2022 Viewing

15 that remain with me after a dense and various year of films, most viewed in a theater. Some were late 2021 releases that lacked found single night or festival screenings in LA this year (six at 2220 Arts & Archives).

  • A New Old Play – Qiu Jiongjiong
  • A Night of Knowing Nothing – Payal Kapadia
  • Aleph – Iva Radivojevic
  • Decision to Leave – Park Chan-wook
  • EO – Jerzy Skolimowski
  • Fire of Love – Sara Dosa
  • From the Planet of the Humans – Giovanni Cioni
  • Geographies of Solitude – Jacquelyn Mills
  • Incroyable mais vrai – Quentin Dupieux
  • Memoria – Apichatpong Weerasethakul
  • Men – Alex Garland
  • Murina – Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic
  • Neptune Frost – Saul Williams, Anisia Uzeyman
  • Riotsville, USA – Sierra Pettengill
  • The Girl and the Spider – Ramon & Silvan Zürcher

A few more I think about: The Sacred Spirit (Chema García Ibarra), Watcher (Chloe Okuno), Tár (Todd Field), El Lado Quieto (Miko Revereza, Carolina Fusilier), The Cathedral (Ricky D’Ambrose), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells)

Best good-bad film: RRR

2022: Best Listens

30 faves (new releases)

  1. Mabe Fratti – Se Ve Desde Aquí
  2. Fievel is Glauque – Flaming Swords
  3. Rosalía – Motomami
  4. Lucrecia Dalt – ¡Ay!
  5. Marina Herlop – Pripyat 
  6. Contour – Onwards!
  7. Naima Bock – Giant Palm
  8. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Dost 2
  9. Marion Rampal – Tissé
  10. Sudan Archives – Natural Brown Prom Queen
  11. El Khat – Albat Alawi Op. 99
  12. Marina Allen – Centrifics
  13. Park Jiha – The Gleam
  14. Hatis Noit – Aura
  15. Sarah Davachi – Two Sisters
  16. Sessa – Estrela Acesa
  17. Star Feminine Band – In Paris
  18. Alexander Deplume – GOLD
  19. Voice Actor – Songs from My Telephone
  20. Quelle Chris – Deathframe
  21. Paavorharju & Joose Keskitalo – Happiness
  22. Moor Mother – Jazz Codes
  23. Tim Bernardes – Mil Coisas Inviseis
  24. Cate Le Bon – Pompeii
  25. Kristine Leschper – The Opening, Or Closing of a Door
  26. billy woods – Aethiopes
  27. Antonia Cytrynowicz + Sam Gendel – LIVE A LITTLE
  28. Citron Citron – Chagrin Bleu
  29. Jessca Hoop – Order of Romance
  30. Olovson – Storytelling

10 faves (reissues)

  1. Maha – Orkos
  2. V/A – Padang Moonrise: The Birth of the Modern Indonesian Recording Industry (1955-1969)
  3. Luiza Brina – A Toada Vem é Pelo Vento
  4. Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru – s/t
  5. Tia Blake & Her Folk Group – Folksongs & Ballads
  6. Iftin Band – Mogadishu’s Finest: The Al-Uruba Sessions
  7. Ferkat Al Ard – Oghneya
  8. Ernst Hood – Back to the Woodlands
  9. Staples Jr. Singers – When Do We Get Paid
  10. V/A – Down & Out (NTS)

Others (most-spun)

The ruthless digital counters say these are the 2022 releases I listened to most beyond the top 40 above.

