been allowed to let property for this long, because they’re fucking bad at it. Only because they already have the wealth are they able to hoard properties that people will have to pay them to live in because we NEED shelter. It is inherently immoral, impractical, and unacceptable. Abolish private landlords and landlordism now.

4: Statue In The Square – Kae Tempest

Self-Titled
19/03/2025
Spoken Word

“They can shake their heads in despair
But we been here from the start and we ain’t going nowhere”

Next we move onto a track from my Album of the Year – Kae Tempest’s greatest so far: “Self-Titled” (which btw is such a good album name for a trans artist, great work).

This marks Kae’s first album since starting T and coming out as a transgender man – and it FEELS like it. There’s a righteous determination to his lyrics and flow here that really encapsulates how it feels for me early on in my transition, knowing that I am on the pathway to getting to feel and exist and be seen for who I am for the first time in my life. Where Kae’s previous work was lovely, poetic and ethereal spoken word/beat poetry – this album keeps those elements but tightens it all up into one of the best pure rap performances he’s ever done.

Some of his flows on this track especially go toe to toe with some of the all-time greats, all while retaining his absolutely unmatched mastery over language and poetic imagery painting vivid audio pictures you can lose yourself in.

One track on the album features bars from a pre-T Kae trading bars back and forth with his modern-day deeper voice, which is an absolutely inspired artistic choice. You are missing out if you don’t give this a listen right the fuck now.

I went with Statue in the Square though because, kinda like DAMAG3, this track just oozes swagger and coolness and self-assured determination in a way that seeps out to the listener to make us feel more powerful and worthy and inspired to exist as your real authentic self. When I am having a particularly bad dysphoria, imposter syndrome, or general despair day, a couple spins of this track perks me right up and gets me ready to fight another day.

Every trans person should listen to this song when they’re down and the hostility of the world is getting too much. If you’re anything like me, it’ll do WONDERS for you. (And even if not, it’s just a banging track, worst case scenario you spend 3 minutes listening to a great song, it’s a win/win.)

Lyrically this one just goes hard too, “When I’m dead, they’ll put my statue in a square” is such a gorgeously defiant boast/threat. It puts me in mind of folk like Alan Turing – absolutely quintessential in war efforts and victory over Nazism (at least at the time) – and yet rewarded by the state by being chemically castrated for his homosexuality – only to now be honoured unilaterally in hindsight with statues existing to his memory and what a great hero he was and deserved to be treated like when he was alive.

Yes – right now we are facing unparallelled oppression and in some places outright criminalisation. We are marginalised, outcast, and in many cases murdered either by state powers directly or at least with state leniency on the perpetrators. We’re being legislated against, shunned out of public spaces, and it is very clear the only thing stopping even more active violence against us is largely PR and not wanting to get their hands too dirty.

But there will be a day in the I hope not too distant future, where anyone brave enough to exist as themselves as trans people in such a trans hostile space – many of us contributing to art, culture, community and more in hugely important ways – will be honoured for what we are, and what we contributed. Albeit I hope we’re never at a point where any of us have to win another world war like, but in smaller ways.

That’s how I read this song. Kae Tempest unashamedly acknowledging the trauma and abuse being thrown his way, and just giving a lil rebellious smirk, knowing that in generations time, people like him will be honoured through monuments and people like the transphobes will be viewed as archaic bigots of a bygone era who we’d rather pretend never existed.

It’s honestly cunty as fuck. Not just a “I’m great actually fuck you.” No, a much more brutal and poetic: “Your descendants will immortalise and honour me while actively trying to forget about you and the stain you’ve left on their civil history”. Absolutely savage, king shit, I love him.

5: Mine Me Mine – Laura Jane Grace

Adventure Club
25/03/2025
Folk Punk
https://laurajanegrace.bandcamp.com/album/adventure-club

“They found a way; they found a way to make more money then they’ll ever need
And know that they have found a way they’re gonna charge you double for everything”

This was a nice track to find. I’ve enjoyed a lot of Laura Jane Grace’s solo output, however it has leant more into the introspective/personal in recent years, which is great! Love that, always cool to see artists exploring that, but as far as these playlists go, they aren’t as well suited as her Against Me! output has been.

Mine Me Mine feels like a nice amalgamation of this more introspective focus, as well as the fire behind her more punky earlier stuff. It’s not exactly a huge mosher but it does still have a nice bounce to it, and a really infectious chanty chorus reminiscent of some of Against Me!’s all-time best hooks, while also stripped back enough to provide the acoustical intimacy of her best solo work.

It’s a pretty short track and straight to the point, not exactly a complex dissection of late-stage capitalist despair, but still strong in its themes of community solidarity, the commodification of art and general inequality born of the fruitless desire for eternal growth. Sometimes you don’t need many words to make you feel seen and less alone while navigating these complex and deeply flawed systems, and this track is a great example of that. .

I don’t even wanna say it packs a punch, because it’s gentler than that. It has some grit behind it for sure, but it’s more like a hand reaching out to help you get back up and a half embrace round your shoulders in the face of adversity, reassuring you that whatever we have to face, you’re never alone in it. And that’s just kinda lovely tbh.

6: Protect Trans Kids (WTFIWWY) – Evan Greer ft. Ryan Cassata

AMAB/ACAB
31/03/2025
Folk Punk
https://evangreer.bandcamp.com/album/amab-acab

“Let em play sports
let em have fun
let em go to school
let em read books
let em have friends
let them take a fucking piss
without you all up in their fucking business”

If you’ve got Ryan Cassata on board, chances are I’m gonna be interested. While his musical style on paper isn’t the kind of music I usually gravitate to, he’s such an earnest and powerful lyricist and delivers his music with such genuine energy that I can’t help coming back to it over and over again.

