Music

new music: bodega dream mix hip-hop, indie rock and politically charged lyrics on the impressive ‘ep 2’ #soundcheck

November 18, 2016

Life and death loom large on Bodega Dream’s appropriately titled 2nd EP, EP 2. The band balances indie rock and hip-hop with depth and passion over 4 tracks. Opening with the struggle against hopelessness anthem of “Polaroids,” frontman Darion Ray Kelley jumps back and forth between frustration and a repeated refrain to “hold on, hold on.” That frustration curdles into exhaustion on “New York Times.”
The apocalypse is coming, “The New York Times said the raging fire will get us all,” but Kelley keeps his “eyes toward the wall.” By “The Murder,” Kelley and company find sympathy with a man facing execution for a murder he may or not have committed. On the powerful closing track “Don’t Shoot,” the trial of the previous track is conspicuously missing. “Guilty without a trial…just because of race.” The explosive song focuses the band’s frequent obsession with space and mood into an all out call to action.

The band explains that the song “talks about our racially biased justice system. How it feels to walk down the streets of New York and be judge and sometimes sentenced before we’ve had the opportunity to open our mouths. These days everyone seems to be in mourning over the election and it’s because of the fear the system has installed on us. We’re scared of the politicians, the media, rural areas, sometimes even our neighbors. The media wants the world to believe BLM is a terrorist group, that Donald Trump’s victory isn’t their fault, and we should lay silently like sheep and see how it all plays out. In the end we all just end up screaming Don’t Shoot. I send this with all the love we have to share because right now that’s what the world needs. It’s what I need and I’m sure you need.”

By Nathan Leigh, AFROPUNK Contributor

Banner photo by Miguel Sanchez

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