  • Adelaida – Cántaro
  • Aldous Harding – Warm Chris
  • Alice Phoebe Lou – Child’s Play
  • Anadol – Felicita
  • Anteloper – Pink Dolphins
  • Aoife Nessa Frances – Protector
  • Arima Edera – An Orange Colored Day
  • Ayanda Sikade – Umakhulu
  • Balka Sound – s/t
  • Bill Callahan – YTILAER
  • Bill Fay – Still Some Light Part 1
  • Bitchin Bajas – Bajascillators
  • Branko Mataja – Over Fields and Mountains
  • Broadcast – Mida Vale Sessions
  • Carla dal Forno – Come Around
  • Charles Lloyd – Trios: Chapel (Live)
  • Chris Olsen – Human! Sound! …
  • Daniel Villarreal – Panamá 77
  • Dexter Story & Carlos Niño – Feel Recordings vol 1
  • Diatom Deli – Time~Lapse Nature
  • Duval Timothy – Meeting with a Judas Tree
  • Etran de L’Aïr – Agadez
  • Eyal Talmudi & Rejoicer – The Audience
  • Group Listening – Clarinet & Piano, Selected Works vol 2
  • Gwenno – Tresor
  • Horse Lords – Comradely Objects
  • Jana Horn – Optimism
  • Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer – Recordings from the Åland Islands
  • Jonathan Personne – s/t
  • Karima Walker – demos
  • Kadhja Bonet – JGS / For You / Dear Gina
  • Läuten der Seele – s/t
  • Leoni Leoni – s/t
  • Linda Ayupuka – God Created Everything
  • Loraine James – Build Something Beautiful for Me
  • Lysandre – Sans oublier
  • Maria Chira Argirò – Forest City
  • Maxine Funke – Pieces of Driftwood
  • Maya McCraven – In These Times
  • Medicine Singers – s/t
  • mim & Charlene Darling – L’amour aux mille parfums
  • Modern Nature – Island of Noise
  • Molly Lewis – Mirage
  • OKI – Tonkori in the Moonlight
  • Rachika Nayar – Heaven Come Crashing
  • Robert Stillman – What Does It Mean to Be an American?
  • Rude Skott Osborn Trio – The Virtue of Temperance
  • Ryley Walker – So Certain
  • Sam Gendel – blueblue
  • SAULT – (5 LPs)
  • Silvia Tarozzi – Canti di guerra, di lavoro e d’amore
  • Sophie Birch & Antonia Nowacka – Languoria
  • Steve Gunn – Nakama
  • Surya Botofasina – Everyone’s Children
  • Tegh & Adel Poursamadi – Ima (ایما)
  • The Mauskovic Dance Band – Bukaroo Bank
  • V.C.R. – The Chronicles of a Caterpillar: The Egg
  • Vilhelm Bromander – Aurora
  • Wau Wau Collectif – Mariage
  • Weyes Blood – And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow
  • Yaya Bey – Remember Your North Star

2021 Viewing

Film

  1. Drive My Car – Ryusuke Hamaguchi
  2. The Worst Person in the World – Joachim Trier
  3. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? – Alexandre Koberidze
  4. The Power of the Dog – Jane Campion
  5. Her Socialist Smile – John Gianvito
  6. Victoria (2020, undistributed) – Sofie Benoot, Isabelle Tollenaere, Liesbeth De Ceulaer
  7. The American Sector / Terra Femme – Courtney Stephens (x2), Pacho Velez
  8. Can’t Get You Out of My Head – Adam Curtis
  9. About Endlessness – Roy Andersson
  10. Gunda – Viktor Kossakovsky
  11. The Green Knight – David Lowery
  12. Mandibles – Quentin Dupieux
  13. Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time – Lili Horvát
  14. I’m Your Man – Maria Schrader
  15. Titane – Julia Ducournau

15 more films I enjoyed or which stuck with me (unranked):

  • Bad Luck Banging, or Loony Porn
  • Beginning
  • C’mon C’mon
  • Dear Comrades!
  • Flee
  • Lamb
  • Licorice Pizza
  • Malmkrog
  • Notturno 
  • Parallel Mothers
  • Pig
  • Summer of Soul
  • The Card Counter
  • The Velvet Underground
  • Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

2021 Listening

Ernest Bergez, pagan ecstasies, in Occitan!

