Monday, December 31, 2012

My Year in Reading, Again


Since 2007 I have kept track of every book I read.  Here is this year’s list.  By far this is the most I’ve read in a single year.  Not being in school is good for something, I guess.  Also, I read really, really good books this year.   

“Middlesex” – Jeffrey Eugenides
“We Have Never Been Modern” – Bruno Latour
“Slouching Towards Bethlehem” – Joan Didion
“The White Album” – Joan Didion
“Revolutionary Road” – Richard Yates
“All-American Poem” – Matthew Dickman
“A Season in Hell/The Drunken Boat” – Arthur Rimbaud
“The End of The West” – Michael Dickman
“Eros And Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud” – Herbert Marcuse
“Wise Blood” – Flannery O’Connor
“The Age of Innocence” - Edith Wharton
“The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge” - Rainer Maria Rilke
“Wuthering Heights” - Emily Bronte
“Iceland’s Bell” - Haldor Laxness
“Letters From People Who Hate Me” - Steve Almond
“Open City” - Teju Cole
“Field Work” - Seamus Heaney
“The Trial” – Franz Kafka
“The Sorrows of an American” - Siri Hustvedt
“How Fiction Works” - James Wood
“The Liberal Imagination” - Lionel Trilling
“The Morning of the Poem” – James Schuyler
“Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” – John Ashbery
“The Tennis Court Oath” – John Ashbery
“Selected Poems” – Frank O’Hara
“Blood Meridian” – Cormac McCarthy
“The Sheltering Sky” – Paul Bowles
“2666” – Roberto Bolano
“A Man in Full” – Tom Wolfe
“My Struggle” – Karl Ove Knausgaard
“Ficciones” – Jorge Luis Borges
“Sincerity & Authenticity” – Lionel Trilling
“The Dwarf” – Par Lagerkvist
“Disturbing The Peace” – Richard Yates
“The Varieties of Religious Experience” – William James
“For The Sleepwalkers” – Edward Hirsch
“Aeschylus II: The Suppliant Maidens, The Persians, Seven Against Thebes, and Prometheus Bound” – Aeschylus
“Birds of America” – Lorrie Moore
“Mythologies” – Roland Barthes
“Illuminations” – Walter Benjamin
“Alfred and Guinevere” – James Schuyler
“Nine Stories” – J.D. Salinger
“The Lacuna” – Barbara Kingsolver
“The Opposing Self” – Lionel Trilling
“Anna Karenina” – Leo Tolstoy
“Antwerp” – Roberto Bolano
“Barabbas” – Par Lagerkvist
“Play It As It Lays” – Joan Didion
“Gisli Sursson’s Saga” – Anonymous
“Full Tilt: A Memoir” – Paul Santoro
“The End of The Affair” – Graham Greene

Fiction: 29
            Novels: 24
            Short Stories: 4
            Plays: 1
Poetry: 9
Nonfiction: 13
            Essays: 2
            Memoirs: 2
            Pilosophy/Literary Criticism/Etc: 9
American: 31
Irish: 1
English: 2
Icelandic: 2
Swedish: 2
Norwegian: 1
Russian: 1
Chilean: 2
Argentinean: 1
Greek: 1
French:  3
German: 4 (I included Rilke and Kafka here because they wrote in German even though they were Austrian and Czech, respectively)
Total: 51

Favorites in no order: The End of the Affair, 2666, Anna Karenina, My Struggle, Barrabas, The Liberal Imagination, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The Age of Innocence.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

CTRL Force Best of 2012


Kentaro...



1.  King Elephant - Exhaust (Tour Edition)

http://kingelephantband.bandcamp.com/album/exhaust

Made in Missoula!  Catchy, riffin' punk with a lot heart and great playing.  When music this good is made in the Inland Northwest, you *flip your wig* every time you listen to it. 

2.  Black Bananas - Rad Times Xpress IV

http://blackbananasband.bandcamp.com/


A phantasmagoric bricolage of fun pop music from the 1970's onward.  

3.  Porcelain Raft - Strange Weekend



4.  Dunes – Noctiluca
http://duneslala.bandcamp.com/track/vertical-walk

Majestic, austere, intoxicating West Coast dream pop. 


5.  Terry Malts - Killing Time

Joey Ramone steals the Spits van and does doughnuts in my front yard.  Which is totally cool, since I live in a rental.   

6.  Tamaryn - Tender New Signs
7.  Black Breath - Sentenced to LIfe

8.  X-TG - Desertshore/ Final Report

9.  Radar Eyes - s/t

10. Hunx - Hairdresser Blues

11. My Bloody Valentine - EPs -1988-1991

12. Plateaus - s/t

13. KING BROTHERS - Mach Club

14. Art Fad - Banditos

15. Is/Is - III

16. Chrome Cranks - Ain't No Lies in Blood

17. Crocodiles - Endless Flowers

18. Fuxa - Electric Sound of Summer

19. Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse

20. Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO - Son of a Bitches’ Brew

Top Trax

1.  

2.  Boy Friend – Lazy Hunter
3.  Riff Raff – Obtuse Angle
4.  Ty Segall Band – Tel
l Me What’s Inside Your Heart
5.  Brian Jonestown Massacre – I Wann To Hold Your Other Hand
6.  Shonen Knife – All You Can Eat
7.  Bare Mutants – Without You
8.  Mind Spiders – Fall In Line
9.  Heavy Hawaii – Super Bowl XXVII
10.  Gayze – East Coast Dying



Next is Keith...
 
I hardly listened to anything that came out this year, but here's my...



