.
[I do a list at the end of every year. And sometimes I also do a shorter list in the middle. Not all of these books were published this year, but this was the year I read and enjoyed them.]
Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore – Touching the Art
Raja Shehadeh – We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I
Vivian Blaxell – Worthy of the Event: An Essay
Sarah Schulman – The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity
M.E. O'Brien & Eman Abdelhadi – Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson – Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies Novel
Bonus:
Some passages from The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity by Sarah Schulman
Some passages from Touching the Art by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
.
Showing posts with label Some favourite things from my year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Some favourite things from my year. Show all posts
July 15, 2025
December 30, 2024
Six albums that would have made my list if I'd heard them earlier
.
Elijah Minnelli - Perpetual Musket
Mohammad Syfkhan - I Am Kurdish
Church Chords - elvis, he was Schlager
Sahra Halgan - HIDDO DHAWR
Fievel Is Glauque - Rong Weicknes
MEMORIALS - Memorial Waterslides
[You can read the rest of the list here: Some favourite things from my 2024.]
.
Elijah Minnelli - Perpetual Musket
Mohammad Syfkhan - I Am Kurdish
Church Chords - elvis, he was Schlager
Sahra Halgan - HIDDO DHAWR
Fievel Is Glauque - Rong Weicknes
MEMORIALS - Memorial Waterslides
[You can read the rest of the list here: Some favourite things from my 2024.]
.
December 4, 2024
Some favourite things from my 2024
.
[So it seems like I now do this list more or less every year. I really do love lists. As with previous years, this is in no particular order and many of these things didn't come out during the previous year. As well, there should really be more performances on the list, but since the pandemic I'm still not seeing nearly as much as I used to and sadly this is where things currently stand.]
Music
serpentwithfeet – GRIP
Tomeka Reid Quartet – 3+3
Tomeka Reid Quartet – Old New
Mike Lindsay – supershapes volume 1
Quinton Barnes – HAVE MERCY ON ME
Jeff Parker ETA IVtet – The Way Out of Easy
Robert Wyatt – Different Every Time
Grian Chatten – Chaos For The Fly
Ka – The Thief Next To Jesus
more eaze – lacuna and parlor
Sports Team – Gulp!
Plus: Six albums that would have made my list if I'd heard them earlier
Books
Mauro Javier Cárdenas – American Abductions
Eunsong Kim – The Politics of Collecting
Nuar Alsadir – Animal Joy
Stacey D’Erasmo – The Long Run
Sofia Samatar – Opacities
Kevin Yuen Kit Lo – Design against Design
Yaniya Lee – Selected Writing on Black Canadian Art
Valérie Bah – Subterrane
Angel B.H. – All Hookers Go To Heaven
Mercedes Eng – cop city swagger
Renee Gladman – My Lesbian Novel
Camilla Townsend – Fifth Sun
Jonas Eika – After the Sun (Translated by Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg)
Performances and Visual Art
Rébecca Chaillon – Carte noire nommée désir
Sonia Hughes – I am from Reykjavik
Michikazu Matsune – All Together
Louise Liliefeldt – Seen and Heard
Plus:
Some passages from Animal Joy by Nuar Alsadir
Some passages from The Long Run by Stacey D’Erasmo
Some passages from My Lesbian Novel by Renee Gladman
[Finally, as you probably already know, I published a book this year that got some really nice reviews.]
.
[So it seems like I now do this list more or less every year. I really do love lists. As with previous years, this is in no particular order and many of these things didn't come out during the previous year. As well, there should really be more performances on the list, but since the pandemic I'm still not seeing nearly as much as I used to and sadly this is where things currently stand.]
Music
serpentwithfeet – GRIP
Tomeka Reid Quartet – 3+3
Tomeka Reid Quartet – Old New
Mike Lindsay – supershapes volume 1
Quinton Barnes – HAVE MERCY ON ME
Jeff Parker ETA IVtet – The Way Out of Easy
Robert Wyatt – Different Every Time
Grian Chatten – Chaos For The Fly
Ka – The Thief Next To Jesus
more eaze – lacuna and parlor
Sports Team – Gulp!
Plus: Six albums that would have made my list if I'd heard them earlier
Books
Mauro Javier Cárdenas – American Abductions
Eunsong Kim – The Politics of Collecting
Nuar Alsadir – Animal Joy
Stacey D’Erasmo – The Long Run
Sofia Samatar – Opacities
Kevin Yuen Kit Lo – Design against Design
Yaniya Lee – Selected Writing on Black Canadian Art
Valérie Bah – Subterrane
Angel B.H. – All Hookers Go To Heaven
Mercedes Eng – cop city swagger
Renee Gladman – My Lesbian Novel
Camilla Townsend – Fifth Sun
Jonas Eika – After the Sun (Translated by Sherilyn Nicolette Hellberg)
Performances and Visual Art
Rébecca Chaillon – Carte noire nommée désir
Sonia Hughes – I am from Reykjavik
Michikazu Matsune – All Together
Louise Liliefeldt – Seen and Heard
Plus:
Some passages from Animal Joy by Nuar Alsadir
Some passages from The Long Run by Stacey D’Erasmo
Some passages from My Lesbian Novel by Renee Gladman
[Finally, as you probably already know, I published a book this year that got some really nice reviews.]
.
December 7, 2023
Some favourite things from my 2023
.
