Yearlong Song Challenge, Day 134: Nate

Prompt: "A song that adds a little spice to your life"

Selected by Nate

"Suffocate"

Knocked Loose ft. Poppy

You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To, 2024

This is some real knuckle-headed American hardcore music (almost nü-metal-core if I'm trying to diagnose), so I don't really expect it to resonate with the folks who frequent these parts of Internet Town. Maybe a Gilson, maybe a Joe, an outside shot to a Zach. What this song calls for is my dearly departed Bob, who I know is out there somewhere being really geeked up about the Linkin Park reunion / relaunch, or if not geeked, certainly possessing a strong opinion in one direction or the other. Anyway, "Suffocate": the drums on this thing are fucking incredible and the whole album is like this, they're crisp and giant and right at the front of the mix and it makes it feel like the song is kicking your eyes from inside your skull. Visceral as hell, especially in the half-time reggaeton breakdown, which is a real thing that happens in this song and not something I am just making up here on the fly. Poppy sounds great on this track, and her own journey into metal and metal-adjacent music is worth looking into, but this does not translate to the live performance, I am sorry to say.

There are two bodega / corner store / convenience shops within two blocks of my house in either direction. Of the two, I prefer the one closer to the park: it's got the layout of an old 7 Eleven and seems to make less of its income on selling weed paraphernalia, which is no shot at the other place across the street from the auto body shop but just a matter of personal preference when picking up some extra milk. Anyway, my preferred place was out of milk tonight, so I walked over to the other corner store (they had half-gallons and cost a few cents less for whatever that's worth). On the walk, I looked up at the nearly full moon and started thinking about how weird and cool it is that the moon is up there all the time, reflecting light down on us. Space is wild. These are the thoughts that I wish weed would cause to rise up in me, instead of what usually comes up, which is panic and self-consciousness. Anyway, the moon! American hardcore music! Milk! There's good stuff everywhere.