Fat's HEAVY TUNES of the Year 2020

0. Introductionalizing Maunderings
OR
Methodological Preliminaries

Eagle-eyed long-timers may notice I never did manage to publish a 2019 roundup of HEAVY TUNES. Therefore for 2020, I shall start with a shortcut: this precap.

I. Opening the Box

Like a lot of music fans, I have succumbed to the dread forces of streaming, ensuring that my access to music is dependent on a router my cable company bought in nigh-infinite bulk and gave me for "free", and putting my tastes at the mercy of arcane legal maneuverings between those who want to pay artists little and those who want to pay them less. Instead of looking for music to listen to myself (by reading Twitter, the only workable music discovery service left), I let the streaming service find it for me, and I stream even stuff I already own because I feel guilty about paying the service money, so I want to get my money's worth. I use a service that is unpopular, so no pretty popsicle-stick diagrams of my year graced my inbox and then plagued your social feeds. But they did send me a playlist of how they saw my year, which I reproduce below, and subsequently annotate.

1. L'autrier Me'n Aloie by Obsequiae on The Palms of Sorrowed Kings
2. The Return by Deltron 3030 on Event II
3. 2 Candles, 1 Wish by MONO (Japan) on Walking Clouds And Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered And The Sun Shined
4. Leisureforce by Aesop Rock on Skelethon
5. $4 Vic / Nothing but Me and You (Ftl) by El-P on Cancer 4 Cure
6. Bridges And Balloons by Joanna Newsom on The Milk-Eyed Mender
7. In the Garden of Hyacinths by Obsequiae on The Palms of Sorrowed Kings
8. Elliptical Seasons by Starcastle on Starcastle
9. Pay The Price by Deltron 3030 on Event II
10. When I Was Small by Jesu on When I Was Small (Single)
11. Request Denied by El-P on Cancer 4 Cure
12. Cycles To Gehenna by Aesop Rock on Skelethon (Deluxe Edition) (Explicit)
13. This Side Of The Blue by Joanna Newsom on The Milk-Eyed Mender
14. Enter The Realm (Reworked Version) by Iced Earth on Days Of Purgatory (Expanded Version)
15. Lady Of The Lake by Starcastle on Starcastle
16. Speed Dragon by Tangerine Dream on Ocean Waves Collection
17. Miami Morning Coming Down by Earth on Hibernaculum
18. Funeral by Phoebe Bridgers on Stranger in the Alps
19. Never There for You by Jesu on Never
20. Ancient Power Plant by Tangerine Dream on Ocean Waves Collection
21. Engine Of Ruin by Earth on The Bee Made Honey In The Lion's Skull
22. Haitian Fight Song (Remastered) by Charles Mingus on Summertime (Remastered)
23. Rise To Glory by Earth on The Bee Made Honey In The Lion's Skull
24. Oceanride by Tangerine Dream on Ocean Waves Collection
25. Bach's Variatio 26 a 2 Clav by Piano Prayer on Light and Steady Piano Music Pieces

...seems about right. Mostly comfort listens, the things I returned to again and again.