[So it seems like I now do this list more or less every year. I really do love lists. As with previous years, this is in no particular order and many of these things didn't come out during the previous year. As well, there should really be more performances and exhibitions on the list, but since the pandemic I'm still not seeing nearly as many of either and therefore this is where things currently stand.]
Music
MIKE – Beware of the Monkey
B. Cool-Aid – Leather Blvd
Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B
Noname – Sundial
Aldous Harding – Warm Chris
Kari Faux – Lowkey Superstar (Deluxe)
HOUSE Of ALL – HOUSE Of ALL
Dreamer Isioma – Princess Forever
nutrients – Different Bridges
Melenas – Ahora
H31R – HeadSpace
Just A Touch: Underground UK Soul Compiled by Sam Don
Somewhere Between: Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds of Japan
Books
Ordinary Notes – Christina Sharpe
Hospicing Modernity – Vanessa Machado De Oliveira
The Nutmeg’s Curse – Amitav Ghosh
Francisco – Alison Mills Newman
The Fifth Wound – Aurora Mattia
A Rock, A River, A Street – Steffani Jemison
The Women’s House of Detention – Hugh Ryan
Baby Book – Amy Ching-Yan Lam
Alien Daughters Walk Into the Sun – Jackie Wang
The Rage Letters – Valérie Bah (Translated by Kama La Mackerel)
Easily Slip into Another World – Henry Threadgill with Brent Hayes Edwards
For Sure – France Daigle (Translated by Robert Majzels)
Catastrophe Time! – Gary Zhexi Zhang (Editor)
Performances & Visual Art
BLACK MOON – FATHERMOTHER (Kezia Waters & Jordan Brown)
Nehanda – nora chipaumire
Reminiscencia – Malicho Vaca Valenzuela
Quantum Choir – Michèle Pearson Clarke
The Roman de Remort, or the inhumane, villainous fabliaux of the Ultimate Carnaval – Marion Lessard
Plus:
Some passages from Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe
Some lines from For Sure by France Daigle (Translated by Robert Majzels)
A short text I wrote about HOUSE OF ALL
[So it seems like I now do this list more or less every year. I really do love lists. As with previous years, this is in no particular order and many of these things didn't come out during the previous year. As well, there should really be more performances and exhibitions on the list, but since the pandemic I'm still not seeing nearly as many of either and therefore this is where things currently stand.]
Music
MIKE – Beware of the Monkey
B. Cool-Aid – Leather Blvd
Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B
Noname – Sundial
Aldous Harding – Warm Chris
Kari Faux – Lowkey Superstar (Deluxe)
HOUSE Of ALL – HOUSE Of ALL
Dreamer Isioma – Princess Forever
nutrients – Different Bridges
Melenas – Ahora
H31R – HeadSpace
Just A Touch: Underground UK Soul Compiled by Sam Don
Somewhere Between: Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds of Japan
Books
Ordinary Notes – Christina Sharpe
Hospicing Modernity – Vanessa Machado De Oliveira
The Nutmeg’s Curse – Amitav Ghosh
Francisco – Alison Mills Newman
The Fifth Wound – Aurora Mattia
A Rock, A River, A Street – Steffani Jemison
The Women’s House of Detention – Hugh Ryan
Baby Book – Amy Ching-Yan Lam
Alien Daughters Walk Into the Sun – Jackie Wang
The Rage Letters – Valérie Bah (Translated by Kama La Mackerel)
Easily Slip into Another World – Henry Threadgill with Brent Hayes Edwards
For Sure – France Daigle (Translated by Robert Majzels)
Catastrophe Time! – Gary Zhexi Zhang (Editor)
Performances & Visual Art
BLACK MOON – FATHERMOTHER (Kezia Waters & Jordan Brown)
Nehanda – nora chipaumire
Reminiscencia – Malicho Vaca Valenzuela
Quantum Choir – Michèle Pearson Clarke
The Roman de Remort, or the inhumane, villainous fabliaux of the Ultimate Carnaval – Marion Lessard
Plus:
Some passages from Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe
Some lines from For Sure by France Daigle (Translated by Robert Majzels)
A short text I wrote about HOUSE OF ALL
December 5, 2022
Some favourite things from my 2022
.
[So it seems like I now do this list more or less every year. I really do love lists. As with previous years, this is in no particular order and many of these things didn't come out during the previous year. As well, there would normally be some performances and exhibitions on the list, but since the pandemic I'm still not seeing very many of either and therefore felt unsure which ones to include.]
Music
JPEGMAFIA – LP!
NNAMDÏ – BRAT
Cate Le Bon – Pompeii
Chelsea Carmichael – The River Doesn’t Like Strangers
Jimetta Rose & The Voices of Creation - HOW GOOD IT IS
Open Mike Eagle – Anime, Trauma and Divorce
Bron Area – The Trees And The Villages
Kalabrese – Let Love Rumpel - Part 1
They Hate Change – Finally, New
caroline – caroline
Gwenno – Tresor
Books
Diego Garcia – Natasha Soobramanien & Luke Williams
Tuesday or September or the End – Hannah Black
My Dead Book – Nate Lippens
Sara: Prison Memoir of a Kurdish Revolutionary – Sakine Cansız
The Ministry for the Future – Kim Stanley Robinson
Activities of Daily Living – Lisa Hsiao Chen
I Need Music – Anaïs Duplan
Plus:
Some passages from Sara: Prison Memoir of a Kurdish Revolutionary by Sakine Cansız
.