That being said, I’m always a bigger fan of whenever he goes more punky/rocky. This track here, from an artist I wasn’t previously aware of but definitely want to check out more, Evan Greer, is a great example of that.

It’s raw, angry yet upbeat, a great combination of tones that, speaking personally, is exactly the energy I intend on going into 2026 with. I am tired of being in a state of constant despair and being made to feel small in this country with increasingly transphobic legislation and culture. Just leave them, leave us the fuck alone.

This is a song that packs a punch for sure, a perfect soundtrack for a march or protest. Sometimes you just wanna scream and yell and throw fists at those pushing transphobic narratives and pushing for the erasure of our rights to just exist and vibe in public life. This track (as well as one coming up later in this playlist) are perfect for that.

7: Working Class Warfare – Dead Pioneers

PO$T American
11/04/2025
Hardcore
https://deadpioneers.bandcamp.com/album/po-t-american

“Capitalism kills, Don’t you see
As it collapses all around us
Its collapsing all around us
And wouldn’t you agree?
Freedom shouldn’t have a fee”

Honestly this whole album could be on the list – superb anticapitalist punk from the US, perfect for the 2020s era of inequality under this accelerated hyper-capitalist society.

I picked this one out as the most direct, but the title track “PO$T American” is also fantastic and very nearly made it on this list.

Musically this is just really solid punk. Short, sweet, bouncy, empowering, and pulling none of its punches. Not much more to say really. Not every band needs to reinvent the wheel, and there is a lot of inherent value in just how well these songs are structured conveying the important message and capturing a huge collective mood as succinctly as these guys have managed to. Highly recommend listening to the full album if you enjoy this.

8: Pretrial (Let Her Go Home) – Fiona Apple

Pretrial (Let Her Go Home)
07/05/2025
Art Pop

“She took on extra shifts, still couldn’t pay the bail
No danger, no flight risk, but she would stay in jail
She was not convicted of anything
She was not convicted of anything
Won’t you let her go home?”

I don’t think I’ve ever listened to Fiona Apple before. I don’t know what exactly I was expecting, but it was not this. This is a wonderfully artful and percussive minimalistic piece with a powerful message at its heart.

As a story it is pretty unambiguously told and clear on the surface, but brings to light some experiences that I probably knew were commonplace but never really thought about. Just how frequently families, particularly non-white ones, are torn apart by a flawed justice system and the needless jailing of a parental figure with no just cause.

Even in the majority of cases where the justice system works and they are eventually released, that can take months upon months. In that time, they are unable to earn money and provide for their family, can’t pay rent, so can lose their whole home and children, and all for nothing. Shit tears whole families apart, uproots children’s development, who are often already on the poverty line, and throws them even deeper. The fact that this is something that can happen and just… nothing, no support, no safety, nothing to compensate the damage this system can cause is every offered by way of compensation. And also, that it seems like this very fact is weaponised to drag out cases where there’s little chance or evidence to warrant conviction just to add the extra stress is a level of spite and cruelty I shouldn’t be surprised by but still hits hard to read about.

This song isn’t about a specific case, but the fact that this is something Fiona Apple has observed happen enough times to craft such a harrowing piece out of it should go some way to showcasing just how deep-rooted these problems are in the whole system.

Kudos, Fiona Apple, for bringing to light these constant destructive injustices, and also for making the first song I’ve ever heard by you make me regret not checking out your work sooner.

Just based on this I can tell she is a hugely adept and talented songwriter, and I am very interested in taking a deeper dive into more of her work if this is the kind of quality I can expect.

9: GERM – Kate Nash

GERM
28/05/2025
Indie Pop

“Feminism must be intersectional, it must never be used to discriminate against others
Feminism must not be used to bully and berate both cis women and trans people
So let’s start labelling things correctly, shall we?
These types of behaviours are transphobia and misogyny
You are not defending or protecting me
You are not, you are not defending or protecting me”

2024 was such a good year for the pop charts – both here and in the US. It was the first year in a while where actually you could put basically any pop radio station on and there’s a good chance I’ll find something to vibe to before too long. 2025 hasn’t hit quite as hard for me. Instead many of those 2024 bangers have just had enough longevity while a lot of the rest of it has been kinda forgettable.

GERM was not a crossover charting hit – however it was fucking massive when it dropped and honestly deserved to be.

Kate Nash is another artist I’ve never really listened to or knew anything about before, so when seemingly out of nowhere she dropped probably the biggest pro-trans protest anthem of all time back in May (or at least, from a cis artist). I was instantly intrigued.

And, yeah, this is perfect in every way. Kate Nash doesn’t fuck about with flowery prose here. Every single line is unambiguous in its meaning and unflinching in tone. Honestly, picking an extract to spotlight was impossible. From start to finish, this is five minutes of pure, unapologetic allyship from someone who has clearly had enough of the narrative and lobbying to turn cis women against trans women and people more broadly.

This right here is the energy I wanna see if you’re calling yourself a trans ally. Don’t cede ground, don’t talk about “legitimate concerns” – just a defiant “No, shut up, trans people in women’s toilets aren’t a problem, trans women in women’s sports are not a problem, all stats show that trans people are so much more likely to be the victims than perpetrators of violent hate crimes, and all you’re doing is allying yourself with the far right by jumping on this bandwagon and joining in on the disenfranchisement of an already oppressed minority, which does nothing to make women safer and does everything to empower groups who wish to strip away the rights of cis women too. Being transphobic is misogyny as you are reducing women to sexual characteristics, so please bestie shut the fuck up.”

