Temporary Tantrum by pronoun. Alyse made a stunning album and I am here for it. It's a niche thing to fall in love with, but the background vocals are so, so powerful. Listen to the way she supports and contradicts herself with staccato beats in the back that just give way and collapse into the next measure.

For once, not thematically appropriate to the rest of things I'm writing below, but still worth sharing far and wide.

Last night I saw IDLES, a British (post-[?])punk band. They put on an absolutely ludicrous two hour set that left my body bruised, broken, exhausted but my spirit rejuvenated and relieved. I can (and will) later get into the details of the show, but we need to start a little earlier. This ad came out about three weeks ago: Burger King's Feel Your Way. Go watch it.

Done with that? Cue this up: Colossus by IDLES then get back here. Make sure you're listening loud and with bass cranked up more than a little bit. Don't hurt yourself, but trigger that fight or flight instinct.

How did that ad make you feel? It's cute right? You get to sit there and watch these BigPeople and their BigMoney and realize they have the same problems you do. Bad days, tough days. They're just trying to relate to you on a level they haven't before. My reaction was that initially as well, but then I thought about it a bit more. What is their real goal here? What are they trying to relate to? Am I being helped or advertised to? You know what

FUCK YOU

Fuck you Burger King and trying to feed me shit, processed food while I'm “sad”. Fuck you for encouraging me to treat myself like shit when I feel like shit. Fuck you for co-opting real emotion with advertising dollars. Everything about this is utter garbage and it makes me want to vomit.

Fuck you SoFi for taking everyone's student loan debt and then trying to pretend you're not making millions in profit. Fuck you for emailing me about “free silent yoga” or “open bagel bar cruises”. Just give that money back to people directly, you hipster capitalist scum. A chic two tone color scheme doesn't mean a goddamn thing to my bank accounts.

Fuck Facebook, fuck Instagram, and fuck whoever is on their board. Fuck you for instilling my brain with this parasite that can only survive with a pulldown refresh. Fuck you for replacing dopamines with red counters. Fuck you for making me think that anything I do isn't fun enough.

Fuck this entire culture where you're not allowed to be angry. Fuck outrage culture and canceling people. Fuck dealing with shit internally and talking to therapists instead of friends. Fuck this need to be someone else online and in social media. Fuck being a professional.

It would be a complete cop out to say IDLES allowed me to “get my anger out” or “smash into some people”. That would utterly disrespect the core tenants of the band. What IDLES did was allow me to remember that I'm not the only one who is angry, and we're all on the same side. Their album has a deceptively simple title: Joy as an Act of Resistance. What a statement! This is the band with songs lambasting homophobia, toxic masculinity, and the National Health Service. Their breakout single is about the fallacy of calling someone an “immigrant” and not, I dunno, a human being.

This was a two-hour long celebration of community. People flew in mosh pits and picked each other up. People threw elbows and respected personal space. Someone got crowd surfed for like, at least eight straight minutes because the band wasn't going to stop playing until that happened and goddammit we're all in this together. They crowd surfed their 13yr old niece, but only after getting consent from her and permission from her parents. They invited a bunch of girls on stage to play their instruments while the band went and hung out in the crowd. The girls couldn't play those instruments, but they did. How fucking punk is that? They sang Mariah Carey and Bon Jovi and some (probably) British classics I didn't know. They closed out the set with one of the best lines I've ever heard:

This song [Television] is about loving yourself… SO FUCKING DO IT