Just wanted to slip in a quick post about the bests of 2009. Quick, and short.

Overall, 2009 was meh. From what I am hearing from other folks, I'm not alone in this sentiment. Maybe that contributes to my reluctance to do a bests list this year, but you know me -- I can always find a little patch of goodness in the general ickiness.

My focus is usually music, and this year I have three albums that are tops. I'm sure I will be reminded of more, but it is true that every year my list gets smaller. I don't know if that means, a) I'm getting more discriminating, or b) I'm getting old.

I suppose it could also be, c) I'm having too much fun to sit in front of my record collection and computer and come up with a whole damn list. Yeah, let's go with that one! :)

I'm also going to let youtube do all the work. Ha, I'm not only old, but lazy! (I mean, um, discriminating and busy...)

1) Bat for Lashes: Two Suns

Her debut in 2006, Fur and Gold, is a gorgeous and more spare album; in Two Suns she broke out the dark disco, and it is equally terrific. Comparisons to Kate Bush are not wrong.

'Daniel'



2) Neko Case: Middle Cyclone

One of the greatest voices of our generation.

'This Tornado Loves You'



3) A.A. Bondy: When the Devil's Loose

The latest 2009 purchase. Been listening to him nonstop. Seeing him live next week, and I am so excited!

'The Mightiest of Guns'



Best show was Echo and the Bunnymen, hands down. Live vicariously through me here.

And as I am on the eternal quest for less toxic things that I use everyday, I also want to give some love to two products I found this year that have changed my life, yo.

1) Griffin Remedy hair and body products, in San Francisco, CA

They really can't be beat. Local, with an ingredient list that is comparable in goodness to the natural bodycare veteran Aubrey Organics, but at a third of the price -- the bodycare clerk at Berkeley Bowl said they are the only other brand besides Aubrey that she recommends wholeheartedly. But Aubrey makes my hair slack and limp -- Griffin Remedy made my hair so shiny and healthy that the person who cuts my hair asked what I was using. They don't yet have their haircare line on their website, but if you call them you can order direct. *love*

2) Grateful Body moisturizer, in Berkeley, CA

Another local, all-natural standout. Oily-skinned ladies, holla -- the moisturizer for "oil-rich" skin does NOT make you feel like you need to wash your face, nor is it full of alcohol; in fact, this moisturizer will change the way your skin feels, and how you feel about your oily skin. It's pricey, so I use it very very sparingly, but even an itty bit makes your skin feel wow. One look at the ingredient list that reads like an herb and flower garden and you won't be able to say no to yourself.

Got some bests of your own? Blogged about them (or not)? I would love to hear about them (or be directed to them) in the comments.

Looking forward to the standout joys of 2010!

So, how about that best of 2008 list, eh?

I know, I know, it's January 10th but it wouldn't be my blog if I wasn't late to the party.

Probably goes without saying, but the older I get, the less new stuff I buy. No matter how hard I try, this is the inevitable conclusion. But I'm over it, and you will be too when you see what I did absorb. Quality over quantity, baby.

Anyway, here are some of the top things in 2008 that rocked my little world.

MUSIC

Tricky -- Knowle West Boy

There's nothing really new and groundbreaking from the trip-hop legend (and founding member of Massive Attack) on Knowle West Boy, but what's there is fantastic. Sonic assault to smooth soundscape to scratchy beats, with a soulful female vocalist -- sound familiar? Tricky's 1995 debut Maxinquaye and his 1996 classic Pre-Millenium Tension are IMO his best records, and his latest is a solid return to form. Got this album in heavy rotation, and really enjoying it.

Hayes Carll, Trouble in Mind

Even though he's from Houston, I'm convinced Hayes Carll is one sweet, rural, sentimental country boy. And I know he's hard-working. I saw him at Cafe du Nord in October -- halfway through his nonstop Fall tour -- and the man played an incredibly long set, even letting his band take a break while he continued to entertain us with some acoustic ditties. After a brief holiday break, he's back to touring for the Winter and early Spring of 2009, all to promote his beautiful and sometimes heartbreaking record, Trouble in Mind. There's a little Louisiana swamp, a little Randy Travis, a little folk, and a little bluegrass that all adds up to a great Americana record. I can't stop listening to:

'It's a Shame'



...and 'Beaumont'



Chad VanGaalen -- Soft Airplane

It's the Auto Tune era, as well as the era of the dime-a-dozen singer-songwriter, so it is refreshing to come across someone who can still make a haunting record in his basement with a guitar, a boombox, and an old tape machine. Rife with odd noise and dream-like lyrics, VanGaalen's MO is best decribed as experimental folk, and it is terrific. VanGaalen is also an accomplished artist; here is his video for the song from Soft Airplane that got me hooked, 'Molten Light':



Also, HUGE props to Funeral Crashers bassist Frankie Teardrop for turning me onto Scottish electronic pioneer Robert Rental. Props to his blog followers too, for posting links to Rental's long-lost (until 2008!) demo tape, Mental Detentions. Along with The Conet Project, one of the best noise discoveries of 2008.

CINEMA

A tie for best film of 2008.

Milk, Gus van Sant's inspiring and tragic story of the first openly gay American elected official, San Francisco's Harvey Milk.



Sean Penn is winning the Oscar. Trust. What a film, packed with other fantastic performances too. There should be a way for James Franco, Diego Luna, Josh Brolin, and Emile Hirsch to win an ensemble best supporting actor Oscar. Also features the under-used Victor Garber (love!).

and

Tomas Alfredson's Let The Right One In



Although now that I'm typing this up, I am leaning toward the latter -- an exquisite film where the trailer really doesn't capture the right vibe.

