Do you think there’s no good protest music these days? So did I, until I started looking for it. Every month, I listen to it all, then select the best that relates to that month’s political news. Here’s the round-up for June.
1. LUTAN FYAH - TENEMENT YARD
Somali World Cup football referee Omar Artan was denied entry to the US on June 8, just days before the tournament kicked off. The denial was slammed. It was also ironic, given that America's wealth was built on African slavery. Four days later, reggae artist Lutan Fyah released his new EP, which slays his people's enslavement. On its opening track, "Freedom", he sings: "My people cry freedom, freedom, we won't trust the laws of men. My people cry freedom, freedom, for slavery won't happen again. Black Lives Matter means Africa, it begins right there." Meanwhile, the Democratic Republic of the Congo football team relocated their pre-World Cup training camp to Belgium to bypass mandatory 21-day entry restrictions into the US after a deadly outbreak of Ebola in their country. Ironically, the Ebola outbreak had been attributed to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency abolishing US Aid. LISTEN>>>
2. RAS CEYLON - SCROLLZ OF LION ROCK
During the opening ceremony for the first World Cup game in the US on June 12, one drummer made headlines worldwide by wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh. A week later, US-Sri Lankan rapper Ras Ceylon released his new album, which stands up for Palestinians. On "River 2 Sea", he raps: "A lot of people are scared to speak up, but not us. It's been an ongoing war for the people of Gaza, before October 7 and this current Intifada, it's a new Nakba meaning great disaster, Balfour Declaration the 1948 chapter." On June 24, a United Nations commission of inquiry said the US-armed Israel was committing genocide in Gaza by deliberately targeting children. Days earlier, Haitian-American rapper Vince Staples pointed out the hypocrisy of US criminal justice on his new album, rapping: “Main line prison time for the crimes that we commit, but genocide? Don’t mean na’an to Uncle Sam, guess it’s dignified.” LISTEN>>>
3. DEAD PIONEERS - WAGON BURNER
Palestinians may have been represented at the World Cup's US opening ceremony. But - in stark contrast with the Canadian opening ceremony, which was led by First Nations people - Native Americans were conspicuous by their absence. Filling that void is the new LP from Indigenous spoken-word punks Dead Pioneers, released on June 26. On "The Worst Among Us", their vocalist, Gregg Deal, says: "Everyone wants us Natives to shut the fuck up. We're outside the radius of the story many Americans have heard, have told themselves, have been indoctrinated with. They grabbed, and they still grab, nabbing land, traditions, stories, symbols, mineral rights, with cunning chicanery, or beady-eyed brute force. Erasing bloodlines, deleting history." And on "No Kings", Deal slams racist US President Donald Trump with the words: "No kings, no masters. Kick against the fascist bastards. Fuck you and your golden toilet." LISTEN>>>
4. SOLITONE - LE CHAMP DES POSSIBLES
Surrounded by gold at the Palace of Versailles, Trump signed a peace deal with Iran on June 17, after warning: "If they don’t behave, we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head, OK?” He did so while dining with French President Emmanuel Macron, who had invited his gold-loving counterpart to the palace because he knew Trump would be impressed by its ostentatious livery. Two days later, French screamo band SOLITONE released their new LP, which rails against Macron and France's increasing inequality. On "Médiocratie" they scream in French: "So-called guardians of democracy in their assembly of seated mediocrities. They fancy themselves kings by birthright, yet are only good at dodging blame. When gathered together, they almost achieve a kind of fascinating grace. If heads roll tomorrow, I’ll bring the basket. If heads roll tomorrow, who will be the first?" LISTEN>>>
5. PUSSY RIOT - CYKA
The cost of arming Israel and bombing Iran was showing on June 22, when Trump told reporters he'd asked "some of the car companies, if they have any excess capacity" to build missiles to replenish his country's depleted stockpiles. A week earlier, Fiona Hill, who ran Russian and European affairs at the National Security Council during the first Trump administration, likened Trump's disastrous war on Iran to Russian president Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. “Both conflicts have produced a similar outcome: a weaker power has trapped a stronger one in a costly confrontation,” she said. “Like Putin, Trump did not have a plan for what would happen next.” The same week, Russian feminist activists Pussy Riot released their new album, which slams Putin and Trump. “Putin created much more deaths and suffering, but Trump is a runner up,” said the group's Nadya Tolokonnikova, who was jailed by Putin. LISTEN>>>
6. JESSE WELLES - MASKS OFF
