Just taking a little break from vacation to pay homage to an album which came out twenty years ago today, and continues to be among my all-time favourites. Kill The Moonlight by Spoon has never left my regular rotation, and this song is in my hall of fame.
More on the anniversary at Consequence of Sound.
I was saddened to read a few weeks ago that Mark Lanegan had died. The Screaming Trees were a huge part of my cliched-but-true grunge-fueled musical awakening, and I’d happily (but a bit gloomily, if I’m honest) consumed the scattered bits of material he released over the past couple decades. Solo material (especially Whiskey For The Holy Ghost; “Borracho” is among my favourite songs of all time, alongside the Trees’ “Julie Paradise”), collaborations with the likes of Isobel Campbell and Duke Garwood, and so on. His voice affected me in a way few could.
Reading this article, I realized that I never actually listened to his influential 1990 solo album The Winding Sheet. Nor did I realize Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic played on it, including on a cover of Lead Belly‘s “In the Pines” (aka “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”) which Nirvana then recorded for their MTV Live album. So there’s a weekend project then. I’m glad I’ll get to discover something from him once again, even after so many years.
I don’t care at all for figure skating, but as of yesterday I have a favourite figure skater: the Russian athlete who skated to “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by The Stooges, won the silver medal, and then seemingly quit.
Seventeen-year-old Russian figure skating prodigy Alexandra Trusova earned a silver medal after skating to the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog” at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing yesterday. She won the free skate with an impressive routine that saw her attempting five quadruple jumps, but ultimately came in second to her teammate Anna Shcherbakova, who scored better in the short program on Tuesday.
Trusova was not happy with silver, Reuters reports, breaking down in tears before the podium ceremony for the women’s single event. “Everyone has a gold medal, everyone, but not me. I hate skating. I hate it,” she was heard saying. “I hate this sport. I will never skate again. Never.”
As I type this I’m waiting for my new Synology DS220+ Network Access Storage device to set itself up. Of course I named it Illmatic.
I’m excited to get all my old media loaded onto it and install Plex, so I’m not constantly swapping files onto backup & media drives. I’m also excited that Lindsay will have a place to back things up, finally. 😐
My new favourite podcast is called No Skips. It’s my friend* Lisa and her husband going deep on some classic albums:
Music fanatic and his skip-happy wife take on the biggest albums of all time. New episodes released every week.
So far they’ve covered Radiohead‘s OK Computer, Prince‘s Purple Rain, The Beach Boys‘ Pet Sounds (which I realized I’d never consumed front-to-back either), Erykah Badu’s Baduizm (which I haven’t listened to but will now), and Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd. My favourite quote on that last one: “[Quoting herself]: ‘This is one of the best albums of all time.’ It’s like, no fucking duh Lisa.”
It’s fun and I’m learning stuff, and they’re doing like 50+ of these. If you’re into music, it’s a big recommend.
* Online friend. She lives in Texas and I do not, so we’ve never met, but have known each other online for…I dunno, 15 years?
I did, in my youth, go through a pretty solid Van Halen phase. It petered out around the second Sammy Hagar album, but I knew all the DLR albums inside and out. Because I was a drummer the Van Halen brother I was most interested in was Alex, but I recognized the genius of Eddie Van Halen. He was the band, really.
The band has long since faded from my musical rotation, but hearing that Eddie passed away last week still felt like I’d lost something important to me as a kid.
Also, it was only after he passed away that I learned something I’d always wondered as a kid: did Eddie Van Halen really play the guitar on that tape in Back To The Future? Turns out: yes.
Not long ago a shuffle play served up an old Damien Jurado song called Paper Wings. It’s an excellent song. Listen for yourself:
I first downloaded it twenty years ago, a time when I was probably using Audiogalaxy to download MP3s, and the version I have is a demo with Jurado introducing it himself, to promote his new album. We hear his son Miles, probably sitting on his lap.
I know I should blow away the old MP3 from my library and get a clean one, but at this point — nearly twenty years after first downloading it, I feel some affection for this version. Some nostalgia. It reminds me of 2002.
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Cover photo by myrealnameispete, used under Creative Commons license
As is my annual wont, I’ve collected and curated lists of my favourite consumed media from the year. All listed alphabetically, unless otherwise specified.
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Freedom by Amen Dunes
I guess I’ve been out of the loop by not listening to (or being aware of) Amen Dunes before, but this album grabbed me and kept twisting all year. Sounds desperate and struggle-y but joyful and determined at the same time.
7 by Beach House
Nothing new from Beach House here, but a standard-issue Beach House album is still miles better than almost everything else.
God’s Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
I’ve always been hit and miss(ty) with FJM, with the last album a few years ago only offering up a couple of songs I liked, but this one went a little beyond that and kept luring me back.
Nearer My God by Foxing
I went from feeling like I should like Foxing’s last album and not, to assuming I wouldn’t like this one but then totally getting into it.
