Monday, December 21, 2015

2015: a year in music.

top/favourite albums of the year

01. Carrie & Lowell, Sufjan Stevens (Asthmatic Kitty)


recommended track: "John My Beloved"

02. Multi-Love, Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Jagjaguwar)


recommended track: "Can't Keep Checking My Phone"

03. Currents, Tame Impala (Interscope)


recommended track: "Eventually"

04. Surf, Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment (self-released)


recommended track: "Sunday Candy"

05. Elaenia, Floating Points (Pluto/Luaka Bop)


recommended track: "Nespole"

06. In Colour, Jamie xx (Young Turks)


recommended track: "Loud Places"

07. Vulnicura, Björk (One Little Indian)


recommended track: "Stonemilker"

08. The Night Took Us in Like Family, L'Orange and Jeremiah Jae (Mellow Music Group)


recommended track: "Do My Best to Carry On"

09. I Love You, Honeybear, Father John Misty (Sub Pop)


recommended track: "The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apartment"

10. I Cry When I Laugh, Jess Glynne (Atlantic)


recommended track: "Ain't Got Far to Go"

11. E•MO•TION, Carly Rae Jepsen (Interscope/School Boy)


recommended track: "Run Away with Me"

12. Fading Frontier, Deerhunter (4AD)


recommended track: "Living My Life"

13. Divers, Joanna Newsom (Drag City)


recommended track: "Leaving the City"

14. La Di Da Di, Battles (Warp)


recommended track: "The Yabba"

15. Are You Alone?, Majical Cloudz (Matador)


recommended track: "Silver Car Crash"

16. Depression Cherry, Beach House (Sub Pop)


recommended track: "Sparks"

17. Thank Your Lucky Stars, Beach House (Sub Pop)


recommended track: "Elegy to the Void"

18. Portraits, Maribou State (Counter/Ninja Tune)


recommended track: "Natural Fools"

19. Peripheral Vision, Turnover (Run for Cover)


recommended track: "Dizzy on the Comedown"

20. Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit, Courtney Barnett (Mom + Pop/Marathon Artists/Milk!)


recommended track: "Depreston"

HMs/21-38: Ones and Sixes, Low (Sub Pop); Lantern, Hudson Mohawke (Warp); All We Need, Raury (Columbia); To Pimp a Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar (Interscope/Aftermath/Top Dawg); DJ-KiCKS 50, DJ Koze (!K7 Records); Ivy Tripp, Waxahatchee (Merge/Wichita); No No No, Beirut (4AD); Why Make Sense?, Hot Chip (Domino); But You Caint Use My Phone, Erykah Badu (self-released); White Men Are Black Men Too, Young Fathers (Big Dada); Stuff Like That There, Yo La Tengo (Matador); Summertime ‘06, Vince Staples (ARTium/Def Jam); Escape from Evil, Lower Dens (Ribbon Music); Have You In My Wilderness, Julia Holter (Domino); Art Angels, Grimes (4AD); Poison Season, Destroyer (Merge/Dead Oceans); All Possible Futures, Miami Horror (Dine Alone); Lost in New York, Penguin Prison (Downtown)

top/favourite EPs of the year

Nymphs II-IV, Nicolas Jaar (Other People/R&S)





Intermission, Shigeto (Ghostly International)


Hallucinogen, Kelela (Warp/Cherry Coffee)


M3LL155X, FKA twigs (Young Turks)


The Beyond/Where the Giants Roam, Thundercat (Brainfeeder)

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

2014: a year in film.

top US theatrical (narrative) film releases that I saw in 2014

Stranger by the Lake [L'inconnu du lac] (Alain Guiraudie, 2013 | France | Strand Releasing)


Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013 | UK/USA/Switzerland | A24)


Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson | USA | Warner Bros.)


Goodbye to Language 3D [Adieu au langage] (Jean-Luc Godard | Switzerland/France | Kino Lorber)


Frank (Lenny Abrahamson | UK/Ireland/USA | Magnolia Pictures)


A Field in England (Ben Wheatley, 2013 | UK | Drafthouse Films)


Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre | USA | A24)


Force Majeure [Turist] (Ruben Östlund | Sweden/France/Norway | Magnolia Pictures)


Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy | USA | Open Road Films)


Gloria (Sebastián Lelio, 2013 | Chile/Spain | Roadside Attractions)


top US theatrical (documentary) film releases that I saw in 2014

Jodorowsky's Dune (Frank Pavich, 2013 | USA/France | Sony Pictures Classics)


Nas: Time Is Illmatic (One9 | USA | Tribeca Film)


Björk: Biophilia Live (Nick Fenton & Peter Strickland | UK | Cinema Purgatorio)


Keep On Keepin' On (Alan Hicks | USA | RADiUS-TWC)


Best Director

Alain Guiraudie, Stranger by the Lake
Jonathan Glazer, Under the Skin*
Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Ben Wheatley, A Field in England
Jean-Luc Godard, Goodbye to Language 3D

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler*
Pierre Deladonchamps, Stranger by the Lake
Michael Fassbender, Frank
Bill Hader, The Skeleton Twins
Johannes Kuhnke, Force Majeure

HMs: Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice
Mark Duplass, The One I Love