[So it seems like I now do this list more or less every year. I really do love lists. As with previous years, this is in no particular order and many of these things didn't come out during the previous year. As well, there would normally be some performances and exhibitions on the list, but since the pandemic I'm still not seeing very many of either and therefore felt unsure which ones to include.]
Music
JPEGMAFIA – LP!
NNAMDÏ – BRAT
Cate Le Bon – Pompeii
Chelsea Carmichael – The River Doesn’t Like Strangers
Jimetta Rose & The Voices of Creation - HOW GOOD IT IS
Open Mike Eagle – Anime, Trauma and Divorce
Bron Area – The Trees And The Villages
Kalabrese – Let Love Rumpel - Part 1
They Hate Change – Finally, New
caroline – caroline
Gwenno – Tresor
Books
Diego Garcia – Natasha Soobramanien & Luke Williams
Tuesday or September or the End – Hannah Black
My Dead Book – Nate Lippens
Sara: Prison Memoir of a Kurdish Revolutionary – Sakine Cansız
The Ministry for the Future – Kim Stanley Robinson
Activities of Daily Living – Lisa Hsiao Chen
I Need Music – Anaïs Duplan
Plus:
Some passages from Sara: Prison Memoir of a Kurdish Revolutionary by Sakine Cansız
.
December 8, 2021
Some favourite things from my 2021
.
[So it seems like I now do this list more or less every year. I really do love lists. As with previous years, this is in no particular order and many of these things didn't come out during the previous year. As well, there would normally be some performances and exhibitions, but due to the pandemic I didn't see very many and couldn't quite figure out which ones to include, which is sad.]
Books
LOTE – Shola von Reinhold
We Do This 'Til We Free Us – Mariame Kaba
Believers: Making a Life at the End of the World – Lisa Wells
Pollution Is Colonialism – Max Liboiron
Search History – Eugene Lim
Writing in Space, 1973–2019 – Lorraine O’Grady
Incognegro – Frank B. Wilderson III
The True Deceiver – Tove Jansson
We, Jane – Aimee Wall
The Freezer Door – Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
The Sunflower Cast a Spell To Save Us From The Void – Jackie Wang
The Actual Star – Monica Byrne
Eladatl – Sesshu Foster & Arturo Ernesto Romo
Insurrecto – Gina Apostol
The Secret Service – Wendy Walker
Music
Mega Bog – Life, and Another
Pino Palladino / Blake Mills – Notes With Attachments
Chicago Underground Quartet – Good Days
L’Rain – Fatigue
Ben LaMar Gay – Open Arms to Open Us
Eddie Chacon – Pleasure, Joy and Happiness
Wau Wau Collectif – Yaral Sa Doom
Peter Ivers – Becoming Peter Ivers
Gilles Poizat – Horse in the House
Tiziano Popoli – Burn the Night
Virginia Wing – Ecstatic Arrow
Fievel Is Glauque – God’s Trashmen Sent to Right the Mess
Bruiser Wolf – Dope Game Stupid
caroline – Skydiving onto the library roof
Bilal Salaam - Swordlord: Swordz II Zakat
Plus:
Some passages from Writing in Space, 1973–2019 by Lorraine O’Grady
Some passages from Believers: Making a Life at the End of the World by Lisa Wells
Some passages from We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba
.
[So it seems like I now do this list more or less every year. I really do love lists. As with previous years, this is in no particular order and many of these things didn't come out during the previous year. As well, there would normally be some performances and exhibitions, but due to the pandemic I didn't see very many and couldn't quite figure out which ones to include, which is sad.]
Books
LOTE – Shola von Reinhold
We Do This 'Til We Free Us – Mariame Kaba
Believers: Making a Life at the End of the World – Lisa Wells
Pollution Is Colonialism – Max Liboiron
Search History – Eugene Lim
Writing in Space, 1973–2019 – Lorraine O’Grady
Incognegro – Frank B. Wilderson III
The True Deceiver – Tove Jansson
We, Jane – Aimee Wall
The Freezer Door – Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
The Sunflower Cast a Spell To Save Us From The Void – Jackie Wang
The Actual Star – Monica Byrne
Eladatl – Sesshu Foster & Arturo Ernesto Romo
Insurrecto – Gina Apostol
The Secret Service – Wendy Walker
Music
Mega Bog – Life, and Another
Pino Palladino / Blake Mills – Notes With Attachments
Chicago Underground Quartet – Good Days
L’Rain – Fatigue
Ben LaMar Gay – Open Arms to Open Us
Eddie Chacon – Pleasure, Joy and Happiness
Wau Wau Collectif – Yaral Sa Doom
Peter Ivers – Becoming Peter Ivers
Gilles Poizat – Horse in the House
Tiziano Popoli – Burn the Night
Virginia Wing – Ecstatic Arrow
Fievel Is Glauque – God’s Trashmen Sent to Right the Mess
Bruiser Wolf – Dope Game Stupid
caroline – Skydiving onto the library roof
Bilal Salaam - Swordlord: Swordz II Zakat
Plus:
Some passages from Writing in Space, 1973–2019 by Lorraine O’Grady
Some passages from Believers: Making a Life at the End of the World by Lisa Wells
Some passages from We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba
.
December 4, 2020
Some favourite things from my 2020
.
[So it seems like I now do this list more or less every year. I really do love lists. As with previous years, this list is in no particular order and many of these things didn't come out during the previous year. Normally there would be at least a few performances, but it seems I didn't really get to see any performances this year. What a strange thing that is.]
