Thank you so much for organizing this. All those lists in different services with so many options is a lot of work.

Oh, what happened to Dan Mangan? He was nominated in the other thread

(Edit: it’s Dans 43rd birthday today!)

Correction: The YouTube music playlist shows the wrong Shad song. It shows Rain, but the song recommended was Slanted. The other links seem to be correct.

There's some pretty sick music here.

Btw, Bandcamp Friday is this Friday (May 1st). That means 100%* of the money goes to the artist.

Bandcamp Fridays—on which we waive our revenue share and pass the funds directly to artists & labels

https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/bandcamp-fridays

Consider supporting the artist you like, by buying the song or album. Some allows you to name your price, others have a minimum, but is never expensive (unless you want a printed LP with extra material).

Examples

You get the digital version "forever", and you can download in different quality that fits your needs.

I nominated a few songs, but I want to promote Citizen4 by Cenzina in particular. The topic of the song fits this contest better than my other nominations, and it's a fun song even without the deeper meaning.

https://www.altrecess.com/post/cenzina-challenges-the-age-of-surveillance-with-citizen4

It’s Cenzina at her sharpest, digging into themes of surveillance, digital tracking, and the unsettling rise of technocracy.

Quoting Snowden’s famous line about privacy, the song plants itself firmly in the conversation about rights and autonomy. In her own words, Cenzina says: “My hope would be that Citizen4 reminds people to question the true cost of losing the rights to our privacy and personal data as surveillance technologies rapidly advance and merge.”

The song’s hook drives that unease home, with lines like: “One face composed of many faces, one place consumed by many places, sleeves are filled with aces, hearts that come with laces, come on take a spoon-ful, tell me can you taste this?” It’s both poetic and piercing, a direct challenge to how numb we’ve become to the systems shaping our lives.

Yet for all its weight, Citizen4 doesn’t wallow. There’s hope in the melodies and a reminder that resistance doesn’t only mean protest signs—it can also mean returning to the things that make us human: community, art, nature, connection. The record feels alive, not just in its sound but in its spirit, urging listeners to take back a sense of agency and awareness.

Cenzina, who proudly represents artists living with chronic illness and invisible disabilities, pours realness into her work in a way that feels impossible to fake. Citizen4 isn’t just another alt-rock track—it’s a wake-up call wrapped in gorgeous production, a reminder that even in times of uncertainty, music can be both mirror and medicine.