Some favourite things from my 2017

.

[So, yes, I really do love lists. As with previous years, many things on this list were released prior to 2017. The brevity of the last three categories reflects nothing besides the fact that I did not see as much as I might have. I seem to be doing this every year now...]



Books:
The Gift – Barbara Browning
Houses of Ravicka – Renee Gladman
The Estrangement Principle – Ariel Goldberg
As We Have Always Done – Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
This Accident of Being Lost – Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace – Patrick Cottrell
Familiar Stranger: A Life Between Two Islands – Stuart Hall
From a Broken Bottle Traces of Perfume Still Emanate – Nathaniel Mackey
Blackpentecostal Breath: The Aesthetics of Possibility – Ashon Crawley
Our Gospel of Regicide – Eunsong Kim
Lady of Perpetual Realness & Other Stories – Cason Sharpe
Dear Cyborgs – Eugene Lim
Rag Cosmology – Erin Robinsong
I have to live – Aisha Sasha John
Crawlspace – Nikki Wallschlaeger
Indivisible – Fanny Howe


Music:
Mich Cota – Kijà / Care
Yves Tumor – Experiencing the Deposit of Faith
Outro Tempo: Electronic And Contemporary Music From Brazil 1978-1992
Poly Styrene – Translucence
Nadah El Shazly – Ahwar
November – Olympia
Carla dal Forno – You Know What It’s Like
Little Simz – Stillness in Wonderland
Group Doueh & Cheveu – Dakhla Sahara Session
Leikeli47 – Wash & Set
Moses Sumney – Aromanticism
GAIKA – SECURITY
Le fruit vert – Paon perdu
The Drums – Abysmal Thoughts
Gigi – Maintenant
The Style Council – Our Favourite Shop
Henry Threadgill & Make A Move – Where’s Your Cup
Kendrick Lamar – Damn


Performance:
Non Finito – Système Kangourou
DIY Haunt – Yen-Chao Lin
The Clapback – Niv Acosta


Film:
Deep Inside Clint Star – Clint Alberta
Random Acts of Legacy – Ali Kazimi


Visual Art:
Wood Land School
Parade of Champions – Michèle Pearson Clarke



.

A YouTube playlist of 562 videos (and counting). With bonus playlists of tracks by Junie Morrison and Jenifa Mayanja.

I've now made YouTube playlists in 2010, 2011, Japan, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. The above playlist is 562 videos (and counting) which means that this entire thing has now gotten completely and stupidly out of hand.

Every day on the internet I hear new music that I like (or think I like at the time.) But for the most part it doesn't stick. The next day I can't remember what I heard the previous day. And, more importantly, there's new music to hear which overrides the need to look back. (However, much of this music from the past year I have added to this playlist as I go. So this is the record of things I never look back over.)

I am currently living in an apartment with no internet in an attempt to mitigate my social media addiction. When my record player broke years ago I didn't get a new one. Instead I returned to CDs (which for some reason I'm ashamed to admit I prefer.) Most nights I leave my computer at the office and listen to CDs at home. I listen to many of these CDs over and over and over again and therefore they definitely stick. Something I find strange is that much of the music I hear online I don't know how to get on CD. Much of it doesn't even exist on CD.

I was planning to write more about how my music listening life is now so clearly divided between online and offline. But I think you get the idea. Instead...



Walter "Junie" Morrison died at the beginning of 2017 and to celebrate his life and music I made a short playlist of some of my favourite Junie Morrison tracks:





And I also discovered the music of Jenifa Mayanja this year (who is very much alive and amazing) and I also made a short playlist of some my favourite Jenifa Mayanja tracks:





(I wonder if I will actually do this again next year. I keep promising myself I won't do this ever again. Music makes me weak.)




.