Music
Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari – Grounation
Damon Locks/Black Monument Ensemble – Where Future Unfolds
Mourning [A] BLKstar – The Cycle
Yves Tumor – Heaven to a Tortured Mind
Locate S,1 – Personalia
Thanya Iyer – KIND
US Girls – Heavy Light
Ben Reed – Station Masters
Nappy Nina - Dumb Doubt
Sandro Perri – Soft Landing
Destroyer - Have We Met
이날치 LEENALCHI - Sugungga
Stuart Moxham & Louis Philippe – The Devil Laughs
Carrie Cleveland – Looking Up: The Complete Works
NSRD – The Workshop For The Restoration Of Unfelt Feelings
Jody Glenham - Mood Rock
Vritra Burd – Wilma
Farai – Rebirth
Books
Beyond Survival – Edited by Ejeris Dixon & Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet – Edited by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Heather Anne Swanson, Elaine Gan & Nils Bubandt
I Hotel – Karen Tei Yamashita
Dominoes at the Crossroads – Kaie Kellough
M Archive – Alexis Pauline Gumbs
The Employees – Olga Ravn
Indelicacy – Amina Cain
Pew – Catherine Lacey
Trust Exercise – Susan Choi
You Are Eating an Orange. You Are Naked. – Sheung-King
Tender – Sofia Samatar
The Salt Roads – Nalo Hopkinson
Ferguson Interview Project – Ama Birch
The Lonely Letters – Ashon T. Crawley
Conversations with Toni Cade Bambara
We're On: A June Jordan Reader
Theory of Bastards – Audrey Schulman
Listening for Jupiter - Pierre-Luc Landry (Translated by Arielle Aaronson and Madeleine Stratford)
Stories and Poems read online
In the Beginning, Sometimes I Left Messages in the Street – Lisa Chen
Stranger Kinships – Fathima Cader
Three Finals – Orit Gat
53 Acts of Living – Canisia Lubrin
Heal Her – Ariana Reines
Film and Video:
Auxiliary Mirrors – Sanaz Sohrabi
Vases communicants – Edith Brunette & François Lemieux
.
[So it seems like I now do this list more or less every year. I really do love lists. As with previous years, this list is in no particular order and many of these things didn't come out during the previous year. Normally there would be at least a few performances, but it seems I didn't really get to see any performances this year. What a strange thing that is.]
Music
Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari – Grounation
Damon Locks/Black Monument Ensemble – Where Future Unfolds
Mourning [A] BLKstar – The Cycle
Yves Tumor – Heaven to a Tortured Mind
Locate S,1 – Personalia
Thanya Iyer – KIND
US Girls – Heavy Light
Ben Reed – Station Masters
Nappy Nina - Dumb Doubt
Sandro Perri – Soft Landing
Destroyer - Have We Met
이날치 LEENALCHI - Sugungga
Stuart Moxham & Louis Philippe – The Devil Laughs
Carrie Cleveland – Looking Up: The Complete Works
NSRD – The Workshop For The Restoration Of Unfelt Feelings
Jody Glenham - Mood Rock
Vritra Burd – Wilma
Farai – Rebirth
Books
Beyond Survival – Edited by Ejeris Dixon & Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet – Edited by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Heather Anne Swanson, Elaine Gan & Nils Bubandt
I Hotel – Karen Tei Yamashita
Dominoes at the Crossroads – Kaie Kellough
M Archive – Alexis Pauline Gumbs
The Employees – Olga Ravn
Indelicacy – Amina Cain
Pew – Catherine Lacey
Trust Exercise – Susan Choi
You Are Eating an Orange. You Are Naked. – Sheung-King
Tender – Sofia Samatar
The Salt Roads – Nalo Hopkinson
Ferguson Interview Project – Ama Birch
The Lonely Letters – Ashon T. Crawley
Conversations with Toni Cade Bambara
We're On: A June Jordan Reader
Theory of Bastards – Audrey Schulman
Listening for Jupiter - Pierre-Luc Landry (Translated by Arielle Aaronson and Madeleine Stratford)
Stories and Poems read online
In the Beginning, Sometimes I Left Messages in the Street – Lisa Chen
Stranger Kinships – Fathima Cader
Three Finals – Orit Gat
53 Acts of Living – Canisia Lubrin
Heal Her – Ariana Reines
Film and Video:
Auxiliary Mirrors – Sanaz Sohrabi
Vases communicants – Edith Brunette & François Lemieux
.
December 11, 2019
Some favourite things from my 2019
.
[As previously mentioned, I really do love lists. As with previous years, this list is in no particular order and many of these things did not come out during the previous year.]
