R.E.M. have shared a brand new profit EP titled Radio Free Europe 2025. The five-track undertaking features a new remix of the band’s 1981 debut single, “Radio Free Europe,” reworked by producer and longtime R.E.M. collaborator Jacknife Lee. The EP is out now digitally, and a vinyl version is out on September 12 by way of Craft. Proceeds from the vinyl will go to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the editorially unbiased, nonpartisan, and nonprofit 501(c)(3) company that impressed R.E.M.’s early single. Hearken to the brand new EP under.
Radio Free Europe 2025 was overseen by the band’s authentic producer Mitch Easter, who first recorded R.E.M. at his Drive-In Studio in 1981. That session included recordings of “Radio Free Europe,” “Sitting Nonetheless,” and the instrumental “Wh. Twister,” all of which seem on the brand new EP.
Radio Free Europe 2025 arrives as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty celebrates its seventy fifth anniversary, and simply forward of World Press Freedom Day on Saturday, Could 3. The group at present broadcasts information to 23 nations in 27 languages, making crucial data accessible in areas the place a free press is both banned or threatened by the presiding authorities. RFE/RFL is at present below menace amid President Donald J. Trump’s widespread funding cuts, although a federal choose not too long ago dominated that his administration should restore the $12 million that Congress had appropriated for the group.
Talking on the significance of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in press supplies, R.E.M. bandleader Michael Stipe stated: “Whether or not it’s music or a free press—censorship anyplace is a menace to the reality in every single place. On World Press Freedom Day, I’m sending a shout-out to the courageous journalists at Radio Free Europe.” Stipe additionally mentioned the brand new music on CBS Mornings, and you’ll watch his interview on Instagram.
Bassist Mike Mills continued the sentiment: “Radio Free Europe’s journalists have been pissing off dictators for 75 years. You already know you’re doing all of your job if you make the precise enemies. Blissful World Press Freedom Day to the ‘OG’ Radio Free Europe.”
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s president and chief govt, Stephen Capus, added: “To me, R.E.M.’s music has at all times embodied a celebration of freedom: freedom of expression, lyrics that make us suppose, and melodies that encourage motion. These are the very goals of our journalists at Radio Free Europe—to tell, encourage, and uphold freedoms typically elusive to our audiences. We maintain dictators accountable. They go to nice lengths to silence us—blocking our web sites, jamming our indicators, and even imprisoning our colleagues.”
