Favorite Films of 2019

Well, i think i've waited as long as i can before posting my favorite movies of 2019.  Did i get to see everything i wanted to?  Of course not.  I have kids.  And so, as sure as i am about this list, things like "The Lighthouse" or "Knives Out" may certainly have ended up on here if given the chance to actually see them.  And i will someday.  But for now, here's 10 films i loved...

10. Too Old to Die Young
I cheat a little bit every year with selections that aren't movies necessarily, but Nicolas Winding Refn's neon noir series for Amazon Prime basically plays like one long ass movie, filled to the brim with every single idiosyncratic choice the filmmaker has ever thought of.  If you're not a fan of his work, you'll hate this, but i loved every single crawling minute.

9. High Life
The latest from French filmmaker Claire Denis, an arty, dystopian, sci-fi film, features a knock out performance from Robert Pattinson, a lot of weird and uncomfortable sex stuff, and Andre 3000.  Good stuff.

8. The Perfection
Richard Shepard's thriller changes course more than once through its duration, with scenes that both shocked and threw me off, and a couple of pivotal moments that you really just need to see yourself.

7. The Irishman
It's long.  It's great.  It's Scorsese.

6. Knife + Heart
The best homage to giallo movies that takes place in the gay porn community that i've ever seen.  Thanks Yann Gonzalez!

5. Dolemite Is my Name
Craig Brewer's biopic about Rudy Ray Moore is an absolute delight.  Eddie Murphy is outstanding, and his supporting cast kick ass too, and i smiled from start to finish.

4. Midsommar
Ari Aster is making a name for himself as an absolute behemoth of the horror genre, turning in heavy and phenomenal work that really needs to be seen by both horror fans and non-horror fans alike.

3. Doctor Sleep
Mike Flanagan is another filmmaker making a name for himself in the horror genre as well, crafting atmospheric and haunting movies that play like gangbusters.  "Doctor Sleep" really should not work, and yet Flanagan makes it work on every level, tying it beautifully in to both the film and book versions of "The Shining."  No easy feat.

2. Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood
Every Tarantino film is an event, and his 9th film is no different, a love letter to the medium and a meditation on aging and a fear of uselessness.

1. Under the Silver Lake
David Robert Mitchell's followup to "It Follows" is a surreal modern noir that pulls from both De Palma and Lynch, an impossible mystery that amps up the paranoia while critiquing toxic malehood as a kind of malaise.  It's hypnotic and fascinating, my favorite movie of the year.

And there you go.  2019 was a great year for movies.  Here's hoping next year is great too.

Favorite Non-2019 Movies of 2019

I'm going to wait another week or so before writing up my favorite movies of 2019, as i want to give myself just a little more time to try and see some more stuff.  But, i also saw a lot of older movies this year, and a few of them, six to be exact, really stood out.  So, here are my favorite movies that didn't come out this year.

6. 3 Women (1977)
Sissy Spacek and Shelly Duvall in an understated character study from Robert Altman made during his heyday.

5. Bad Moon (1996)
A '90s werewolf movie that works really well, filled with some fun practical effects and a good, good boy.

4. Out of the Dark (1988)
It's a sleazy serial killer/slasher flick about a clown-masked madman who kills sex phone operators.  Like i'm not going to love this.

3. Personal Shopper (2016)
An atmospheric ghost story with Kristen Stewart that i liked way more than i would have imagined.

2. Four of The Apocalypse (1975)
Before coming across this gem on Prime, i had no idea that Lucio Fulci made a Spaghetti Western.  I wish he'd made a lot more.

1. The Addiction (1995)
I can certainly dig on some Abel Ferrara movies, but for some reason, had never even heard of this one until earlier this year.  I checked it out late one night while the family was sleeping and LOVED it.  A moody, black and white feature about drug addiction and vampires, that had i seen as a teenager when it was released, would have become an obsession.  Easily my favorite non new release of the year.

So there's a week of lists for all you maniacs out there.  I'll be back after Christmas with some new movies i adored this year.

