rewind 2020: top whatever lists from artists, writers and musicians (round one)

Erin Moran (a.k.a. A Girl Called Eddy)

Best things about 2020: 

The Dodo on Instagram. Heartwarming stories about our animal buddies. Kept me sane(ish). 

* Flaming Lips, American Head

* New sink/faucet/counter action in my apartment. Cheap and cheerful but what a difference in my “quality of life”

* Wine

* Finally getting my new record out. Yay. 

* Being alive. All the rest is gravy. 

John Jervis (WIAIWYA)

Ten obsessions during lockdown

Broken Greek by Pete Paphides – lovely, just lovely, but you all know this, right?… you no doubt all have it already, and have been similarly enjoying it (both physically, and as an audiobook) throughout lockdown, listening to the accompanying playlist, thinking about your own childhood, remembering your own teen music obsessions… also, not bragging, but the last gig I went to was the book launch (Chrissie Hynde! David Arnold! Mike Batt! – basically, a better lineup than Live Aid) and the last non-partner hug I had was from Pete!

Jackie Mittoo – working from home has meant listening to more music during the day, and after a few weeks of trying different playlists to see what was easiest to work with (I went through a lot of Dungeon Synth, ’60s soundtracks, and ambient tracks), I settled on instrumental reggae, ska, rocksteady and dub, which in turn has led to a minor obsession with Jackie Mittoo records… solid gold…

Spun Out of Control – a cassette label that went vinyl during 2020 – broadly they release creepy electronic not-soundtracks to nonexistent horror films that have become the actual soundtrack to a LOT of walks through empty West London streets this year… treat yourself to the Sleepers by Hattie Cooke:

Double Deckers – “The chocolate bar is structured in two layers; a lightly whipped nougat layer, with a lower layer of cereal “crispies,” these are then coated in milk chocolate”… need I say more?

Disaster films – this year I’ve been watching a LOT of worlds ending, buildings collapsing, planes crashing, volcanoes erupting, diseases spreading, boats sinking and SHARKS… the Poseidon Adventure is the best one

Singing Streets app – I tend to walk the same streets for my daily exercise, it’s just easier not having to think… the Singing Streets app was launched at the start of September, and I found out, among other things, that Bryan Ferry’s Studio (where Prince recorded!), the house where Freddie wrote BoRap and the caff off the front of Common People were all on my daily route… I branched out to walks from where Dan Treacy went to school to where Syd Barrett lived (via the Troubadour, David Gilmour’s old flat, the Nashville Rooms and the Beggars Banquet shop) and from the studio where Buzzcocks recorded “What Do I Get?” and “Orgasm Addict” on 9 Sept 1977 to the place Bolan died one week later.

Discogs – Finally catching up with adding all my records to Discogs, realising how much utter rubbish I have, having a clear out, and using the money from any sales to treat myself to deluxe versions of Saint Etienne albums, and…

Paul Collins  I Don’t Fit In, the Paul Collins autobiography was announced over the summer, copies came with a 7-inch but postage from the states was crippling… a discogs sale for exactly the value of the book, record and postage, came in and I bought the book, all in a couple of minutes… I listened to a LOT of the Nerves this year too…

Joy Division – I’ve always dismissed them as a not-as-good OMD, with a good song I’m a bit bored of (you know the one) and a great song that keeps getting better (Atmosphere), but a combination of the Stephen Morris book (excellent, really funny, tragic) and the Transmissions podcast narrated by Maxine Peake has led to a reappraisal, and finally listening to a pair of 40-year-old albums… turns out they’re pretty good (not as good as OMD though)… 

Very early pre-orders – ordering records, forgetting about them, and getting them in the post months later is great… in 2020 new ones from Taylor Swift and Kelly Lee Owens arrived as a surprise, as well as the reissue of Sisters by the Bluebells, and Forever by the Spice Girls… I’ve just checked, and there is still a Pye Corner Audio box set, the new Insides LP and another from Taylor Swift in the pipeline… roll on 2021

Photograph of Nikki by Gail O’Hara

Nikki McClure (artist)

