Interpol - All The Rage Back Home

It is dark. We are driving; I AM driving, and she is traveling on a passenger seat because she is a big girl already,
my daughter,
she is talking and waving her arms and meters go by, and kilo-meters, semaphores, street lamps and parking lots guarded by dogs,
we are driving
and the radio is on.

There is a song on the radio.
She is listening to the song and I am not because I am driving and because I am a thousand miles away from that car and from that radio and from that song,
but she is happy and she's waving her arms and she yells:

"Why don't we have more songs like this?"

and I have no clue who we are listening to but the question is a lead ball starting the Rube Goldberg machine in my head and after a stream of clicks and whirls and cubes and falls
in the time span shorter then two blinks of an eye
my brain comes up with:
"But we do! We have complete Interpol discography."

After we come home we look into Interpol, we ask for recommendation where to start - because I do not know their discography but rather their sound - and we listen to, recommended,
All The Rage Back Home.

I keep falling, maybe half the time, maybe half the time
I keep falling, maybe half the time, maybe half the time
But it's all the rage back home
It's all the rage back home

She claps her hands, ecstatic to stand in front of one more door leading into the room filled with treasure,
and I sit there motionless,
my insides cut open,
while wondrous hypnotic rhymes avalanche me with powdery whiteness of emotion.
Each wonderful snowflake feather-light mathematical jewel.
All of them together crushing weight of existence.

I keep falling, maybe half the time, maybe half the time
I keep falling, maybe half the time, maybe half the time
But it's all the rage back home
It's all the rage back home

(Above text is my Facebook post published on 05/Dec/2018 - translated from Croatian)

The Mountain Goats - No Children

The child fell in love with No Children by The Mountain Goats so that is what we are listening to every morning before facing our day.

She gets up first.

She pushes the wet cat food from the tiny bag into the cat bowls and puts the oatmeal into the microwave while Philly D. is still summarizing yesterday's news, and then she sits to eat and lets Darnielle tell us again (but usually at least three more times) this story of hope and despair and fatality and loss and alcohol and love and the moment trapped in the amber of poetry.

Having it before breakfast makes me a little bit sick,

but,

later on I go to work, I live life and on the brink of returning from work to life I sit in a car full of girls I'm driving home, across the street from Velesajam, while the wind is howling and the Park is waving to me with its lovely long fingers of branches full of fresh leaves

and in my head I hear John listing stuff

and the words shared with us by Andrija Škare about that song during the first Slušaj me.

Behind the eyes, in the dark space, the thoughts are billowing 

and the arrhythmic ticker softly progresses through its numbers. 

Life is beautiful. Pain is a trove. Be happy for this moment for this moment is your life.

Volcano Choir - Comrade

Recently

the world is like a treadmill:

if I'm not running fast enough then I fall

and break my head open.

Living dangerously!

...And yet...

this on-the-border life also holds the particular beauty of continuously being just one sigh apart from an orgasm.

Pain is so close to pleasure.

When the Repave was released, in 2013.,

I was not Vernon's fan because his work with Bon Iver felt too pretentious and poser-like

but Volcano Choir has completely thrilled me.

Today a friend reminded me of a recent listening through new Lambchop album

(The December-ish you is a fcukin masterpiece!),

and to remember Volcano Choir was just a tiny step forward.

Repave is growing old so nicely

and Comrade

my wonderful favorite

is lovely and lovelier than in 2013.

Everything in it is wonderful;

Auditory abundance

Vernon's jagged lyricism

Rhythm of coitus mixed with the context of military and of brotherhood...

                *             *             *

They say you ain't a comrade

Still, I'd know you'd come back

For a folly-ridden Romeo, you break down a fortress now Standing out in public Stained with your conscience

I know that you love me

You are just lawless, son

My favourite songs in 2018

Two thousand eighteenth was a hell of a ride and in its last day, when I’m writing this,  still is. This makes me happy and invigorated, makes me realize I definitely own my shit and there is nothing in this world, both inside my skull and outside of it, that would be of any threat whatsoever.