It’s a bold move how … unmusical this track is. It’s more of a monologue with musical elements than a traditional song – and honestly that was the right call. Anything else would, I think, have risked watering down the message to make it scan more consistently in a conventional song structure. This isn’t a song you can pop on at a party to get everyone dancing as such (but don’t get me wrong, there are some memorable hooks and a pretty nice rhythm to the whole thing), but it IS the song I absolutely needed to hear in the wake of the ruling on the equalities act and the following EHRC guidance and emboldened transphobic narratives. Frankly, I think it should be compulsory listening to anyone who wants to comment anything on trans or women’s rights in this country.

So yeah, thanks Kate, you really made me feel empowered and less alone and scared with this one. You’re a real one. Now I’m gonna do my homework and check out everything I’ve been missing from the rest of your career.

10: Fuck Them All To Hell – Stray From The Path

Clockworked
30/05/2025
Hardcore

“The only way I’m writing your name
Writing your name on a motherfucking headstone”

Stray From The Path are a band I discovered through making these playlists – and have so much great material for the kind of headspaces I’m in lately. So, when they dropped this album, I already knew it was going to feature on this list, I just needed to figure out which track. In the end, this is the clear stand-out for me.

The whole album is great, don’t get me wrong – but there is something particularly biting about this track. Normally I find the energy of “fuck, both sides are just as bad as each other” tiresome and reductive. But that’s not exactly how I read this song, proven from the fact that this was actually originally going to be a 2024 single, but they decided to delay until after the election because they realised that between Harris and Trump, there is a clear less bad option there, and didn’t want to risk swaying anyone into not voting.

That being said – now that the election is gone and done and the dust has settled… ooh boy, it rings true. You don’t have to say that both sides are equally bad to say “fuck ‘em all”. If the Democrats needed to learn any message from this historic defeat, it needs to be “not being Trump is not enough to get people to vote for you”. Make no mistake, Biden and to a lesser extent Harris were the architects of their own loss here. Given things like their absolute enabling if not enforcement of the Palestinian genocide, continuing to use ICE and maintaining their powers so Trump has been able to hit the ground running with them in the most inhumane ways imaginable and worse, and not doing anywhere near enough for day to day cost of living and survival of all American people.

Joe Biden might not be worse than Trump, but if that’s all he had doing for him, then yeah, fuck him to hell, fuck Harris to hell, fuck the Democratic party to hell for not even doing primaries ahead of this election. They are comparatively to blame for the state the country is now under Trump because they could have worked to create conditions that would never have allowed this second victory. But they didn’t. Not just failed, actively chose to not prioritise that.

Stray From the Path encapsulated all of that and more into this onslaught of pure rage, especially in that hook. Oof, chills honestly. Heavy as fuck, almost demonic at times. Even here in the UK, as Keir Starmer has been doing his very best Farage tribute act in the last year, it’s very hard not to feel like “actually fuck the lot of you” about it all.

That is unfortunately how Farage gets popularity, as he’s able to weaponize that. But with movements from Zack Polanski and the Green Party on the left giving a genuine alternative, we do at least have something to combat that. This is what I hope productively comes of this sentiment – not apathy, just an absolute demand for something better. Most of the right’s wins these last 10 years have been down to complete discontent with the status quo the right offer, and the centrists masquerading as the left’s offer of “the same status quo but nicer”.

The far right offer actual change and disruption, in ways that are universally worse for literally everyone who isn’t a multi-millionaire, but just SOMETHING that isn’t the current thing that’s clearly not working. If the Green surge and the Mamdani victory show us anything, it’s that if you offer genuine progressive change and policies that actually meaningfully make the lives of ordinary people less difficult, people will flock to them, and they will actually challenge the divisive rhetoric and destructive politics of the far right.

So yes, fuck all the establishment parties and politicians to hell, let’s actually get something transformative and new that will genuinely address deep inequalities and fatal flaws in our current society.

God, I went on a tangent there. Point is, this song slaps, this album slaps. It is unfortunately their last one, and I’m so grateful I was able to catch their last Manchester show – pure cathartic rage that I didn’t realise how much I needed.

11: Who’ll Stand With Us – Dropkick Murphys

For The People
03/06/2025
Celtic Punk

“Through crime and crusade, our labour, it’s been stolen
We’ve been robbed of our freedom, we’ve been held down and beholden
To the bosses and the bankers, who never gave their share
Of any blood, of any sweat, of any tears”

If Dropkick Murphys drop any new material in a year, you can bet your bum cheeks it’s getting shortlisted for my year end list. I’ve really dug what they’ve been working on these last few years, properly channelling the great union folk stars of the past into their iconic Celtic-Punk style.

Given they have done many actual covers/interpretations of classic protest songs in the past, I honestly assumed this was another of them – but as far as I can tell this is a complete original. If that’s not high praise, that I assumed this was an unreleased Woody Guthrie or Pete Seeger song I’d never heard before or something, then I don’t know what is.

This is a quintessential working class solidarity anthem, the people who actually produce and provide for the country and who always get some of the worst treatment and are abused and taken advantage of because of that. The band already have a really great sound for inducing comradery and a sense of togetherness, choruses that are perfect for chanting along to in groups, and that just adds even more oomph to the lyrical message.

Truly a timeless masterpiece, and I only hope that songs like this inspire us to create a new world where songs like these are no longer needed beyond remembrance of our history and how we got here.