II. The Long Version: The Commentariat on The Comfort Listens

1. L'autrier Me'n Aloie by Obsequiae on The Palms of Sorrowed Kings
   Sounds about right. I spent a LOT of 2020 returning to this slightly embarrassing but unstoppably catchy album of ... look, it's harp metal. I am okay with that. I understand that not everybody will be, but, hey: just means more room on the bandwagon for those of us who enjoy fun. This song does nothing for me, but appears on the list for reasons we'll get to. The album is great, though, you might like it.
2. The Return by Deltron 3030 on Event II
   Finally got around to Event II, and I think its beats are better than the original, and this song is as good an example of that as any. I took a look at some reviews, and this concept album got some criticism for being hard to parse on a plot level, which annoys me in at least two ways. First, no concept album I have heard works super well on any kind of plot level. Second, Event 2 works better than most! (Zen Arcade, Dimension Hätross, 2112, Tommy...Quadrophenia might work as well as Event 2, but that's about it...) Here, for the confused record, is the plot (from memory): there's a bad place and things are bad
   "crash landed on the planet, damn near couldn't under stand it
   Deltron is our hero, if he can't do it nobody can"
   with the help of a rag-tag band of music fans ... he does
   That's all, folks. It's not actually complicated. And the beats ruuuuuule.
3. 2 Candles, 1 Wish by MONO (Japan) on Walking Clouds And Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered And The Sun Shined
   My buddy Pierre Idiot Trudeau turned me on to Mono in 2019. I never put them on specifically, but a couple stations my unpopular streaming service has have a LOT of Mono on them, so this track was selected by them essentially randomly.
4. Leisureforce by Aesop Rock on Skelethon
   Because I mostly listen to albums in their entirety, even on an unpopular streaming service whose specialty is a version of "radio stations" that strive never to play anything you wouldn't like—because, after all, look how well that worked for the terrestrial radio tradition of Top 40 stations, who have never been doing better than they are right now, thanks—the service's list of what I listened to this year is a little heavy on album-opening tracks. Indeed I did continue to return to this album all year long.
5. $4 Vic / Nothing but Me and You (Ftl) by El-P on Cancer 4 Cure
   While I listen to records start-to-finish, I in 2020 began to try to listen to any album only once per day, and no more than one album per artist on any given day. One exception that I made was to play this a number of times in a row a number of times, because I love it.
6. Bridges And Balloons by Joanna Newsom on The Milk-Eyed Mender
   For the last two years, when I need to feel feelings, I put this record on.
7. In the Garden of Hyacinths by Obsequiae on The Palms of Sorrowed Kings
   This is one of the songs I like best on this record, along with Morrigan. Just great shit!
8. Elliptical Seasons by Starcastle on Starcastle
   Another one that's been in heavy rotation for a couple years. Basically a version of Yes that removes a lot of the technical virtuosity and replaces it with a Midwestern driving-around vibe, I like it a lot when it's good, as it is on Starcastle and Citadel.
9. Pay The Price by Deltron 3030 on Event II
10. When I Was Small by Jesu on When I Was Small (Single)
    I don't remember listening to this that much, but late at night when I was sad and sadly awake, I reached for this a lot, partly to ease sleep, partly to puzzle muzzily over the lyrics to see if they were actually objectionable. Verdict still out, but I still love Jesu a lot when I like them, as I do here.
11. Request Denied by El-P on Cancer 4 Cure
    Probably the biggest overlap between "comfort album I turned to a lot in a troubling year" and "first track on that album, therefore overrepresented on the list" is this one.
12. Cycles To Gehenna by Aesop Rock on Skelethon (Deluxe Edition) (Explicit)
    Because for years I have needed to return to the notion of "the product of a DIY inadequate home"...
13. This Side Of The Blue by Joanna Newsom on The Milk-Eyed Mender
    Oddly, one of the songs I don't avidly love off of this album...
14. Enter The Realm (Reworked Version) by Iced Earth on Days Of Purgatory (Expanded Version)
    I really don't remember listening to this record that much this year, but no list of what I listened to is truly complete without a little mediocre power metal, so I'm okay with this.
15. Lady Of The Lake by Starcastle on Starcastle
    There's a really long Kansas song called "Song for America" that I think is a secret influence on a lot of music from the Final Fantasy games, and this song sounds like that, sorta.
16. Speed Dragon by Tangerine Dream on Ocean Waves Collection
    So...I like Tangerine Dream, it turns out. It was news to me (in 2018). Anyway, a lot of nights in 2020, I would put on a Tangerine-Dream-heavy "station" and try to crash. I guess this song came up a lot, when I did that?
17. Miami Morning Coming Down by Earth on Hibernaculum
    LOVE this shit. Never remember to listen as much as I should. I think this played a lot on my Mono station...
18. Funeral by Phoebe Bridgers on Stranger in the Alps
    Best song on the record, for sure.
19. Never There for You by Jesu on Never
    ...I have basically zero memory of listening to this album. Maybe I spun it once or twice late in the year and the unpopular streaming service thought that meant it was a grower? Anyway, what I really listened to a bunch late in the year was Terminus.
20. Ancient Power Plant by Tangerine Dream on Ocean Waves Collection
21. Engine Of Ruin by Earth on The Bee Made Honey In The Lion's Skull
22. Haitian Fight Song (Remastered) by Charles Mingus on Summertime (Remastered)
    Had some jazz moments this year, not gonna lie.
23. Rise To Glory by Earth on The Bee Made Honey In The Lion's Skull
24. Oceanride by Tangerine Dream on Ocean Waves Collection
25. Bach's Variatio 26 a 2 Clav by Piano Prayer on Light and Steady Piano Music Pieces
    Suspect this popped up in the Tangerine Dream station when I was sleeping. Otherwise, no idea.