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Scarlett Johansson, Under the Skin*
Paulina García, Gloria*
Jenny Slate, Obvious Child*
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Nymphomaniac
Essie Davis, The Babadook

HM: Kristen Wiig, The Skeleton Twins

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice
Martin Short, Inherent Vice
Patrick d'Assumçao, Stranger by the Lake
Riz Ahmed, Nightcrawler
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood

HM: Scoot McNairy, Frank

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Laura Dern, Wild
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Katherine Waterston, Inherent Vice
Joanna Newsom, Inherent Vice
Tilda Swinton, Snowpiercer

Best Writing - Adapted Screenplay

Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Walter Campbell & Jonathan Glazer, Under the Skin
Jon Ronson & Peter Straughan, Frank
Amy Jump, A Field in England
Gillian Robespierre, Obvious Child

Best Writing - Original Screenplay

Alain Guiraudie, Stranger by the Lake
Nick Hornby, Wild
Bong Joon-ho & Kelly Masterson, Snowpiercer
Lukas Moodysson, We Are the Best!
Nick Damici & Jim Mickle, Cold in July

Best Cinematography

Claire Mathon, Stranger by the Lake
Daniel Landin, Under the Skin
Robert Elswit, Inherent Vice
Fabrice Aragno, Goodbye to Language 3D
Laurie Rose, A Field in England

Best Original Score

Mica Levi, Under the Skin*
Jonny Greenwood, Inherent Vice
Jim Williams, A Field in England
Stephen Rennicks, Frank
Kurt Stenzel, Jodorowsky's Dune

HM: James Newton Howard, Nightcrawler

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

2014: a year in music.

top/favourite albums of the year

01. Early Riser, Taylor McFerrin (Brainfeeder)

02. Mess, Liars (Mute)
Recommended tracks: "Mask Maker," "Vox Tuned D.E.D.," "Pro Anti Anti"

03. Our Love, Caribou (Merge)

04. Lese Majesty, Shabazz Palaces (Sub Pop)

05. Black Messiah, D'Angelo and the Vanguard (RCA)
Recommended tracks: "Ain't That Easy," "1000 Deaths," "Sugah Daddy," "Betray My Heart"

06. You're Dead!, Flying Lotus (Warp)

07. Salad Days, Mac DeMarco (Captured Tracks)
Recommended tracks: "Salad Days," "Brother," "Chamber of Reflection"

08. Souled Out, Jhené Aiko (ARTium/Def Jam)

09. LP1, FKA twigs (Young Turks)
Recommended track: "Two Weeks," "Pendulum," "Video Girl," "Numbers"

10. Trick, Kele (Lilac)
Recommended tracks: "First Impressions," "Coasting," "Doubt," "Closer"

11. My Everything, Ariana Grande (Republic)

12. Broke with Expensive Taste, Azealia Banks (Prospect Park)

13. Food, Kelis (Ninja Tune)
Recommended tracks: "Breakfast," "Jerk Ribs," "Floyd," "Bless the Telephone"

14. In Return, ODESZA (Counter)

15. Youth Culture Forever, PAWS (Fat Cat)
Recommended tracks: "Erreur Humaine," "Someone New," "Give Up"

16. Dunes, Gardens & Villa (Secretly Canadian)
Recommended tracks: "Domino," "Colony Glen," "Bullet Train"

17. Syro, Aphex Twin (Warp)

18. Dead, Young Fathers (anticon.)
Recommended tracks: "No Way," "Low," "Get Up"

19. Under the Skin OST, Mica Levi (Milan)
Recommended tracks: "Creation," "Lonely Void," "Love," "Death"

20. Goddess, Banks (Harvest)
Recommended tracks: "Brain," "Drowning," "Beggin for Thread," "Change"

HMs / 20-35 (no order)

Ghettoville, Actress (Ninja Tune)

I Never Learn, Lykke Li (LL/Atlantic)

Tough Love, Jessie Ware (Cherrytree/Interscope)

Seeds, TV on the Radio (Harvest)

Nabuma Rubberband, Little Dragon (Loma Vista/Republic)

Their Bodies in a Fog, Arrange (Orchid Tapes)

Otherness, Kindness (Mom + Pop)

Aquarius, Tinashe (RCA)

Clark, Clark (Warp)

The Pinkprint, Nicki Minaj (Young Money/Cash Money/Republic)

Run the Jewels 2, Run the Jewels (Mass Appeal)

Alvvays, Alvvays (Polyvinyl)

III, BADBADNOTGOOD (Innovative Leisure)

Mean Love, Sinkane (DFA)

St. Vincent, St. Vincent (Loma Vista/Republic)



top/favourite EPs of the year

Z, SZA (TDE)

Mr Noah, Panda Bear (Domino)

Mabel, Lil Silva (True Panther)

Ocean Death, Baths (anticon.)

The Green, Bibio (Warp)

Asleep Versions, Jon Hopkins (Domino)

Where Does This Disco?, YACHT (Downtown)

L1, Beacon (Ghostly International)

EP1, Duke Dumont (Virgin EMI)

nwa.hollywooddreams.coffee, Miguel (Bystorm/RCA)