12: Pride is a Protest – Sally Pepper

Unsolicited Opinions
30/06/2025
Folk Punk
https://sallypeppermusic.bandcamp.com/album/unsolicited-opinions

“Fuck your tolerance,
We deserve more than acceptance
Fuck your indifference ‘cause
We should be celebrated”

I cannot tell you how happy I was to see Sally Pepper finally release a recorded version of this track. I’d seen her live twice in 2024 and immediately fallen in love with her songwriting and performance energy. She’d played this song on at least one of those occasions, and even then this chorus immediately connected with me and lived rent free in my head despite there being no easy way to re-live it. That very rarely happens when I hear songs for the first time live. Normally I don’t fully process the lyrics and have to wait until I listen to recordings to really get into them, so this was a very notable exception.

So now that she’s dropped this album and I’ve realised this song was on it, it has fast become one of if not the most played song in my library.

I am already a sucker for a pride anthem. You might not have noticed over the years, but it is kinda my favourite genre of music. And this might just be the perfect one.

I had a bit of stand-up that I’ve not done for a while, inspired by the phrase “So much for the tolerant left”. It always struck me peculiar as … I don’t know who that is? I don’t need the left to be “tolerant”. “Tolerance” is not a trait I value, because being tolerated implies that I’ve done something wrong or bad and they’re just choosing to overlook it for politeness’ sake.

I don’t need people who tolerate me whilst contributing to a political space that erodes my rights and safety. I would rather people who fucking hate my guts openly but still fight for my rights with a sense of solidarity against a common enemy and for a common goal.

So what I LOVE about Sally’s hook here, is it covers this same theme and feeling but in a way that is more succinct and catchy and embedded into an uplifting protest anthem that makes me feel proud of, and defiant about, all of my queerness and oddities. I am not interested in being merely accepted by polite society. I’m a fucking delight, and you WILL celebrate me. Yes, that is a threat.

This is just the perfect pride anthem. “Pride is a Protest” as a trope is obviously one I agree with, and in recent years it’s so very clear how the corporatisation and sanitisation of Pride events into just big parties is a problem that commodifies us for profit whilst happy to sacrifice our rights and safety. But it’s also not just a protest. It is a celebration as well. A celebration of what we have achieved and how far we’ve come, and a reminder of how far we’ve still got to go and how we need to continue to fight to retain what we have as well.

This song is as celebratory as it is rebellious, and that’s just how I like my pride songs. That’s how I like my pride.

13: Forge Your Name – DAVGHTER

Mask Casket
30/06/2025
Black Metal
https://davghtermetal.bandcamp.com/album/mask-casket

“With this ban
They expect you’ll vanish
Grab my hand
We won’t let you perish”

Last year saw the crushing debut of trans black metal project DAVGHTER, which we listened along to live on stream, and I featured in the best of 2024 playlist. A mostly if not entirely one-woman project, now she’s back with a full band, and has wasted no time in following up my favourite Black Metal release of all time with an EP that absolutely lives up to that standard, if not exceeds it.

I slightly prefer some of the songs on the debut, because I connected with them a little more directly. But if I’m looking at it objectively, Mask Casket took a bunch of the ideas on that record and really refined them with a more coherent full band production, more aggression, more polished riffs, and just… more.

The whole EP is worth a listen, but this is the track I’ve had on repeat ever since it released as a single back in June. This is a Black Metal Trans Pride anthem that somehow retains the raw abrasive appeal of the niche genre whilst creating a banging protest chant that almost transcends its lack of musical accessibility to become a truly universal track and sentiment to express at the increasingly needed trans rights marches and protests.

Since 2024, our political and legal establishments have only gone even more mask-off with their transphobia. Less than 3 years after they were all shocked and appalled at the transphobic murder of Brianna Ghey, the government, the supreme court, and even the fucking Ethics and Human Rights Committee have decided that actually what we need is to restrict the rights and safety of trans people, women specifically, even further – and also feed into the fear and hysteria about us that led to the culture that ultimately is responsible for Brianna, and indeed all trans lives lost to violence and hatred at tragically young ages. Just for good measure, you know.

This song is a direct response to the attacks and oppression of transgender children in the wake of the continued ban and restrictions on puberty blockers for transgender teens. Pitched under the guise of safeguarding, when really this is forced gender conformity and roles.

I didn’t know puberty blockers were a thing growing up. I certainly wouldn’t have known how I’d go about getting them, but I am certain that had I been exposed to them and been able to choose to go on them to prevent my body developing in ways that have only heightened my dysphoria and discomfort, I would have benefitted so much and would be significantly mentally healthier now.

The gatekeeping of this healthcare leads to, at best, a more difficult transition for trans kids further down the line. At worst, it kills people.

This song captures the unbridled rage about the treatment of trans kids in particular and is a defiant call to action to “forge your name” in the face of oppression. It’s a powerful sentiment encouraging trans folk to craft their own name and live as it, no matter what. It is the first step of resistance, and it is an immensely powerful one. Showing those who want us gone that we will be here no matter what. If they outlaw all trans healthcare, ban us from all public spaces, they still cannot stop us existing as ourselves. Only we get to define who we are, and doing that now as you are, is one of the bravest and more awesome things you can do. Forge your name.

This is the musical project we need in these times more than ever. I’m so glad it exists.