Favorite Album Art of 2019

Here's a bunch of cool album art that came out this year.  Enjoy.

 1. Mellotron Variations - Mellotron Variations LP

2. WOW - Come La Notte LP

 3. Black Pumas - Black Pumas LP

 4. Aesop Rock and Tobacco - Malibu Ken LP

 5. The Autopsy of Jane Doe OST LP

 6. Zombierella's Tentative Reels - Suicide Commando 7"

 7. Pinkish Black - Concept Unification LP

 8. M83 - Knife + Heart OST LP

 9. Sudan Archives - Athena LP

10. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More with Feeling OST LP

Good, good stuff.  Be back tomorrow for some old movies i saw for the first time this year that knocked my socks off.

Favorite Non-2019 Songs of 2019

Every year, aside from all of the new music that collides with my ears, i come across probably hundreds of old songs that blow my mind too.  2019 was no different.  This time around, i discovered a Japanese folk and new wave singer (who appears on this list twice) that i've now made it my life's mission to find and collect her entire discography.  I got into some yacht rock, some soul, some old folk, some library music, and Indonesian psych pop, and an '80s pop hit i hadn't thought about in years.  Check them all out below.

 Doji Morita - Horizon

 

Jim Sullivan - Jerome

The Blackbyrds - Dreaming About You

Undisputed Truth - Down by the River

George Atwell - Meat Grinder

Prambors Band - Wajah Wajah

Bill Fay - Screams in the Ears

Alessi - Do You Feel It?

Limahl - Never Ending Story

Doji Morita - Wolf Boy




And we'll be back tomorrow with some 2019 album art.

Favorite Songs of 2019

It's really pretty easy to pick a bunch of songs i love every year.  What makes it hard is stopping, and not just going on and on and on.  Anyway, here's 100 songs i probably couldn't have done without this year.

1. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
2. Wand - Scarecrow
3. Khana Bierbood - Plankton Bloom
4. Deserta - Hide
5. Mellotron Variations - Turtle Monk

6. Dallas Acid - The Spiral Arm
7. Tindersticks - Willow
8. Beck - Hyperspace
9. Failed Flowers - Faces
10. Je Suis France - I've Got the Look

11. Danny Brown - Dirty Laundry
12. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Spinning Song
13. Lazy Legs - Clotheater
14. Allah-Las - Roco Ono
15. La Neve - Stability

16. Malibu - Tilting on Windmills
17. Chromatics - On the Wall
18. Sadness - I Want to Be There
19. Federale - No Justice
20. Priests - The Seduction of Kansas



21. Thou - In the Pines
22. Russian Baths - Tracks
23. Sault - Let Me Go
24. Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein - Starcourt
25. Kitty - Medicine

26. Absolutely Free feat. US Girls - Currency
27. Snow Ghosts - Rip
28. Idles - Mercedes Marxist
29. Greys - Arc Light
30. Orville Peck - Kansas (Remember Me Now)

31. Mark Ronson feat. Angel Olsen - True Blue
32. TR/ST - Iris
33. Hante. - Silence the Voices
34. Uniform and The Body - Vacancy
35. Sing Sinck, Sing - Do the Police Embrace?

36. Zetra - Normal Behaviour
37. Ghost Funk Orchestra - Walk like a Motherfucker
38. Grimes - Violence
39. Fawning - Too Late
40. The Stargazer Lilies - Monsters of Your Thought



41. The Oilies - Biting the Sky
42. Night Tapes - In Glorious Stereo
43. Cigarettes After Sex - Heavenly
44. WOW - Occhi Di Serpente
45. Munya - Dove

46. Lower Dens - Young Republicans
47. Burial - State Forest
48. Spotlights - Continue the Capsize
49. Pinkish Black - Next Solution
50. Boy Harsher - LA

51. Lingua Ignota - Butcher of the World
52. Morabeza Tobacco - Ally McBeal'
53. The Cowboys - Now With Feeling
54. Nivhek - After Its Own Death (Side A)
55. Disq - Communication

