2 O|O Post Plug
Duncan Street, San Francisco 2010
It seems that as I get older, I am going to less shows, and with further commitments sometimes disguised as responsibility, I have to be more select on which bands/DJ’s will further damage my already social security ready hearing.
Last year, I did get to check out St Vincent, Hauschka, Jamie Lidell, Rocco DeLuca, Thom Yorke, LCD Soundsystem, Dan Bell, Arcade Fire, Best Coast, Greg Dulli and The Books.
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My top choices for films that I saw last year were:
-Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (2009) – A companion piece to the great 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould.
-Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman (2008) – A great artist making art out of other people’s art, or possibly making their art better, or at least seem better.
-Caché (Hidden) (2005) – You will either love this movie, or absolutely hate it. Nothing is revealed, and the movie leaves it up to you to draw any conclusion, and probably have more questions.
-Kick-Ass (2010) – One of the best action movies, whether comic book related or not !!!
-Let the Right One In (Låt den Rätte Komma In) (2008) – A vampire movie, yes, but the best overall movie I saw in 2010. This one is the original, although I hear the remake is good as well.
-The Social Network (2010) – Fincher’s style combined with Sorkin’s verbal assault.
-Black Swan (2010) – It’s a disturbing movie, more so than 127 hours. It will make you squirm, just like he did in Requiem for a Dream.
-Mother (2010) – From the director of the great Memories of Murder, comes a story of the overbearing Korean mother trying to save her kid from murder charges.
-Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) – A farce, most likely, but a well-done prank-u-mentary. It is all about the hype and association, sometimes more so than the actual content of art, or said product. I believe MBW is a collaboration of Banksy and Fairey, and they are laughing all the way to the bank with the MBW crap people are buying.
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For last years, best-of, I made a list, but I am disregarding it. Here are some selections to help you with the Eleven…..
James Blake – Lindesfarne II – A full-length album after a great series of EP’s, and this sparse, yet moving record shows Blake using his voice more and creating more space. The warmest use of a vocoder.
Benoît Pioulard – Tie – I had the chance to check Pioulard out at Amnesia here in San Francisco a few months back, and like James Blake, he uses a lot of electronic experimentation with his vocals.
Bill Withers – Lovely Day – I think I heard this one from the movie, 127 Hours. It reminds me of the show Welcome Back Kotter. Such a great 70′s song.
Kangding Ray – Pruitt Igoe (Alva Noto Remodel) – From the Raster Noton released EP of the same name, an Alva Noto remix of an abstract genius.