14: Housing Crisis – Jetty Bones

Housing Crisis
04/07/2025
Indie Pop
https://jetty-bones.bandcamp.com/track/housing-crisis

“Now I’ve got friends who are fighting for their right to exist
While half the population’s claiming that “it’s just politics”
I’m shaping all my conversations
Around taking a risk
My momma’s shaking her head
Asking how it came to this”

I don’t remember how I found this song, – but I do remember first hearing it earlier in the year and immediately knowing it had to go on this list.

Nice easy jam compared to the last track, but no less sharp with its commentary, and with its raw and earnest emotion in the condition of life right now. It’s not easy to make this stuff sound as catchy and empowering as this does – but something about that chorus makes me tear up every time it comes around.

Jetty Bones is pouring her soul out in this song. It’s sad, but weirdly uplifting at the same time, and I love a song that strikes that balance. I don’t need a song to tell me “it’s okay, everything will be alright” because I know that’s a lie. But a song that’s like “Hey, everything’s shit, here’s some examples, it’s rough, buddy” can, when done right, be a comfort and make you feel way better than a song that just lies to you. And Housing Crisis absolutely nails that for me.

The “HOOOOOooly FUCK” refrain leading into the chorus may be the greatest two seconds of music released this year for just converting my mental state into music. Every time I hear it, I feel a little better and a little less scared. A truly magnificent songwriter and performer here, really need to check out more of her work now she’s on my radar.

15: Salvage – Space Monkey Mafia

Death of the Party
05/07/2025
Ska Punk
https://spacemonkeymafia.bandcamp.com/album/death-of-the-party

“Love is abundant, no matter what they’ve told you
So let it spill over the sides of your heart
Cause none of us is better than all of us together
There’s never any need to have to go it alone”

Speaking of songs that make me tear up, this one gets me every time. You owe Kirstie for me finding this one, as soon as the album dropped she told me about it and, oh man, was she correct. (Editor’s note: You’re welcome.)

Not a band I’ve historically followed that closely – but every now and then I’ll hear a track and it’ll become an absolute staple for me for several months – and Salvage may be the best example of this.

The song honestly speaks for itself. It’s a warm hug of absolute solidarity in an increasingly cold and scary world. Odes to love and togetherness run the risk of being a little tryhard and cringe, but Salvage is so earnest and full of soul that it just works and makes me cry every time. “None of us is better than all of us together, there’s never any need to have to go it alone” is a beautiful line, whether in a context of mental health, personal struggles, or indeed political oppression.

It has similar vibes to my all-time favourite Call Me Malcolm song, “All My Nameless Friends”. That song too just explodes with a sense of community and mutual support, and the brass sections in this kind of upbeat ska punk scores that feeling beautifully. This is the energy we need going into 2026. If anything can beat this seemingly imminent descent into fascism, we’re not going to get anywhere with it without a strong community network and mutual care and solidarity. And not only is it better practically, it also just feels infinitely nicer when you’re not stuck worrying on your own in a doom spiral.

This song is the opposite of a doom spiral, it is a … hope pirouette. Yeah, sure, let’s go with that, I’m 8000 words in, my brain is fried, let’s just move on.

Seriously though, highly recommend this song for personal mental health in general, not just political despair and struggle, easily one of my faves of the year.

16: Capitalism Breeds Devastation – JER ft. Linqua Franqa

Death of the Heart
11/07/2025
Ska Punk

“Every child is under threat
And every animals on the brink
So, is the end of capitalism
As radical as you think?”

Sticking with the Ska Punk, going to one of the best to ever do it, JER.

If Jer has a new album out in a year, you can just assume that one of their songs will make it on this list. Superb musical virtuoso, ska aficionado, someone who clearly LOVES making music and always has something to say to give the songs depth on multiple axes.

This is once again quite an unsubtle track meaning wise, so you probably don’t need me to explain the capitalism=bad message. But even with that well-trodden ground, JER offers a really interesting musical take on the message, almost more Two-Tone than the later wave ska punk they are more known for. It’s got a slow and steady beat, really crisp, funky guitars and seamless progression from different sections of the song to create a cohesive musical experience. The build up at the end especially is captivating. I’m a huge fan of the repeated refrains getting gradually louder and breaking into a crescendo with just the repeated “Greed, Greed, Greed” being screamed in the background at the end as the song dies out. Such a phenomenal experience to listen to and let yourself be carried along with.

I’m just some bimbo, I’m not a proper music theory nerd or critic, so I can’t really unpack all the specifics of why this song works as well as it does. All I know is that, as a composition, I think it might just be one of the most flawless I’ve ever heard. Check it out, and the rest of JER’s work too, they’re really dang cool.

#17: Apocalypse – Iniko

The Awakening (Deluxe)
22/08/2025
R&B

“There’s not a single thing on earth that we own
Been here longer than your god, so leave us alone
Those demons that they speak of, they’re home-grown
Hell is not a pit of fire, it’s a three-dimensional dome”

Now for something a lil different from Iniko. I truly don’t know how to even define their work other than transcendent. All of their music I’ve heard is completely unique and like nothing I’ve ever heard before, almost on some kind of spiritual plane. From the same school of art pop legends like Kate Bush, and with a distinctly gorgeous vocal talent to match.

It’s not exactly an earworm in the traditional sense, but I just can’t stop thinking about this song. All the vocal inflections that make up the beat, their vocal flow, all the cool and interesting percussive sounds used to drive the beat, the layers of musical brilliance, all of it is just fantastic.

On top of that, this is another amazingly empowering track about self-agency over your body, rejecting binary labels, clearly a celebration of the broad spectrum of gender and the beauty outside of those rigid definitions assigned to us. This song has revolutionary energy coursing through its veins, and it’s infectious in the best way.