10 people I want to hug as tight as I can and I’m not much of a hugger

1. Lois Maffeo and I will eat tamales with her

2. My sisters who are quite far away

3. Oscar Soule, my college botany teacher who just dropped off raspberry jam

4. Amber Bell because she would then pass it on for me to everyone in Portland

5. My Mailman Craig who I repeated his name all day to remember it.

6. Marena at the Farmers Market who sells me bread every week and I put it in my basket that her Father made

7. Tina Herschelman and hopefully she is wearing cashmere

8. Aaron Tuller at Buyolympia because he’s not a hugger either

9. My Mother because she’s my Mother

10. Doctors and Nurses and Teachers and Grocers and Delivery Drivers. I think I heard another van pull up at my neighbor’s. I will hug my neighbor too and we will dance in the street.

Selfie by SM; Shirt: Boredwalk. Hat: Bailey of Hollywood. Specs: Schnuchel

Stephin Merritt

Ten records I’ve been listening to obsessively this year, in descending order of repeats: 

Huerco S.: For Those of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have) (2016) [hundreds] 

Gas: Rausch (2018) 
[dozens] 

Roisín Murphy: “Murphy’s Law” (2020) 
[dozens] 

Radio Dept: Passive Aggressive: Singles 2002–2010 (2011) 
[dozens] 

Toumani Diabaté: The Mandé Variations (2008) 
[dozens]

Chris and Cosey: Trance (1982) 
[many] 

Slowdive: Souvlaki (1993) 
[at least twenty] 

The Durutti Column: Another Setting (1983) 
[at least ten] 

Sun Ra: Strange Strings (1967) 
[several]

Various Artists: Congotronics 2: Buzz ‘n’ Rumble from the Urb’n Jungle (2006) 
[several] 

Photo of Lois by Gail O’Hara

Lois Maffeo

6 Women I’d Like to Personally Thank (I Was Trying for 10, but I Am Nearing Deadline)

Marcy Mays
I’d like to thank you for your cowboy boots and for always being full-on ready to rock. Scrawl Forever!

Heather Lewis
Thank you for coming up with my favorite drumbeat. Interested listeners may refer to “Midnight A Go Go” by Beat Happening to hear it.

Sara Lund
The best drummers in the world have an idiosyncratic system of timing. Is it in their head, their hands or their feet? Wherever it stems from, Sara Lund’s drumming in Unwound not only withstood the art-damaged time signatures of Justin Trosper and Vern Rumsey—she elevated it. 100% fucking genius musician.

Stella Marrs
Since we’re on the subject of drummers, has any performance more radically changed my views on and understanding of performance than Stella playing a snare drum with hands holding stiletto pumps? Her voluminous influence on visual and graphic art is well known, but she also resides in my life as a continual handmaiden to my blown mind.

Kathleen
In 1984, I lived in Portland, Oregon, and walked across downtown to Satyricon once a week for a poetry night organized by Walt Curtis (who was inspiration for the older protagonist of Gus Van Sant’s Mala Noche.) It was more or less an open mic in which self-serious poets from Reed College would recite their verse and aging gay men would yell at them. (“You are an abortion!” was a favorite taunt I heard there.) One consistent feature of this weekly event was the pre-intermission arrival to the stage of a late-middle-aged woman named Kathleen, who would sing (a capella) the 1961 hit “Norman” and then return to her seat next to her ever-changing (yet gentlemanly) elderly date. Each of the 7 or 8 times I heard her sing it, it was so pure. And never once was it not entirely cheered on and welcomed by the otherwise vicious crowd. She is unforgettable to me and I wish I’d had the good fortune to get to know her.