Books
Delayed Rays of a Star – Amanda Lee Koe
Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) – Hazel Jane Plante
Turn This World Inside Out – Nora Samaran
XYZT – Kristen Alvanson
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments – Saidiya V. Hartman
Tonguebreaker – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Appendix Project – Kate Zambreno
Overthrow – Caleb Crain
Twelve Clues – Hassan Khan
petit cadeau – Claudia La Rocco
Radical Doubt: The Joker System, After Boal – Mady Schutzman
They Will Drown in Their Mothers' Tears – Johannes Anyuru
Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow – Michiko Ishimure (translated by Livia Monnet)
The Taiga Syndrome – Cristina Rivera Garza (translated by Suzanne Jill Levine & Aviva Kana)
Music
Spellling – Mazy Fly
Sacred Paws – Run Around The Sun
Mourning [A] BLKstar – Reckoning
Meara O'Reilly – Hockets for Two Voices
Richenel – Perfect Stranger
Little Simz – GREY Area
Angel Bat Dawid – The Oracle
Combo Chimbita – Ahomale
Outro Tempo II: Electronic And Contemporary Music From Brazil, 1984- 1996
Davis Green – Parakeet Suite
Mega Bog – Gone Banana
O Terno - atrás/além
DaBaby - KIRK
Farai - Rebirth
Sault – 5
Music I like perhaps mainly because it makes me feel a little bit better about getting older
Edwyn Collins – Understated
Edwyn Collins – Badbea
Robert Forster – Inferno
Robert Forster – Songs to Play
Peter Perrett – How The West Was Won
Robert Wyatt – Comicopera
Performance
seeds cast afar from our roots – Angie Cheng, Winnie Ho and Chi Long
My Mother Was a Keypunch Operator – Wendy Hui Kyong Chun
Neuter Ality – Yunuen Rhi
Tour – Mardon + Mitsuhashi
Le pouvoir expliqué à ceux qui l'exercent (sur moi) – Système Kangourou
Visual Art
Leyla Majeri – Garden Archive
Shuvinai Ashoona – Mapping Worlds
69 Positions: Porter témoignage | Our Vanishing – Curated by Jamie Ross
Life of a Craphead - Entertaining Every Second
Moyra Davey at the Ryerson Image Centre
k.g. Guttman – Visiting Hours
.
[As previously mentioned, I really do love lists. As with previous years, this list is in no particular order and many of these things did not come out during the previous year.]
Books
Delayed Rays of a Star – Amanda Lee Koe
Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) – Hazel Jane Plante
Turn This World Inside Out – Nora Samaran
XYZT – Kristen Alvanson
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments – Saidiya V. Hartman
Tonguebreaker – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Appendix Project – Kate Zambreno
Overthrow – Caleb Crain
Twelve Clues – Hassan Khan
petit cadeau – Claudia La Rocco
Radical Doubt: The Joker System, After Boal – Mady Schutzman
They Will Drown in Their Mothers' Tears – Johannes Anyuru
Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow – Michiko Ishimure (translated by Livia Monnet)
The Taiga Syndrome – Cristina Rivera Garza (translated by Suzanne Jill Levine & Aviva Kana)
Music
Spellling – Mazy Fly
Sacred Paws – Run Around The Sun
Mourning [A] BLKstar – Reckoning
Meara O'Reilly – Hockets for Two Voices
Richenel – Perfect Stranger
Little Simz – GREY Area
Angel Bat Dawid – The Oracle
Combo Chimbita – Ahomale
Outro Tempo II: Electronic And Contemporary Music From Brazil, 1984- 1996
Davis Green – Parakeet Suite
Mega Bog – Gone Banana
O Terno - atrás/além
DaBaby - KIRK
Farai - Rebirth
Sault – 5
Music I like perhaps mainly because it makes me feel a little bit better about getting older
Edwyn Collins – Understated
Edwyn Collins – Badbea
Robert Forster – Inferno
Robert Forster – Songs to Play
Peter Perrett – How The West Was Won
Robert Wyatt – Comicopera
Performance
seeds cast afar from our roots – Angie Cheng, Winnie Ho and Chi Long
My Mother Was a Keypunch Operator – Wendy Hui Kyong Chun
Neuter Ality – Yunuen Rhi
Tour – Mardon + Mitsuhashi
Le pouvoir expliqué à ceux qui l'exercent (sur moi) – Système Kangourou
Visual Art
Leyla Majeri – Garden Archive
Shuvinai Ashoona – Mapping Worlds
69 Positions: Porter témoignage | Our Vanishing – Curated by Jamie Ross
Life of a Craphead - Entertaining Every Second
Moyra Davey at the Ryerson Image Centre
k.g. Guttman – Visiting Hours
.
December 18, 2018
Some favourite things from my 2018
.
[So, yes, as previously mentioned I really do love lists. As with previous years these are in no particular order and not all of them were released in 2018.]
Books
Clandestine Occupations – Diana Block
This Little Art – Kate Briggs
Blood on the Border – Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
nîtisânak – Jas M. Morgan
Emergent Strategy – adrienne maree brown
The Iliac Crest – Cristina Rivera Garza
Thereafter Johnnie – Carolivia Herron
The Needle’s Eye – Fanny Howe
David Hammons: Bliz-Aard Ball Sale – Elena Filipovic
Tell Them I Said No – Martin Herbert
Reading Practice for Rust and Holograms – Nadia Chaney
Music
Rapsody – Laila’s Wisdom
Ivy Sole – Overgrown
Leikeli47 – Acrylic
DijahSB – Dead Is the Pessimist in Me
Noname – Room 25
The Sorority – Pledge
Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Keyboard Fantasies
Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa
Sharon Signs To Cherry Red - Independent Women 1979-1985
Sorja Morja – Sorja
Yasuaki Shimizu – Kakashi
Sonotanotanpenz – 31
Sandro Perri – In Another Life
Devotion – Tirzah
Visual Art
Vies performatives / Performing Lives – Curator: Zoë Chan / with: Bertille Bak, Lisa Jackson, Yoshua Okón, Helen Reed, May Truong
Performance
thegiftsofthegifted – projets hybris
Nous serons universel.le.s – Kamissa Ma Koïta
A Casual (Strikethrough) Reconstruction – Nadia Myre & Johanna Nutter
Sadonna – Miguel Gutierrez and the Slutinos*
Hasards préparés – Dorian Nuskind-Oder & Simon Grenier-Poirier
Film
A Magical Substance Flows Into Me – Jumana Manna
Donna Haraway: Story Telling for Earthly Survival – Fabrizio Terranova
* I liked Sadonna so much I went back to see it the second night and was also extremely struck by two texts I read this year by Miguel Gutierrez: Notes on Idleness and Labor and Does Abstraction Belong to White People?