Not many songs make me feel special in the same way this one does. Not like a love song written about you by a guy with an acoustic guitar and way too much confidence. But a song that really gets deep into the soul of the beautiful spectrum of your human experience and expression and elevates it to a deity like status. It makes me feel beautiful, not in a hot way, but in a “Look at how varied and precious this world we get to live in is at its best, this is stunning” kinda way. And it somehow manages to ground me away from my earthly stressors and anxieties for its duration when I let myself get properly lost in the soundscape.

That’s a whole lot of words to not say a lot, I know, but trust me, you’ve just gotta listen to this one – like fully and actively listen, let yourself be swept away by it. Maybe you won’t have as life affirming an experience as I have, I don’t know, but It’s damn worth a try. At the very worst you’ll have a great time listening to this incredibly intricate musical masterpiece, so what’s to lose?

18: RISE – Combichrist

RISE
28/08/2025
Industrial Metal
https://combichrist.bandcamp.com/track/rise

“You bleed, you break, you crawl, obey
Slaves to the system they won’t betray
The cost of living, the price of breath
Work till you die, then there’s nothing left”

Combichrist are another band I’ve been tangentially aware of for some time but never properly explored. I listened to this when reviewing my new releases. I follow the band because there’s a few older songs I liked enough to put in my library, and I always like to keep up with new releases as much as I can, so I gave this track a spin and it just hits all the right notes.

Not gonna pretend this is super intricate or deep as a protest/rising up anthem, but they don’t all need to be. Industrial Rock/Metal is a great and, in my opinion, underutilised genre for conveying these kinds of class consciousness protest songs. It already by design is meant to sound like factory lines, with lots of heavy metallic percussion, synthetic noises, and rhythmic crushing riffs to boot. What better soundscape to convey class discontent and a call for action than this? It even sounds like marching a lot of the time.

RISE is just that. It’s an industrial banger for industrial solidarity and action. We all know shit is bad and wrong – this just functions to motivate you to do something about it with its stark reminders of how the system’s flaws impact you specifically and encouragement of unified protest to bring about change and better conditions.

And I do mean a BANGER. The composition is simple but very effective and pushes all the right buttons to get you up off your asses and fucking shit up. It’s Break Stuff levels of powerful with those vibes, and that is the gold standard of the energy this song gives me, so that is high praise from me.

19: Survival is an Act of Defiance – Death Goals ft. Victim Unit

Survival is an Act of Defiance
29/08/2025
Queercore

“We’re done writing anthems
For the end of the world
We’re done writing eulogies
For those taken too soon”

Sticking with the heavier tracks now, we have this incredible track from a band I’d never heard of before writing this list Death Goals. This is Queercore punk with a huge emphasis on the “core”. Not an easy listen by any stretch but, similarly to DAVGHTER, it is a great encapsulation of the struggles of living as a queer person right now, with increasing backlash and aggression from wider society. It is not pleasant. This is what it sounds like in our heads every time we’re bandied about in political culture wars and dehumanised to the point of actual death in some cases.

Like DAVGTER as well, despite capturing the ugly, unpleasant, terrifying sound of the queer experience, at its core it has a comfort, it has a community feel, it has a power. It’s painful, but it is also … well, defiant.

In 2023, I highlighted the song Marvel by Spanish Love Songs, with the refrain “Stay alive out of spite” really resonating with me in ways that I think genuinely grounded me whenever my mental health got away from me. And this track here, I think, is the same energy but the opposite side of the coin. Where Marvel was a very pleasant and floaty indie rock ditty, Survival Is An Act of Defiance is very wall-of-noise-y, as if it’s channelling a rageful despair rather than a more rutting depression. I’m not saying one is better than another, but they work together as a pair depending on what you might need at any particular point. Lately, I’ve gotta say the rage is far more cathartic to me than dreamy uplift at this point in time.

And it works. Songs like this make me want to stay alive and exist as myself precisely because so many individuals and forces are trying so hard to make me not do one or both of those things. It’s kinda nice in a way that my transition has lined up so nicely with the doubling down of transphobic oppression in this country. If anything I am MORE motivated to follow through with it and am even more excited to get to be myself in a world that’s making it clear they have a fucking problem with that.

Soznotsoz – you’re not gonna stop me without killing me yourself. And I have no problem looking you in the fucking eye while you do that if it comes to it. Can you do the same I wonder?

We will survive, one way or another. Cry about it.

20: I Am Spartacus – Dreamslain

I Am Spartacus
10/09/2025
Progressive Metal
https://dreamslain.bandcamp.com/track/i-am-spartacus

“Rise up and stand proud: the time has come your chains to break
The mighty empire fruits of your labour shall not take
They subjugate you while they call it democracy
Fall will the eagle imperial and we will be free”

Another friend of the show here, in 2024 we also did a listening party with their new album that year, which immediately became a fave of mine. Dreamslain reignited a love for a kind of metal that I’ve not listened to much of in some years now, but also redefined it in a way that is so distinctly their own. It’s progressive, it’s folky, it’s technical, it’s just a beautifully epic amalgamation of musical virtuosity that I adore.

That being said, when they first released this new single, it did take me a few listens and in fact hearing it live to fully get into it. I think possibly when it came out, I just wasn’t as in the mood for this kind of music, and it is a long commitment of a track if you’re not specifically craving it. But getting to see them in a live setting, seeing how much fun they all had jamming these very creatively constructed metal masterpieces and getting lost in the sheer musicianship of it, I finally got it.

