“Algorithm Blues” is lo-fi political rap with conscious hip-hop DNA — part blues, part scroll fatigue. It’s for anyone who’s ever felt drowned out by the algorithm, still trying to make something real in a feed full of filters.

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/maddhatter/algorithm-blues

Algorithm Blues

A protest song born from a headline: President Trump kills a U.S.-Canada trade deal over a Reagan ad. Paper-Thin Skin is a folk-rock indictment of fragile power, economic fallout, and the human cost of ego in office. This column breaks down the song, the story behind it, and the real-world consequences of one man's tantrum turned policy.

Trumple-Thin-Skin

In February 2012 students and schoolchildren in Valencia, Spain took to the streets to protest
brutal austerity cuts to schools imposed by a regional government rife with corruption scandals.
These students, who had, in some cases been wearing blankets in their classrooms because
the schools couldn’t afford heating, took to Xàtiva Street to voice their discontent only to be
brutally attacked by the police with batons, rubber bullets, and teargas. Originally for brass and
percussion, this ‘protest fanfare’ was originally premiered in the Palau de la Musica, Valencia in
front of an audience that included supporters of the police and austerity measures.

This version for orchestra is a complete reimagining of the piece and is written the London
Symphony Orchestra, who I had the pleasure of conducting on the occasion of the Nonclassical Label’s 20th anniversary. Thanks to Gabriel Prokofiev for producing this live recording mix from the orchestral premiere in 2024.

Photo credit: KAI FÖRSTERLING (EFE)

Xàtiva Street (extract)

Song written for No Kings protests.  Please share far and wide.

No Kings

[Lyrics]

He walks in loud with a smile like steel,
teeth like ballots, deal by deal.
Pitchfork promises, thunder in his throat—
“Follow my fire,” and they hand him the vote.
Drown in charisma, drown your spine,
outsource will to a neon sign.


Hubris in hoodies, mouths full of feed,
too proud to labor, too lazy to lead.
Fairness detectors calibrated to me—
else chew, chew, chew through eternity.
Agency pawned for a grievance prize;
graze till the sky forgets your eyes.



She speaks of dawn with immaculate light,
maps of justice inked in white.
“Hold fast to hope,” her lanterns gleam—
and minds kneel down to the perfect dream.
Drunk on a halo, drunk on grace,
they drop their agency in place.


Hubris in hoodies, mouths full of feed,
too proud to labor, too lazy to lead.
Fairness detectors calibrated to me—
else chew, chew, chew through eternity.
Agency pawned for a grievance prize;
graze till the sky forgets your eyes.



Banner to banner, creed into steel,
each swears a justice the other can’t feel.
“Let people judge!”—the ballots unrolled;
the people yawn—then flinch when they’re told.

They hashtag thunder from a couch-bound throne,
demanding a harvest they’ve never sown.
A mouth for complaint, a hand for none;
they choke on the grass and call it the sun.
Effort = zero, opinions = loud;
empty and certain—a weaponized crowd.


No pulse for truth till the pinch feels near;
but pride shouts loud when the mirror is clear.
Your justice toggles when you are scored—
then back to the pasture: sleep, repeat, bored.
Unfairness-only oracles—deaf by design;
if not about you, you won’t lift a line.



The saint grows tired, the wolf grows bored;
both learn the math of selfish reward.
From “us” to “mine,” from vow to price—
the altar pawned for a slice of ice.


Sheep without will, no wish to amend,
graze through the blast, from bend to bend.
Mouths full of grass, eyes full of fog—
circles on circles, bog after bog.


Be gone, you sheep—no spark, no art;
no will to mend, no working heart.
Pure-bred apathy, shameless and stark—
graze into night, devour the dark.
If fairness isn’t yours to keep,
you bleat, then bargain, then fall back asleep.



Thus rot repeats with familiar ease:
two crowns, one crowd, corrupted seas.
Until the flock would rather build than bray,
the stench returns. The price? Always.

Sheeple Ochlocracy

∞Å¢ab

I’m just a weary traveller, and I’m searching
Looking for a place to lay my head.
But I live in an age, to make an honest wage.
Is not enough to buy a loaf of bread.
I’m forced to steal instead.

I met a friend, and he also was searching.
He too needed work, but could not find
A way to ply his trade, to sell the wares he made.
“No,” they told him, “won’t buy that today.
I’ll purchase it on-line.

Another came along who shared our problem.
I only want to feed my family.
But nothing that I try helps me to realize
The answers to a problem that I see.
I’m never truly free.

