Sonic Protest - Page 2

Now, with Chris Habib, Sonic Youth's Webmaster and technology whiz, Mr. Moore has started his own free music label, Protest Records. Using more practical means of distribution, Protest Records is giving its music away as MP3's on the Internet at www.protest-records.com.

Eight songs are on the site, most advocating peace or questioning the motives for the current war. Besides songs by Cat Power, the Beastie Boys, and Stephan Smith, there is music by more avant-garde acts like Eugene Chadbourne and Sharon Cheslow. Mr. Moore also said that he had been contacted by R.E.M., Mudhoney, Zach de la Rocha, the Fugs, Christian Marclay and Ian MacKaye, who all intend to submit songs.

The inspiration for the label, he said, came when he attended a benefit at the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in the East Village and heard Steven Taylor, a guitarist in the current incarnation of the Fugs. Mr. Taylor sang a song called "Go Down, Congress," which he wrote about the relationship between Dick Cheney and the oil-services company Halliburton. "I thought, this is a great protest song, but there are only a hundred people in this room who are ever going to hear it," Mr. Moore said.

So he decided to start Protest Records, so little-known musicians and songwriters could have their work appear alongside that of higher-profile bands. He is accepting any protest music by any act, especially those making more challenging and avant-garde music. And the songs do not all have to be about the current war, he said; they can be in opposition to any issue.

"The music can even be instrumental," Mr. Moore said. "It's all about the intent of the expression. Someone can send in a 15-minute drone piece and say it's their antiwar song, and if they're sincere about it, I'll see it as a valid criteria for adding it to our site."

Article Author: Steve Rhodes

Steve Rhodes is a journalist and photographer in San Francisco.

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