56. Karen O and Danger Mouse - Lux Prima
57. Sky Ferreira - Downhill Lullaby
58. Squid - Houseplants
59. Tame Impala - Borderline
60. Sampa The Great - Final Form



61. Ash and Herb - Salt Lick
62. The Murlocs - Comfort Zone
63. High Tides - Swaying Palms
64. Coathangers - F the NRA
65. Aldous Harding - The Barrel

66. Thom Yorke - Dawn Chorus
67. Jessica Pratt - Crossing
68. Aesop Rock and Tobacco - Tuesday
69. Jakuzi - Şüphe
70. L'epee - Springfield '61

71. Wilma Vritra - Burds of Paradise
72. Men I Trust - Numb
73. Minuit Machine - Prey/Hunter
74. Sungaze - New Familiar
75. Black Midi - 953

76. Black Pumas - Black Moon Rising
77. Honey Radar - Kite Balloons
78. Purple Pilgrims - Two Worlds Apart
79. Blood Cultures - Best For You
80. Hatchie - Without a Blush



81. Pearly - The Big Laugh
82. Sudan Archives - Did You Know
83. Kit Sebastian - Senden Başka
84. Weeping Icon - Control
85. SRSQ - Temporal Love

86. Altin Gün - Süpürgesi Yoncadan
87. Drab Majesty - Out of Sequence
88. Marissa Nadler and Stephen Brodsky - Estranged
89. August Eve - You Already Know
90. Tamaryn - Angels of Sweat

91. Dead Swords - Waiting
92. CHAI - Choose Go!
93. Being Dead - Apostle's Prom
94. Paint Thinner - A Day in My Head
95. Maria Somerville - Eyes Don't Say It

96. Weyes Blood - Andromeda
97. Nothing - Heavy Water
98. Mercury Rev and Margo Price - Sermon
99. H. Grimace - She's in a State
100. King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard - Self Immolate



Tune in tomorrow for 10 songs i loved this year that didn't come out this year.

SXSW 2019 Write Up over at Entropy Magazine

It took awhile, but i finally got around to finishing my report on SXSW 2019.  You can read all about it over at Entropy Magazine here.  It's a little long, but what else do you have to do today?

SXSW 2019 Day 7 Pics

One last day to squeeze some stuff in.  We left the boys with my mom and sister and their cousins and hit up the Big Easy Bar and Grill for some final SXSW goodies, seeing sets from Gong Gong Gong, David Boring, and Cindy Cane.  I also had some crawfish which made me about as happy as anything else could this week.  It's been real SXSW.  I'm gonna attempt to do a real write-up in the next couple of weeks to be published...somewhere...hopefully, and god willing, i'll be back again next year.  Here are my last pics...

Gong Gong Gong

David Boring

Cindy Cane

Crawfish

SXSW 2019 Day 6 Pics

Was not able to get out to see too much today, as has become the norm since becoming a father of two.  And without the usual Waterloo day party going on today, i went to a little kid's birthday party instead.  But then, we made it out to Lazarus Brewing again whose lineups for their day parties this year have been surprisingly good.  Today i caught sets from Japan's DYGL and England's THYLA.  Good stuff, and maybe more importantly, good beer.  Check some pics below.  I've got one more day to see some stuff tomorrow, and then it's all over...

DYGL

THYLA

SXSW 2019 Day 5 Pics

Today started off with some bullshit revolving around a child's car seat and my inability to remove it from a car.  It kind of dampened my spirits for much of the day (along with all of the horrible, heartbreaking news coming out of New Zealand), but i still got to see some great music today, this time jumping around from Hotel Vegas to Kitty Cohen's to Waterloo Records.  I could have wandered all over for the rest of the day, but my feet were tired...because i'm old.  Here's some pics...

Cindy Cane

Lily Konigsberg

Russian Baths

The Tenders

Gurr

DEHD

The Sour Notes

Rev Rev Rev

Viagra Boys