As per usual, this list has nothing to do with 2014 except that maybe I enjoyed it, or discovered it this last year. In no particular order. Also, I have done more brain damage this year, so I don't remember much.
CHILDISH GAMBINO-CUZ THE INTERNET
Who would have thought that the nerdy kid from Community would actually be funny and musically talented? This album definitely takes a lot from other artists but blends it all beautifully. Stevie Wonder, Drake, Kanye, some trap, some soul, clever lyrical content....and it doesn't wear out after a few listens. Look forward to more. His movie Mystery Squad is also really good.
MIKE TYSON MYSTERIES
This is amazing, totally in the mystery solving style of the late 60s Hanna Barbera cartoons, with guests like Cormac McCarthy and Buzz Aldrin. Voiced by Mike himself with Norm McDonald as the pigeon.
NICHOLS
A James Garner show no one ever heard of from before Rockford Files? A western in the style of Rockford with a lot of the same actors including the guy that played Angel? Yes, it's true. It saved my life. And the whole series is on Youtube.
EL MICHELS AFFAIR-ENTER THE 37th CHAMBER
Wu-Tang instrumentals by a classy soul band? Someones getting laid somewhere.
PERVERTS GUIDE TO IDEOLOGY
This is the weirdest documentary ever. I've seen it a few times and I'm still not sure what it is but the host is mesmerizing. And the style of cutting from classic films to the narrator actually sitting in the sets is mind blowing. Somehow he ties together John Wayne, Coca Cola, Beethovens 9th and 'They Live' to show us how we are living under the Jackboot of "Democracy".
LEE FIELDS & THE EXPRESSIONS
Yeah, I know. I slept on this. But all this Dap shit is soooooooo good. It's like time travel. Charles Bradley is almost as great. Lee just has a bit of an edge.
BILL COSBY
Fuck I hate old Bill Cosby. He's so cranky and righteous and right wing and unfunny. So I was so happy to find out he's been drugging and raping women for years. He turns them to Jello and stick them with his puddin pop while they're unconscious! Brilliant! Evil! Now I can hate him for a good reason. What's weird is that I,Spy has become one of my favourite TV shows. It's really good.
PHILIP K. DICK
I had read Scanner Darkly quite a few times and it was in my top 10 novels for sure but for some reason never tried any others. Last year I dabbled in sci-fi, but this year I was crazy for Dick. The Valis Trilogy, Time Out of Joint, Game Players Of Titan, Ubik, and I've got so many more to go. Mind blowing, heart wrenching, funny and readable. Thank you Jesse for introducing me to PKD.
I listened to a lot of sad girl music this year. I'm a sad girl on the inside I guess. This is the Kit, Regina Spektor and Angel Olson. She's something special. Mad regrets I didn't get to see her show in Victoria. Sometimes my sad girl life gets in the way. The new album 'Burn Your Fire For No Witness'
is definitely worth getting. Punk, Country, Folk, and she's beautiful.
This was the year of Kubrick for me. Yeah, I might have seen this in 2013 but I watched it so many times this year as well as a few Kubrick docs and all his films again at least once. (except Eyes Wide Shut, I don't wanna see Nicole Kidman fucking anyone else but me). At first you're laughing at these conspiracy morons and then they overlay The Shining backwards and forwards at the same time and your mind just explodes. FUCKING GENIUS. The moon landing was fake after all.....now what are the hidden meanings in Barry Lyndon?