Let The Right One In is a vampire story, but more than that it is a story of adolescence, and of childhood lost. Set in winter in Sweden in what looks like the 1970s in both dress and perfect filtered drab, the cinematography is breathtaking, the images poetic and visceral. The film is both terrifying and beautiful, displaying a mythos ironically lacking in pretense and fable. This is a cold white North reminiscent of Atom Egoyan's masterpiece The Sweet Hereafter -- cruel, relentless, tragic. Real.

Oi, forget the sparkly-skinned cheese-angst of Twilight -- most impressive about Let The Right One In is how well it captures the near-catatonic misery that would result from never aging coupled with the need for human blood. One I'll be buying on DVD.

BOOK

One book that really stood out to me this year was a New York Review Books (love this publisher) edition of Rebecca author Daphne du Maurier's amazing short stories, Don't Look Now. du Maurier's stories are perfectly formed tales of the supernatural, and are so unassuming and well-crafted that they can make even the most jaded of thriller readers fall right into them. Trevor and I agree that the title short story has the most perfect ending ever.

SHOW

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the Warfield.

What were your bests of 2008?

Took the day off from my job yesterday as my friend James was visiting, and we took in San Francisco, where he is looking for a place.

Being cheap bastards with bellies full of calorific pub grub from the Phoenix and a hankering for James to really see the neighborhoods he is considering for an abode, we walked EVERYWHERE. From the Mission through the Castro to the Haight, and then over to USF where we took a bus to a Chinatown and then walked through North Beach to the BART. In the rain. And it was grand!

Also stopped in for fun at the fancy-schmancy San Francisco headquarters for Scientology. Okay, it was really so James could use the facilities and we could escape the rain for a while -- and he owes me bigtime for fending off getting a stress or personality test and not succumbing to getting my thetan on while he took his sweet time.

My impressions while I dilly-dallied around the 30 foot long display of the life of L. Ron: nice looking place, decidedly not intimidating yet strangely posh, but most important, quite warm and not wet! I'm not one for organized religion anyway, and Scientology to me is really no different from a lot of other religious organizations and their houses of worship, but I must say I did get a wee bit of a creepy vibe in there. Must be the Cruise effect.

***

I have another amendment to my best of 2007 post: I wrote a bit about Einsturzende Neubauten's 2007 album, Alles Weider Offen in regard to their unconventional (and totally rad) way of putting out their album themselves -- therefore screwing the record companies while rewarding fans with a product they had a hand in creating (this last part is so crucial to me, especially after hearing the abysmal new album from Bauhaus).

Anyway, I totally forgot to include this album in my tops for 2007! Such a good listen, harkening back to classic Neubauten. I have such immense respect for Blixa Bargeld and his effortless weaving in and out of different genres of music and spoken word. True talent!

Welcome welcome 2008!
























Already sorta started with a bang -- as I ran down the steps of the YMCA in downtown Oakland on the eve of 2008, an impeccably dressed older gentleman stopped in his tracks and remarked how much I look like Cher. Yep, 2008 is definitely attempting to bring it.

Soooo, on that note, let's take a look back on 2007 for the moment, shall we?

First off, a big shout out to Rod at b(oot)log for: 1) posting the best Canadian Pride bootleg site around, and 2) hosting contests for CDs and other schwag -- that people actually win! Just got the Buck 65 CD that I won in the mail. Cheers Rod!

Onward...I like lists. And I really like tops-for-the-year lists. But because of my status as out of touch in 2007, or maybe my shame for past list-making (or is that curmudgeonly respect?), I have decided to go a little light this year. But a list shall go on!

1) Shows

Xiu Xiu, April 22, 2007 at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, hands down. Best. Show. Ever. Ever ever. My long and rambling review may help you see why.

2) Reads

Most of what I read in 2007 was released pre-2007, so heaven help me, the landslide winner is Ken Follett's World Without End. I ate that book alive.

3) Records

Hmmmm. I didn't pick up a whole hell of a lot of new! right! now! in 2007, but Grinderman's self-titled debut album (but can you call it a debut, really?) got a lot of rotation, as did Kanye's decadently addictive single and video and British/Sri Lankan artist M.I.A's second album, Kala.

Check the sociopolitics and amazing use of samples that make up my favorite M.I.A. song, 'Paper Planes' (from Kala):



4) Films

Nothing absolutely made me hyperventilate, but as far as blockbusters go, Summer '07 was good to me: I liked The Bourne Ultimatum, Rescue Dawn and Stardust. The recently released film version of Philip Pullman's book The Golden Compass was a surprise winner for me too. Still want to see La Vie En Rose, Eastern Promises (mmmm, Russian mobster-muscle Viggo), and No Country For Old Men. But I think my local video store creating a whole section for The Criterion Collection is probably my best film related news all year.

5) Tee-Vee

I don't have a TV, but for what it's worth Dexter almost makes me want to buy one, and Project Runway gets my ass to the gym and on a cardio machine with an idiot box. Love these two shows.

6) Weird News

I got a lot of mileage out of hater Larry Craig's meltdown, as did a lot of late night talk show hosts...

Senator Larry Craig is now saying that his constitutional rights were violated when he was arrested in an airport's men's room. Craig was furious. He said, 'When I got to a men's room, I do the violating. --Conan O'Brien

...but I think there are weirder things.

Early looking forward tos for 2008: the talented Mr. Stich's portrait of Lenny Kravitz for Vibe magazine (hopefully this will be the first of many illustrations!), another trip to Japan (?), meeting a good online friend from London in the flesh in February, my honey finishing school, The Dark Knight (and Christian Bale in black rubber once again), and a possible move into a house with yard, and therefore, more BBQs and parties. Whee!

Bring it, 2008. Bring it, indeed.