Keep me alive. I regularly search for the answer to that one. I wrack my brain, I walk countless midnight miles looking for a reason to keep going. I’m a bit temptuous, more than mercurial. But I’m also someone with high standards for my life. In tandem, I’m someone that holds a sycthe to my own neck.  Sobering reality. I’ve never not found the answer, though admittedly it’s a bit of a razor thin, high-wire act and the world’s a bit gusty. I’m a victor of so many wars with myself, terror and tragedy–sometimes I think I’d feel right at home walking naked down the alleys of Baghdad. So, I’ve strength to spare. However, if I didn’t find the answer on one of those walks–if I stared  down into the abyss and saw I really wanted to hug it—I’d like to think I’d have the courage to slice that scythe. I owe myself that.

I have learned a lot (maybe too much)
About myself
Live big or never go home,
Motherfucker

And that’s where this playlist takes us: through a variety of reasons to keep yourself alive. It explores the bits of everyone’s life they play primacy with, love, and finds it a bit disconcertingly meh—a reason, surely, to keep running down the midnight road. We can’t keep running. But, that running, is a bit of a madness in itself, and this list finally settles on the idea that healing is only going to come when you’re own mobile home.

Catch a free download of the playlist at my Soundcloud page.
Playlist cover art courtesy of Paul Strowger’s amazing Flickr.
The entire list can be streamed at the bottom.
But also enjoy the five best sounds, courtesy of the curiosity of your dark pop loving heart below.

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#5 PHANTOGRAM// BLACKOUT DAYS (REMIX FT. DANNY BROWN)

Out of body experience, I’m just tryna experiment
Tryna kick it cause emotions are evicted
Body say you’re missing,
But your thoughts contradicts it

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#4 MAZDE// SHIFTED THOUGHTS

Hush, I feel your touch against my lips
Hush, I feel the moment as it slips
Wanderlust at heart
Life, something we must pick apart

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#3: GALLANT// MANHATTAN

Brainwaves living in stills
Nightmares just floating on film
You found it in the white lies
In the back of your mind
And you know it’s not the same reel that you dusted off before

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#2: DNKL// BATTLES (SEEKAE REMIX)

Who we were when we were young
And who we turned out to be
Through the promises we crave
Through the self that we aimed for

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#1: REAL LIES//NORTH CIRCULAR (LOCAL HERO REMIX)

But I still walk the same road at night
Watch the same rain melt the same lights
Bag on my shoulder and a pocket full of rage
How many late nights does it take you to change?

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