Posted on: Friday, August 20, 2004

Political groups to profit from 'Future'

By Tom Moon
Knight Ridder News Service

"Future Soundtrack for America" by various artists; Barsuk

Further proof that music transcends political labels will come when the first young Republican forks over his hard-earned cash for this rarities compilation to benefit MoveOn.org and other "progressive" nonprofit political organizations.

It will happen, if only because the diverse 22-track collection by R.E.M., Death Cab for Cutie, Fountains of Wayne, the late Elliott Smith and others contains music unavailable anywhere else. Some pieces are implicitly political: Mike Doughty's missive, the least interesting track, is unimaginatively titled "Move On," while David Byrne's oddly hopeful "Not So Far to Go" tells of a kingdom where "the land was filled with fear, there was hatred, there was envy in between the rich and poor."

Other pieces, notably Smith's bitter "A Distorted Reality Is Now a Necessity to Be Free" and OK Go's Beatle-esque "This Will Be Our Year," express frustration with the status quo in more subversive ways, tucked into florid and exuberant melodies.

While Flaming Lips, Jimmy Eat World and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs supply live tracks, most come with new material. An exception is They Might Be Giants, which contributes a delirious update of the 1840 campaign song "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too."