2013

2013 was the year of the comeback.  Mazzy Star, My Bloody Valentine, Throwing Muses, Boards of Canada, Beck, Cibo Matto, Daft Punk, Kathleen Hanna, Kim Gordon, and countless others I can't remember at this moment all released new music after years of silence.  The pictures above reference the two great shows I saw this year: Speedy Ortiz and Body/Head.  I loved many things this year, but here are 30 records that I'll still be playing next year.



1. Akkord - Akkord (Houndstooth)
2. Autechre - Exai (Warp)
3. Basic House - Oats (Alter)
4. Beyoncé - BEYONCÉ (Capitol)
5. Boards Of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest (Warp)
6. Body/Head - Coming Apart (Matador)
7.The Focus Group - The Elektrik Karousel (Ghost Box)
8. Graham Lambkin & Jason Lescalleet - Photographs (Erstwhile)
9. Inc. - No World (4AD)
10. IVVVO - All Shades White (Opal Tapes)
11. Julia Holter - Loud City Song
12. The Julie Ruin - Run Fast (The Julie Ruin)
13. Kim Free - Nevermind The Blue Skies (LA's Fine)
14. Kit Grill - Mirror Image (Get Me!)
15. Kurt Vile - Wakin On A Pretty Daze (Matador)
16. Laurel Halo - Chance Of Rain (Hyperdub)
17. The Magik Markers - Surrender To The Fantasy (Drag City)
18. My Bloody Valentine - MBV (MBV)
19. Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven (Warp)
20. Ovlov - Am (Exploding In Sound)
21. Perfume Advert - Tulpa (1080p)
22. Phoenix - Bankrupt (Glassnote)
23. Phono Ghosts - Chrome Position (Skam)
24. Polvo - Siberia (Merge)
25. Special Request - Soul Music (Houndstooth)
26. Speedy Ortiz - Major Arcana (Carpark)
27. Synkro - Acceptance (Apollo)
28. Throwing Muses - Purgatory / Paradise (The Friday Project)
29. Tim Hecker - Virgins (Kranky)
30. Two Inch Astronaut - Bad Brother (Exploding In Sound)

2012

Hands down the greatest reissue of the year is Type's royal treatment of Porter Ricks' timeless Biokinetics.  A record that shook me up more times this year than I can count.  All things told, I spent a good part of the year listening to Seefeel, Aphex Twin and Elis Regina, however these twenty new records are all outstanding.  This was also the year I finally started to appreciate remixes.  Four Tet's ghosting of The xx's Angels completely stripped away what already wasn't there, leaving things swathed in static.  Laurel Halo's work for Lianne La Havas and Kuedo was equally top notch. 


20 Favorite Records, 2012

1. Devotion - Jessie Ware - PMR/Island
2. Quarantine - Laurel Halo - Hyperdub
3. Instrumental Tourist - Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin - Software
4. Centipede Hz - Animal Collective - Domino
5. Coexist - The xx - Young Turks
6. Valley Tangents - Blues Control - Drag City
7. Core To The Brave - Richard Youngs - Root Strata
8. Imagine Yourself Here - Zaïmph - Yew
9. Comets Come Alive - Orphan Fairytale - Blackest Rainbow 
10. Ekstasis - Julia Holter - RVNG
11. Winterlude - Sam Willis - Half Machine
12. Solo Piano II - Gonzales - Gentle Threat
13. R.I.P. - Actress - Honest Jon's
14. The Expanding Universe - Laurie Spiegel - Unseen Worlds
15. Green Just As I Could See - Andrea Neumann & Bonnie Jones - Erstwhile
16. Wound Response - Rhodri Davies - Alt Vinyl 
17. Retina Waves - Cupp Cave - Ramp
18. Sequitur - Steve Hauschildt - Kranky
19. Silencio - Laetitia Sadier - Drag City
20. Interstellar - Frankie Rose - Slumberland

Earth Minutes

The first time I heard Pete Swanson's masterful I Don't Rock At All, I knew there would be nothing I loved more this year . The restraint, focus, and harmonic labyrinths of this record are simply infinite and stand alone. Gang Gang Dance made the album of their lives with Eye Contact: an album so large, so far-reaching, and shamelessly, masterfully perfect. If Glass Jar doesn't make you fall to all kinds of pieces, I don't know what will.

