how was your year
2019 2018 2017






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hm, as of writing this (may 2020) i only ever filled in the ascii year. in terms of books, the following were certainly my favorites:

i did maintain a list of music i listened to throughout the year, which i'll post below: 






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the best books i read last year:

the best articles i read last year:

any time last year that a song caught my attention or i really liked it or i remembered that i like it i put down a youtube link- i think it started as a list of songs to send to my brother devin but then it overflowed and i kept going and made this spreadsheet, which is in chronological order of when i listened to it, and some goofy notes. only a handful came out in 2018 but it's a nice playlist of songs:



youtube link
artist
song
album
yr
notes
milo
sorcerer
who told you to think??!!?!?!?!?!
2017
chris corsano
famously short arms
cut
2012
live ver
the ex
embarassment
mudbird shivers
1995
annette peacock
i'm the one
i'm the one
1975
orchestre tout puissant marcel duchamp
homs en trio
rotorotor
2014
live ver
nadah el shazly
palmyra
ahwar
2017
live in cairo
valerie june
workin woman blues
pushin against a stone
2013
live ver
after dinner
ka-no-pu-su-no-ha-ko
paradise of replica
1989
i was so into this album a few years ago, i revisited it and this really sticks out as the best. like a late 80s japanese proto-joanna newsom
what have ianina's eyes seen - albianian polyphony
albanian men's group from vlore
albania vocal and instrument polyphony
1988
i used to be so into these compilations of folk music from eastern europe, i was suprised i'd never heard of albanian polyphony. there's some really incredible vocal drones and divebombs. i was in fedex and and listening to it and accidentally unplugged my headphones, got the feeling the cashier wasn't as into it as me.
paul bley trio
ida lupino
closer
1965
emahoy tsegue-maryam guebru
presentment
ethiopiques 22: piano solo
2006
this is a mini 'documentary' (i guess) about emahoy tsuegue-maryam, an ethiopian nun playing ethiopian honky tonk solo piano. it's perfect. she just turned 95, happy birthday emahoy.
dollar brand duo
moniebah: the pilgrim
good news from africa
1974
daniel schmidt
and the darkest hour is just before dawn
in my arms many flowers
2016
gamelan orchestra
helium
lucy
some wmbr compilation
1996
this is version of the b side of their 2nd single recorded at a radio station. this version is really just a trophy case of mary timony's guitar playing, which is a perfect woozy, melodic, sloppy slurry. i saw the helium reunion show last year and she's so good, i love helium so much.
daddy's hands - baby's fire
baby's fire
tutankhamun
2000
objectively a top 5 of all time song
protomartyr
wheel of fortune
consolation e.p.
2018
dolly parton
gonna hurry (as slow as i can)
dolly
2009
neko case
south tacona way
furnace room lullaby
2000
palm
forced hand
rock island
2018
predictably aoty
julie fowlis
aoidh, no dean cadal idir
cuilidh
2007
one of my only memories of going to school for a year in durango, colorado is that scottish folk singer julie fowlis, not on tour or promoting anything, played a show at fort lewis college, a town of 18,000 people. how many fucking layovers do you need to get from the outer hebrides in scotland to durango, colorado to play a show to like a couple hundred people? i needed 3 from boston. anyway, i had gotten into her singing a couple years earlier, and when it's not super compressed and drenched in weird reverb, her music is really nice. during the encore she played some bagpipes and almost passed out because of the 7000 ft elevation.
this heat
horizontal hold (peel session)
made available
1988
this is not this heat, with palm as the opener, will probably be within the best couple concerts i'll ever see. charles hayward is a perfect drummer.
rodan - bible silver corner
bible silver corner
rusty
1994
alice coltrane
turiya and ramakrishna
ptah, the el daoud
1970
nagaoka ryosuke
湖畔 (google translate says 'lakeside'?)
n/a
2010
low
shame
long division
1995
ellen arkbro
for organ and brass
for organ and brass
2017
thalia zedek
hell is in hello
trust not those in whom without some touch of madness
2004
mia
teqkilla
maya
2010
pony
ginuwine
ginuwine... the bachelor
1996
if my unironic, deep affection for this song makes you uncomfortable get off of my google sheet!!!
japanese breakfast
boyish
soft sounds from another planet
2017
nomeansno two lips / rags and bones
two lips / rags and bones
live and cuddly
1990
live version of 2 songs from the album 'wrong'
missy elliott
lick shots
miss e... so addictive
2001
timbaland annoys me more than almost any other figure in music, and i manage to find a new song by him that absolutely whips every 6 months.
702
gotta leave
702
1999
best lyft find 2018
mothers
western medicine
render another ugly method
2018
jessica moss
particles
entanglement
2018
girlpool
where you sink
what chaos is imaginary
2018
fiona apple
hot knife
the idler wheel
2012
ravel (played by richter)
pavane pour une infante defunte
n/a
1954
some of my favorite youtube comments ever buried in here. absolute vitriol for richter playing the song like 6 bpm too slow and for the folks coughing (they had tuberculosis, suck it up, right?)
thinking fellers union local 282
more glee (peel session)
n/a
1994
tove lo
shedontknowbutsheknows
blue lips
2017
this is really good pop music




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