2024 Festive Fifty Playlist (Yasi's version)
plus my top films and (non music) books of the year
Pod lang syne is something I wanted to use somewhere this end of year but I never had the opportunity. Anyway inspired by John Peel via Chris Ryan who makes his own Festive Fifty (I believe not for public consumption? Though not sure) I started and somehow by the grace of god finished my own version of the Festive Fifty playlist, which is a list of my top 50 songs that came out this year (without duplicating any artists, though I bent this rule for features sorry).
At first it was really hard although I think that’s largely due to the fact that because my job involves taking in enormous amounts of facts in short periods of time my short-term memory is cooked (will this have long term consequences? Need to get Huberman on the horn). But once I started populating the list beloved and cherished songs of 2024 started popping into my mind and soon I had all 50 and even had to leave a few off. I didn’t really order it by merit though the top 10 sort of is. (“Atom Bomb” by Bully is definitely my #1 song of the year - this song totally fucking wrecks me in the best way and I think Alicia is one of the great songwriters of our time).
We also did a new thing on Bandsplain where I had to forcibly remove myself from the down blanket of nostalgia I am almost always wrapped in to discuss our top albums of the year, with Justin Sayles and Rob Harvilla. This made many people online who are not familiar with the concept of a personal opinion big mad?
By far my most cherished discovery of the back half of 2024 came also via Chris Ryan, an album that came out on December 6th which meant many of those best of 2024 lists were already signed sealed and delivered when it entered the world, Heavy Metal by Cameron Winter. Winter is the frontman of the band Geese. If I’m being honest I had no prior familiarity with this band (see above blanket of nostalgia) but since falling in love with Heavy Metal I’ve gone back and listened and I’ll be damned if it’s not pretty great too. I don’t know what else to say about Heavy Metal that I didn’t say on the pod but the main thing for me was how spiritually transportive it is - it reminds me in some ways of Joni Mitchell’s Blue just in the evocation of that feeling? I should be able to further explain this but like most spirituality it doesn’t really benefit from that so I won’t. Also somehow he is 22??? I actually can’t think about part that too long let’s move on.
For my New Year’s resolution (it’s become very trendy to wholesale reject resolutions as something I don’t know, capitalist or girl boss or whatever, but personally I live by the wise words of an old friend who once told me it’s not what you do but how and why you do it, plus I believe there’s a power in a collective belief that this is a good time to resolve and renew, even if time is largely fake) I’m re-upping one from two years ago: to watch more films. (Do I have a Letterboxd? Thank you so much for asking). This time it’s bundled into a larger more esoteric effort to change the reality in which I exist (simple, easy) and has more facets I won’t go into here but because of this context I do believe it will stick this time. I started last month because you should really start your resolutions like six weeks before January 1st if you can. Here are the best films I saw this year (I’m not a critic, these are just the ones that worked for me and my specific taste profile).
FILMS
The Brutalist
This film hit a lot of my sweet spots: dialogue that is written like a play or a novel, grapples with Big Ideas, is extremely beautiful, sparkling moments of humor, gorgeous trousers (on Adrian Brody’s character László Tóth), gorgeous teeth (Felicity Jones), and Guy Pearce doing anything. It doesn’t really matter to me that the two halves were kind of uneven or that you could uncharitably view some or most of it as jerking off about making art. I like that kind of thing! Plus isn’t all art jerking off, of yourself or another?
(Felicity Jones’ wig was bad though).
Conclave
For some of the same reasons as The Brutalist. It’s so beautifully shot, it grapples with morality and greed and power and faith and doubt and god and the divine (I love movies that tackle god and the divine!!! I feel there will be way more in the coming years plus I think Dogma is coming onto streaming?), smoking popes (need you around fr), vaping pope, Stanley Tucci pope (I know they are cardinals but it’s funnier to say pope), Fiennes, Lithgow, and so many gorgeous robes and beautiful necklaces. The ending twist seemed a little zoomed through for me but hey nobody’s perfect. The Catholic monk who listens to Bandsplain has not responded to my email asking him what he thought of the film but once he does I will report back (feels important).
Dune II
It’s actually been so long since I’ve seen this that I don’t even remember specifically why I loved it so much but I know that I did. Good reporting!
Anora
Kind of the reverse of Conclave where the ending was the best part for me and sort of redeemed the whole film? I think I’m sort of in the minority with that opinion. Also I thought there was a lot of unexplored stuff about religion in the film that I didn’t see anyone talking about which I would have liked to read about. Super fun watch though and all the actors were phenomenal.
A Complete Unknown
Since like 90% of music biopics (and kinda all biopics) are bad, my expectations being low probably affected my experience of this film but I had a fucking blast at the theater. (When Timmy popped up from the back of the studio playing the harmonica I laughed so hard I cramped). It’s like a solid B as far as “filmmaking” is concerned (who am I to even make this statement) but the acting was pretty fabulous, the set design was terrific (I loved all the different interiors that worked so hard to reveal more of Bob Dylan since he never could or would), and I loved all the cigs. Cigs are so back.
BOOKS
I’m running out of time to send this before Jan 1 and I still need to do three loads of laundry so I’m not going to editorialize too much here:
Do The Windows Open? by Julie Hecht
This was a rec from Kaitlin Phillips in her Gift Guide Substack and because her taste is pretty much always perfect in my experience so far, I bought it and guess what I was not let down. It’s a book of interconnected short stories that is a light and fun read but never dumb or cloying. Loved it!!
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
God this was fantastic. Iranian excellence!
If You’re A Girl by Ann Rower
I’m actually only like 20 pages into this but already it’s cleansing me of the nasty taste I have in my mouth from the last book I read and forced myself to finish (a gossipy and useless book about two great women writers that I actually fucking hated). The thing of this collection is Ann Rower wrote lots of stories in her youth then completely stopped writing for like twenty some years when her partner ended her own life but was moved to write again in her 80s for the publication of this collection and it’s very much like you had me at hello babe. Plus I’ll read anything even tangentially related to Sheila Heti, who introduces the book.
That’s it from me for 2024. I hope you all have a beautiful turn of the new year and eat some good luck dish on January 1st.