Gilmore Tamny
A friend had a copy of Wiglet in his apartment and I picked it up to scan the contents, thinking it was a music zine. In it, there was a cartoon about having a job where you had to drive around all over the place and knock on people’s doors. But the panels ended before the actual job was named. So I wrote a letter to the zine address in Columbus, Ohio, and asked if the job had been delivering flowers or pizzas. I received a note in return that said, “I was a process server.” That brief letter of reply (in 1985?) brought Gilmore Tamny into my life and from then on she has been a total heroine to me. Who else can make a shitty job into a thrilling zine cliff-hanger? Who else can convince me to go on a 1-show tour, in order to drive to Columbus, OH and play at an All Girl All Star Hoedown? (With Scrawl! See above!) And who has combined metal chops and chutzpah in bands the Yips, Weather Weapon and in her side gig as a spokesmodel for the Mystery? And who follows their idle thoughts of, “Hmmm…maybe it would be interesting to become an expert in art theft and forgery?” into REALITY??? Musician, artist, novelist, poet, promoter and Bostonian Gilmore Tamny, that’s who. All hail.

Thank you, brilliant women. 

Photograph by Meredith Heuer

Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket)

Books of Poetry I found especially useful this year:

Gwendolyn Brooks – Blacks

Anslem Hollo – Sojourner Microcosms

Robert Fernandez – Scarecrow

Samuel Amadon – Listener

Louis MacNeice – Autumn Journal

Caroline Bird – The Hat Stand Union

Ada Limon – The Carrying

Atsuro Riley – Romey’s Order

Elizabeth Bishop – Questions of Travel

whoever wrote Gilgamesh – Gilgamesh

Rachel Blumberg and Jeffrey Underhill (artists, musicians)

Top ten favorite foods we made in 2020 that gave us some slivers of happiness.

1. enchilada lasagna

2. cullen skink

3. bacalao gommes

4. vegetable shepherds pie

5. kedgeree

6. grilled scallops

7. pan con tomate with garden tomatoes

8. sourdough discard biscuits with fig jam

9. eggplant parmesan

10. gingerbread pancakes

Gilmore (left); Weather Weapon photo by Sasha Pedro

Gilmore Tamny (Weather Weapon)

10 Things That Happened, I Noticed, Were Important to Me, or Were Merely Novel

This list does not include my shock, horror, and despair of the wider world. Take that as writ. 

1. passed a dear friend on the street without recognizing her due to masks and fogged-up glasses 

2. drew chinchilla plotting to destroy a Chihuly 

3. thought New England spring 2020 tulip game absolutely outstanding

4. discovered the way I express love to my petfriend is to continually fret about their wellbeing and contentment, and the way I experience work anxiety is a tiny tasered sensation everytime I hear that arriving email bingbong 

6. started a taut psychological thriller

7. took a class on Sea Monsters

8. thought about hypocrisy all the time—mine, yours, the world

9. FOOD: a) tried to bring iceberg lettuce back into my life b) bought a croissant crust frozen pizza, made a big deal about it, thought about doing a Zoom roundtable where we try/discuss en masse, but it still lays in my freezer withering c) discovered there is no room at the adjective inn for Snickerdoodle-flavored popcorn 

10. had a fling with nonfiction: The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: The Amazing Story of How America Lost Its Mind Over a Plush Toy—and the Eccentric Genius Behind ItMy Friend Anna, and Children of Ash and Elm. All highly recommend (not necessarily pub this year BTW).

Oed Ronne (The Ocean Blue)

Top Ten Episodes of The Rockford Files

1.      The Farnsworth Stratagem

2.      Quickie Nirvana

3.      In Pursuit of Carol Thorne

4.      The Girl in the Bay City Boys Club

5.      The Mayor’s Committee from Deer Lick Falls

6.      The Oracle Wore a Cashmere Suit

7.      The Becker Connection

8.      Requiem for a Funny Box

9.      Dwarf in a Helium Hat

10.    If the French Heel is Back, Can the Nehru Jacket Be Far Behind?

Portland photo by Gail O

Chickfactor editor in chief Gail O’Hara

Top Ten Things I Miss About Portland

1. Eating! Especially at Back to Eden Café (RIP), Harlow, Kati Thai, Luc Lac, Maruti, the Sudra, Supernova, Cedo’s, Eb & Bean, Tarai Thai, Modern Times, including delicious big bowls at Bye & Bye and Sweet Hereafter, the best falafel and hummus and pickled veggies in the entire world at Cedo’s, the vegan pizza at Red Sauce, Pizza Jerk and Virtuous Pie, the hummus at Aviv, the breakfast, reubens and burgers from Off the Griddle, oh so many things! I’ve probably already lost a stone by being gone (not really). I wish I could order takeout of everything and have it delivered. Vegan heaven. Comfort food capital of the world.