There were so many similarly perfect releases this year, it was actually a struggle to even narrow my favorites down to a mere fifty. Emeralds continued their world-domination tour with absolutely fine releases from Steve Hauschildt, Mark McGuire, and through John Elliott's Mego-offshoot label, Spectrum Spools. Oneohtrix Point Never as the new pop music. James Ferraro in Koyaanisqatsi-style hi-fi. Laurel Halo's expansion and feminization of the Artificial Intelligence series. Julia Holter, ancient and modern. The year of Kurt Vile.. the greatest songwriter in the world. Thurston Moore unplugged and goodbye Mirror/Dash. Hype Williams and KWJAZ outta nowhere and like nothing else. Rustie.. Rustie.










Puro Instict's Dreamboat Annie: flawless. Panda Bear stretching great, gigantic, oceanic melodies out as far as they can go- once inside there's no way out. PJ Harvey deservedly winning a second Mercury Prize for her strangest, yet strangely most uplifting record yet. St. Vincent as Eric Rohmer. Charlotte, always perfect. Seefeel and Radiohead continuing to develop and refine just what a band can sound like. Kate Bush being Kate Bush like no one else can. Bridget Hadyen's secret din. Maria Minerva's triple-threat. Clams Casino's ecstatic and dreamy ambient hip-hop.

Meg Baird's stunning, life-affirming, and meditational Seasons On Earth. Seriously, that voice.. Charlambides: still, always. The Caretaker's ragtime-Disintegration Loops sonatas. Elisa Ambrogio and Ben Chasny's celestial West Hartford parking lot love songs. The Magik Markers it's not. Group Doueh's electric desert blues. Wind In Willows: out-of-space and out-of-time. Balam Acab's cherub/mermaid lullabies.

The one thing all of these records have in common is feeling. Real feelings, genuine and pure. Here is a list of my favorites of the year, all of which have inspired me in more ways than I know how to say thank you for.


50 Favorite Records, 2011

1. I Don't Rock At All - Pete Swanson - Three Lobed
2. Eye Contact - Gang Gang Dance - 4AD
3. 50 Words For Snow - Kate Bush - Fish People
4. Smoke Ring For My Halo - Kurt Vile - Matador
5. Tomboy - Panda Bear - Paw Tracks
6. Glass Swords - Rustie - Warp
7. Hour Logic - Laurel Halo - Hippos In Tanks
8. One Nation - Hype Williams - Hippos In Tanks
9. Headbangers In Ecstasy - Puro Instinct - Mexican Summer
10. Tragedy - Julia Holter - Leaving Records
11. Tragedy & Geometry - Steve Hauschildt - Kranky
12. The Vision - Joker - 4AD
13. Far Side Virtual - James Ferraro - Hippos In Tanks
14. Seasons On Earth - Meg Baird - Drag City
15. Stage Whisper - Charlotte Gainsbourg - Because Music
16. 200 Years - 200 Years - Drag City
17. KWJAZ - KWJAZ - Not Not Fun
18. Wander/Wonder - Balam Acab - Tri Angle
19. Instrumentals - Clams Casino - Type
20. Satin Panthers - Hudson Mohawke - Warp
21. Demolished Thoughts - Thurston Moore - Matador
22. Let England Shake - PJ Harvey - Vagrant
23. Nothing - Zomby - 4AD
24. Shadows - Floating Points - Eglo
25. Seefeel - Seefeel - Warp
26. Replica - Oneohtrix Point Never - Software
27. The King Of Limbs - Radiohead - Ticker Tape Ltd
28. Severant - Kuedo - Planet Mu
29. An Empty Bliss Beyond This World - The Caretaker - History Always Favours The Winners
30. Looping State Of Mind - The Field - Kompakt
31. Not From Here - Innercity - Ginjoha
32. Overall Aura - Wind In Willows - 6'th Planet
33. Street Halo - Burial - Hyperdub
34. As The Crow Flies - The Advisory Circle - Ghost Box
35. 936 - Peaking Lights - Not Not Fun
36. Hertta Lussu Ässä - Hertta Lussu Ässä - De Stijl
37. In Dust - Roll The Dice - Leaf
38. Noble Savage - Maria Minerva - 100% Silk
39. Terra - Julian Lynch - Underwater Peoples
40. Sagara - Diskjokke - Smalltown Supersound
41. Original Colors - High Places - Thrill Jockey
42. Zayna Jumma - Group Doueh - Sublime Frequencies
43. FRKWYS Vol 8 - Blues Control & Laraaji - Rvng Intl
44. Mind Controls The Flood - No UFO's - Public Information
45. A Siren Blares In An Indifferent Ocean - Bridget Hayden - (K-RAA-K)³
46. Exile - Charalambides - Kranky
47. Get Lost - Mark McGuire - Editions Mego
48. Cinderella Stamps - Ashtray Navigations - Memoirs Of An Aesthete
49. Elemental Disgrace - Hive Mind - Spectrum Spools
50. The Spectacle Of Light Abductions - Fourth World Magazine - Pacific City Sound Visions

