Public Enemy dropped a new bomb... without announcement
Photo credit: Sanjay Suchak
In a world flooded with announcements, teasers, and trailers, surprising people with an album release seems out of place.
But that's exactly what Public Enemy did with Black Sky Over The Projects: Apartment 2025, which was released without any prior announcement (not even mentioning the single "March Madness" which didn't hint at an album release) on Bandcamp. Public Enemy managed to do this all on their own, essentially acting as a DIY band, while still rocking the stage alongside acts like Guns N' Roses.
As the CD and vinyl versions are set to be released in July and October respectively, Public Enemy did one more thing that’s rare in today’s mainstream music scene — for the first three days, they offered the digital version of their album as a name-your-price download on Bandcamp, letting everyone grab it for as little as one dollar.
This has several very positive effects. It bypasses the usual profit pipeline, creating a direct connection between fans and the artist, while recognizing that not everyone can afford the fixed price for the album. By offering the album as a name-your-price download on Bandcamp, Public Enemy continues to be recognized as a "people's choice" band and is more punk than many mainstream punk bands these days.
Secondly, if this isn’t a deliberate or accidental middle finger to AI and gun-toting Daniel Elk of Spotify, I don't know what is.
I’m still listening to the album and might write a review soon. For now, all I can say is it's older than old school, blending elements of rock, rap, and funk into a furious energy ball. It's not the easiest to listen to because of the song arrangements, but the energy level never drops, which keeps me coming back for more.
With albums like this, I'm "relearning" how to listen to complex, non-formulaic music, and I believe that's the highest value.
"Time moves on, but the clock remains!"
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