This is my first post about movies for those three people that look at this blog. But in case you wanted to know, I've narrowed down my faves of 2019 and of the decade. It was a lot harder than I thought....especially ranking them. But here they are.
My Favorite Movies of 2019
20. A Hidden Life
19. Apollo 11
18. In Fabric
17. The Farewell
16. The Irishman
15. Dark Waters
14. John Wick 3 - Parabellum
13. Midsommar
12. Richard Jewell
11. Parasite
10. The Art of Self Defense
9. Uncut Gems
8. Ford v. Ferrari
7. Joker
6. Marriage Story
5. Jojo Rabbit
4. 1917
3. Knives Out
2. The Lighthouse
1. Once Upon A Time in Hollywood
For my favorite movies of the decade I compiled the list on IMDB that I'll include a link to so I don't have to write all of them. I have 75 on that list but here is my top ten.
Well its been another year.....and decade. For some reason, since the 90's, decades have become less important to me and seem to have melted together.
Music from the 70s, 80s and 90s had a very distinctive sound. But music from the 00's and 10's....while there are differences aren't nearly as distinct. I think the internet and social media have a lot to do with it
Anyway, it wasn't until last month I realized we were leaving a decade behind.....so I've thrown together my faves of the 10's and also of 2019. The best of 2019 is in a certain order , however; the best of the decade are not since there are 600 songs. Enjoy.
Well if I thought time was in short supply last year, this year took the cake. Its been a rough year but I managed to still put together a solid list of my favorite songs from 2018. 2019 will be a very different and changing year as I will be moving to a different state for the first time in my life. Hope this collection of hits can continue me through all of the change.
It was tough to trim songs off this list so I ended up with almost double than what I had last year....partly due to laziness, partly due to there being a lot of good songs.
Strung together but in no particular order, here are my 170 favorite songs from 2018.
Since I didn't have a digital camera most of 2018, I shot mostly on film (except the first picture). I didn't shoot a ton but here are some favorite concert photos of 2018 as well:
The last mix tape was about seven months ago but that doesn't mean I haven't been collecting new music in anticipation of a new mix tape. There's been a bevy a new good music, some of which I have added to this new mix which has more of a 70's rock/psych/pop rock. Hopefully I can start pushing these out more often. I steered away from the 8tracks playlists since they started charging money but I think they may have switched back to free again so I'll look into that again. (For those who don't have or don't like Spotify)
Below is a shot of the guitarist for Timmy the Teeth.
Shot with a Yashica D and pushed the Porta 800 film one stop.
As mentioned in last year's post....this year was quite hard to collect music, go to concerts, find new music. Time....is what I'm referring to. I was in short supply mostly due to work....booooo. I hope 2018 doesn't make the same mistake.
Strung together but in no particular order, here are my 102 favorite songs from 2017.
Spotify List is below:
Here are some of my concert photos from the year as well. (Some repetition of bands since I couldn't get out as much due to the fact that my camera was stolen...radical)
Well its been six months.....seems like another lifetime ago since I posted a mixtape. Its been tough to discover new music, go out to new shows, but I've been trying to make a push toward the end of the year. So after a long hiatus, here is my next mix. My next mix after this will most likely be my top albums and songs of the year.
I started out thinking this mix was going to be a real rowdy mix to get me excited for summer but I ended up scaling back and doing a little bit of a hybrid mix. There is quite a bit of new music in this as well. Mac Demarco, !!!, Spoon, Generationals, White Reaper, SWIMM (as pictured above) etc. Generally spring and fall are the hot time to release albums and 2017 has started off well.
Well it went from winter to spring really quickly. Although I don't think this is the last of the snow, it sure is nice to lounge around outside once again.
When I made this mix it was more wintery so the songs have a little less tempo but I added some pep to it.
Well its been six months since I've posted a Mixtape.....must be Spring in the air even though its February. (It was almost 60 degrees today in Utah). So I think one reason I have waited on my next mixtape was because it involved a genre that people think is silly or weird.....and it is kind of. But for some reason I have been listening to it non-stop for the last year. Its Vaporwave. Vaporwave is hard to define in a specific way but generally it is this: It is characterized by a nostalgic or surrealist fascination with entertainment, technology and advertising of the 1980s and 1990s. The music themes are generally lounge music, elevator music, infomerical music and smooth jazz which are either sampled or produced by the artist but can also have a more deep house sound with slowed down samples of popular music. Most of it is instrumental but if there is anyone singing, the voice is almost always slowed down to where it nearly resembles Rick Astley. It ranges from short 30 second clips with most repeating beats to longer 2 min songs that repeat most of the time, to longer 7 to 10 min songs that are slower and more atmospheric. Now Vaporwave can not only be music, but it can be art which can also be called Glitch art. Here is an example:
It usually is obsessed with Windows 3.1, VHS cassettes, palm trees and things written in Japanese. Anyway, now that I've completely justified why I like this music, here is my first mix. A couple of artists I wish I could add but are not on Spotify unfortunately. I'd recommend listening to it at work with your headphones.....I've never gotten so much work done in my life.
These were my favorite albums from 2016....the famous year that killed everyone apparently.
The Albums of 2016
15.Robbing Millions - Robbing Millions
Caught wind of this one late in the year. It also came out late in the year so that was one reason. Really dug it. I'm looking forward to more from this band.
Summary of the album: Like being in a world where the earth's gravity projects you into space instead of keeping you on the surface.
Album Gems: Eight Is the Figure That I Like the Most, Dreams Like Photographs, You Fall From Your Chair
14.Kero Kero Bonito- Bonito Generation
This is by far the most 'poppy' sounding album on this list. Its not something that I usually gravitate to but I couldn't help myself....its a really catchy album
Summary of the album: Super Mario Bros sitting down at their house watching bizarre Japanese sitcoms on a big screen tube TV.