.
[So, yes, as previously mentioned I really do love lists. As with previous years these are in no particular order and not all of them were released in 2018.]
Books
Clandestine Occupations – Diana Block
This Little Art – Kate Briggs
Blood on the Border – Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
nîtisânak – Jas M. Morgan
Emergent Strategy – adrienne maree brown
The Iliac Crest – Cristina Rivera Garza
Thereafter Johnnie – Carolivia Herron
The Needle’s Eye – Fanny Howe
David Hammons: Bliz-Aard Ball Sale – Elena Filipovic
Tell Them I Said No – Martin Herbert
Reading Practice for Rust and Holograms – Nadia Chaney
Music
Rapsody – Laila’s Wisdom
Ivy Sole – Overgrown
Leikeli47 – Acrylic
DijahSB – Dead Is the Pessimist in Me
Noname – Room 25
The Sorority – Pledge
Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Keyboard Fantasies
Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa
Sharon Signs To Cherry Red - Independent Women 1979-1985
Sorja Morja – Sorja
Yasuaki Shimizu – Kakashi
Sonotanotanpenz – 31
Sandro Perri – In Another Life
Devotion – Tirzah
Visual Art
Vies performatives / Performing Lives – Curator: Zoë Chan / with: Bertille Bak, Lisa Jackson, Yoshua Okón, Helen Reed, May Truong
Performance
thegiftsofthegifted – projets hybris
Nous serons universel.le.s – Kamissa Ma Koïta
A Casual (Strikethrough) Reconstruction – Nadia Myre & Johanna Nutter
Sadonna – Miguel Gutierrez and the Slutinos*
Hasards préparés – Dorian Nuskind-Oder & Simon Grenier-Poirier
Film
A Magical Substance Flows Into Me – Jumana Manna
Donna Haraway: Story Telling for Earthly Survival – Fabrizio Terranova
* I liked Sadonna so much I went back to see it the second night and was also extremely struck by two texts I read this year by Miguel Gutierrez: Notes on Idleness and Labor and Does Abstraction Belong to White People?
.
December 12, 2017
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
.
[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
.
November 30, 2016
Some favourite things from my 2016
.
[It seems I really do love lists. (Thought perhaps not quite as much as I love quotes.) As with previous years, many things on this list were released prior to 2016. I have listed them more or less in the order they gradually came to me. Also, I don’t know quite how it happened, but I read so many good books this year, it really helped me get through it all…]
Books:
The Hills of Hebron – Sylvia Wynter
Outlaw Woman – Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
The Mushroom at the End of the World – Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
I Have Devoted My Life to the Clitoris – Elizabeth Hall
Zong! – M. NourbeSe Philip
Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars – Kai Cheng Thom
Accordéon – Kaie Kellough
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio – Pu Songling
Oscar of Between – Betsy Warland
All We Know: Three Lives – Lisa Cohen
From the Archives of Vidéo Populaire – Anne Golden
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? – Kathleen Collins
Radical Love: Five Novels – Fanny Howe
Dark Pool Party – Hannah Black
Counternarratives – John Keene
Salt Fish Girl – Larissa Lai
Style – Dolores Dorantes
Pamela: A Novel – Pamela Lu
Her Paraphernalia – Margaret Christakos
Double Teenage – Joni Murphy
Testament – Vickie Gendreau
Job Shadowing – Malcolm Sutton
Belleza y Felicidad: Selected Writings of Fernanda Laguna and Cecilia Pavon
Albums:
Good God! Apocryphal Hymns
Larry Levan – Genius of Time
Noname – Telefone
Frank Ocean – Blonde
Solange – A Seat at the Table
Blood Orange - Freetown Sound
Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
Isaiah Rashad – The Sun's Tirade
Duckwrth – I'm Uugly
The Last Artful, Dodgr – 199NVRLND
Anohni – Hopelessness
A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders
Princess Nokia - 1992
Above Top Secret – Above Top Secret
The Internet – Ego Death
Kamaiyah – A Good Night in the Ghetto
serpentwithfeet - blisters
Jay Arner – Jay II
Tasha The Amazon – Die Every Day
Lolina - Live in Paris
Abra - Rose
Films / Videos:
Cemetery of Splendor – Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Painting with history in a room filled with people with funny names 3 – Korakrit Arunanondchai
The Journals of Knud Rasmussen – Zacharias Kunuk & Norman Cohn
The Prison in Twelve Landscapes – Brett Story
Arabian Nights – Miguel Gomes
No Home Movie – Chantal Akerman
Performance:
Decomposition of a Continuous Whole – taisha paggett
…Truthteller… – Eroca Nicols (Lady Janitor)
The All-Token Speakers Panel Presents – Artivistic
.
