Music
Spotify playlist for this quarter is here. Playlists for past quarters and years here.
Okay, music I most enjoyed discovering this quarter:
- Pohjola Pekka: Keesojen lehto (1977)
- Mandingo: The Primeval Rhythm of Life (1973)
- Zao: Z=7L (1973)
- Speed Limit: Speed Limit [1975] (1975)
- Clivage: Regina Astris (1977), “Mixtus Orbis” (1979)
- Rialzu: Rialzu (1978)
- Orchestra Njervudarov: Con le orecchie di Eros (1979)
- Arcane V: Marron Dingue (1978)
- Random: Nothin’ Tricky (1977)
- Yochk’o Seffer: Delire (1976), Ima (1977), Ghilgoul (1978)
- Bobby Krlic: “Fire Temple” (2019)
- Imants Kalniņš: Symphony No. 4 (1973)
- Frederik Magle: Anastasis-Messe (2017)
- Kollektiv: SWF-Sessions Volume 5 (rec. 1973, rel. 2001)
- Glenn Kotche: Anomaly (2014)
- László Hortobágyi: Transreplica Meccano (1989)
- Helga Pogatschar: Mars Requiem (1995)
- Les McCann: Invitation ot Openness (1971)
- Buddy Terry: Pure Dynamite (1972)
- Allison Miller: Glitter Wolf (2019)
- Fieldwork: Simulated Progress (2005)
- Mahjun: Vivre la mort du vieux Monde (1971), Mahjun [1973] (1973), Mahjun [1974] (1974)
- K. Miho & Jazz Eleven: Kokezaru Kumikyoku (1971)
- Béa Tekielski: La folle (1976)
- Malcolm Braff & Stephane Galland: “Afro Blue” (2015)
- Malcolm Braff & Aurélie Emery: “Crimson Waves” (2011)
- De Lorians: De Lorians (2019)
- The Pyramids: Lalibela (1973), King of Kings (1974), Birth / Speed / Merging (1976)
- Masahiko Sato: Yamataifu (1972)
- Iltar: Iltar (1977)
- Geinoh Yamashirogumi: Osorezan / Dō no Kenbai (1976), Ecophony Rinne (1986), Symphonic Suite Akira (1988)
- Emmanuel Booz: Dans quel état j’erre (1979)
- Haki Madhubuti: Medasi (1984)
- Heinrich von Biber: Battalia à 10 (1673)
- Sigmund Snopek III: Virginia Woolf (1973), Trinity Seas Seize Sees (1974)
- Olga Bell: Tempo (2016)
- Christy Doran: Black Box (2001)
- Serge Bringolf: Strave (1981)
- Lask: Lask (1982)
- Letícia Garcia: Magamaquiavérica em canturbano (1984)
- Fulano: Fulano (1987), En el Bunker (1989), El Infierno de los payasos (1993)
- yMusic: First (2017)
- Het: Let’s Het (1984)
- Eskaton: Ardeur (1980), Fiction (1983)
- Daisuck & Prostitute: Shinu Made Odori Tsuzukete (1981)
- Heiner Goebbels: Der Mann im Fahrstuhl (1988)
- Blanck Mass: “Death Drop” (2019)
- The Blech: Zip Zip (1987)
- Lights in a Fat City: Somewhere (1988)
- Elomar: Fantasia Leiga Para Um Rio Seco (1981)
- Billie Eilish: “Bad Guy” (2019)
- Herbert Bairy: Traumspiel (1980)
- John Psathas: Omnifenix (2000)
- Adam Hopkins: Crickets (2018)
- Ein Jahr Garantie: Hoch/tief (1982)
- Fibulator: Drank from the Asphalt (1993), Unhammerlike (1994)
- Bruce Hornsby: Absolute Zero (2019)
- Chris Cutler & Lutz Glandien: Domestic Stories (1992)
- Lutz Glandien: The 5th Elephant (2002)
- Trey Anastasio: Surrender to the Air (1996)
Had completely forgotten about, now rediscovered and really liked:
- Il Balletto di Bronzo: Ys (1972)
- Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Holy Mountain (rec. 1973, rel. 2007)
- Adriano Celentano: “Prisencolinensinainciusol” (1972)
- Julianna Barwick: Nepenthe (2013)
- Curlew: Curlew (1981)
- Christy Doran: Confusing the Spirits (1999)
- Au Pairs: Playing with a Different Sex (1981)
- Azalia Snail: Snailbait (1990), Fumarole Rising (1993)
- Jarboe: The Thirteen Masks (1991), Sacrificial Cake (1995)
- Lida Husik: Your Bag (1992)
- Robin Holcomb: Larks, They Crazy (1989), Robin Holcomb (1990)
- Anna Homler & Steve Moshier: Breadwoman (1985), Dō Ya Sa’ Di Dō (1992)
- Bastro: Diablo Guapo (1989)
- Bitch Magnet: Umber (1989)
- Jim O’Rourke: The Visitor (2009)
- Isotope 217°: The Unstable Molecule (1997)