I have here on YouTube put together a small DF Best of 2018 playlist, comprised of the songs that I have encountered in 2018. which have left a lasting impact. They are not all 2018 releases but are sorted out by release date (YouTube release date, that is) and not by any particular preference order. Even though my eclectic taste in music does not startle anyone anymore I feel this year I gravitated more towards pensive works, not so much toward usual relationship dynamics topics but rather to existential works, following more in the path I’m threading last couple of years.

It is always funny to see them, the "songs leaving lasting impact", like this at the end of the year because these are the ones most listened to and I did not actually want/strive to highlight or present them specially while listening was taking place so I almost feel this data mining exercise is teaching me something rather than being just a final piece in image management puzzle we create for our friends and followers :D

Left Boy – Get It Right

I got introduced to works of Ferdinand Sarnitz by my 14yo daughter and this artist kicks ass. He does have an awesome 2018. release in the single "Bitte brich mein Herz nicht Baby..." but I chose to highlight Get It Right because it is a fantastic dance song and an earworm I frequently wake up to playing in my head.

Will Joseph Cook - Girls Like Me

Will Joseph Cook is an indie pop artist that I definitely want to hear more going forward. I love his songwriting, his humor and the millennial lore his pieces seem to be dripping with. I especially love the video for this song as it is a perfect, unassuming representation of what we have come to expect from our partners.

Glass Animals – Life Itself

Life itself, song from second Glass Animals album How To Be A Human Being is a song I just cannot get enough of even with them having quite a selection of awesome songs both on this album and the previous Zaba. Contagious rhythms, catchy hooks, nietzsche-sque quality to the piercing observation style. Just beautiful.

Bo Burnham – Can’t Handle This (Kanye Rant)

Listing Bo onto an actual music list may be somewhat misleading but this masterpiece from Make Happy definitely deserves to be included here as an sign of the time. Even though it is not a recent release it has not lost ANYTHING of its contemporary social commentary appeal and it has stayed a perfect centerpiece fitting to the spread we have in this year of burnout finally gaining its proper place in the spotlight.

The Gated Community – I Wanna Get Drunk Tonight

Maybe a strange sight on this list but a perfect match introduced by one even more perfect. The Gated Community song and their discography fit exquisitely into some crevices of my soul in need of a mariekondo-ing. I love this song especially as it perfectly sums up some of my sarariman pains I already wrote about some time ago.

Mashrou’ Leila – Tayf (Ghost)

I was introduced to Marshou’ Leila music by my new boss after their London performance earlier this year. Immediately after hearing them my heart was completely lost to their beautiful tunes and the beauty of the Arabic language, so soft and so visceral spoken and so enveloping and magical while sung. The more I learned about Hamed Sinno I grew more and more attached to their music and his work and existence.

Jonathan Young – Unravel Cover

Unravel is opening song to awarded anime Tokyo Ghoul, song written by Toru Kitajima and this cover is Jonathan’s rendition of the song – perfect in presentation and representation. As I have spent last 5 months learning Japanese I’m starting to understand and appreciate the beauty of this endeavor and it makes my heart sing even while making my soul break and cry with the weight of the emotion described.

Shawn Mendes ft. Khalid – Youth

I am already a big Shawn Mendes’s fan and am absolutely thrilled to see him grow and progress. Second favourite from this album is awesome Lost in Japan and the album is a perfect successor to everything we came to love and expect from Shawn and his songwriting.

Lewis Capaldi – Tough

Another songwriter with uncanny ability to tap into exactly how I feel  when my heart is broken. This is a song that sounds absolutely beautiful and also one whose lyrics I cannot listen to without crying my eyes out.

Half Alive – Still Feel

I love the chasm between clearly perky, dance rhythm and the solemnity and existential turmoil of the lyrics. Half Alive are a band with just several singles but all of those are impeccable, one better than the next.

Watsky – Welcome To The Family

For an artist already so many years active and yet so young new Watsky’s material is at the same time completely expected and beautifully surprising. I love the “human-ness” of his work, unpretentiousness of his lyrics and thoughts and still sharp cutting edge of his social commentary (see the song Whatever too, for a bit of insight).

21 pilots – Leave The City

Song closing Trench, my favorite album of this year, is a song also perfectly summarizing the existential tiredness of current moment and it is probably my new favorite Tyler Joseph poem, conveniently having its own sound track to follow it.

Not everything has been tiresome this year but it has been a year of me admitting that I’m done with some things…

And moving on.