[It seems I really do love lists. (Thought perhaps not quite as much as I love quotes.) As with previous years, many things on this list were released prior to 2016. I have listed them more or less in the order they gradually came to me. Also, I don’t know quite how it happened, but I read so many good books this year, it really helped me get through it all…]
Books:
The Hills of Hebron – Sylvia Wynter
Outlaw Woman – Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
The Mushroom at the End of the World – Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
I Have Devoted My Life to the Clitoris – Elizabeth Hall
Zong! – M. NourbeSe Philip
Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars – Kai Cheng Thom
Accordéon – Kaie Kellough
Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio – Pu Songling
Oscar of Between – Betsy Warland
All We Know: Three Lives – Lisa Cohen
From the Archives of Vidéo Populaire – Anne Golden
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? – Kathleen Collins
Radical Love: Five Novels – Fanny Howe
Dark Pool Party – Hannah Black
Counternarratives – John Keene
Salt Fish Girl – Larissa Lai
Style – Dolores Dorantes
Pamela: A Novel – Pamela Lu
Her Paraphernalia – Margaret Christakos
Double Teenage – Joni Murphy
Testament – Vickie Gendreau
Job Shadowing – Malcolm Sutton
Belleza y Felicidad: Selected Writings of Fernanda Laguna and Cecilia Pavon
Albums:
Good God! Apocryphal Hymns
Larry Levan – Genius of Time
Noname – Telefone
Frank Ocean – Blonde
Solange – A Seat at the Table
Blood Orange - Freetown Sound
Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
Isaiah Rashad – The Sun's Tirade
Duckwrth – I'm Uugly
The Last Artful, Dodgr – 199NVRLND
Anohni – Hopelessness
A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders
Princess Nokia - 1992
Above Top Secret – Above Top Secret
The Internet – Ego Death
Kamaiyah – A Good Night in the Ghetto
serpentwithfeet - blisters
Jay Arner – Jay II
Tasha The Amazon – Die Every Day
Lolina - Live in Paris
Abra - Rose
Films / Videos:
Cemetery of Splendor – Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Painting with history in a room filled with people with funny names 3 – Korakrit Arunanondchai
The Journals of Knud Rasmussen – Zacharias Kunuk & Norman Cohn
The Prison in Twelve Landscapes – Brett Story
Arabian Nights – Miguel Gomes
No Home Movie – Chantal Akerman
Performance:
Decomposition of a Continuous Whole – taisha paggett
…Truthteller… – Eroca Nicols (Lady Janitor)
The All-Token Speakers Panel Presents – Artivistic
.
December 8, 2015
Some favourite things from my 2015
.
(It seems I really do love lists. As is often the case with me, many of these things were released prior to 2015. I have listed them more or less in the order they gradually came to me.)
Books:
Bodymap – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
In an I – Popahna Brandes
May ’68 and Its Afterlives – Kristen Ross
Sister Outsider – Audre Lorde
Lee Lozano: Dropout Piece – Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer
The Fourth World – Diamela Eltit
Bodies of Work: Essays – Kathy Acker
Tattooed Forever – Dalia Rosetti (story in Animal Shelter 3)
Her 37th Year, An Index – Suzanne Scanlon
Garments Against Women – Anne Boyer
Writing:
Anything and everything by Hannah Black
Anything and everything by Jackie Wang
Music:
Aina More – For People With Short Attention Spans
Rapsody – Beauty & The Beast
Lexii Alijai – feel-less
Shamir – Rachet
Little Simz – A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons
Vince Staples - Summertime ‘06
THEESatisfaction – EarthEE
John Carter – Fields
Kelela – CUT 4 ME
Exhibitions:
Cuts Make The Country Better – Edith Brunette and François Lemieux
Talk Show – el instituto / SBC Gallery
Performances:
its not a thing – keyon gaskin
Resistance Solo – Miguel Pereira
Uro – Anna Natt
J'AURAIS AIMÉ TRAVERSER – Elaine Juteau in collaboration with Andrée-Anne Giguère and Luis Felipe Ortega Gil
.
(It seems I really do love lists. As is often the case with me, many of these things were released prior to 2015. I have listed them more or less in the order they gradually came to me.)
Books:
Bodymap – Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
In an I – Popahna Brandes
May ’68 and Its Afterlives – Kristen Ross
Sister Outsider – Audre Lorde
Lee Lozano: Dropout Piece – Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer
The Fourth World – Diamela Eltit
Bodies of Work: Essays – Kathy Acker
Tattooed Forever – Dalia Rosetti (story in Animal Shelter 3)
Her 37th Year, An Index – Suzanne Scanlon
Garments Against Women – Anne Boyer
Writing:
Anything and everything by Hannah Black
Anything and everything by Jackie Wang
Music:
Aina More – For People With Short Attention Spans
Rapsody – Beauty & The Beast
Lexii Alijai – feel-less
Shamir – Rachet
Little Simz – A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons
Vince Staples - Summertime ‘06
THEESatisfaction – EarthEE
John Carter – Fields
Kelela – CUT 4 ME
Exhibitions:
Cuts Make The Country Better – Edith Brunette and François Lemieux
Talk Show – el instituto / SBC Gallery
Performances:
its not a thing – keyon gaskin
Resistance Solo – Miguel Pereira
Uro – Anna Natt
J'AURAIS AIMÉ TRAVERSER – Elaine Juteau in collaboration with Andrée-Anne Giguère and Luis Felipe Ortega Gil
.
December 5, 2014
Some favourite things from my 2014
.
(As is often the case with me, many of these things were released prior to 2014. I have listed them in the order they gradually came to me.)
