Earthkeeper and Death of the Heart
2025 September 22 | music"Lightros, do you listen to any music that's not political" First - yes. Second - something something "all art is political" but I'm clearly only saying it to dismiss you. Third - it's been a political year, damn it.
cough Anyways, some recent music I like and not just because something something politics.
JER - Death of the Heart
"wait but you listed the other album first in the title-" we can spend all day having answering questions no one cared about until I began paragraphs with them, or we can actually focus on the music.
Going into this album, I was pretty sure I had a good grasp on how'd it sound. JER is known for Ska music, as one could guess by their alias Skatune Network, and the three singles released before the full album ("The Way You Tune It Out," "Capitalism Breeds Devastation," and "I'd Like to Be Better") gave the impression that the general vibe would be an upbeat call to action. As far as subject matter goes, that was partially correct but there's of course more variety than what the singles alone alluded to. "Claim Yr True Feelings Wounded Child" is a standout, taking a much more empathetic tone than I expected.
I initially didn't give "Capitalism Breeds Devastation" enough credit for having a more ominous sound, especially as it ends. This effect grows in magnitude as it is followed by "What Will You Do?" A song that as soon as I started hearing it for the first time, I immediately raced to the DM where I mentioned the album came out, saying I didn't expect anything like it. And while it's certainly the most defined transition point, the album continues to display a variety of sounds while not sacrificing a sense of cohesion. It makes for a great listen, keeping a lot of energy and letting things calm down a bit and ending on some relaxing tracks. The title track near the midpoint of the album has a sound that I absolutely adore.
Pinkshift - Earthkeeper
Anger is an easy emotion to find. When I go looking for music to just let a feeling out, it's usually the culprit. But anger shouldn't have complete reign over our time. Hope for better days needs space to flourish as well.
Earthkeeper balances these two moods excellently. There's plenty of ire for the ills of the world (I've been blasting Evil Eye since it came out as a single), but the album knows there's more out there than that. At the same time, it's not content to just wait for things to feel nicer. If we want the world to become better, we have to be willing to put in some of the work ourselves. The song Vacant makes that point even less subtlety than I do, somehow, but also does with much more grace.
I really appreciate Earthkeeper's commitment to anti-isolation. I remember around the time that Anita Ride came out that it and the album as a whole were described as a conversation between a person and the Earth itself (sure would be useful if I had a source for that, but we can at least settle for this just being a lens.) Especially in songs like Reflection, the album makes it clear that its way forward is paved by being connected to others.