Financial analysts warned people not to invest in SpaceX, the space company founded by Trump's ally Elon Musk, as it prepared for its sharemarket float on June 12. They cautioned that SpaceX is not profitable, due to its artificial intelligence arm losing billions of dollars, like most of the AI industry. Investors piled in anyway, making Musk the world's first trillionaire. The same day, US protest singer Jesse Welles released his new LP, which mocks the Tesla and Boring Company CEO. On "Domestic Error", he sings: "Hotels, casinos, and spaceships, Teslas and tunnels are fine. Folks get too close to the big White House and they lose their goddamn minds." And on "Red" he recalls Musk taking drugs, wielding a chainsaw on stage and sieg-heiling, with the lyrics: "I got me a red pen, and I use it, I got a big red chainsaw, too. My red friend likes that white powder, it makes his arms do weird salutes." LISTEN>>>
7. ODD BEHOLDER - HONEST WORK
"Elon Musk was given a big chainsaw to try and cut government tape and bureaucracies over in America," said Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart, on June 18. "We need more... a big, fat... orange bulldozer." She then presented racist politician Pauline Hanson with a large toy bulldozer. Rinehart - who has called for the minimum wage to be lowered to $2 an hour - had already given Hanson multiple donations and access to a $1.6 million private plane. A day earlier, Hanson sounded like she was reading from Rinehart's script as she used a Press Club address to say: "Businesses also tell me you can't sack people these days. They're on their phones, they don't work, they don't turn up, they actually are lazy." The Sydney Morning Herald called Hanson's speech "formidable". A more critical response is found on Swiss musician Odd Beholder's latest album, which blasts exploitation, burnout and overwork. LISTEN>>>
8. LA FAMIGLIA - ALPHABET MAFIA
Hanson - who, despite smearing workers as lazy, turns up for Parliament only 53% of the time - also used her Press Club address to attack the rights of trans people. Anti-discrimination advocates slammed it. “That was a speech that really punched down on a lot of Australians,” said Australian Human Rights Commission president Hugh de Kretser. Hanson had attacked him in her speech, saying he should be sacked over his advocacy for trans rights. A week earlier, Naarm/Melbourne punks La Famiglia, who are fronted by trans musician Beth Seymour, released their new album, which addresses "transphobia, discrimination, misogyny, trauma, resilience, and queer solidarity". On "Hath No Fury", Seymour sings: "Judge, jury, executioner, hell hath no fury like what I've got in store for y'all. Judge me truly, if you have to at all. Hell hath no fury like a woman made, not born." LISTEN>>>
9. EVANESCENCE - SANCTUARY
In her Press Club address, Hanson also called climate change a "hoax". That led some to ask whether her popularity - she was Australia's preferred Prime Minister in the latest polls - would survive the Australian summer. Economists said that already in New South Wales, "rising temperatures and extreme weather are costing residents $20,000 a year". Days later, a heatwave in Europe broke temperature records, killing scores of people across the continent. The new LP by stadium rockers Evanescence, released on June 5, addresses the anxiety. "I see the oceans rising, fire and water," they sing. "The war that’s been raging years and years and ages and eternities. But now, we look to the blood-red sky, and see what's been raining down all of this chaos on all of us. An illusion of power, a crumbling tower, a golden calf and a death wish for anyone who dares to see the obvious truth: The power is ours." LISTEN>>>
10. VIKA & LINDA - WHERE DO YOU COME FROM?
Hanson's timing seemed even worse when it came to immigration. In her Press Club speech, she also called for Australia to become a "monoculture" and demanded the scrapping of multicultural public broadcaster SBS. But she was speaking during Refugee Week, and Australia's World Cup team had just won their opening game with a goal from refugee Nestory Irankunda, who was playing alongside other refugees. Their asylum-seeker team-mate, former Young Australian of the Year Awer Mabil, then praised SBS' free World Cup coverage for inspiring him as a kid. Ridiculing the racism that non-white Australians face daily are Tongan-Australian soul singers Vika & Linda, who released their new album on June 5. On its title track, "Where Do You Come From?”, they recall such ignorance in their childhood as they sing: "It was too dark to see, when you pointed at me, and said, 'How come your skin's so brown?'" LISTEN>>>
[Mat Ward has been writing for Green Left since 2009. He also wrote the book Real Talk: Aboriginal Rappers Talk About Their Music And Country and makes political music. Mat Ward’s latest single is My AI Chatbot Really Loves Me.]
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Read about more political albums.
Stream our new “Best protest songs of 2026” Spotify playlist or transfer it to a streaming service of your choice. This replaces the previous “Political albums” playlist, that was getting too big at more than 700 albums.