2. Playing indoor futbol with my team The Crusty Punks. They are the best! After 9 months of not playing, I feel sad and less powerful.

3. Chanting my head off at Portland Thorns games (also so sad that I won’t be seeing Crystal Dunn play a bunch of home games; also sad that Tobin Heath is technically no longer a Thorn; I will miss seeing Christine Sinclair and Lindsey Horan play a ton) I am starting a covert Rose City Riveters supporters group in my current home town if anyone wants to join. #BAONPDX

4. Screaming like a banshee and jumping up and down and swinging my scarf at Portland Timbers games; I never truly understood the meaning of sports until I became a fan of this team in 2011. My love for them; their love for the fans; the love affair between the Timbers Army and the players, so pure, so magical. The Magic Is Real. #RCTID

5. Karaoke!! Especially at Voicebox with like 8 of my friends. My standards: “99 Red Balloons,” “Buffalo Stance,”  and I miss the group scream-along to any B-52s tune.

6. Beulahland: my footie-watching local, where I wasn’t crazy about the food but I dug the atmosphere, the people, the vending machine and the left-wing history. (sings) “Where everybody knows your name…” 

7. Toffee Club! It was such a fun place to watch women’s futbol, like the Thorns and the USWNT, plus the cider selection and the people were so great. We all used to DJ there a few years ago. I guess I miss living in SCUSA (Soccer City USA): ya think?

8. Walking in parks with friends! Especially in Laurelhurst and Mt Tabor, the general overwhelming blossoming fertile bucolic pastoral beauty of the Pacific NW, the elephants and seals at the zoo, and the Japanese Garden and International Rose Test Garden. So much beauty.

9. Venues! There were three venues that I treasured the most: Doug Fir, which is ideal in terms of size, sightlines, coziness, sound, and everything. It’s underground and looks like a softly furnished log cabin. Mississippi Studios, which is just a wonderful space in every way, though I never was able to set up shows at either sadly. And of course Bunk Bar, which is the greatest in terms of working with them on events, they feed the bands fancy tater tots and big sandwiches, they pay artists properly and are easy to work with. The shows we did set up there were epic. 

10. Record stores! Bookshops! Powell’s. Old movie theaters! Dive bars. Bridges and rivers.

11. My friends! Their dogs! Their yards. Their support and company and conversation. Still can’t quite accept that I’m not going back. (I know I’ll fall in love with my new home but I feel like life is in limbo so…)

Photograph of Jen by Gail O’Hara

Jen Sbragia (The Softies, All Girl Summer Fun Band, chickfactor designer)

1. Feeding and viewing hummingbirds on my porch
2. Walking through deep puddles in old rainboots that I have mended with goo I bought from the internet
3. Listening to podcasts about crimes and/or terrifying stories and then podcasts about self-help and mindfulness whilst cooking.
4. Coffee
5. Avoiding sugar long enough that a consuming a small chunk of dark chocolate feels like snorting a line of something
6. Fashion Plates and colored pencils
7. Potatoes in all forms
8. Snuggling with calm children
9. Not putting on jeans for almost a year and also witnessing the death of the skinny jeans trend and being like, “cool… bye”
10. Porch dates

Photograph of Sukhdev by Gail O’Hara

Sukhdev Sandhu

What I did in 2020

Switched off the news.

Followed Peter Terzian on Instagram as he shared and contemplated photographs of himself. One a year up until the present. (He’s a very handsome 52.)

Wiggled around in the kitchen while listening to Jarvis Cocker’s Saturday-night Domestic Disco DJ sets in the spring.

Caught up with The World At War. All 26 episodes and 47 years after it was made.

