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Kimon - Discorporated (Pacific Time)

Dissent is un-American, says one side. Dissent is patriotic, says the other. However, one thing that both sides can agree on is this: Dissent set to music is often boring, sanctimonious, and unconvincing.

One notable exception is a singer-songwriter out of New Jersey named Kimon (pronounced "kee-mon"). He takes a bitingly forthright analysis of all that's wrong in the world today, wraps it up in lyrics chock-full of nicely turned phrases and clever rhymes, and sets it to bluesy rock 'n' roll, and what do we get? Dissent you can tap your toes to.

Subjects include the predictable diatribe against the war in Iraq in "Percussion Bomb", but rather than focus on the missing WMD's, Kimon looks at the whole picture of corporate influence, fishy elections, Neocon hegemonist wet dreams, and compliant media: "Get baghdad on the radar then obliterate the city/ Get the radar on the networks so that North Korea sees / Get the networks to buy Rumsfeld and we'll talk deregulation/ Get the Rumsfeld show on cable and let Wolfowitz emcee..."

Of course, Iraq isn't the only place where things are going wrong, so we get songs about other predictable topics like the environment ("Mother Earth") and mindless capitalism ("Buy, Buy, Buy"). But more forgotten symptoms of the sickness of society get examined as well, like the world refugee problem ("The Only Home I Know") and the powderkeg that is the former U.S.S.R. ("Tearing Down Leningrad").

But whatever the topic, you can be sure that it's handled in a wry, satiric manner without getting more preachy than is strictly necessary. So, when you're picking out music to bring to the next WTO protest, consider leaving the Rage Against the Machine at home and bringing Kimon instead.

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