If it was just a cool piece of musical composition and performance, it wouldn’t have made this list. But one thing I like about Dreamslain is their lyrics and themes often explore topics that I really wish metal would more often. Metal is a more natural musical home than punk for me, but punk just edges out on content to a point for the last 6 or 7 years and ultimately I just connect on more levels to it.

Dreamslain are definitely an exception though. Many of their lyrics talking of injustice, calling for action, and just being kinda damn based. And yeah, this is no exception, all about the liberation of slaves, breaking chains of oppression, and standing up in solidarity as and with all oppressed people. So because of that it qualifies, and I get to show off my super talented friends to everyone reading this blog, haha suck it, friends and loved ones who indulge my creative hobbies. (love u all.)

21: Sick Sad World – Bob Vylan

Sick Sad World
10/10/2025
Punk Rap
https://bobvylan.bandcamp.com/track/sick-sad-world

“I can’t afford my weekly shopping ’cause the costs on the rise
The road is long, I missed the turn, it’s a sign of the times
Keir’s smiling on the news, as if everything is fine
There’s a major malfunction, how’s this whole thing wired?”

Oh hell yeah, Bob Vylan are BACK. This actually wasn’t the only Vylan-featuring track I considered. Their collab with the Bloody Beetroots, Killing Punk, was also on the shortlist, and as a song I slightly prefer it, but I think this one works better as a protest anthem so opted for this one instead. (I mean, by my rules, I could have included both as that is technically a Bloody Beetroots track that features Bob Vylan, but either way this year was pretty stacked, and I really wanted a reasonable length playlist this year.)

Bob Vylan are nearly always on point. After the year they had in 2025, blowing up and becoming public enemy #1 after Glastonbury’s performance and the infamous “Death, Death to the IDF” chant, everything they did was scrutinised beyond parody. Anyone who’s seen Bob Vylan live before knows they always start off their set with some light stretches and yoga, which, as wanky as that may sound, honestly is a pretty good practice to get into before moshing, headbanging and dancing the fuck out of your bodies for the next hour plus. It is not, by any stretch, equivalent to a Nazi salute, and frankly, anyone who even takes a passing listen to their music and thinks there’s any chance they’re even remotely sympathetic to Nazism is at best ignorant as shit, and more likely deliberately smearing.

So, yeah, that context in mind, this song is actually pretty tame in comparison. I’m not a Daria afficionado, it’s a bit before my era, so I didn’t even realise it was a pastiche/reference to that until embarrassingly recently. But it is clearly an apt way to describe the current surreal awfulness we increasingly find ourselves stuck in.

Cost of living, political inaction, police violence and corruption – all of this and more is targeted in this short but sharp dissection of modern life and struggles. It’s not as overtly loud and angry as a lot of my favourite work of theirs but still delivered with a wonderful and slightly camp spooky charm, and a calm but firm discussion of issues that face near every one of the 99% of this country, which I think in itself is a power move.

The media trying to spin hysteria around this band, and distract us from the fact that we can’t afford to live, politicians are doing nothing to stop that, and instead being authoritarian as shit clamping down on protest rights, trying to cut even more from marginalised groups who are barely surviving as it is, continuing to aid a genocide, and are functionally no different than the Tory government they so proudly replaced in 2024. It is a sick, sad fucking world, you’re damn right, Bobs.

22: Waste – Mallavora

What If Better Never Comes?
05/11/2025
Alternative Metal
https://mallavora.bandcamp.com/album/what-if-better-never-comes-2

“I will never be what you wanted me to be
That’s fine by me (It’s fine by me)
(Let me be free) Hands off my life”

Now a track from a band completely new to me, Waste by Mallavora has immaculate vibes throughout. Incredible blend of clean and guttural vocals, lyrics full of absolute venom, and a powerful performance from everyone involved.

Real hot girl shit here, taking aim at misogynistic attitudes to and expectations of women, all done in a beautiful mesh of Alt-metal groove and goodness. Angry and empowering grrrl power anthems are possibly my musical kryptonite, and this might be one of the best examples of that this year had to offer. Definitely a band I’m gonna keep a future eye on.

23: Resistance Is Justified – HAWXX

Resistance Is Justified
14/11/2025
Hard Rock
https://hawxxmusic.bandcamp.com/track/resistance-is-justified

“Free, Free Palestine,
Free, Free Palestine”

Speaking of grrrl power titans – Hawxx came back with this absolute banger this year. Hawxx combine Riot grrrl attitude with epic hard rock riffs and vocals and are an absolute powerhouse of songwriters. Kinda like if you take Halestorm but dial the feminist badassery up to 11.

This song is fairly unambiguous in its message supporting Palestine Action, and general protest rights, as well as more specifically the Filton 24, activists for allegedly destroying weapons in an Israeli supplier factory, who are, at least as time of writing, still imprisoned.

Fucking wild that we’ve got to this point, that the suspected destruction of weaponry to be used in an ongoing genocide is being treated as an act of terrorism. How the fuck did we get here?

Many folk over the last year or so have been arrested for expressing support and solidarity with Palestine Action, and in opposition to the government’s frankly authoritarian proscription of them as a terror organisation despite no known threats of or acts of violence against any living thing, which, incidentally cannot be said of the entity they are protesting against. So yeah, resistance is absolutely justified. More than that, not resisting at this point is borderline complicity.

Free Palestine. Free the Filton 24. End the continued support and supplies of equipment and weaponry used to oppress and destroy an entire people.