Cheered on Sander Bos and Esther Perbandt in the first series of Making The Cut. Mittel-European fashion designers really do trump American ones.

Went to Germany, embraced lido culture, and took up cycling.

Missed drinking through the night with strangers at Milano’s on New York’s East Houston Street.

Bought lots of records from Monorail in Glasgow and Discreet (a.k.a. ‘New Sounds of Swedish Underground’) in Gothenburg.

Listened to Mikey Kirkpatrick’s daily live flute improvisations on Wild Lakes Radio.

Wandered through forests looking for deer and pondering the past and the future.

Watched lots of ski jumping and took up sledding.

Sent Christmas cards for the first time in three decades.

Dawn Sutter Madell (Agoraphone)

I found it hard to concentrate on much besides music, but here is a top 10 list of things that distracted me from 2020

1. ancestry deep dives
2. schitt’s creek (which I had never watched)
3. true crime (podcasts, doc-series)
4. gardening for myself
5. gardening for others
6. freaks and geeks re-watch
7. running
8. Cassi Namoda art 
9. His Dark Materials (the show)
10. cbd

Photograph of Jeffrey by Gail O’Hara

Jeffrey HoneyBunch

13 Highlights in a Low-Life Year 

1 Gonsalves Portuguese Seasoning (an indispensable part of our pantry)
2 Open E Tuning (courtesy of Johnny Marr’s “Headmaster Ritual” guitar tutorial on YouTube. Now I use it on everything, just like the Portuguese seasoning)
3 Arch Cape, Oregon
4 Kamala Harris
John was Trying to Contact Aliens doc. on Netflix
6 Anarchist Jurisdictions (There were no delays getting our Holiday packages either to or from Portland—go figure.)
7 Michael Galinsky’s photo archives
8 KMUN Coast Community Radio, Astoria, Oregon (especially the rockin’ Backbeat program, and the ship report)
Strum & Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983–1987 compilation (Captured Tracks)
10 City of Dreams: a tasty unfiltered/citrusy pale ale from Ft. George Brewery in Astoria, OR.
11 Takeout Cocktails: an idea whose time has come, and hopefully outlasts the pandemic.
12 O & H Bakery’s Almond Kringle: Maybe the sweetest thing to ever come out of Racine, WI
13 Cawston Press’s Rhubarb soda (hard to pick a favorite flavor—their Elderflower Lemonade is also right up there.)

Evelyn (left). Photograph courtesy of Cotton Candy

Evelyn Hurley (Cotton Candy)

Top 10 walks & bike rides I made in 2020

#10- The walk from my house to Central Square, Cambridge. A utilitarian walk usually made to complete chores.

#9- The walk from my house to Whole Foods on Beacon St., Somerville. The sidewalks are usually really crowded, and there seems to be a lot of pedestrians who don’t know how to socially distance and also share the sidewalk, and the intersection at Inman Square is kind of annoying. But other than that, it gets me where I need to go pretty quickly. 

#8- The bike ride from my house to my office. Thankfully there wasn’t as much traffic as usual, and it’s not a relaxing or easy bike ride, but it was nice to be back in the office even if it was only for one day a week.

#7- The walk from my office to the library stacks. I used to think it was ordinary, now I find it exhilarating! 

#6- The walk from my office to Trader Joe’s and the Trillium beer garden. I always come back to work with delicious goodies in my bags!

#5- The walk along the beach in South Boston with my friend Viktoria and her adorable dog.

#4- The walk up Buffalo or Seneca Street in Ithaca, NY. It’s a brutal hike up this street, but you get your entire workout ring closed and it’s a thrill to successfully achieve the hike!

#3- The walk from my house to the Cambridge Brewing Company, two blocks away.

#2- The bike ride from the Provincetown Ferry to Race Point Beach, Cape Cod. I only did it once this summer, but it was hard and totally rewarding.

#1- The daily walk I took from my house over the Longfellow Bridge and back. I’d head out after WFH was done, or I’d finished making dinner, this jaunt was my daily dose of sanity. I’d listen to books on tape, podcasts like “Rock and Roll Film Club,” new music, Folklore” from TS was in heavy rotation, or I’d talk to friends on the phone.  I have far too many pictures of the sunsets, which were often technicolor and always gave me hope.

