Do something NOW.
If you live in the states, you probably already know what day it is.

(if you’re outside the U.S., just laugh at us trying to roleplay Democracy and skip to the part of this post where we give you the free music)




We here at Resonator are not ones to tell you who to vote for, and we’re not going to try and sway you to, you know, oust the ninnie or anything like that.

Yeah, ok, we are.

But still, if we can’t get you to vote…and if Paris can’t get you to vote (or, like, die, or something, because it’s hot….voting? Death? Yeah, both hot…), maybe Jim Adkins, the guys in Cursive, and some toolshed from the Gin Blossoms can help:




And, failing that, here’s some music (yay theme posts!):



The Paper Chase: God Is In the House

A Nick Cave cover (off of the album that I think is his greatest album as a whole, No More Shall We Part…and apparently Nick agrees) by one of my favorite bands this year, The Paper Chase. I could do an entire page here just on how genius John Congleton’s tense anxiety-terror sound is, but what matters here is how they take Nick’s Flannery-esque tongue-in-cheek story song from inside the minds of America’s Heartland and fuck with it, breaking it up and down until the sheer, vile insanity’s a bit more…obvious.

Draw the political connections that you will….

You say “little pink houses” and “I was born in a small town”, I say “you freakishly lost your virginity to a townie who was rambling about God and Jesus and Kittens, oh my” .

Madonna: American Life

Oh, quit fucking rolling your eyes. American Life was an under-rated song from a VASTLY under-rated album-the Mirwais production on this is fucking astounding (two words: Chorus Stutter. Listen again, more closely.), and I tend to think it’s meant as more of a barb at both the country and herself than it was given credit for.

Plus, I mean, there’s the rap…Go Esther, it’s ya birfday.

Depeche Mode: Judas (live)

From Songs of Faith and Devotion Live, which tends to be the only way I like to hear that album’s content (I don’t even own a copy of SoFaD any longer).
First and foremost, this song has become my relationship m.o. for the longest time. I’ll let you read your own variation on “what it means to be involved romantically w/ Shaun” into this song at your leisure, because that’s not why I’m posting it (at least, as Tuan once said, not today). Nor am I posting it for you to muse on how fucking LOVELY the end is, when the crowd keeps rhythm over the gorgeous vocals.

No. Instead, there’s a message I want you to get, and I want to make it explicit.

There’s a lyric on this song that I quote almost incessantly when it comes to the purpose and point of waking up butt-ass early to drag yourself, sleep-deprived, weary and bitchy, to engage in a process you may or may not find purposeful and elect some officials you may or may not care about:

“Don’t just stand there and shout it
Do something about it.”

No. Excuses. And I mean that. If you don't put your ballot where your mouth is, do us all a favor, Americans, and keep it fucking shut for a few years. It's that simple. You have an opinion, so make it matter.

find your local polling place

Huffington Post: a few fascinating points of view and articles on what's going on across the U.S. on election day


Resonator Mag: do something now.