i'm thankful for this song, "queen of mosquitos," which floats in on a warm organ bed, the verse lyrics all art history minor ridiculous in ways that make me remember 19 ("tell me is this column ionic or corinthian"; the next line uses the word "contrapposto") but then it washes into the chorus, which is in a whole other cadence and language register, "cause i am the fool that sleeps beside the boots of the queen of mosquitos," a door opening into magical realism. i'm thankful for the bridge, because i'm almost always thankful for bridges but also because this one is a bit rote, and yet, there's something so willed about it as a performance, like i am trying to force myself into feeling the power to climb to the lip of the chorus and i will pull myself up into it, a kind of miracle.

i'm thankful for "element" by deer hunter which is 1966 fashion psychedelia, bradford cox's tone dancing so fey and sassy against a chorus of masked chanters

i'm thankful for the hot plastic helium funk of this toro y moi song, the wet chewy phasers, the relentless bump and bongo and bounce, the bare neon fixture vocals.

i'm thankful that i thought of a really good christmas gift for a friend who is having a hard time.