Illuminance

Four things I'm in love with right now.





























Rinko Kawauchi
This woman can do no wrong. I can't even think of the last time I've been so taken with anybody's work. Her photographs make everything else seem incomplete. If you're in LA, Skylight Books on Vermont has a few of her books right now, otherwise Foil might be your best bet. Her latest book, Illuminance, was published by Aperture earlier this year. These images will change your life.



















Clube Da Esquina by Milton Nascimento & Lô Borges
This album is constantly surprising me with its depth, beauty, and distant innervisions. Life-affirming and gorgeous.




My Dinner With Andre by Louis Malle
Probably the coziest movie ever made. The conversations are endless, but the effect is universal.




We All Go Back To Where We Belong by R.E.M. starring Kirsten Dunst
This video makes the R.E.M. breakup kind of sad and makes me want to download Up and New Adventures In Hi-Fi. Kirsten is sensational.

Romance Layers

Five things on my mind these days.











/\/\ /\ Y /\ - M.I.A.

I don't wanna get lost on your screen except when its hit by a big sunbeam
I want you to know my thought stream, that's why I'm always trying to stay in my dream...

This is one of those things that for far too long I've admired more than actually listened to. I remember being overwhelmed by the whole thing the first time I heard it. A part of me felt like I just couldn't possibly understand it all. And I still feel that way. But the last few days I've been listening it to a lot, and its totally beyond me: peerless, third-world mysterious, difficult, beautiful, uncertain, exotic, demanding. The thing I love most about M.I.A. is the way that she can sound tribal and technological at the same time. There are layers and layers to these songs, but if you only hear them once they'll sound fragmented and incomplete. Tell Me Why, Space, and Caps Lock are my favorites. I can play any one of those on repeat for days.










THE ONLY PART OF THE WORLD I CARE ABOUT

I'm still ridiculously interested in the Middle East, Africa, Oceania, and Lower Asia. There is something about these far-off places that will always fascinate me. Worlds undiscovered, dreams not yet dreamed.














MIRA NAIR

There is something about her- a decisiveness, a precision, that completely demands your attention and overwhelms her work. I recently watched The Namesake for the second time and enjoyed it even more.



GLASS JAR - GANG GANG DANCE

This is the song that gave me the patience for epic music again. Seriously, this song makes me lose it. There are very few things more perfect in this world. (The rest of Eye Contact is equally bewildering. Every time they make a new album, I always want to live there.)












ICED DRINKS

90 degree weather calls for cold drinks. The best around are Coffee Commissary's Iced Cuban, the Cafe Luxxe Iced Vanilla Latte, Lamill's Hong Kong Milk Tea, and Joan's On Third's curiously strong iced coffee.

