Daddy Issues, Can We Still Hang
part of the Infinity Cat Cassette Series
We tend to forget things.
I can’t remember what time I woke up this morning, or what I wore last Thursday, or the last time I ate Mexican food.
I forgot the name of my dental hygienist immediately after she very politely introduced herself by saying, “Hi, my name is _____.”
I lose track of what I’m doing in the middle of doing it. I’m not sure who I am, or where I should be, or what I should be paying attention to.
I think we forget what the primary role of music is supposed to be because of the way it’s used against us.
Music is made, fundamentally, to instigate. To lift up, to drive and supply power to movements. To work people into an emotional frenzy. To change. Right? What’s the point if we’re not inspired by what we choose to listen to? If it only soothes or distracts us then it’s no better than morphine or religion or cheap double cheeseburgers – just a way to fill a craving till we’re dead, and to hell with that. I have better things to do than waste away in supermarkets and waiting rooms.
You might think this is too deep for a band called Daddy Issues whose lyrics lean heavily on simple, caustic indictments (“I don’t want a stupid boyfriend”) and equally caustic admiration (“Yeah I’m in love with Veronica / mess with her, she’ll cut your head off”), but it’s not. This is a clever band who knows exactly how clever they are and what to do with that cleverness, and I’m glad because anything less would have caused the entire concept to fall apart, for it to be too jokey or too nasty or too enthusiastic but as it stands there’s a balance between all of those elements that makes Can We Still Hang a solid listen.
This crafty deployment of emotional nihilism—of caring/not caring/not caring that I care—is best expressed in “The Bruise” as inner conflict, perfectly choreographed:
I’ve been days without sleep
I’ve been screwing other guys
I haven’t seen myself in weeks
I’ve got something in my eye, my eye
I’ll take whatever’s handed out
I took something
I don’t care what happens now
wanna be disgusting
No one’s going to use this to sell cereal, thank Yeezy.