Well, it’s been a week. During his first week in office, President Trump has reinstated the Global Gag Rule, argued about the size of the crowd at his inauguration, confirmed that he plans to build the wall, and silenced various government agencies from making official statements. While there’s already been a number of cons, there have been some good things to come out of it: the Women’s March, the punch heard ’round the world, and our first week of songs from Our First 100 Days.
Our First 100 Days is a compilation in a similar vein as the 30 Days, 30 Songs campaign. Every day for Trump’s first 100 days in office, a new song will be added the the campaign’s bandcamp page. The whole comp can be pre-ordered for $30 with all funds going towards organizations that Trump’s policies will affect. It already boasts some artists that have released some of the best albums of last year, and it promises more big named artists.
As is often the case with large scale comps, Our First 100 Days is something of a mixed bag ranging in quality. During the first week, just about everything is tolerable, at the very least. The only real clunky song is Avey Tare’s demo of “Visit the Dojo,” which is mind-numbingly annoying. The only other real complaints that could be made are about Women’s “Group Transport Hall,” which is too atmospheric for my taste, and Jason Molina’s “Royko.” Molina’s song isn’t my cup of tea, but it also seems somewhat difficult to put a man who’s been dead for four years on a political compilation. That being said, I never knew Molina’s politics, so who am I to judge? Meat Wave’s “Dogs at Night” is another that is fine as a song, but there’s not much special about it.
Angel Olsen’s introductory song is a great little song. Production wise, it bears a strong resemblance to David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” The song is surprisingly apolitical for the first song on an actively political compilation. That being said, Olsen’s delivery and instrumentation at the beginning of the song sounds militant. It is a sweet little number that would have easily fit on My Woman though.
PWR BTTM’s “Vacation” is easily the best. The song begins like a sad, lazy song, but it ends with passionate shrieking. Although this seems to be simply another unrequited love song, the sentiment of “it’s going to be a long day,” certainly echoes the feelings of the past week.
Suuns and Tilman Robinson & Luke Howard’s songs are the most interesting sonically. Robinson & Howard’s “Requiem for 2016” is a dreary classical composition that certainly reflects some of the feelings of disassociation and numbness. Suuns’ “Native Tongues” captures a similar emotion, but the distorted screeches in the background along with the processed vocals certainly seem more accurate to what we’re living in now.
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