Daemon Blair

I want to try and do a monthly playlist. Just like 20-30 songs I listened to that month and then talk a little about them. I came to this brilliant idea like 2 hours ago so Augusts doesn’t really count, this month is just going to be a little tour of songs that constantly get stuck in my head or that I hum when I’m anxious. (I also did not come up with the idea of monthly playlists, I lied. I heard Rossford Page of hit band Color Temperature say this is how he organizes his music one day and thought it was sick)

All My Friends Are So Depressed

A straight Joyce Manor banger to start it off. This one is actually a new song that dropped this month and I love it. If I knew more about music I could talk about the distinct Joyce Manor sound, but I don’t. Barry is out here proving that people in the mid-30’s are also depressed.

Portland

I deeply love Rat Kid Cool, I found them on a obscure Folk Punk website in like 2018 when I was doing landscaping at Scott Park and wanted something like Front Bottoms (They have the same level of musical talent). I didn’t find this song until 2020 though. The line “Suzie wished, that she didn’t exist, Then you held her real tight, told her that she’s alright” has always stuck with me as what I think friendship should be. As someone who is Chronically mentally ill having friends that you can rely on is part of my idea of the mental health trifecta of Medication, Therapy, and Love. Not to be confused with the Ryleigh Wann trifecta of Bipolar, Probation, and Small Penis.

downtown

I don’t really have a lot to say here. I like Lil Peep, it isn’t necessarily good music but that has never been a requirement for me. When he said “ I remember last week I came too fast” I felt that.

closure

Frat Mouse started releasing music in like 2020 but they remind me of the wave of like 2013 Midwest Emo where it’s more honest than talent. A couple of 20 something year olds getting really high of mids and talking about Sarah won’t text them back. It’s fun.

I HATE RICH CUNTS

It just gets stuck in your head. I thought he was English for a minute because he says cunts but he mentions Sky News (right wing Australian news) and having student debt (which the English don’t have) so I am pretty sure he is an Aussie at this point. I refuse to google it.

Monstarrr

I think Ennaria could be an industry plant but it scratches a very particular early 2000’s scene itch in my brain. There are so many memorable lines in this that I like “drop an oxy feeling foxy, thick eyeliner like I’m Boxxy” is a banger. “The reason you had time with me Is because I love philanthropy” is unironically hard. I also think an all pink and bedazzled M16 is cool as hell and I want one.

Maine

I don’t know when this song actually came out but it’s my favorite song of 2025 I think. At least my favorite emo song. I first listened to their audiotree live performance on YouTube and was hooked immediately. They were really young when they started making music (like 20) so some people may think that like the #deep lyrics are cringe, and they might be, but they’re honest to how they are feeling at the moment and I really like that. “I may be cringe but you’re mean and that’s worse”

The Next Great American Spirit Strikes Back!

I love a song title that is too long. This song reminds me of so many people. Ry smoking an American spirit and calling it a dart. Sam just because I think he’d like it (for some reason the wording in my brain is always “John’s brother would love this”). Maddy and Katie because of the “Every jacket I own is now covered in smoke, I can’t wash it out, I can’t go see my folks” because David and Dane didn’t raise smokers! Ross and Jake because they love bad movies like David Lynches blue velvet and it’s sampled multiple times in here.

unalive, this body means nothing to me, Bunnyboy

The three of these are linked in my brain because they are the exact length it takes me to walk from my office to the history library for class. So twice a week minimum for 3 months I listened to them in a row. They’re also all about guns and killing your self in someway which like, not a sign please don’t read into that.

Sad Face

Fidlar is one of my favorite bands. I listened to them all the time in high school on YouTube because their music wasn’t on Spotify for a minute. They’re so many of their songs that still aren’t on Spotify and only posted on weird obscure fan channels. This one was one of my favorite. It’s about the lead singers ex-girlfriend who OD’ed and passed away. I remember crying about this song because it made addiction real to me in a way that is hard to explain. Like addiction could affect anybody regardless of class, race, gender, location. I hum this song a lot when I’m anxious.

Aluminum

The only version of this song for a while was this. I was like 17 at this point and thought “wow that is punk rock” and I think it altered my life trajectory in some way. I do think the YouTube version is the better version. “Broken Straw, we should have just shot it” sticks in my brain a lot.

Saint Bernard

Not to be that guy but I have been a Lincoln fan since before this song. I did listen to this song everyday on my way to work at FedEx and it stays in my head. Specifically the part at like 1:30 where it’s all distorted. I think I’m an honorary catholic after listening to so much Lincoln, except they would hate me saying Inshallah.

Cops/Dogs

They spoke the truth.

Social Drinker

Swordfish put out one of the hardest albums of 2017 and then fucked off. They’re from Michigan so hypothetically someone could go on a quest to reunite them.

Trenton Garbage

Something about the way he yells “The Secretary of State” hits the brain just right. Then the horn comes in and I’m taken back to being 24.

