A new compilation album, Contra-ICE Vol. 1: ICE OUT, is set to be released on October 2, featuring contributions from over 30 artists, including Kathleen Hanna, Fred Armisen, and Tom Morello. The album is a benefit project for immigrant rights organizations, National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and Unión del Barrio. The project was inspired by a photo of a street vendor, Ambrocio "Enrique" Lozano, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Los Angeles' Culver City neighborhood.
Lozano, a well-known street vendor, had been selling ice cream in the area for decades when he was detained by masked ICE agents. A photo of his abandoned paletero cart went viral on social media, sparking outrage and inspiring artist and activist Dali Colorado to create the Contra-ICE sound system. Colorado, who grew up in LA and now lives in Oregon, saw the photo as a call to action and began working on the compilation album. Lozano was later granted a green card and returned home to his family.
The compilation album features a mix of previously recorded songs and newly written compositions, brought together by Colorado to create a historical and artistic record of this moment. The album includes ruminations on the political climate, from a back-and-forth exchange between comedians Al Madrigal and Chris Estrada on the feeling of seeing Latino ICE officers on the street, to the rumbling, anti-prison musings of Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine.
The album is tied together through solemn, urgent, sometimes meditative interstitials produced by Jim Filer Coleman, formerly of the noise-rock band Cop Shoot Cop. One moment of hope strikes midway, on a cover of DJ Snake and Justin Bieber's song "Let Me Love You" performed by Kathleen Hanna, Ad-Rock, Money Mark, Fredo Ortiz, and Frank Figueroa. The tropical house sound of the original is swapped for a punchy rock melody, with Hanna's playful vocals breathing new life into the song's meaning.
For Hanna, the song speaks to the perspective of an older activist looking back on the idealized politics of their youth, and knowing that even if progress is nonlinear, justice is still worth fighting for. Musician and producer Adrian Quesada, who follows Hanna's cover with an instrumental hip-hop track titled "33 Degrees" — the melting point for ice — says he hopes people will sit with the feeling of unease that permeates much of the compilation.
Tijuana-born singer and activist Ceci Bastida's song "No Tengas Miedo," which translates to "Don't Be Scared," was inspired by some of the children she's worked with at the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights. Bastida says seeing people make their way from Mexico into the U.S. was a normal part of daily life growing up on the border, but as the zone has become increasingly militarized and criminalized in recent years, she felt the need to take more immediate action.
The compilation album joins a growing body of anti-ICE protest songs and is seen by Colorado as the beginning of a musical social justice movement. Colorado hopes to produce a second volume with artists from Minneapolis, following heightened ICE raids, protests, and deadly confrontations there earlier this year. The album's release is accompanied by a benefit concert in LA on October 3, with all proceeds going towards supporting immigrant rights organizations.
Key points
- The compilation album features over 30 artists and aims to support immigrant rights organizations.
- The project was inspired by a photo of a street vendor detained by ICE agents.
- The album's release is accompanied by a benefit concert in LA on October 3.
