Ron Pope “American Man, American Music”
I’m a sucker for Americana and Pope put a nice little Americana/Blues/Country album together.
Lara Somogyi and Jean-Michel Blais “desert”
Blais is one of my favourites and this album of Harp tunes is lovely.
The Beths “Straight Line was a Lie”
One of my favourite albums. Punchy hooks and lovely lyrics.
Dan Mangan “Natural Light”
I haven’t LOVED his more experimental stuff, but this hits me in the singer/songwriter sweet spot.
Surprise Chef “Superb”
One of my favourite concerts of the year! Crowd was super into this band which does hypnotic Jazz with great percussion.
Lights “A6”
Scratched my Robyn/Carly Rae itch. Super fun pop album.
Pulp “More”
New Pulp! Great lyrics as always and anthems and talky exposition songs. Love it.
The Ting Tings “Home”
Fleetwood Mac and Yacht Rock inspired breezy summer tunes.
Alien Boy “You Wanna Fade?”
90s nostalgia and crunchy guitars.
Durand Jones and the Indications “Flowers”
Soul and classic R&B vibes. Baby making music.
Dropkick Murphys “For the People”
Good running and working out tunes.
Wet Leg “Moisturizer”
Fun dumb rock pop. Was sad I missed this show.
Marcus King “Darling Blue”
Spacey and tasty blues tunes, soul and great guitar solos.
William Prince “Further From the Country”
A top male vocalist for me, I’d listen to him sing the phone book.
Singles:
Robyn “dopamine” – Hope this means a full album (and tour?) in the new year!
Motion City Soundtrack “You know Who the Fuck We Are” – The new album was pretty good too, but this single made my running list. Lotta fun.
Nine Inch Nails “As Alive As You Need Me to Be” – I haven’t seen the movie, but this was a great single.
Books
Dedicated: The Case for Commitment by Pete Davis
There have been a raft of books about the death of attention span but this one attacked the premise of staying “shallow” and not committing ourselves to our partners, our art, our lives in general and instead only allowing ourselves a veneer of each. I am trying to live more intentionally and this was a nice book to kick off that thinking for me.
Kurt Vonnegut: The Making of a Writer by Dan Wakefield
A bio told through letters from Vonnegut with context from a person who knew him well. The best part of Vonnegut is his prose, so you get his exceedingly interesting life story told in his own voice.
Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life – James Hollis
I haven’t read much about Jung or Jungian analysis so this was my first exposure and it was extremely illuminating. I need to re-read this again (and probably again after that) as it’s very dense but it held in it a lot of truth about how to transition from child to adult and what meaning, even is.
Beatrice and Croc Harry – Lawrence Hill
Loved this book. It’s a children’s book and yes, the story is good, but the words and world that Hill created are immense.
The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
Late to the dance on this one. Pulled it off the shelf at Clearview and it might be my favourite book this year, certainly fiction. Beautiful and sad and hilarious at times. Read this one.
God of the Woods – Liz Moore
Nasty, twisty and turny with lots of interesting perspectives this was my favourite ‘beach’ read of the year.
Notable:
Robert Caro “The Path to Power” I have read this on and off all year. I’m just about 40% done and it’s excellent. Will try to finish this Winter and begin the next.
Samin Nosrat “Good Things” I loved “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” and while this book is a bit more prescriptive it still gives you lots of frameworks and ideas to cook with.