30 fave listens (new releases)

  1. Sourdure – De Mòrt Viva
  2. Rita Payés + Elisabeth Roma – COMO LA PIEL
  3. Gabriels – Bloodline / Love and Hate in a Different Time
  4. Dina Ögon – Dina Ögon
  5. Devin Hoff – Voices from the Empty Moor
  6. Gisele Pape – Caillou
  7. Arooj Aftab – Vulture Prince
  8. L’Rain – Fatigue
  9. Meril Wubslin – Alors quoi
  10. Floating Points + Pharaoh Sanders – Promises
  11. Mabe Fratti – Será Que Ahora Podremos Entendernos
  12. Lionmilk – I Hope You Are Well
  13. Laura Cannell + Kate Ellis – January-December Sounds (12 releases)
  14. Wau Wau Collectif – Yaral Sa Doom
  15. Jamael Dean – Primordial Waters
  16. Erlend Apneseth + Margit Myhr – Slåttesong / Fragmentarium
  17. William Parker – Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World
  18. R.A.P. Ferreira – bob’s son / the Light Emitting Diamond Cutter Scriptures
  19. Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band – Banned
  20. Altin Gül – Yol
  21. LaHasna – GLOBAL RESET
  22. Sarah Davachi – Antiphonals
  23. Ben LaMar Gay – Open Arms to Open Us
  24. Tirzah – Colourgrade
  25. Caetano Veloso – Meu Coco
  26. Miryam Solomon – Romance
  27. Joan As Police Woman / Tony Allen / Dave Okumu – The Solution is Restless
  28. Patricia Brennan – Maquishti
  29. Green-House – Music for Living Space
  30. Myriam Gendron – Ma délire – Songs of love, lost & found

25 faves (reissues)

  1. Nermin Niazi – Disco Se Aagay
  2. Futur Antérieur: Bongo Joe’s 5 Years Anniversary
  3. Alice Coltrane – Kirtan: Turiya Sings
  4. Skúli Sverrisson & Óskar Guðjónsson – The Box Tree
  5. 4 Mars – Super Somali Sounds from the Gulf of Tadjoura
  6. Pastor T.L. Barrett – I Shall Wear a Crown (5 lps)
  7. Jose Mauro – A Viagem das Horas / Obnoxius
  8. Zanzibara First Modern Taarab Vibes from Mombasa & Tanga
  9. Tassos Chalkias – Divine Reeds
  10. Hailu Mergia – Tezeta
  11. Die Welttraumforscher – Die Rückkehr der echten Menschheit (1981-1990)
  12. Kim Jung Mi – Now
  13. Somewhere Between: Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds of Japan
  14. Willie Dunn – Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never Dies
  15. Grauzone – Grauzone, 40 Years Anniversary Edition
  16. Leo Nocentelli – Another Side
  17. Fitz Gore + the Talismen – s/t / Soundmagnificat / Soundnitia
  18. Don Cherry’s New Researches – Organic Music Theater
  19. Plastic Ono Band – Ultimate Collection
  20. Stelle Chiweshe – Ambuya! (remastered)
  21. Back Up: Mexican Tecno Pop 1980-1989
  22. Francis Bebey – Dibiye
  23. Sun Ra – Lanquidity
  24. Linda Smith – Till Another Time 1988-1996
  25. Rogér Fakhr – Fine Anyway

30 more, oft-spun

  1. Nahawa Doumbia – Kanawa
  2. The Vernon Spring – A Plane Over Woods / On the 21st of May
  3. Sylvie Courvoisier + Mary Halvorson – Searching for the Disappeared Hour
  4. Sam Gendel – Fresh Bread
  5. Nevers – Clueless / Minor Plot Twist
  6. Tex Crick – Live in…New York City
  7. Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp – We’re OK. But We’re Lost Anyway.
  8. Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Dost 1
  9. James Brandon Lewis – Jesup Wagon
  10. The Weather Station – Ignorance
  11. Vijay Iyer Trio – Uneasy
  12. This is Tehran? (v/a)
  13. Jeff Parker – Forfolks
  14. Loshh – Ífaradá
  15. Jaubi – Nafs at Peace
  16. Low – HEY WHAT
  17. Chihei Hatakeyama – Late Spring
  18. Rosie Lowe + Duval Timothy – Son
  19. Teeth Agency – You Don’t Have to Live in Pain
  20. Emmanuelle Parrerin / Detlef Weinrich – Jours de grève
  21. Jamire Williams – But Only After You Have Suffered
  22. Mason Lindahl – Kissing Rosy in the Rain
  23. Mega Bog – Life, and Another
  24. Rachika Nayar – fragments
  25. Club Coco (v/a, Bongo Joe)
  26. Nala Sinephro – Space 1.8
  27. Apifera – Overstand
  28. Bitchin Bajas – Switched on Ra
  29. Charlotte Greve – Sediments We Move
  30. yumbo – The Fruit of Errata