- Him: Sworn Eyes (1999)
- Soul Coughing: Ruby Vroom (1994), El Oso (1998)
- Six Finger Satellite: The Pigeon is the Most Popular Bird (1993)
- Ui: 2-Sided EP (1993), Sidelong (1996), The Sharpie (1996), Lifelike (1998), Answers (2003)
- Pigeonhed: Pigeonhed (1993)
- Labradford: Labradford (1996), Mi Media Naranja (1997)
- Jessamine: The Long Arm of Coincidence (1996)
- Don Caballero: Don Caballero 2 (1995)
- Storm & Stress: Storm & Stress (1997)
- Concussion Ensemble: Stampede (1993)
- Dirty Three: Horse Stories (1996)
- Vampire Rodents: Gravity’s Rim (1996)
- Ether Bunny: Papa Woody (1996)
- Scorn: “Walls of My Heart” (1992)
- Pram: The Stars Are So Big… (1993), Helium (1994), Sargasso Sea (1996), North Pole Radio Station (1997)
- Moonshake: Eva Luna (1992), The Sound Your Eyes Can Follow (1994), Dirty & Divine (1996)
- Laika: Silver Apples of the Moon (1996)
- DUSTdevils: Extant EP (1996)
- Oxbow: King of the Jews (1991), An Evil Heat (2002)
- Heliogabale: Yolk (1995)
- Phish: Lawn Boy (1990), A Picture of Nectar (1992), Rift (1993)
- Phil Kline: Zippo Songs (2004)
- Motherhead Bug: Zambodia (1993)
- Sulfur: Delirium Tremens (1998)
- Cul de Sac: ECIM (1991), China Gate (1996), Crashes to Light, Minutes to the Fall (1999), Immortality Lessons (2002), Death of the Sun (2003)
- Ozric Tentacles: Pungent Effulgent (1989), Erpland (1990), Strangeitude (1991), Jurassic Shift (1993)
Why so many re-discoveries this quarter? I’m listening through the history of rock music again and constructing this playlist along the way. (Many other great albums I listened to recently aren’t listed above because I hadn’t forgotten about them.)
Movies/TV
Ones I “really liked” (no star), or “loved” (star):
- Paul Feig: A Simple Favor (2018)
- Gaspar Noe: Climax (2018)
- Ari Aster: Midsommar (2019) ★
Games
Ones I “really liked” (no star), or “loved” (star):
- [none]
Books
- [none]
I see that Aster’s “Hereditary” didn’t get a star. Did you prefer Midsommar? Did any particular element of Hereditary not work for you? (I think both are masterworks, but Hereditary haunts me in a way that Midsommar hasn’t.)
I did like Midsommar better, hard to say why. I guess it was more unique, and I thought the details of Aster’s filmmaking craft were somewhat more successful in Midsommar. But it’s a small enough difference that it could just be I was in a better mood or paying more attention in one case vs. the other.
Have you listened to the most recent Residents reissues of Not Available and A Nickle if Your Dick’s This Big (compilation of two previously unreleased pre-Meet The Residents albums)? They are both incredible imo. T bonus disc on Not Available provides incredible insight into its composition and serves as an alternate album of sketches that were rerecorded or put together into the original release. Nickle is absolutely fascinating, showing them at their rawest and most uncompromising and including compositions such as “Cantaten to der Dyin’ Prunen” that rank among their best.
I haven’t! I’ll queue them up, thanks.
There’s a lot of stuff on Nickle that’s terrible, but in a way that’s unprecedented and hard to take my ears off of (like a massive circus train wreck in audio form).
By the way, you don’t happen to know any other albums that sound like Meet The Residents or Not Available (as in like either one, as they both evoke widely different emotional worlds for me that I have yet to see replicated elsewhere), do you? Closest I can find is Caroliner (which if you’ve never heard you should check out their first few albums as well—Scaruffi barely has a blurb on them but they deserve more).