Three Piece Suite

Three technical years of this blog. It's 2011 now. All good things come in threes. In honor of my third year of One From The Heart, I'd like to dedicate this to some of my favorite trilogies...

Sofia Coppola: Lost In Translation/Marie Antoinette/Somewhere
Michelangelo Antonioni: L'Eclisse/L'Avventura/Il Deserto Rosso
Rainer Werner Fassbinder: The Marriage of Maria Braun/Veronika Voss/Lola
David Bowie: Low/Heroes/Lodger
The Cure: Seventeen Seconds/Faith/Pornography
Madonna: Ray Of Light/Music/American Life
jj: Nº1/Nº2/º3
Samuel Beckett: Molloy/Malone Dies/The Unnamable

Happy New Year.

Lost And Found

My 50 favorite songs of the year:

1. Untitled - BLONDE REDHEAD
2. Never Follow Suit - THE RADIO DEPT
3. I'm The Best - NICKI MINAJ
4. My Life - JJ
5. Save Me - NICKI MINAJ
6. Shadows - WARPAINT
7. I'm Single - LIL WAYNE
8. Right Thru Me - NICKI MINAJ
9. Moment 4 Life - NICKI MINAJ
10. Caps Lock - M.I.A.
11. Monster - KANYE WEST
12. Let Go - JJ
13. Fly - NICKI MINAJ
14. On Giving Up - HIGH PLACES
15. ...sLOwLickiN... - GR†LLGR†LL
16. Come With Me - CEO
17. Fireworks - DRAKE
18. With You - LIL WAYNE
19. Blame Game - KANYE WEST
20. Can't Be Friends - TREY SONGZ
21. In Safe Hands - BADLY DRAWN BOY
22. Angel Echoes - FOUR TET
23. Frisco Wave - SQUAREPUSHER
24. At My Heels - TWIN SHADOW
25. Night - ZOLA JESUS
26. My Plants Are Dead - BLONDE REDHEAD
27. Composure - WARPAINT
28. Un Soir, Un Chien - LAETITIA SADIER
29. Your Love - NICKI MINAJ
30. 9AM In Dallas - DRAKE
31. Plug Me In - SQUAREPUSHER
32. Devil In A New Dress - KANYE WEST
33. Karaoke - DRAKE
34. Ready For The World - HOW TO DRESS WELL
35. Out My Mind, Just In Time - ERYKAH BADU
36. Over - DRAKE
37. Runaway - KANYE WEST
38. Fokionos Negri Street - KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS
39. Alsatian Darn - PANDA BEAR
40. Can't Hear My Eyes - ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI
41. Can't Take You Anywhere - PURO INSTINCT
42. Rhizomes - EFFI BRIEST
43. The Truest Faith - KORALLREVEN
44. Is There Nothing We Could Do? - BADLY DRAWN BOY
45. Fair At Night Lit With Candles - DUSTIN WONG
46. Love Fade - TAMARYN
47. Ghost - ANTONY & THE JOHNSONS
48. Sleep Patterns - MEMORYHOUSE
49. Reinfo - TANLINES
50. Slivers Of You - PURO INSTINCT

The Order Of Things

THE ORDER OF THINGS

Brian Eno on Warp at last, Nicki MInaj, Trey Songz sampling Ryuichi Sakamoto, Kanye West sampling Aphex Twin and Bon Iver, Gwyneth Paltrow gone country, Joanna Newsom's triple threat, the reemergence of 4AD as the best and most timeless label around, the return of Seefeel after 16 years.... 2010 has been, if nothing else, a very strange year for music and one in which anything was truly possible. I spent most of the year listening to IRM, Loveless, and The xx along with the outstanding albums on this list. It may be a bit early, but I can't imagine anything topping these records.