They said they could fix all of our problems.
Trust us, we just want democracy.
And so we gave our trust, we all did, all of us.
They got richer. Living like a king.
And we lose everything.

But someone, not sure who, noticed the power
We all had when we walked hand in hand.
Before too long we found if we just held our ground
It began to hit their business plan -
And now we understand.

We learned to help ourselves by helping others.
We found real joy in sharing what we could.
Now everyone agrees our opportunities
Grow stronger when we put it to the man -
And now we understand.

And so we face the battle of a lifetime.
But we are not facing it alone.
The battle may be long, but we all must be strong.
We’re all living in a battle zone -
We've got to clear the stone.

Clear the Stone

Burned to the ground

This song is a crude protest to not taking crap from people in harsh work or school environments. It explores themes of standing up to bullies, discriminatory co-workers and a throwback to early 2000's music. People go through enough things in life. The last thing they need is to endure someone else's total nonsense. Sometimes you'll bend over backwards for someone just to get the short end of the stick. The song takes an implosive and obscene approach by saying "you're a ticking time bomb that's been ready to go off." The metaphor (kick the bucket) applies to us all. Will you be the one kicking the bucket in the end, or them? Who comes out victorious in this modern primitive survival we call life?

Kickin' Buckets

"My Voice is My Right" is a protest anthem that fuses the storytelling of folk, the rhythm and fire of rap, and the soul-stirring emotion of R&B. With spiritual undertones and unapologetic clarity, it speaks directly to the heart of today’s cultural turmoil—centered around the strength, dignity, and divine power of justice.

My Voice is My Right

Retired the beginning of 2023. Been writing music seriously for about six years. Thanks for listening - and sharing!

All songs are released into the public domain. 
Please feel free to download them.
No need to credit me, and you're even free to sell it if you like.
Hmm, but if you like it, I would love for you to help infected&spread my songs!
Link Free.  feel free to expose it anywhere you like.

I am a bacterium with mycolic acid on its surface.
I will damage your lungs.
And..... Smash commercialism.

We Make Music >:)
Cali Band 🏝️
Experimental Alternative Metal
Check us out on every platform!
(Est. 2025)

...someday, I'll take a music lesson. 

Until then, I invite you into my different visions of what music is. I apologize in advance for not having picked a path, as I sometimes find it suffocating to stay to a particular sound.

Like life, I stumble through songs until I find my way. I truly hope you enjoy these "small journeys" I have posted. They are just a short glimpse into my absurd mind and sometimes fragile emotions. I hope that this music takes you somewhere as it did for me.

-T.
 

this is 4 u  (( #  --i loveu-
archived bio written 2013\\lost in the woods, wandering around seeking txturd wggles arranged in tstoryies. 
pls snd me ur danny brown rmxs\\

Darren Bloom is a composer, conductor, producer and educator. Described in The Times as ‘almost mystical… a genuine frisson’, Darren’s music is noted for its combination of ‘evocative harmony’ and ‘raw power’. His recent chamber symphony Dr. Glaser’s Experiment, commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra for their 2016 Futures Festival, was praised in theartsdesk.com as a ‘confident answer to the question: How can an orchestra perform the music of the future?’ Darren’s chamber work Strange Attractors was selected by the UK panel of the International Society for Contemporary Music to represent the UK, and his chamber opera KETTLEHEAD was created as part of his second year of residence with the London Symphony Orchestra as a member of the LSO Soundhub Scheme. Recent projects include a curated set for New Dots’ Curiouser event, which incorporated his new work Alice’s Dream Fragments for the Octandre Ensemble, and Borexino-Borealis, a commission from the Park Lane Group for the Borealis Saxophone Quartet.
 
Darren is a founding member and conductor/creative producer of the Ossian Ensemble with whom he has given the premieres of dozens of new works over the past decade. Other conducting highlights include a performance of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Five Klee Pictures in the presence of the composer, recording music for BBC4 documentaries, directing several youth new music ensembles, including the Composers Ensemble at Junior Trinity, and making his third annual appearance as a conductor for the LSO Soundhub Scheme.
 
Darren studied composition with Edwin Roxburgh, Brian Elias and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and conducting with Neil Thompson, Edwin Roxburgh and Christopher Austin. He was awarded a DipRAM and the Manson Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Music as well as recently being appointed an Associate of the RAM. In 2015 he commenced an AHRC funded PhD in Composition at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Richard Causton.

Retired English teacher writing songs, penning novels, and photographing the world.

New tracks tagged #Protest