Liner notes: Transcending history and the world, a tale of souls and swords, eternally retold…welcome to the Mixtape Monday™ best of 2023! In contrast to a year like 2016 (featured in last week’s entry), this was kind of a weird one — devoid of some major artists, and some of the biggest releases not necessarily my cup of tea. Nevertheless, there was, as always, plenty of standout music, including the Mixtape Monday AOTY®: i’ve seen a way by Franco-Mancunian noise rockers — what a phrase! — Mandy, Indiana. Play it loud! Blow out your stereo! If the circuits don’t work, the music collapses… I would vote Caroline Polachek’s magnificent Desire, I Want to Turn Into You a very close second, with honorable mention to Home is Where, Kaytraminé, Model/Actriz, and Paramore. Finally, a special shout out to Peggy Gou for an omega-level banger of a single, and to a late-breaking collaboration that brought me personally an immense amount of joy…
Happy 2023! Mixtape Monday WILL RETURN in 2024!
EDIT: I changed my AOTY to Caroline Polachek. Feels more major, more right. :) Still adore the Mandy, Indiana record.
Mixtape Monday Marginalia: If you’re in need of a Christmas playlist, may I suggest Mixtape Monday #31?
In addition to music, I also like to share my favorite films watched and books read in 2023, though not necessarily released this year. Rereads and rewatches excluded, unless it’s been a long time. Notable favorites in bold. Enjoy (or not!).
Movies:
The Long Goodbye (Altman, 1973)
Raw (Ducournau, 2016)
Titane (Ducournau, 2021)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Fincher, 2011)
Carol (Haynes, 2015)
Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954)
Ghost in the Shell (Oshii, 1995)
Orlando (Potter, 1992)
Chinatown (Polanski, 1974)
The Counselor (Scott, 2013)
Sicario (Villeneuve, 2015)
Melancholia (Von Trier, 2011)
Decision to Leave (Park, 2022)
Books:
O Caledonia, Elspeth Barker
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
A Scanner Darkly, Philip K. Dick
Our Share of Night, Mariana Enríquez
Burying the Mountain, Shangyang Fang
Tower of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific War, Volume I: July 1937-May 1942, Richard Frank
The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window, Lorraine Hansberry
Seduction and Betrayal: Women and Literature, Elizabeth Hardwick
The Wall, Marlen Haushofer
Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu
The Hour of the Star, Clarice Lispector
The Passion According to G.H., Clarice Lispector
A Breath of Life, Clarice Lispector
Return, Emily Lee Luan
Tabula Rasa: Volume 1, John McPhee
Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, Grace Paley
Thud!, Terry Pratchett
The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Richard Rhodes
Kurt Vonnegut: Letters
Rurouni Kenshin, Vol. 4, Nobuhiro Watsuki
Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union, Vladislav M. Zubok