Day 1 - Your favorite song

Song: "How To Disappear Completely" - Radiohead, Kid A (2000)

Radiohead are the cornerstone of my musical tastes. No band so completely encapsulates everything I want from music. They're emotional, but restrained. They're cold, but also undeniably human. They're modern, but lean heavily on the past. They're smart, they're socially conscious, they're iconoclastic, they're innovative and they are damn consistent. They appeal to my desire for music that "means something" while still holding to the most basic of pop song formulas.

At its core, "How To Disappear Completely" is anchored by a simple, acoustic guitar song. The track is only a slow, alternating chord progression, hammering notes on and off to give the song its subtle, seasick movement. A string section drones in the background, eventually rising to a more cathartic climax. Throughout, Jonny Greenwood's Ondes Martenot pierces through the fog, adding just enough eerie atmosphere to make things sound almost unearthly.

"How To Disappear Completely" is a sad song, but on a massive and dramatic scale. The overcome narrator can only respond to the world with denial, with the insistent claim that "I'm not here, this isn't happening." The imagery is dreamlike, as the singer floats down rivers and bears witness to "strobe lights and blown speakers" without comment. Thom Yorke is at his absolute finest, using the bare minimum of words to express complete emotional overload. This is a song for those moments when everything is beyond your control. This is a song to listen to when all you can do is close your eyes and hope things get better. This is a song about surviving the 21st century.

(30 Days List)