With Animals by Duke Garwood & Mark Lanegan
I remain a sucker for Mark Lanegan’s voice no matter what he does (he also guested on Neko Case’s album below) but this dark, brooding, electronic-tinged collection des dirges became my go-to focus/chill music this year.
Pissing Stars by Efrim Manuel Menuck
Speaking of electronic-tinged, this dronier, lighter (in musician count, if not in subject matter) offering from the Godspeed You! Black Emperor member swings from soft to intense to nuts in the space of a song.
Kin by Mogwai
Because I’m Dan and this was Mogwai.
I’m Bad Now by Nap Eyes
Probably less catchy than their sophomore album, but also more mature. They continue to blend elements of bands I don’t really like into something I love.
Hell-On by Neko Case
Neko Case, goddamn hero. Putting out an album after all the personal trauma she went through is remarkable; that it’s this good is amazing. Or maybe that’s what made it possible? Either way, the chorus of “Winnie” might be the most thrilling few seconds of any album this year.
Messeducation by St. Vincent
When you’re an Annie Clark-level genius you can take one of the best rock albums of last year and turn it into an album of stripped-down piano renditions that often sound like they’re sung by an unstable cabaret singer, giving it this whole other layer of broken-down, surging fragility that maybe only her voice could manage.
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I have all but abandoned my film obsession of past years, and as such can only offer the following nine films (versus my usual ten) which I would even consider for barely scraped together a best-of list. Note that I haven’t yet seen The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, BlacKkKlansman, The Death of Stalin, A Fantastic Woman, Free Solo, The Hate U Give, Hereditary, If Beale Street Could Talk, Isle of Dogs, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, A Quiet Place, Roma, Shirkers, Sorry to Bother You, A Star Is Born, Three Identical Strangers, or a host of others.
22 July
I’m a sucker for Paul Greengrass’ style and have always admired how he handles volatile topics, but I still wasn’t sure how this one — about the slaughter of dozens of kids in Norway by a right-wing nutter a few years ago — would come off. I needn’t have worried though.
Avengers: Infinity War
It’s difficult to thread together story lines and characters from a dozen different superhero movies into a coherent, entertaining flick, but the Russo Brothers did it again. Even if it did take 2.5 hours.
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
Almost as much gimmick as movie — choose-your-own-adventure is something Netflix can entertain where others can’t — but it works within the frame of Black Mirror’s underlying thread of technological dread. Great soundtrack too.
Black Panther
The hype was real. A vehicle for propelling ahead the MCU, but also a visually striking and clever extravaganza.
Call Me By Your Name
Such a lush, emotional, honest love story. It left Lindsay and I both very tingly afterward. It also made me want to move to Italy immediately.
First Man
A straight procedural with an ending we all know — Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon — that was somehow riveting, thrusting us right into these claustrophobic and disorienting compartments. Damien Chazelle is quickly becoming one of my favourite directors.
Girl
Our favourite film by far at this year’s TIFF, Girl was an intense examination of puberty, transition, and obsession. It was also a masterclass in performance by a first-time actor.
I, Tonya
Last year we watched an HBO miniseries that made us feel sorry for the Unabomber. This year we watched a movie that made us feel sad for Tonya Harding. Really good use of the present-day interview method, and some absolutely staggering performances from Margot Robbie and especially Allison Janney.
The Kindergarten Teacher
Still on the topic of obsession, Maggie Gyllenhaal nailed it in this small, quiet film about a teacher fascinated by the innate talent of a student, with threads of regret, maternalism, and ennui running throughout.
The Post
Again, no surprises with the story here, but gets bonus points for being extra-relevant in a time when the press is under direct attack by the sort of politicians who recognize it as a potent defense against totalitarianism.
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Granted, we haven’t watched The Deuce season 2, Handmaids Tale season 2, or Mr. Robot season 3, nor any of Atlanta, Sharp Objects, Better Call Saul, or The Americans, and we barely started Barry.
Big Mouth
Maybe the best analysis of puberty, combined with the most LOL-worthy moments of any show I watched this year. Very extreme at times, but always kind of sweet and silly in the end.
Billions
Pulpy and over the top, but the pivot into an attack on Trump-style capitalism and cronyism is an interesting one. And anything with that cast, pulpy or otherwise, is worth watching.
The Good Place
Cleverly hilarious, but also a thoughtful examination of philosophy, humanity, good vs. evil, merit, attraction, the idea of soulmates, Ted Danson dancing, and Janets.
Homecoming
We watched the first four episodes of this at TIFF and got hooked on the story and Sam Esmail’s style. (So many staircases!) We signed up for Amazon Prime largely so we could finish watching the season when it came out.
Killing Eve
We just started watching this while on Christmas vacation. The characters, the dialog, the fashion, the style, the locales…we were captivated right from the get-go. Sandra Oh’s a national treasure.