III. Other and Else

The main thing that landed on me this year that isn't reflected up there is the unbelievably fun Ummon by Slift. French Hawkwind, with screamy drone-vocals and lots of fun riffs. Basically perfect. And French!

Also I listened a lot to the Mike Bagetta / Mike Watt / Stephen Hodges band MSSV. Mostly instrumental, which I needed at work a lot, and the joy and searching the band palpably experiences was also a needed infusion this year.

Oozing Wound, great shit. Ganser, also excellent. Lucidvox! MF Doom. The Paranoid Style, A Goddamn Impossible Way of Life, record-store-person rock, with great hooks and lyrics. Rediscovered the great Ferocious Eagle, who remind us "be not weary, be not weak". Finally realized that being the only fan of godheadSilo still standing meant it behooved me to investigate Enemymine and Dead Low Tide, both of which it turns out ... I like! Some other stuff, too, I am certain.

IV. The Future, Which Is Where We're All Going

I think I enjoy the effort to listen to no more than one album by any given artist per day, and I think I'll continue it. I've tried a few historical listens, where I pick an artist and listen to what they did in order, day by day, but never managed to complete any of these. If I do, and if it seems interesting, I'll put it here. If you want to see a somewhat accurate version of what I'm listening to, you can do so here: https://libre.fm/user/Clsn.

V. Previous Years in HEAVY TUNES

• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012
• 2011

2020 Year End List of Favorite Movies Seen in Theaters

 

1.  I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020, Charlie Kaufman)

2.  Tenet (2020, Christopher Nolan)

3.  A Rainy Day in New York (2019, Woody Allen)

4.  The Grudge (2020, Nicolas Pesce)

5.  Mank (2020, David Fincher)

6.  Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020, Cathy Yan)
7.  Promising Young Woman (2020, Emerald Fennell)
8.  Kajillionaire (2020, Miranda July)
9.  Wonder Woman 1984 (2020, Patty Jenkins)
10. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019, Céline Sciamma)

IIII

Promising Young Woman (2020, Emerald Fennell) is a bubblegum black comedy revenge fantasy with an agenda. And what’s so satisfying about it is that it feels like what I want a Hollywood movie to feel like: assured, absurd, uncomfortable, relatable, relevant, serious, fun, silly, and structured. Well, what I want out of a movie that I guess could be called a date movie, or escapist, or popcorn; but intelligent, even Hitchcock-worthy in its strategies.

     The music works. So much of the tone of Promising Young Woman comes from the songs. The opening alone was worth the price of my admission. Seriously, Charli XCX? I already love it. “Boys” is Charli at her most playful, and its 8-bit NES coin sounds in the soundscape is not just fun, it says something about her demographic. But somewhere around the midpoint there’s a scene where CASSIE goes batshit aggro way over the top to the “Liebestod,” in a set piece that for me shows that character eschewing verisimilitude for emotional authenticity. That scene’s my whole basis for relating to her. And not that at this point I can even rank the music selections but there’s also a montage to Paris Hilton’s one hit, “Stars Are Blind,” that goes so far as to make me wonder why I can’t think of any other movie to knock me over with applause at the alchemy of worthless art into precious art.

