It all started in 2017 when I discovered Bowie's music. I was still listening to Bowie's albums in chronological order when one day in September 2018 I stumbled across an essay by Mark Fisher. It was his anthological essay "K-punk, or the glampunk art pop discontinuum". I was triggered by Fisher's comparisson between Bowie and Roxy and insightful connection he made between glam and punk so I decided I have to check if it works for me. It was thanks to writings by Mark Fisher that I regained interest in popular music and especially in bands which were unknown to me before. So I started my own little archaeology of "popular modernism" in which I focused on the bands and musicians which were highly regarded by Fisher. I decided to work my way through popular music (mostly British) starting with the 70s (Bowie and Roxy), through 80s, to 90s and early 2000s.
Last year I listened mostly to the goth bands from the late 70s and 80s. I listened to Joy Division, Bauhaus, The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and even to Birthday Party. I've spent an interesting time with the music of each of these bands, except maybe with Birthday Party for whose music I struggled to find the right tunning. But of all these bands, and some others, it was Siouxsie and the Banshees who had the greatest impact on me and with whose music and lyrics I am still fascinated. I started listening to Banshees in December 2018 (I had to check my Facebook account for that information) and it is today that I finished listening to Peepshow, which can be regarded as their last great album. As I remember now, and this is why I am writing this, I experienced so many beautiful and intensive moments listening to Banshees' music, starting with their first album The Scream, following with their first breakthrough album Kaleidoscope and classic albums Juju and A Kiss in the Dreamhouse, and finishing with Hyaena, Tinderbox and Peepshow. I am still thinking about listening to their last two albums, as it seems they are definitely worth checking out, but it will have to wait for some time.
I listened to the Banshees on so many different occasions, no matter with what different things I was engaged at the time, and which occupied my psyche. And it is because of this variety of situations and life experiences that they stood out among other bands. I listened to their music in Freiburg (especially two songs - "Land's End and "Shooting Sun"), I listened to them while working on an essay about two Croatian contemporary poets (it is about to be published online soon), I listened to them again after my grandmother died and even after this last unfortunate accident (falling from a bike). Although I listened to their music (as I do with other music, too) alone and in the closed spaces (room, flat), they are those intensive emotions and thoughts through which I went every time while listening to some of their songs, that matter. These were also some of the moments when I was most happy (or in the ecstatic state - jouissance - beyond particular emotions and feelings) this year.
P.S. As I am regaining my memory I realize there were many other musical discoveries that happened to me this year which are worth mentioning. But for some reason I've focused on the popular music in this short text so it is best to leave it so.
