THE 20 BEST RADICAL MUSIC RELEASES OF 2016

Posted on January 1, 2017 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Music That Matters and tagged a tribe called quest, Against Me!, anohni, austerity, b-real, chris t-t, chuck d, climate change, cypress hill, drone warfare, dubstep, enter shikari, far right, fascism, folk, folk-punk, fugazi, gentrification, Green Day, hardcore, hip hop, Kate Nash, Lobster, Martha, michael kiwanuka, mischief brew, Muncie Girls, obama, OPS, petrol girls, pop punk, post-hardcore, post-punk, prophets of rage, public enemy, punk, racism, rage against the machine, rap, refused, reggae, reggae punk, Saul Williams, Ska, ska punk, sleaford mods, slyvia plath, Solange, Sonic Boom Six, soul, suffragettes, surveillance, taj weekes, The Selecter, The Tuts, tom morello, war.

By Chris Jarvis

Yes, yes, we all know that 2016 has been an unmitigated cluster-fuck, with rising fascism, worsening humanitarian crises and intensifying conflict. In moments of darkness, many of us turn to the arts world – especially music – for comfort, for release, for explanation. With David Bowie, Prince, George Michael, Glenn Frey, Paul Kantner, Maurice White, George Martin, Phife Dawg, Erik Petersen, Leonard Cohen, Nick Menza, Greg Lake, Sharon Jones, and too many others all having passed away, many have found music to have also fallen on dark times.

That notwithstanding, 2016 has been a year of some undeniably and uniquely brilliant music too, especially music that espouses messages of a better world, of political analysis, of radical alternatives. Here are the 20 best of those radical releases from the past year.

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A SEAT AT THE TABLE

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Perspectives and tagged a seat at the table, album, artivism, arts, BHM, black history month, black pride, black women, Chance the Rapper, creative, empowerment, FUBU, hip hop, Jill Scott, Kelela, Kelly Rowland, LEMONADE, message, music, Nina Simone, Noname, prince, Puma, QTip, racism, Raphael Saadiq, review, Sampha, Solange, solange knowles, South Africa, style, Tink, women artists.

by Candice Nembhard

‘A Seat at the Table’ is the newly debuted project by the enigmatic Solange Knowles. The 21 track album marries intricate layers of R&B with densely packed lyrics, carving open a bigger space to discuss the beauty of black creatives. With features from the likes of Kelly Rowland, Q-Tip, Sampha and Kelela – not forgetting incredible production credits from Raphael Saadiq – there is no denying that Knowles is opening and changing the space for admiring and respecting black creativity.

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