24: People Just Like You – Grail Guard

People Just Like You
30/12/2025
Anarcho-Punk
https://grailguard.bandcamp.com/track/people-just-like-you

“If your parents come here now, you’d try and deport them too
An ethnostate of fascism is what you like to do
Money greases palms, we know that much is true
The only people that benefit are people just like you”

Up until New Years’ Adam, I was convinced the last track was going to end the playlist, and honestly it felt like a suitably epic and visceral track to round up the year in protest music. December is historically a quiet month for protest music to gain much traction in my experience. HOWEVER. Grail Guard at the very last minute dropped this banger, and it was just short and sweet enough to make me want to add it last minute without pushing myself over the arbitrary running time limit of 80 minutes I set for this playlist.

Grail Guard are a superb anarchist punk band, who I’ve particularly enjoyed for their attacks against racist anti-expat sentiment in a real classic street punk style.

This track dropped as the lead single from their debut full release due in March 2026. It is a particularly pertinent critique of individuals from expat/refugee backgrounds getting into government and selling out their communities by capitulating to racist and anti-migrant rhetoric that is becoming increasingly hostile in recent years, by implementing policies that would, if in place in the past, have meant that they themselves probably would not be here in this country – and certainly unlikely to be in a position of power like this.

This has become increasingly noticeable these last few years. Both recent parties of Government have made the point of appointing people of colour, and specifically those from expat backgrounds, to Home Secretary and similar positions in order to cynically combat any potential accusations of racism or bigotry. If it’s painfully obvious to me, the whitest Brit I know, then no doubt everyone has noticed this strategy. So, on the one hand, I don’t want to place the blame solely on these individuals for what is clearly a top-down government decision.

On the other, accepting this role of whitewashing (if you’ll excuse the phrase) inhumane acts of deportation and cruelty towards people simply because they weren’t born on this island, and in many cases arrived in irregular means due to escaping conflict zones that we have often helped destabilise as a country: You have sold yourself out to the rich, the powerful, the corrupt, and those who are dividing us as a way to continue to hold power and prevent any real unified movement to replace them with people who genuinely want to make this country better and build communities rather than tear them down.

The lyrical motif of the title is genius in its simplicity, referring both to the people like themselves these figures are selling out, and the people like themselves who they are now, the rich and powerful ruling class, at different points in the song. It’s chanted with both shame and disgust in the same song, and is an incredibly powerful poetic device, delivered in less than 2 minutes total.

A superb way to end out the year and has made me hyped as hell for what else they come up with on their full album in 2026. Watch this space, I’m sure they’ll appear again on this list next year.

And that’s the list! I tried to keep it less ludicrously long than previous years, which meant cutting the playlist length in half, and it was not an easy feat. If you’re interested in checking out the tracks that didn’t quite make the cut, a longer version of the playlist is available on Spotify here and the honourable mention tracks are as follows

KILLING PUNK – The Bloody Beetroots ft. Bob Vylan
Free – Little Simz
We Are Great Again – Billy Simons Jr.
Space Wanker – Maggie Thatcher’s Rotting Corpse
YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT POOR PEOPLE – Mudrat
Eyes Wide – Catbite ft. Zayna Youssef
Princeless Princess – Delilah Bon
Empowerment – Heaven Shall Burn
BRAINROT – grandson
THE GARDEN – Witch Fever
Alexa Alexa Antifascista – KAFVKA ft. Antifuchs & KING KVNG
BYEBYE25! – Kim Gordon
I’m Fine and I’m Doing Great – Problem Patterns
Die In The Middle East – XONOR
Independent Girls & Nasty Evil Gays – Jeangu Macrooy
Small World Syndrome – WARGASM (UK)
Hold the Reins – Rebecca Downes
YOU’RE NOTHING – Native James
Cash Rules – BLACKGOLD
Your Light Will Shine – Bentley Robles ft. Bimini, Eden Hunter, Ellis Miah, Janethan & Tia Kofi
Holding Out For Humanity – The Best of the Worst ft. Kill Lincoln
Precious Problem – War on Women
No Comment – KNEECAP ft. Sub Focus

All great tracks in their own right, but either had bits I wasn’t sure about, didn’t quite qualify as protest songs, or were just outclassed by another track I decided to include. But still all well worth a listen.

2025 has been a maddening descent into authoritarian bullshit and quashed any cautious optimism I still had that we’d be at least slightly better off than under the last 14 years of Tory BS. But, hope has been reignited outside of the two party system, with a bunch of small wins around the country and world, and signs that a real left wing oppositional force is growing, and making waves in the grassroots for a much needed, bottom-up political movement that is a genuine shield against the far right fascism that is dominating the conversation and power right now.

I’ll never be complacent. Quite the opposite, the presence of these organised movements has inspired me to try and get more involved and support it. So far, it’s just with a small regular donation to the Green party, but I hope to get myself more involved in grassroots campaigning and fundraising in the coming years before the next general election. I am incredibly excited to see both Labour and probably the Tories massively losing out at this year’s locals mere months away. I think we’re really starting to see a culture shift, and I just hope this can be sustained and built on to become at the very least a forceful opposition in the event of a Reform government that holds them back from the true devastation they inevitably both have planned and will cause by being shit while doing it.

Keep up the work, organise, get involved, all that good shit. And see you all at the end of the year for more motivational and empowering music to soundtrack our movement.

Look after yourselves ❤

And if you want to hear this and more great, politically charged music from underground talent, you should come to our live shows, we always love showcasing new cool lefty music in our intervals. More about these will be announced soon – but if you want to keep an eye on our Outsavvy for tickets, follow us on our socials for updates, or sign up to our shiny new mailing list if you’re as tired of social media as we are.