July 2021: Listening Diary




Best Listens (new releases)

Erlend Apneseth & Margit Myhr – Slåttesong (May 2021)

Tomoko Omura – Branches Vol. 2 (June 2021)

William Parker – Mayan Space Station (July 2021)

William Parker – Painters Winter (July 2021)

yumbo – The Fruit of Errata (June 2021)

Arusha Jain – Under the Lilac Sky (July 2021)

Mabe Fratti – Será Que Ahora Pordremos Entendernos (June 2021)


Best Listens (leftfield pop)

May Witch – May Witch (February 2021)

Mirage – Glass Beams (June 2021)

Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg (April 2021)

Marina Allen – Candlepower (June 2021)

Midnight Sister – Painting the Roses (January 2021)

Bobby Lee – Origin Myths (March 2021)


Best Listens (reissues)

V/A – Good as Gold: Artefacts of the Apple Era 1967-1975 (2021 / 1967-75)

Oronzo de Filippi – Meccanizzazione (2021 / 1971)


Five from the Archive (frequent spins, rediscoveries)

Jessika Kenney + Eyvind Kang – The Face of the Earth (2012)

Blaise Volou – Nadoki / Boti (1984)

Sirom – A Universe That Roasts Blossoms for a Horse (2019)

Henry Threadgill – Easily Slip Into Another World (1988)

Mary Lou Williams presents Black Christ of the Andes (1964)

July 2021: Viewing Diary


Film (recent releases)

Mandibles – Quentin Dupieux, France, 2021 (2020)

Two of Us – Filippo Meneghetti, France, 2021 (2019)

Summer of Soul – Questlove, US, 2021

Nine Days – Edson Oda, US, 2021

Da 5 Bloods – Spike Lee, US, 2020

Black Widow – Cate Shortland, US, 2021


Film (archival)

Princess Cyd – Stephen Cone, US, 2017

Maso and Miso Go Boating, Nadja Ringart, Ioana Wieder, Carole Roussopoulos, Delphine Seyrig, France, 1976

As Tears Go By – Wong Kar-Wai, Hong Kong, 1988

Los Pequeños Gigantes – Hugo Butler, Mexico, 1960

Raging Bull – Martin Scorcese, US, 1980




Serial TV



Katla – Iceland, 2021

Master of None (Moments in Love) – US, 2021

Ozark (Season 3) – US, 2020

Never Have I Ever (Season 2) – US, 2021

Dave (Season 2) – US, 2021

Hacks (Season 1) – US, 2021

Working Moms (Season 1) – Canada, 2017

A few with the kids:

Hunger Games #1-3 – US, 2012-14

The Willoughbys – US, 2020

June 2021: Listening Diary

A busy month, shy of contemplative spaces and moments – music in the near-background often, but also scattered in the clatter of work and building. A big project came on – launching an art center to share and broadcast musics among other forms. But much new music did find its way in, though, as ever, and a few special collections no less.

Any month that sees a Jeanne Lee reissue is a good one, and this month saw two, Gunter Hampel’s rerelease of far-too rare 1975 LP Conspiracy, and a strange Spotify-only collection of uncertain vintage (’61? ’62?), with a number of live tracks with Ran Blake. The mastering is terrible, and it’s one of those things that may just mysteriously disappear from platform, but there are some wonderful cuts, including “Left Alone” from The Newest Sound Around. Along with the Lee from 1975, we also got a first reissue of the great Tezeta from 1975 by Hailu Mergia. Great year for film, great year for music.