 

     But no it wasn’t only the music. The narrative is an airtight genre psychological thriller morality trap. And it doesn’t cop out. Yet still it manages to stay dangerous. Its tone is traumacore. And the central protag is so volatile but not for one second would I say crazy.

 

12/23/2020 AMC Madison Yards 8

Atlanta, GA

DCP

The Parable of the Organ Grinder's Monkey

 Remember the first time someone told you there was a documentary about Apocalypse Now (1979, Francis Coppola) that was even better than the movie itself? How Martin Sheen had a heart attack while filming WILLARD’S breakdown? How Brando was so fat that KURTZ could only be filmed from the neck down, and hidden in deep shadows?

     And what about Heaven’s Gate (1980, Michael Cimino)? Which did you hear about first: the movie or Steven Bach’s Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven’s Gate, the Film that Sank United Artists?

 

     What is Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles) about? That’s a fun topic for conversation. Or a really boring one in an intro film theory context. In the latter it’s supposed to illustrate the point that there is no one definitive answer.

     What is Mank (2020, David Fincher) about? How the screenplay to Citizen Kane came about. And herein lies its weakness. Whereas Welles was a showman, Fincher is a craftsman. In her essay “Raising Kane,” Pauline Kael long ago fired shots at Welles usurping the credit owed to Herman Mankiewicz and Gregg Toland. So, we already have a detailed look at the intriguing making of Citizen Kane. When I say weakness, I mean the heart of the damn thing. Mank is hollow.

     For instance, take the protagonist of Citizen Kane, and for that matter, Fincher’s Citizen Kane: The Social Network (2010, Fincher). Kane and Zuck are mostly depicted as powerful rich men with fragile egos who build an empire but are fated to lose grasp of attaining the love of a woman they desire. What makes those films compelling are the tragic glimpses into their character; it’s the stuff we don’t like about them that makes us, if we’re lucky, identify with their humanity. Mank is in every way their opposite: weak (politically and professionally), far from Rockefeller (though by no means a pauper), with an invincible ego, and a loyal, perfect wife depicted as nothing more than an unquestioning longsuffering servant to him.

     Don’t mistake Mank for the cinnamon roll narratives of Citizen Kane or The Social Network either. Another way The Social Network is such a brilliant story in terms of point of view is that it’s not entirely focused on the making of Facebook. I mean it starts that way sure, but for me the moment it becomes sublime is when we begin jumping between the two litigation scenes, resulting in what we thought was the chronological order of the film being altered on the spot to become flashbacks. Or not only that, but take the Henley Regatta and its amazing opening with tilt shift lenses and Reznor-Ross electronic “In the Hall of the Mountain King” montage; what does any of it have to do with inventing Facebook in the sense of linear narrative? It comes out of nowhere. On the other hand, every scene in Mank is about the screenplay; its motivation; its obstacles; its method.

 

     But once the form of Mank becomes identifiable, the fun begins. It’s an historical comedy. (Fincher’s first comedy?) And finely crafted within the guise of resembling a creation of its period. Mank isn’t compelling as a character because he doesn’t need to be. He’s witty, wry, and hilarious. 

     And the imaginative pitch meeting at Paramount between Selznick, Von Sternberg and the writers takes routine exposition and springboards into an example of fine comedy timing, execution, and delivery. Especially Von Sternberg’s punchline. When before has Fincher been this steeped in classic comedy? I wasn’t sure if I was making a trite observation about the hubris symbolism in the scene where Mank tries to light his cigar in the inferno blasting from W.H.’s fireplace or if in fact Fincher intended it to be indicative of the type of rubbish one would find in the pretentious artiness of the period?

