Day 14: Select Your Drone

There's always been something funereal about Viet Cong, now known as Preoccupations. Viet Cong formed from the ashes of Women, the brilliant, blistering group from Calgary whose guitarist, Christopher Reimer, died at the age of 26. You can hear that tragic loss in the vocals and echoey, slightly dissonant instrumentation of Preoccupations. And seeing a shirtless and hyperfocused Michael Wallace play the drums live is an experience of supreme musicianship and theater. The opening beats of "Select Your Drone" ring out in slow motion, the same resigned pace at which I'm moving through life these days. I usually only listen to the melodic first 2 minutes of this before I blissfully fade out, so if you stay for the whole journey, you are a braver soul than I.