Last Week Tonight
Consistently the funniest and most insightful show on TV.
Making A Murderer
Somehow I was just as sucked into season two as season one, even though nothing really happened. I figure it was force-of-nature Kathleen Zellner.
Silicon Valley
Still and always, a bundle of huge, uncomfortable laughs mixed in with tech/business stuff that hits a little too close to home sometimes. Jared is straight-up one of my favourite characters on television.
Wild Wild Country
An absolutely bonkers tale of a cult taking over a mass of land in Oregon, the townspeople who fight back (but who don’t come off nearly as well as they think they do) and a power-hungry second-in-command who sends the whole thing spinning off the rails. High, weird drama.
Wormwood
An blend of documentary and recreation of events stemming from CIA experiments with LSD in the 1950s. I don’t usually love it when shows blend the two styles but it worked here. Technically this aired in December last year but I didn’t see it until 2018, so.
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I definitely did better this year, reading seven books, vs. three last year (and none at all the year before). Listed in the order in which I read them.
Krakatoa: The Day The World Exploded by Simon Winchester
I’ve had a lifelong curiosity about massive disasters, so I picked this up at a used bookstore in Halifax last Christmas and read it in January. Can’t say it was a masterpiece but I learned a lot.
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
An impulse buy from Book City, I read this on one trip to Ottawa and back and felt better-armed for having done. It’s helpful and instructive to recognize the warning signs of encroaching tyranny — it’s not some well-marked monolith that appears suddenly — in these times. I’ve read too much about the rise of fascism in the 1930s to feel at ease right now.
October by China Miéville
It took me over a year to read this — I kept pausing to read other books — as it’s so dense, despite Miéville’s narrative skill. I can say this: it’s as gripping as the tale of ten months of hundred-year-old Russian political intrigue can be made to be.
Disrupted by Dan Lyons
The story of a late-career writer who got wrapped up in the latest tech boom (and called bullshit on the whole thing) this book reminded me of my own experience — albeit as a much younger employee — in the dot-com boom 18 years ago.
Child Of God by Cormac McCarthy
God, Cormac MCarthy books are bleak. But God, do I ever love them.
Around The World In 80 Wines by Mike Veseth
This was a gift from Lindsay that made me want to quit my job and become a wine + travel writer. I learned a bunch too, like why a lot of famous Port producers have British names.
The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis
Any Americans who are actually concerned about the safety, soundness, and good functioning of their country and government shouldn’t read this book. Or, you know, maybe they should.
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Man, we ate well this year, but surprisingly more so abroad than in Toronto.
Toqué, Montreal
One of the best tasting menus I’ve ever experienced, and maybe the best wine pairings too — there’s a reason why Toqué is one of the best restaurants in Canada.
Taste at Rustic, Dublin
One of a pile of amazing meals we had in Dublin, this Japanese-influenced place followed a visit to a lovely wine bar, and came out of nowhere with sticky pork and chicken karage and Wagyu beef and the like. There was also a cocktail called the Three Sisters so good I ordered it twice.
Chapter One, Dublin
We ducked into this Michelin-starred restaurant for lunch, and had one of the meals of our lives. The food was stellar, the wine pairings immaculate, and the service impeccable to the point of being absurd.
Maison Publique, Montreal
In what was effectively our goodbye to Montreal and Lindsay’s old neighbourhood, we made our final trip to this favourite restaurant. They sent us off with a bang, top bottles of Canadian wine, and ice cream with sparklers.
Alexander, San Francisco
After a conference in San Francisco I had a solo meal at the chef’s bar at Alexander’s in San Francisco. The kitchen kept sending over fun little treats like Hamachi and scallop crudo, the steak was phenomenal, and the Sommelier led me down more than a few intriguing paths.
Treadwell, Niagara on the Lake
On a quick jaunt down to Niagara I introduced Lindsay to this place, my favourite in the town. It was a spectacular meal; we had such trouble deciding between dishes we ordered extras, and my pork dish was mind-blowing.
M’eat, Toronto
A new addition to our neighbourhood this year, this place uses an entire animal at a time. They also, we learned on our first visit, prepare it perfectly: our steak was outrageous. So were the duck tataki, beef carpaccio, venison tartare…and on it went.
Taiko, Amsterdam
We spent a good chunk of our brief time in Amsterdam this year at this long, luxurious, Asian-inspired meal. There was a dish called a cappuccino of cepes (aka porcini mushrooms) that was absolutely otherworldly.
Ekstedt, Stockholm
The first Michelin-starred stop on our Scandinavian trip started with diced reindeer heart boiled in just-melted butter and poured into a taco, and it only got better from there. The hay-flamed beef was one of the best bites of anything I’ve ever had. All the wines were impeccable. Astonishing.