Music
Oddisee – Tangible Dream
Ratking – So It Goes
Leikeli47 - Lk-47 Pt. II
Little Simz – E.D.G.E
Pearls Negras – Biggie Apple Mixtape
Noname – what the fuck is a noname gypsy
Karol Conka – Batuk Freak
Cate le Bon – Mug Museum
Planningtorock – All Love’s Legal
Destroyer – Five Spanish Songs
1970s Algerian Folk & Pop
Books
Forgery – Amira Hanafi
The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination – Sarah Schulman
Islands of Decolonial Love – Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
Postscript on Insignificance: Dialogues with Cornelius Castoriadis
Ana Patova Crosses a Bridge – Renee Gladman
The Book of the Dead – Kgebetli Moele
The Girl in the Road – Monica Byrne
Thou – Aisha Sasha John
Records Ruin the Landscape – David Grubbs
The Story of My Accident Is Ours – Rachel Levitsky
History of Animals: An Essay on Negativity, Immanence and Freedom – Oxana Timofeeva
The Best Most Useless Dress: Selected Writings of Claudia La Rocco
Karmic Traces – Eliot Weinberger
So Far From God – Veronica Gonzalez-Peña
Films
Concerning Violence – Göran Hugo Olsson
Seven Blind Women Filmmakers – Mohammad Shirvani
.
(As is often the case with me, many of these things were released prior to 2014. I have listed them in the order they gradually came to me.)
Music
Oddisee – Tangible Dream
Ratking – So It Goes
Leikeli47 - Lk-47 Pt. II
Little Simz – E.D.G.E
Pearls Negras – Biggie Apple Mixtape
Noname – what the fuck is a noname gypsy
Karol Conka – Batuk Freak
Cate le Bon – Mug Museum
Planningtorock – All Love’s Legal
Destroyer – Five Spanish Songs
1970s Algerian Folk & Pop
Books
Forgery – Amira Hanafi
The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination – Sarah Schulman
Islands of Decolonial Love – Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
Postscript on Insignificance: Dialogues with Cornelius Castoriadis
Ana Patova Crosses a Bridge – Renee Gladman
The Book of the Dead – Kgebetli Moele
The Girl in the Road – Monica Byrne
Thou – Aisha Sasha John
Records Ruin the Landscape – David Grubbs
The Story of My Accident Is Ours – Rachel Levitsky
History of Animals: An Essay on Negativity, Immanence and Freedom – Oxana Timofeeva
The Best Most Useless Dress: Selected Writings of Claudia La Rocco
Karmic Traces – Eliot Weinberger
So Far From God – Veronica Gonzalez-Peña
Films
Concerning Violence – Göran Hugo Olsson
Seven Blind Women Filmmakers – Mohammad Shirvani
.
December 26, 2013
Twelve records I heard this year
.
(For some reason I told myself I wasn't going to do this again this year and now I seem to be doing it. I suppose I still love lists. I have no idea how many of these records actually came out in the past year. And the first one on the list I discovered only today.)
Charanjit Singh - Synthesizing: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat
Mammane Sani et son Orgue - La Musique Electronique du Niger
Ab Soul - Control System
Kool A.D. - 51
Rapsody - She Got Game
The Pastels - Slow Summits
Under the Influence Vol.3 compiled by James Glass
Harmony, Melody & Style: Lovers Rock In The UK 1975 - 1992
Freelove Fenner - Do Not Affect A Breezy Manner
Marathon - yes things no people say
Oren Ambarchi - Sagittarian Domain
Diana - Perpetual Surrender
.
(For some reason I told myself I wasn't going to do this again this year and now I seem to be doing it. I suppose I still love lists. I have no idea how many of these records actually came out in the past year. And the first one on the list I discovered only today.)
Charanjit Singh - Synthesizing: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat
Mammane Sani et son Orgue - La Musique Electronique du Niger
Ab Soul - Control System
Kool A.D. - 51
Rapsody - She Got Game
The Pastels - Slow Summits
Under the Influence Vol.3 compiled by James Glass
Harmony, Melody & Style: Lovers Rock In The UK 1975 - 1992
Freelove Fenner - Do Not Affect A Breezy Manner
Marathon - yes things no people say
Oren Ambarchi - Sagittarian Domain
Diana - Perpetual Surrender
.
December 25, 2008
Top Twelve (Not Necessarily Released During The Past Year But Nonetheless Listened To.)
.
The Wave Pictures - Instant Coffee Baby
Reiko Kudo - Rice Field Silently Ripping In The Night
Fabulous Diamonds - 7 Songs
Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
Nigeria Special: 1970-1976
Hefner - The Fidelity Wars
Tony Allen - Afro Disco Beat
Adrian Orange & Her Band
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah: Part One
Philip Cohran and the Artistic Heritage Ensemble - Singles
Icy Demons - Fight Back
Tiombe Lockhart - Queen of Doom
.
The Wave Pictures - Instant Coffee Baby
Reiko Kudo - Rice Field Silently Ripping In The Night
Fabulous Diamonds - 7 Songs
Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
Nigeria Special: 1970-1976
Hefner - The Fidelity Wars
Tony Allen - Afro Disco Beat
Adrian Orange & Her Band
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah: Part One
Philip Cohran and the Artistic Heritage Ensemble - Singles
Icy Demons - Fight Back
Tiombe Lockhart - Queen of Doom
.
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