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about

The concept is simple. It’s a snapshot of the moment inside my brain when I realized we’re living through the weirdest period in human history. How many times over the past few years have you woken up to a mixture of gut-wrenching news and head-scratchingly bizarre news? The daily deluge of suffering, systematic injustice, dangerous hubris, personal loss and vapid pop culture content is something that we have to untangle and wrestle with somehow. I wrote psalms.

‘Still Awake’ is a lament, bruised and grieving over producer Zaeb Dust’s menacing soundscape.

Watch the video here: youtu.be/dNfgoYwUJDc

lyrics

No, no, no – you’re still awake
No mistake, no night terror, no, you’re still awake
Foot down, eyes zippin around, accelerate
But No, no, no mate – you’re still awake

Nah, nah, nah, nah, – you’re still awake
No mistake, no night terror, no, you’re still awake
A landscape Hieronymus Bosch would illustrate
But No, no, no mate – you’re still awake

Lights off, pillow cool to the touch, it’s soft
Step on the Isle of the Dead, Rachmaninoff
5K to couch, mouth-to-mouth, spout it out
You’re a glutton for inglorious punishment, without a doubt
You know what I’m talking bout – smart dust hit-and-run
Under constant surveillance – it’s hard to trust anyone
But the deadly chokehold caught on tape, the evidence of rape
Yeah, police shot that kid in the face, you’re still awake
No wonder you aint feeling great,
There’s been an accident, but really not an accident
The klaxon wanna seal our fate
watch the news, you tryna snooze, consciousness is armour plate
suffocated by the shiny, whiny stuff you love to hate
you’re up-to-date, thumbs up, great, period, punctuate
you’ve opened up yourself to hell, it’s really hard to shut the gate
Midnight snack, a packed-to-the-rafters debate
Who’s the heavyweight and who leaves the bloodiest aftertaste?
I know I’m stoking the coals
Thought-provoking,
shooting the opening goal
Soaking in the vision of the trolls
Check the death, the toll,
Check your breath control
Check a box, cuz every little helps to affect the poll
Remember the Red Wedding? Shocked when they kill them all
Every day’s upsetting, it’s a sockful of billiard balls
You’re a California stoner dreaming of caliphates?
No, your lonely soul longs for control and mate, you’re still awake

Feels so surreal, is it Adventure Time with Finn and Jake?
Nah, it’s just 2022, and yeah, you’re still awake
Foot down, eyes zippin around, accelerate
But No, no, no mate – you’re still awake

There’s a door opened up inside no man is safe from
self-medicate - make your fashioned little face numb
brand new evil unleashed and unchecked
damn-damn you people – it’s those you least expect
The sitter, the uncle, the lover, the saint
The twin, the teacher, the mother, complaints
Fall on deaf ears – they’re falling for lies
Follow the tears, the foreigner tries
ooh, perp is a pig in disguise
boom, minions militarize
the good Samaritan coroner cries
Stig of the Dump is stig-a-matized
Who will count up fatalities?
Cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof all the fallacies?
Yikes, house of cards and razor wire
My Eyes doused in digital dumpster fires

No, no, no – you’re still awake
No mistake, no night terror, no, you’re still awake
Foot down, eyes zippin around, accelerate
But No, no, no mate – you’re still awake

No, no, no – you’re still awake
No mistake, no night terror, no, you’re still awake
If you’re too controversial, they’ll cut to a commercial break
body stretched out on the table, yeah, that’s still a wake

credits

released April 4, 2022
lyrics: Joel the Custodian
production: Zaeb Dust

engineered by Andy Gordon

license

all rights reserved

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about

Joel the Custodian Birmingham, UK

Death, disillusionment & disaster: here's a little introduction to the lyrical world of Joel the Custodian, veteran Brum-based rapper and scowler extraordinaire. Independent hip-hop dressed in all black everything.

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