Big Lie

I know every word to this song. Black out drunk, Near death, or Drowning I could tell you every word of this song. There is something about the Joyce manor cadence that tickles my brains G-spot and makes me so happy. I also think it speaks to a part of like early 20’s Daemon’s (back when I was still Damon) deep feeling of loneliness and desire to want connection and love.

Wicker Couch

I don’t think I know another Dryjacket song. (dryjacket is what I do when I run out of lube). I think about the line “Lying face down on a wicker couch in the fucking rain” anytime I am being overly emotional or crying over something dumb. Which might not be 100% healthy but it is funny. It’s a lot less, now that I am like medicated and in therapy, but for a long time I only knew how to express emotions in like dramatics.

Are You Afraid of God? No, But I’m Afraid of You.

Not a lot of people know this but Marietta is actually named after my hometown of Marietta, Ohio. This is another one of those songs where the first 20-30 seconds will go to the grave with me. Who is old Joe? What happened to his brain? I have so many questions.

“Give me another bottle so I don’t gnash my teeth” is another line that I think about whenever I am anxious at like party’s or get together and want to just DRINK until I don’t feel that. I used to dissociate a lot, specifically at pool parties for some reason and “lighting my lighter in my pocket to remind me that I’m still here” always reminds me of that very specific feeling of trying to be normal while dissociating.

Linda Ronstadt

My first real girlfriend got me a Beanie from The Smith Street Band for Christmas (I loved it dearly but lost it to a different ex years later). The package came with a CD of singles from other bands that were also on their album. It was perfect because my card didn’t have an aux but had a CD player so I listened to it every time I was in the car. This song reminds me of being 19-20 and all those weird feeling associated with being a young “man” in your first relationship (I was unsurprisingly a bad boyfriend at this point).

Pendulum

I try to not be toooo much of a hater when it comes to bands changing their sound but this is from when Bay Faction made good music. Pendulum doesn’t get stuck in my head the way other Bay Faction songs do but I do listen to it a lot and I can only describe it as smoothing my brain. Anytime Ross talks about his music I imagine it like old Bay Faction, I know it’s incorrect but I won’t stop.

Mallrat Semi-Annual

I know it is just coincidence but I still feel like this album helped me develop self-confidence. Showing that everyone gets anxious and most people are more worried about what’s inside their own head than what you are doing. “The essence of a goddamn toddler, sitting there picking at crumbs like a grave robber” lives in my head, specifically when I’m doing like a weird anxiety fidget that I know someone saw. (Ry pointing out that I peel the label off beer bottles when I’m anxious)

The Waterboy Returns

This one is straight out of 21 year old Damon’s brain. I used to listen to this one all the time and use it as a like a stim. Specifically “That’s so typical Bren all you think about it girls” and “Death won’t bring friends and flowers to your grave”. I think we can all guess who I was drawn to those two lines.

Using

God I love cigarettes.

3Sum

Rob Apollo makes music for me. He understands what it’s like to be a chronically horny Communist from the Midwest. “I was hating pigs way before I found Quran” is such a bar. I also thought about DAMAG3’s line “I fucked the Viking dreads girl off of TikTok, that pussy dry as hell it ain’t no drip drop” before going to sleep every night for like a week (Crazy I only recently got diagnosed with OCD). Rob Apollo is my Taylor Swift

WHITE BOY

God I love being white and owning a Glock.

reindeer games

I think this is a bisexual sex because he asks both what Nathan and Annie need and how he can give them what they need. I think about “ and if you want, we can just stay here” whenever I am hanging out with Maddy and we are just laughing and having fun.

Kicking Myself in the Face

I was also like 21-22 when I was listening to this album a lot. It’s another top 10 emo albums for me and one of the only songs I could play on guitar. “Stop Romanticizing problems , it’s killing children everyday” isn’t like a stim but I like the way that line hits my brain. I also think about the line “you said you’ll go to Seattle, and make some money selling weed” a lot because I rowed (the sport) with a guy who was a year older who moved to Seattle and sold drugs after he graduated. Like six months into living there he posted a Snapchat story about how someone stole the seat to his bicycle and he was just screaming because someone stole the seat and not the whole bike.

Stick Up

#1 Ohio band Heart Attack Man. I used to be in charge of the radio at the bank I worked at because we didn’t have a central radio thing like other banks and I brought the Bluetooth speaker. I used the play this song on the radio sometimes and it never went over well. I think about “I have a gun inside my sweatshirt” often, usually when I have a gun inside my sweatshirt.

Your Deep Rest

The reason is obvious but too sad to get into. Great song though.

At some point this turned into maybe therapy? Or just a recollection of how far I’ve come mental health wise. This is actually what driving long distances with me is like because we’ll listen to part of a playlist and I’ll tell you a story only vaguely related to the song. Just ask Maddy. Alright, love you bye.

(I did not proofread this and did not even try with punctuation. It’s my blog and I make the rules.)