SK Mat, Gothenburg
After traveling west to Gothenburg we had a full eight-course tasting menu for Lindsay’s birthday, along with her dear friend Tess, at another Michelin-starred joint. We had the premium wine pairings too, obviously, so by the end of the meal things were a bit hazy, but I remember a particularly good Grenache Blanc.
Honourable mentions: a visit to Jacobs & Co. where I tried a 1929 Don PX; 400 Coups in Montreal where our adventurous wine orders led to the sommelier pouring us several bizarre digestifs; our second-to-last visit to Maison Publique in Montreal with Sara & Mark; an unreal breakfast at Meet Me In The Morning in Dublin; and Lindsay’s first visit to Patria.
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Listed in chronological order. To the great surprise of no one who knows me, my list was dominated by sours, porters, and stouts.
Le Trou du Diable Le Coq
Boxcar Social’s bottle list is always good for a few finds, and I’d somehow never tried this TDD sour before. Among all the other great beers we tried that night, this one stood out.
Burdock Auko
Lake Inez’s bottle list is similarly impressive, and this sour aged in cab franc barrels blew us away during an equally impressive LI meal, offsetting the spicy dishes perfectly.
Dieu du Ciel Péché Termopilas
As with last year, one of the best beers I drank all year came from a little grocery store in Montreal, in the annual Péché Mortel variety pack. This was like a lighter, more subtle version of the standard Péché, and almost as perfect.
Thornbridge Brewery Cocoa Wonderland
I tried this near-perfect porter whilst sitting in a little booth at Against The Grain in Dublin, noshing and playing board games with Lindsay after a museum adventure.
Oast House Toasted Walnut Bourbon Porter
I’ve always had a fondness for Oast House’s browns and porters, but this one was killer. The toastiness tamped down the bitterness of the walnuts which usually turns me off, and the bourbon barrels did the rest.
Blood Brothers Black Hand
I was kind of surprised I’d ever had this one before given how much I love Blood Brothers, but I guess maybe I’d tried all their other stouts while somehow missing this one? Regardless, this one’s an amazing example of a simple yet well-executed stout.
Rodenbach Caractère Rouge
Back on the topic of amazing bottle lists, we have The Wren and their deep, wide list. Lindsay and I often share bottles so we can sample more, and one of the best of the year was this special variant of her favourite, Rodenbach.
Gueuzerie Tilquin Stout Rullquin
And now, the ultimate beer list: at Akkurat in Stockholm they have a bottle list the size of a phone book. We delved deeply, and found an aged vintage of the original Gueuze Tilquin, but because it’s been one of my favourite beers for many years, I didn’t include it here. But almost as good was this sour stout collaboration between Tilquin and La Rulle.
AleSmith Hawaiian Speedway
Having travelled across Sweden to Gothenburg, we found ourselves at a cool little spot eating delicious doughy pizzas and picking beers off what might have been the best pound-for-pound draft list I’ve ever seen. This tropical stout was just the best of an amazing lineup I sampled over two days.
Four Winds Pomona
The list ends where the list began: the Boxcar Social Summerhill bottle list. Lindsay and I grabbed this big bottle of sour while we waited for some Yeah Yeahs pizza to come sliding through the wall. It was gorgeous.
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Cover photo by David Stillman, used under Creative Commons license
Thursday night we braved the mid-November snow and went west, arriving at the Loop Gallery on Dundas just in time for readings from the latest installation in Vallum’s Chapbook series. Lindsay’s friend and collaborator Zach was one of the readers, from his latest poetry collection Ladybird Bug Boy.
Also reading — sort of — that night was Steve Lambke, a local musician and member of The Constantines, one of my all-time favourite bands whose song “Hyacinth” is on my best-songs-of-all-time list. I introduced myself and told him I’d seen him open for …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead at The Horseshoe back in 2001. And then I think we both felt old. Anyway, Lambke was there to read, to his own music, from The Weave: A Work In Progress by Thurston Moore and John Kinsella. Yes, that Thurston Moore: guitarist for Sonic Youth, who also has an entry (“Theresa’s Sound World”) on my list of best songs of all time. Tenuous third link: Thurston Moore figures in the lyrics of one of my favourite Sleater-Kinney songs, “I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone” and S-K also have a song (albeit a different one, “Turn It On”) on my all-time-fav list.
Anyway, after the event four of us grabbed dinner across the street at Enoteca Sociale. We shared chicken liver mousse w/ apple preserve & grilled focaccia, some cheese, and some salumi. For mains I had the orecchietti w/ butternut squash, prosciutto & fried sage; Lindsay had the special, a hazelnut and ricotta pasta in mushroom broth. For dessert I had a chocolate terrine w/ salt and olive oil; Lindsay had cannoli.
It felt like a Honda tauntaun ride across town to get there, but what a fun evening.
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Cover photo from the Loop Gallery site
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 