Music and Movies. Have I had time to compile a top ten list? Yes I have.
I will combine both film fest and general releases here because I haven't seen as much stuff as I wanted to. If I would have had more time to see films at the Vancouver Film fest this list would be a bit longer but working at the Hotel and the Docs doesn't leave time for much.
Little Miss Sunshine: Nietzsche and Proust don't usually make it into road trip comedies but they did here and that why I love it. Literate and dumb in all the right places.
A Scanner Darkly - a mind-fuck with great animation for people who flee from Pixar rendered nonsense at at every opportunity.
Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles - After Hero and House of Flying Daggers I thought Zhang Yimou had lost his soul. Zhang shows it is possible to do intimate and opulent with equal zeal. With this personal tale he showed Raise the Red lantern and To Live were not just the kind of films he used to do. Ken Takakura, who plays a parent struggling to connect with his dying son, evokes the grace and dignity of all the great father figures in OZU's movies. Also, China has never looked better.
The lives of Others - Amazing story about East Berlin in the eighties and how art thrived and infected the hearts of those trying to crush free thought. A great, almost wordless, performance by Ulrich Mühen as the Stasi agent who puts aside his politcal beliefs to help a talented playwright.
Radiant City - A hybrid doc about urban sprawl. Set in Calgary but it could be anywhere USA. A funny and informative vision of our every expanding neighborhood dystopias.
Brick - Film Noir set in High School with those kids from Third Rock from the Sun and Witness. A great concept expertly executed. One of it's many strong points is the slang and how they employed it without it sounding stilted.
Sketches of Frank Gehry - Inspirational and informative. For a first documentary Sydney Pollack did an amazing job.
Recent Discoveries
The Weather Man - A miracle it got made within the Hollywood system. I usually hate Nicholas Cage but he really was fantastic in this mid-life crisis epic.
Don't Move - Penelople Cruz is always great in non-english roles. In this one she uggs herself up and really breaks your heart. It really got to me the way only Bergman usually does. It thought about it for weeks after seeing it.
Music
I've been listening to lots of good music this year (I can do that while doing other things) so it's easy to come up with 10. Only a few new artists on the list. Mostly it's established bands coming up with near-career topping achievements.
The Greatest - Cat Power:
Hard to follow up "you are free" but she did it here with the help of the Memphis blues band. It came out early this year but when I put it on I still feel all those emotions I did in February.
Let's Get out of this Country - Camera Obscura:
Their others albums are great but this is simply magnificent. Doing what Belle and Sebastian should be doing (and getting paid substantially less). Lloyd are you ready to be Heartbroken? had me going back to the Lloyd Cole catalouge. I had forgotten about him but thanks to this song he's a staple in my itunes library.
Shut up I am Dreaming - Sunset Rubdown:
Holy shit, it's still a piece o' magic. Even after all these months.
Rubies - Destroyer:
Most accessible Destroyer and a timeless rock record to boot.
Mr. Beast - Mogwai:
Never been a Mogwai fan but this album made me go back to their back catalogue to find out how they got here. Even if Miami Vice is a lame turd, they aren't guilty by their association to said dud. They didn't write the album for the movie they wrote it for me.
Band of Horses- Everything All the Time:
A new band that just kicked my ass. Why do they care so much? It's only pop. The same question I ask myself all the time.
Axis of Evol - Pink Mountaintops:
More greatness from the Hive. I am biased but it looks like the rest of the people in the know are as well (from all the top tens they are on). They reference the greats yet wrestle originality out of every note they steal.
I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass - Yo La Tengo: Renewed my interest in them. Makes up for the Summer Sun CD, which wuz dull to the second power.
Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio: Took me a while to get into this one but after seeing them live and taking it out on the run with the ipod I was taken in by these Brooklynites.
Almost on the list - need a few more listens
Bonnie Prince Billie - The letting go
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Peter Bjorn and John - Writers Block - Full review to come
Beast Moans -Swan Lake - Destroyer + Frog Eyes + Sunset Rubdown = a dense miasma that makes no sense on paper but in practice it shines. Mixed at the hive and still being untangled by many a scenester's brain.
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1 comment:
Great recap of the year. I don’t see as many films as I should, however I did catch Little Miss Sunshine and am eager to check out the bonus material on the DVD. Thanks for reminding me about Sunset Rubdown. The first time I heard them was on the NPR show market place http://marketplace.publicradio.org/. This show has an amazing music producer, which is the reason why I began listening to the show years and years ago.
As far as the Mogwai thing goes, I’ve been a fan since….umm, 1997. I actually saw them live before I had ever heard any of their records. If you are checking out the back catalog, let me suggest Come on Die Young and EP +2, for starters. Young Team is a classic and the remix album, Kicking a Dead Pig. I still love Ten Rapid, but that could be the fact that I listened to it so many times when first got it, I had never heard music like that before and it blew me away. I’m sure it’s out there someone but Mogwai did a split 10” with Bardo Pond (tour related release) and there is a song on this called D to E, which is breathtaking.
Another album that makes my list for this year is Max Richter’s Songs From Before. The fusion of Richter and Murakami is just too much to take. I’m a little disappointed that it clocks in a bit under 40 minutes, but I’ll take what I can get.
In my eternal search of good instrumental music, I was delighted to walk into a show and here these guys: http://smallsails.com/home.html. As usual, I end up liking the opening band better than the headliner. There have a 5 song ep out, that I think is available to download from the site.
Good luck with your projects and look forward to reading more of your blog.
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