2018 will forever be the year that I got my act together and started a semi-regular blog. An act that took so long that most people sort of wince at the mention of it. Sooo two thousand and one.

It’s always been my main prerogative to make this blog as self-indulgent as possible. So with that said, I am going to make a list of the best stuff that I have come across this year. None of these things have anything to do with 2018 other than the fact that I discovered them in 2018. I don’t have time to complete this list today so I am going to keep fleshing this out over the next week…

Here goes!

5 Best Albums:

1. Spiritualized / Royal Albert Hall October 10, 1997 / 1997 / United Kingdom

I have made it my mission to mine good music from all decades, genres and countries. Sometimes you hit gold and find something that you have no idea existed and you feel that for the rest of your life you will get to be surprised by the simple act of falling in love music. This summer I got into Spiritualized (GOD I HATE THAT NAME) and one day while record shopping I found a copy of a live recording at Royal Albert Hall. I was hesitant to buy it because live records can be very hit or miss. When I got home home I put this record on, lay down on my bed, and stared at the ceiling and sunk into this good ol’ fucked up shoe-gaze, space rock, Lou Reed roller coaster. The album is about a man reeling from a broken heart so bad that he has medicated with drugs and alcohol and is now reaching out to a higher power. It’s a trip. I love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRqc6dLLI8Y

2. The Meters / The Meters / 1969 / New Orleans

Are you a sexy person? Do you want to listen to sexy music? Listen to this album.

3. Caetano Veloso / The White Album / 1969 / Brazil

I’m obsessed with Caetano Veloso. This album is pretty great from start to finish, but I particularly love the songs: The Empty Boat, Lost in Paradise, Carolina and Alfaomega. Caetano Veloso is the Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan of Brazil. He uses influences from rock, jazz, samba and bossa nova in his music so even a 50-year-old record feels experimental to our North American ears. I picked up this record in Brazil and the record store owner told me I was being a little obvious buying Caetano Veloso. I had to assure him that this record was not so obvious. Have you heard it? Didn’t think so 🙂

4. Witch / Introduction / 1973 / Zambia

There is a song called ‘Like a Chicken’ about a boy being scolded by his Mother. She tells him he looks like a chicken (?) The album is rawer than The Rolling Stones, psychedelic like Jimi Hendrix.

5. Speaking in Tongues (limited edition) / Talking Heads / 1983 / USA

I found this limited edition Talking Heads record at the Garrison flea market. It’s special because two of my favorites: Robert Rauschenberg (abstract expressionist artist) and of course, Talking Heads. Amen.

5 Best Songs:

1. Chakachas / Stories / 1972 / Belgium

This song is pure joy.

2. Sparks / Angst In My Pants / 1982 / American

I had no idea this band existed or that they are repeatedly mentioned and appear on Gilmore Girl (I don’t care what anyone says, that show is stuffed to the brim with fucking amazing references, it’s like a guidebook to good taste).

3. Lhasa de Sela / Por Eso Me Quedo / 1997 / USA, Mexico, Canada

Akira said the perfect thing about Lhasa de Sela when I first discovered her this year: only a gypsy could make music like this.

4. Nico / These Days / 1967 / USA

For years I have intentionally avoided Nico. To me, she represents the start of the fusion of branding and art, an ornamental flourish added to The Velvet Underground by a scene-obsessed Andy Warhol. Because of this, I had never heard her cover of These days. When I did hear this song, it was in a movie theatre during the previews: a trailer biopic about Nico. I was feeling pretty disconnected from people because of work. I was halfway through the year and I was wondering if I was doing things the way I had initially set out to do them. The song, the rendition- it just sort of hit me perfectly. The original (by Jackson Browne) is too saccharine, somehow bright, the rhythm seems complicated for no reason. Nico’s version is plain, matter of fact, stoic and yet still nostalgic and longing.

 

5. Coming Soon!