Geneva continues to collect everything good – another terrific Bongo Joe comp, and a big, wild, hybrid, unpredictable release from Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp. Lots of surprises on that album, and lots of velocity. Nothing was stranger than the new Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band project, which sounds like the frinkiest 90s lost avant-pop disc ever (it’s not), but Nick Hakim & Roy Nathanson’s Small Things comes close at times. And speaking of frinky things, the latest Scallops Hotel / RAP Ferreira was back in rotation again – I’d listened to it a lot early in the year, bundle of earworms that it is, and then a friend noted he was in town, so good luck for us.

Most relaxing night sounds: Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti’s latest. Or classic Mina, take you pick.


Best Listens (new releases)

Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp – We’re OK. But we’re lost anyway. (June 2021)

V/A – Club Coco (Bongo Joe compilation) (May 2021)

Mabe Fratti – Será que ahora podremos entendernos (June 2021)

Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band – Banned (June 2021)

Ìxtahuele – Dharmaland (June 2021)

Nico Roig, Lucia Fumero, Rita Payes – Soy esa tonta canción (single, June 2021)

The Vernon Spring – What’s Happening Brother? (single, June 2021)

Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime (May 2021)

Les Pythons de la Fournaise – L’Orchestre du Piton (May 2021)

Carlos Niño and Friends – More Energy Fields, Current (May 2021)

Nick Hakim & Roy Nathanson – Small Things (April 2021)

R.A.P. Ferreira – bob’s son (January 2021)

Tomás Tello – Cimora (2020)

Douglas Germano – Escumalha (2019)


Best Listens (reissues)

Jeanne Lee – Conspiracy (1975, June 2021)

Jeanne Lee, Ran Blake – Our Season in the Sun (???, June 2021)

Hailu Mergia + The Walias – Tezeta (1975, June 2021)

Mário Rui Silva – Stories from Another Time 1982-1988 (1980s, 2021)

Dmitris Mystakidis – 16 Ρεμπέτικα τραγούδια με κιθάρα | Επετειακή έκδοση (2006, 2021)

Francis Bebey – Dibiye (1997, 2021)


Five from the Archive (frequent spins, rediscoveries)

Mina – Studio Uno (Italy, 1965)

Yanti Bersaudara – s/t (Singapore, 1971)

Pharoah Sanders – Elevation (US, 1974)

Bargou 08 – Targ (Tunisia, 2017)

Abdou El Omari – Nuits D’Étés (three, Morocco – 2016-17)

June 2021: Viewing Diary

A month of meager viewing relative to others this year. I was heads-down building a cinema instead of seat-down viewing it this month. So, some family viewing, some weekend horror, and some summery Varda for Father’s Day weekend.

I did make it to an actual cinema twice though, making for three public screenings since ‘reopening’. Gaia healing and all that.


Film (recent releases)

Censor – Prano Bailey-Bond, UK, 2021

A Quiet Place (pt II) – John Krasinksi, US, 2021

The Mitchells vs the Machines – Michael Rianda, US, 2021

Circumstantial Pleasures – Lewis Klahr, US, 2020

Girl on the Third Floor – Travis Stevens, 2019


Film (archival)

Ten Skies – James Benning, US, 2004

Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell, US, 2008

Moonbird – John Hubley, US, 1959

The Host – Bong Joon-ho, 2006

Cleo from 5 to 7 / Le Bonheur (double feature) – Agnes Varda, France, 1962 / 1965


Serial TV

Katla – Iceland, 2021

Master of None (Moments in Love) – US, 2021

Dave (Season 2) – US, 2021

The Gloaming – Tasmania, 2020

Ozark (Season 3) – US, 2020

The Flight Attendant – US, 2020

A couple with the kids:

Loki – US, 2021

Sweet Tooth, US, 2021

May 2021: Listening Diary

Early in the month, I finally received a copy of William Parker’s 10-volume masterwork, Migration of Silence Into and Out of Tone World, and have been working through it, segment by segment for much of the month. The maximalism of it is astonishing enough, but so is its variability and off-path experimentation. And by ‘experiment’ I don’t mean it in a genre sense, as in the muscular improvisation and challenging sonic spectrum Parker was known for as a player in the 90s/00s – in this expansive collection, Parker is testing his limits as a composer, often in more familiar song, folk and vernacular forms, and vernacular forms. It’s sobering to take a step back and consider how much work this collection contains, and how little talked about this achievement is. Parker is one of the great surviving risk-takers in the jazz and creative music tradition, and he only has ~6000 monthly listeners on a global platform like Spotify, despite 40+ LPs being available there. In the archive, only the lonely know the way I feel tonight.

Another thread this month was geographic – like last month with recent Francophone releases, in May I turned to the Iberian coast, listening to contemporary fado and its hybrids – the new Bastarda & Joao de Sousa collaboration is really interesting – and made my way down to Catalonia to dig around there. Finally, I found myself listening to a fair amount of contemporary Brazilian work, with Tiganá Santana being a voice I returned to often.


Best Listens (new releases)

William Parker – Migration of Silence Into and Out of the Tone World (Jan 2021)

Bastarda & Joao de Sousa – Fado (May 2021)

Jap Kasai – OWN C (May 2021)

Arooj Aftab – Vulture Prince (April 2021)

Maria Arnal I Marcel Bagés – CLAMOR (March 2021)

Pak Yan Lau – Bakunawa (May 2021)

Magnus Moksnes Myhre & Daniel Herskedal – Desert Lighthouse (May 2021)

Patrick Belaga – Blutt (April 2021)

Laura Cannell & Kate Ellis – May Sounds (May 2021)

Jakob Bro – Uma Elmo (Feb 2021)

Piers Faccini – Shapes of the Fall (April 2021)

Vijay Iyer Trio – Uneasy (April 2021)

Biosphere –  Angel’s Flight (Jan 2021)

Antonina Nowacka – Lamunan (Sept 2020)

Lucia Fumero – Universo Normal (Nov 2020)

Marion Cousin + Kaumwald – Tu Rabo Par’abanico (May 2020)

Big Blood – Do You Wanna Have a Skeleton Party? (Feb 2020)


Reissues

Sun Ra & His Arkestra – Lanquidity (Definitive Edition) (1978, 2021)

Jose Mauro – A Viagem das Horas (1970, 2021)

Yoshi Wada – The Appointed Cloud (1987, 2021)


Five from the Archive (frequent spins, rediscoveries)

Lia de Itamaraca – Ciranda Sem Fim (Brazil, 2019)

Celia Cruz & La Sonora Matancera – Homenaje a Los Santos (Mexico/Cuba, 1972)

Tiganá Santana – Vida Codigo (Brazil, 2019)

Irena & Vojtech Havlovi – Your Golden Boat (Prague, 2003)

Ivor Cutler Trio – Ludo (UK, 1967)

May 2021: Viewing Diary

Film (recent releases)

Gunda – Viktor Kossakovsky

Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time – Lili Horvát

Nina Wu – Midi Z

Together Together – Nikole Beckwith

We Are Little Zombies – Makoto Nagahisa

The Twentieth Century – Matthew Rankin

Still Processing – Sophy Romvari

Four Roads – Alice Rohrwacher

Süden – Christian Petzold

When I Get Home – Solange Knowles

Days of Bagnold Summer – Simon Bird


Film (archival)

1990 double feature:

Close-Up – Abbas Kiarostami

Trust – Hal Hartley

1984 double feature:

Blood Simple – Joel & Ethan Cohen

Body Double – Brian DePalma

My Neighbor Totoro – Hayao Miyazaki, 1988


Serial TV

Fishing with John (USA, 1992)

Mare of Easttown (USA, 2021)

Exterminate All the Brutes (USA, 2021)

Life in Color (UK, 2021)

P-Valley (USA, 2020)

Shadow and Bone (USA, 2021)