Blonde Redhead went deep, vast, and spellbound with Penny Sparkle: a rock band truly gone ambient. Warpaint found dread, beauty and Andrew Weatherall. Badly Drawn Boy's elegiac and masterful evolution: modern classic is an understatement. The Radio Dept post-rave, Madechester-soaked, and washed up on Ibiza shores. Nicki Minaj: the album of a life-time. How To Dress Well's love echoes: haunted, breathless, and lost in time. Serena-Maneesh in a cave. Laetitia Sadier's remote, lonely, and brief solo debut.

JJ's Nº 3 is the dreamiest most far away music I can imagine. I was lucky enough to see them earlier this year, and it was one of the best nights of my life. I also got to see Liz Phair finally after all these years: still so true and empowering. But nothing can compare to that fleeting, magical night seeing Charlotte perform in New York. In life you never get to do a second take.

My 30 favorite albums from 2010:

1. Penny Sparkle - BLONDE REDHEAD
2. The Fool - WARPAINT
3. Nº 3 - JJ
4. Pink Friday - NICKI MINAJ
5. Clinging To A Scheme - THE RADIO DEPT
6. It's What I'm Thinking, Pt. 1: Photographing Snowflakes - BADLY DRAWN BOY
7. The Trip - LAETITIA SADIER
8. White Magic - CEO
9. Love Remains - HOW TO DRESS WELL
10. No 2: Abyss In B Minor - SERENA-MANEESH
11. Thank Me Later - DRAKE
12. New Amerykah Part Two: Return Of The Ankh - ERYKAH BADU
13. Does It Look Like I'm Here? - EMERALDS
14. Teen Dream - BEACH HOUSE
15. Cosmogramma - FLYING LOTUS
16. Have One On Me - JOANNA NEWSOM
17. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - KANYE WEST
18. Living With Yourself - MARK MCGUIRE
19. Forget - TWIN SHADOW
20. There Is Love In You - FOUR TET
21. Loud - RIHANNA
22. Fields - JUNIP
23. Shobaleader One d'Demonstrator - SQUAREPUSHER
24. Stridulum - ZOLA JESUS
25. I Am Not A Human Being - LIL WAYNE
26. Before Today - ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI
27. In Love With Dusk - KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS
28. Black Noise - PANTHA DU PRINCE
29. Passion, Pain & Pleasure - TREY SONGZ
30. Crooks & Lovers - MOUNT KIMBIE
31. Disko - DRIVAN
32. Faults - SEEFEEL
33. Heligoland - MASSIVE ATTACK
34. Funstyle - LIZ PHAIR
35. Untitled - GR†LLGR†LL
36. Small Craft On A Milk Sea - BRIAN ENO
37. Love King - THE-DREAM
38. See Birds - BALAM ACAB
39. oOoOO - oOoOO
40. Subiza - DELOREAN

All Around

A few months ago, I published a list of eight of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles. Here's an update:




















PIZZERIA MOZZA
641 N Highland Ave

Seriously the best restaurant in the world. This place makes me feel so good and everything tastes like nothing you could ever imagine. It's always the same for me here: Nancy's Chopped Salad, Pane Bianco, and the Pizza Bianca. Eat your heart out.




















CHURCH AND STATE
1850 Industrial St

I finally made it to the elusive Church And State and it was well worth the wait. Everything was perfect. Downtown cool like nobody's business.



















LITTLE DOM'S
2128 Hillhurst Avenue

One of my very favorite places to go out in LA. Very cozy with a real modern old-school vibe. The food is great, the bar is great, and I will never forget the night I saw jj here.





















ALEGRIA
3510 West Sunset Boulevard

The best Mexican food in town, this place is insane and incredible addictive. Everything just tastes that much better here, from the lemon guac, yummy salsa, and homemade hot sauce. I always get the burrito because its just so perfect I can't imagine anything better.




















CAFE LUXXE
925 Montana Avenue

Forget the cool ocean breezes, this place is reason enough for a trek to the westside. Amazing lattes and the most delicious alfajores in the world.




