 

     Technically Mank is a marvel of Fincher’s powers of opulence. The framing and lighting of the black and white images is pristine. He throws in a nifty montage. I remain a subscriber to the cult of Fincher. There’s so much to be found in his choices. What about at the first Hearst dinner the way Thalberg sits next to Mayer sharing a settee, while Norma Shearer is in her own chair next to him? In every aspect it’s a movie about the love of movies for people who love movies made by one who love movies. And it is exhilarating to be transported during the third act into the completion of the screenplay. At 327 pages, crashing with a thud upon delivery to Houseman, with its original title framed upside down: American (maybe a little redundant that the effect is repeated again later), Mankiewicz’s first draft is a worthy subject of legend.

12/20/2020 Landmark Midtown Art Cinema

Atlanta, GA

DCP

Write Down What You Need to Do: On a Calendar, Maybe

About a million years ago, before I listened to The Best Show, even, I read Tom Scharpling's rules for getting creative work done.

1. DO THE WORK. Can you look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and say that you did the best you could?
2. BE THE BEST POSSIBLE VERSION OF YOURSELF. Don’t shortchange yourself or pull your punches because of some internal negative voice!
3. WRITE DOWN WHAT YOU NEED TO DO. It helps. Do those three things and you’ll be more alright than not.

These have stuck with me for a long time, perhaps none more than No. 3 there. (No. 1 and No. 3 jockey for the lead spot over time.) It occurs to me now that my interest in calendars, notebooks, and complicated to-do lists, automated computationally can all be seen as variations on Scharpling's Third Rule.

So's anyways, here is this year's spin on David Malki's devastatingly simple and useful "progressive calendar", a similarly break-free and formatting-light you can print out, look at, and use it as a place to write down what you need to do, along with when you need to do it.

• Fat Contradiction's Continuous Calendar for 2021

Braun Reason to Live -- In Which: My On My Grind Gets Its Glow-Up

Official Sound Accompaniment:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Clsn (@clsn74)

About a year ago, Noodles AKA TWBGITW bestowed upon me a much beloved coffee implement, a Bialetti Moka Pot. (Read more about moka pots at Atlas Obscura.)

It quickly entered the coffee-making-technology rotation, particularly on weekend mornings, when we would call it "fancy coffee". Some mornings, tho, usually work days, I'd fall back on my ancient Braun drip maker, for a more set-it-and-forget-it experience, usually grinding some beans and hitting the GO button and letting it do its thing while I was in the shower. (Read more about Braun drip coffee makers at Super! Hero! Shared! Housing!)

(Loomy Braun.)

A minor iceberg in my ocean of caffeine happiness appeared a couple weeks ago: the light inside that GO button ceased to ... light. Water and grounds still goes in, heat still applies, coffee still comes out, but without the little visual reminder that the Braun is on, I worry that I'll leave the carafe on the burner, burn the coffee, leave it on when I leave the house, burn the place down, etc.

Then, a couple days ago, Noodles gave me an incredible update, a fancy burr grinder for my beans! (Usually Bicycle Coffee's medium roast.) This is one burr that isn't under my saddle!

(Behold Big Burr, aka Barnaby Jones aka my new best friend.)

Counter space being at a premium in my humble abode, I had some thinking to do. And so it has come to pass that Big Braun last night got a thorough cleaning, soap, a vinegar cycle, rinsing, the whole nine, and is now stored on a shelf in my pantry. Big Burr and Big Bialetti stand tall and proud and more than ready to flow freely forth with my brown bean fix.

(The...chamber...comes out. This changes everything.)

Along the way, my old grinder, used daily for coffee for some years, also needed a cleaning for storing. While doing so, I discovered a fascinating feature: the tub where beans go in and are bladed into grounds ... the tub is removable. It comes out, it can be removed. Daily use for probably five years, and I just now discover this as I prepare to retire it from coffee duty to spice detail, where I can think of exactly one recipe I ever need to grind spices for (confidential to Yotam Ottolenghi: black peppercorns don't exactly grow on TREES you know, sheesh, five tablespoons for a dish that feeds two people!? I get that the book is called Plenty, but it still seems a little overkilly.). Some might suggest I had some reason to expect that the tub comes out, but I don't know what those people are talking about, or could be.

(I never peel stickers off. Apparently neither do I read them, however.)