Don’t be fooled by POPtical Illusion, the playful title of John Cale’s second album in just over a year: He remains angry, still incensed by the willful destruction that unchecked capitalists and unrepentant conmen have hoisted upon the wonders of this world and the goodness of its people.

John Cale has always been a musician of the times, helping to usher in titanic shifts in sound and culture. The bleeding edge drones of his Sun Blindness Music opened the path to The Velvet Underground. The frantic rock of Fear and Slow Dazzle, not to mention his production with Patti Smith and the Stooges, framed a half century of punk, post-punk, and art-rock to come.

Once again, on POPtical Illusion, Cale stands as a musician of these times. He looks at the orchestrated turmoil of recent history, furrows his brow in disgust, and then turns on his heels toward a future, even if he—like all of the rest of us, really—doesn’t know just what he’ll find or who exactly he’ll be there. He’s simply happy to be going toward it all.