Album Gems: Picture This, Big City and Hey Parents
13.Mild High Club - Skiptracing
Toured with Tame Impala by no surprise. Very laid back psychedelic rock which I started to get more and more into by years end. The album's title track was one of my favorites of the year.
Summary of the album: Its like getting stuck in a weird 60's psychedelic painting and you get a job as a janitor next to the giant walking head to pay the bills.
Album Gems: Skiptracing, Homage, Tesselation
12.Vinyl Williams - Brunei
Made the list the last time he put out an album in 2014. Came back with another really solid album, perhaps even stronger than the previous. Airy psych-pop at its best.
Summary of the album: Levitating in a glitchy film strip full of grid paper and block shaped people that has been soaked in acid.
Album Gems: L'Quasar, Celestial Gold, Riddles Of The Sphinx
11.Wild Nothing - Life of Pause
They never seem to put out anything bad do they? Although they haven't put out anything that stands up to their debut album Gemini, they still can't lose.
Summary of the album: The griddle is a guitar and the notes are syrup soaked sweet pancakes of indie pop.
Album Gems: To Know You, Love Underneath My Thumb, Reichpop
10.Beverly - The Blue Swell
An album with a great blend of 80's and 90's music. I really can't stop myself from listening to this kind of music. I don't think I find this music, it seems to find me.
Summary of the album: Punky Brewster becomes friends with Vicky from Small Wonder.
Album Gems: Bulldozer, Crooked Cop, Victoria
9.Black Marble - It's Immaterial
New discover and great discovery. Dark 80's pop that I found late in the year that will continue to get regular reps to begin this year.
Summary of the album: Just how it sounds....you listen to this album, then you stare a black marble for an extended period of time, then you listen to this album again then you don't stare at a black marble again....pretty simple.
Album Gems: Frisk, Iron Lung, Woods
8.DIIV - Is the Is Are
It seemed like a lot longer than 4 years between their debut and their sophomore effort, but this new album showed they took a next step. Extremely catchy guitar hooks that create some of the best songs of the year.
Summary of the album: Hurried summary of this album.....its good.
Album Gems: Under the Sun, Out of Mind, Dopamine
7.Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - A Man Alive
Its been 9 years since I've discovered Thao and listened to their outstanding song " Bag of Hammers". They have continued to put out consistently good albums but I'd say this is as good as I've seen since their debut.
Summary of the album: Sort of like Johnny Cash but only if he was a girl that lived now and had a band called 'The Get Down Stay Down" and didn't sound like Johnny Cash at all.
Album Gems: Slash/Burn, The Evening, Nobody Dies
6.Teen - Love Yes
Love this album. Was annoyed I couldn't catch them when they played in Utah twice. I must say its definitely more accessible and fun then their previous albums. I had kind of lost track of them since their 2012 effort and I'm glad I'm back on the train.
Summary of the album: Its like the theme music to a hit sitcom starring a robot Alien named Jeff.
Album Gems: Tokyo, Free Time, All About Us
5.Deerhoof - The Magic
I don't think I had listened to a Deerhoof album in 10 years but I caught wind they were coming to town so I checked out their new album and was blown away. So much energy. Their drummer is one of the more entertaining and amazing drummers I've ever seen live. They are molded their oddness into a more accessible form for this album and it paid big dividends.
Summary of the album: Imagine your arms as your head and your stomach and as your feet.
Album Gems: The Devil and his Anarchic Surrealist Retinue, Debut, Life is Suffering
4.Flyying Colours - Mindfullness
Last year's album didn't make my top 20 surprisingly for some reason. If I had to re-do it then I would have included that album and bumped it up fairly high. I didn't make that mistake for their quick turn around album this year.
Summary of the album: Iffire was made into liquefied taco meat to make forest fires more celebrated.
Album Gems: Morning Stoner, Long Holiday, This Is What You Wanted
3.Weaves - Weaves
In the same vain as Deerhoof in my mind. Very creative rock/garage punk rock. Tons of energy, tons of fun......tons.
Summary of the album: Its a showdown between Freddy Kruegar and Jason Vorhees and.....oh wait that's already been done.
Album Gems: Birds & Bees, One More, Tick
2.Sego - Once Was Lost Now Just Hanging Around As promised from last year's list.....this album and band are back on the list. They "killed it" as so many people like to say to bands after their live sets. A band that is hard to pin down their sound so you stop and just listen and enjoy.
Summary of the album: When you're stepping on the ant pile and you think you killed a lot of them. You lift up your foot to find you killed 15 and 200 million still remain.
Album Gems: Obscene Dream, The Fringe, Wicket Youth
1.Charlie Hilton - Palana The solo project of Blouse's lead singer with the same name. I must say her solo project might have surpassed her main project which is saying a lot. I'd say that she will outgrow Blouse and put out more of her solo project and Blouse will become no more.....which is kind of shame but you can't complain what was born out of the ashes of it. I went back to this album over and over again. Stayed on my phone the whole year without getting subbed out. That's pretty big in my book.
Summary of the album: Terminators don wigs and scruffy facial hair and start playing soft 70's hits in an attempt to gain the humans trust so they can conquer them.
Album Gems: Pony, Palana, Snow
Honorable Mentions:
Angel Olson - Intern
Preoccupations - Preoccupations
Whitney - Light Upon the Lake
Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
Frankie Cosmos - Next Thing
Hinds - Leave Me Alone
Public Access TV - Never Enough
Here is the link to the playlist of albums that made the list and those that didn't. Its in the correct order 1-15 but is random after that.