TOP 5 RELEASES OF 2012 (free downloads in parentheses):



5. Zmajevdah/Emotion Of Loss -- Split ( http://grindcorekaraoke.com/album/split-release )

I haven't gotten through the Emotion Of Loss side yet but I've listened to the Zmajevdah songs a few times. It's kind of grindy, kind of melodic. Everything I've heard from this guy has been interesting (especially this: http://grindcorekaraoke.com/album/zmajevdah-v-0 and this: http://cephalochromoscope.blogspot.com/2010/12/kikurachiyo-canadacroatia-sketchgrind.html ). I started wondering while listening to this how his songs would sound in a full band with a slicker recording. Either way I'm a fan and I'm curious what he'll do next.



4. Bone Sickness -- Unreleased

I saw them awhile ago and thought they were pretty good. Ian forwarded me some unmastered songs from some upcoming release and they're really sick. It's like death metal. I don't know if this counts for this year but I don't have anything else to put.



3. Naomi Punk -- The Feeling

I've only listened to this all the way through once but I've listened to a few songs a bunch. Also I saw them play a lot of these songs live and thought it was great. Really heavy and catchy. It's way more interesting sounding than the first album but still gets stuck in my head.



2. Slave Graves/Microbabies -- Split Cassette ( http://slavegraves.bandcamp.com/ )

My friends made this. I've listened to it a lot. The Slave Graves side is up for download if you wanna hear it and I know there's a few more tapes. Definitely worth it for the Microbabies stuff.



1. Column Of Heaven -- Mission From God ( http://survivalistdeathcult.bandcamp.com/album/mission-from-god )

This is my favorite release from this year, but like I said I didn't listen to that much. Either way it would still be in my top 5. It's like a good continuation of The Endless Blockade but the sound of it feels like more of an "experience", or something. I don't know, it's short, aggressive and very satisfying. I should listen to more new music.



Also:




I heard all these songs on tour so much so I never put these on. I didn't get sick of hearing them every night though.



Vaarallinen -- Demo

Ian showed me this. I dug it but haven't listened to the whole thing yet. I think they put out something else this year too. I liked everything I heard. Finnish style Hardcore from Singapore.



Napalm Death -- Utilitarian 

If I had heard this earlier it would be on the list. I like new most Napalm Death almost as much as old Napalm Death. Smear Campaign was one of the albums that got me into grind.

(edit by Keith: I forgot about that Terry Malts album, I heard it a bunch this year and loved it!)

 

And Tim...

 

Usually I try to listen to as much new music is possible because if something rad is going on I don’t want to miss out on it.  I don’t know if there wasn’t as much rad music this year as in years past, or if I just didn’t pay attention, but I feel like most of the best music I heard this year was from old albums/bands I hadn’t heard prior.  So this year end list is not a very good representation of what I spent my year listening to, but nonetheless here are my 10 favorite albums released in 2012 I listened to this year.

Tim B.’s albums of the year:

1.     Mind Spiders – Meltdown

              This was one of my most anticipated albums of the year and it didn’t disappoint.  The first Mind Spiders album was full of good songs, but did not really work as a cohesive album.  It sounded like a dude in his bedroom trying all kinds of different things.  This sounds like a solid album made by a solid band.  The first half of the album is killer garage rock a la Jay Reatard or every other Mark Ryan band.  The second half is a little bit weirder, Devo influenced rock and roll.

2.     Mean Jeans – On Mars

              This album is slower and longer than their last, but I think the songs are better.  A little bit more 90s power pop and a little bit less The Ramones.  There are a handful of downer songs on here, but they maintain a childish perspective that still makes them fun/charming. These guys what everyone to have a good time all of the time.

3.     Scott Walker – Bish Bosh

Scott Walker is fascinating.  This album is much more accessible than Walker’s 2006 ‘The Drift’.  A lot of the songs seem more straight forward.  He uses more guitar and synth on this album than on any previous. However this is still weird, hard to take in and unnerving to listen to.  Really listen to this one.

4.     Audacity – Mellow Cruisers

              This band went from being one of many noisy, reverb drenched, garage rock bands to being one of the catchiest punk bands around.  Party time fun punk rock for everyone.

5.     White Lung – Sorry

              I think this band is going to be huge.  Angry, riot grrrl inspired punk from Vancouver.  Really listen to this one.

6.     Sonic Avenues – Television Youth

              This is another album I was really looking forward to this year.  Sonic Avenues first full length was one of the best power pop albums to come out in years.  This one is a little bit more punk and a little less pop, which is a switch I’m not super stoked on.  Some of the songs and structures are really satisfying, but some fall flat.

7.     Ty Segall – Twins
       Of the three albums Ty Segall released this year Twins is by far the most straight forward poppy album and also my favorite.  It’s probably my favorite Ty Segall album.  Sometimes Ty Segall reminds me of Jay Reatard even though they sound nothing alike.  Both way too prolific, both way too consistent and both long haired and very impressive.



8.     Terry Malts – Killing Time

              This is some noisy pop.  The singer sounds like he is trying to immitate Morrissey and Joey Ramone a lot.  Some songs have a guitar feeding back throughout the whole song.  Some of the lyrics are obnoxious, buy mostly this is catchy pop album well worth your time.

9.     The Babies – Our House On The Hill

              I’m a fan of anything Cassie Ramone does.  This album is a bit less garage and a bit more country than the first The Babies album and it’s a switch I’m pleased with.  Also, Cassie Ramone sings on “See the Country”, “I wanna see the rolling hills of Idaho.” Represent.

10.  Protomartyr – No Passion All Technique



I was very much looking forward to a new Tyvek album this year and when it came out I wasn’t too into it, so I was stoked when I found out about this band that shares a member.  This is a little bit more post punk than Tyvek, but it fucking rules.  At times the sloppy singing style reminds me of Pissed Jeans.  Really listen to this one.



Friday, December 14, 2012