El Prof here, phoning in a feature. I doubt anyone who knows or reads me would be surprised to hear that I’m on the spectrum, and one of the clear ways I display this mental predisposition is regarding my auditory consumption habits. Like most, I enjoy working to music to help me groove through to 4:20. I usually skew melancholy — Cudi, Lana — although sometimes I wake up to a blue sky and bright sun and have a Strokes sort of day. But the part that I can’t do is let my songs change. It fucks with my concentration.

So what do I do? I listen to the same song, for hours to days on end. Eventually, the song fades to the background of my mind, while the rhythm, tempo, and message of the track carry me through my work. I’m partial to songs that seem to say: ‘You have a chip on your shoulder for sure, but if you don’t fight through it, you’ll regret it, bitch’. Not sure if audio masochism is a thing, but if so, no kink shaming, please.

This week, I’ve been high on DRUGS. Also, a Lil Aaron song. It’s a sub-two-minute burst of a pop punk banger from 2017. If you can’t tell from the previous artists listed, I’m partial to that sense of nostalgic angst I felt at my middle school dances, and this guy is basically Blink-183. I’m not here to convince you that he’s a good artist (he’s not) or even that you should listen to this song (which, don’t). All I know is that this vocally synthesized meth has been my head’s backing track for at least 8 days now. And, well, I’m too fucked up to give a fuck.