Handlebars – Flobots

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Aside from the villains of the MCU and DC Comics – have you ever stopped to wonder what the world needs saving from?  It’s easy to focus on the alien overlord and understand his need for galactic domination – it’s big and tangible and thankfully we have someone in a cape who will defend us – but in the real world – things are a little less clear.

From the effects of global warming to human trafficking, mass shootings to financial meltdowns, the things that shatter families and ruin lives seem to be on the rise and I’m not seeing any serious attempts to stop them.

And yet, what is the driving force behind all of these horrible things – who is ultimately responsible for these crimes against humanity – yep – it’s us. 

When I think of Music to Save The World I don’t think of monsters or asteroids – I think of greed – I think of callousness – I think of holy righteousness and the lust for power.  And while it’s easy at this point to think that we could somehow look at society and identify the people who are like this – you know – weed them out at an early age – the world doesn’t work like that.

People don’t start out evil – it’s the effects of a life and how you live it that determine where you end up on the “human monster” scale.  I’m sure little Adolph Hitler was a charming child before resentment got the better of him – the leaders of ISIS at some point were blank slates before religious indoctrination convinced them that god wanted their enemies to burn in a cage.  Similarly hucksters like Bernie Madoff and the Enron crew presumably meant to do the right thing until the sheer excess of riches clouded their judgment and dulled their ethics.

Which brings us to this week’s track.  A story of two childhood friends who take different paths – I won’t spoil it by breaking it down – if you don’t know the track go check it out.  I heard the song first and loved it and then watched the video and had my heart broken.

I don’t have any answers here – although I’d posit things like “Be Nice” & “Be Kind” are two good places to start.  What I do know is that in the real world – there isn’t someone with a cape who is going to save us – that job has to start with us – tracks like these act as a warning – offering one possible path – but it doesn’t have to be that way.

I’m going to finish with a recent quote from the amazing George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic , who answered a Rolling Stone question with the following answer:

“…You see that rocket ship leave yesterday? We can maybe leave this planet. We gonna be dealing with aliens. You think black and white gonna be a problem? Wait till you start running into motherfuckers with three of four dicks! Bug eyed motherfuckers! They could be ready to party, or they could be ready to eat us. We don’t know, but we’ve got to get over this shit of not getting along with each other.”

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Overcome Your Own Obstacles: Himalaya by Ellipsis

The Music to Save The World playlist is sponsored this month by Himalaya from Ellipsis.

The journey begins; fresh Chillstep from Ellipsis to help you conquer your own mountain. Stream it now:

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You can learn more about Flobots here:

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About the curator - Andrew McCluskey

The first visual memory I have is that of the white upright piano in Singapore, Hell and the dark forces lived at the bottom, Heaven and the Angels at the top. They would play battles through my fingers and I was hooked.

Although I've always played, I haven't always been a musician.  Most of my twenties were spent working with people, buying and selling and learning how the world works.  It was in my thirties that I came to America and focused on music and began to develop music2work2.