AMMO
1155 North Highland Avenue

Fresh, local, and atmospheric. A beautiful place to spend a night out. And since you're in the area, Free City is just around the corner.



















SPERANZA
2547 Hyperion Ave

Fresh pasta made daily, BYOW, and a candle-lit ambience just this side of dreamy.



















LAMILL
1636 Silver Lake Blvd

Super delicious coffee, good music, and a real chill place to escape to. The tins their coffee and tea come in are extra-lavish, too.

Access Granted

ACCESS GRANTED

Halfway through 2010, it has already been a really beautiful and unique year for music and film releases.
Here are the top 15 of each so far.






















TOP 15 DVD & BLU-RAY:

1. Red Desert - MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI
2. Close-Up - ABBAS KIAROSTAMI
3. Contempt - JEAN-LUC GODARD
4. Chantal Akerman In The Seventies - CHANTAL AKERMAN
5. 8 1/2 - FEDERICO FELLINI
6. Lola Montès - MAX OPHÜLS
7. Vivre Sa Vie - JEAN-LUC GODARD
8. Days Of Heaven - TERRENCE MALICK
9. Tetro - FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA
10. The Beaches Of Agnès - AGNÈS VARDA
11. Shadows Of Forgotten Ancestors - SERGEI PARADJANOV
12. Katalin Varga - PETER STRICKLAND
13. A Star Is Born - GEORGE CUKOR
14. Une Femme Mariée - JEAN-LUC GODARD
15. World On A Wire - RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER























TOP 15 MUSIC:

1. Nº 3 - JJ
2. Stridulum - ZOLA JESUS
3. Rhizomes - EFFI BRIEST
4. Thank Me Later - DRAKE
5. Have One On Me - JOANNA NEWSOM
6. Clinging To A Scheme - THE RADIO DEPT
7. Does It Look Like I'm Here? - EMERALDS
8. New Amerykah Part Two - ERYKAH BADU
9. Heligoland - MASSIVE ATTACK
10. Teen Dream - BEACH HOUSE
11. High Places Vs. Mankind - HIGH PLACES
12. Cosmogramma - FLYING LOTUS
13. Nothing Else - LORN
14. Things Fall Apart - MARK MCGUIRE
15. Love And Its Opposite - TRACEY THORN

Come With Me

COME WITH ME

Eight places in Los Angeles I don't think I could live without.

















MOZZA OSTERIA
6602 Melrose Avenue

The Cacio E Pepe Bavette and Burrata with leeks vinaigrette & mustard breadcrumbs are my faves, but do not leave without trying the Bombolini served with mountain huckleberry compote and vanilla gelato.


















THE VARNISH
118 E Sixth St

A beautiful speakeasy just down the street from me. The most relaxing place I know of here aside from Rancho Palos Verdes. They also make the best Cable Car in town.




















GJELINA
1429 Abbot Kinney Boulevard

My newest favorite on this list and a place I cannot wait to get back to. The bar houses the greatest light fixture I have ever seen. The pizza with nettles, ricotta, Fresno chile, garlic, Pecorino & green olive oil is perfection. Worth a trip to the Westside any day.

















CHATEAU MARMONT
8221 West Sunset Boulevard

How it can be so quiet outside here at night is beyond me, but this is one of the best places to go completely incognito and escape the city below.



















CASA BIANCA
1650 Colorado Boulevard

Not only the best pizza in Eagle Rock, but the best pizza in all of Los Angeles. I've yet to find anything better. You can't go wrong with a place where they cut their pizza into a star.




















LABREA BAKERY
624 South La Brea Avenue

Nancy Silverton's bread and cookies are hard to beat, but the Summer Camp Coffee Cake is the best thing to be found here.
















INTELLIGENTSIA
3922 West Sunset Boulevard

The best six dollar cup of coffee around and the perfect Sunday morning getaway. The muffins and scones are delicious to boot.



























M CAFE DE CHAYA
7119 Melrose Avenue

Order anything- you can't go wrong. Macro and delicious. I never leave without the Celery Root Remoulade.