Hope 2021 is good for everyone and we are all healthy and safe.

our 2012 lists, round four!

in case you missed them, here you may read round one, round two and round three as well!

chickfactor editor gail’s top 20 records of the year

1. grass widow, internal logic
2. jim ruiz set, mount curve avenue
3. tender trap, ten songs about girls
4. lightships, electric cable
5. frankie rose, interstellar
6. sharon van etten, tramp
7. saint etienne, words and music
8. corin tucker band, kill my blues
9. veronica falls, veronica falls (technically 2011)
10. lambchop, mr. m
11. beachwood sparks, the tarnished gold
12. the hangover lounge box set, various artists
13. amor de días, the house at sea (technically 2013)
14. yo la tengo, fade (technically 2013)
15. samara lubelski, wavelength
16. black tambourine, onetwothreefour (ramones covers!)
17. songs of the year: grass widow, “disappearing industries” 7”
18. grass widow, “milo minute” 7-inch and video
19. withered hand, “heart heart”
20. dump, “nyc tonight”

mike slumberland’s ten records I listened to the most in 2012

1. four tet, jupiters 12″
2. robert hood, motor: nighttime world 3
3. liechtenstein, fast forward LP
4. lightships, fear and doubt 10″
5. linden, bleached highlights
6. moodymann, why do u feel 12″
7. saint etienne, words and music
8. sea pinks, freak waves
9. various artists, time to go: the southern psychedelic moment: 1981–98 LP
10. young guv & the scuzz, a love too strong EP

sean price’s (fortuna pop!) top ten list

1. chain and the gang “in cool blood” (k records). ian svenonius has now been in three of the greatest rockandroll bands of all time. go figure.
2. the precise moment during “mission bells” when linton and gary olson’s twin trumpet attack kicked in and shattered the mirrorball. (chickfactor 20th anniversary, bush hall, london)
3. ben rivers “slow action”. dreamy, hypnotic and disturbing film installation only bettered by the scotch egg and gallery-brewed real ale I enjoyed in the café afterwards. (hepworth gallery, wakefield)
4. the imposter (dir. bart layton). a documentary that thinks it’s a thriller.
5. dan greene “knife thrower”. illustrations from the mind-blowing alternative universe of the butterflies of love / mountain movers man, on card, wood and whatever else came to hand. (intercambio gallery, new haven)
6. bill fay, life is people (dead oceans). spiritual music.
7. amour (dir. michael haneke). one day he’s going to stop making these crowd pleasing feel-good flicks and turn his hand to something serious.
8. jeremy deller “joy in people”. marvelous, life-affirming art about stuff that matters. (hayward gallery, london)
9. leonard cohen live. three hours of laughing len in concert. at a castle in copenhagen. beat that. (rosenborg castle, copenhagen)
10. porgy & bess. I hear the songs of georgie gershwin. possibly transposed to apartheid-era soweto. (cape town opera, ENO)

rachel blumberg’s top ten music experiences

1. watching black tambourine and small factory at chickfactor NY, brooklyn, ny.
2. playing many happy hours with michael hurley and the croakers at the laurelthirst, portland, oregon.
3. playing with the the cascadia ensemble (me, tara jane o’neil, tender forever, dragging an ox through water, lisa schonberg) at the keep portland weird festival, paris and metz, france.
4. playing with tim rutili (califone) to live film at midnight at huichica music festival, sonoma, california.
5. watching beachwood sparks, old light, and sea of bees at huichica music festival, sonoma, california.
6. playing with tara jane o’neil and mirah at the keep portland weird festival, paris and metz, france.
7. playing with michael hurley and the croakers at my going away party, type foundry studios, portland, oregon.
8. playing with the secret drum band, all over oregon and california.
9. watching sad horse in a very wonderfully crowded valentines, portland, oregon.
10. watching alela diane at the woods stage with friends at dusk at the all around amazing pickathon music festival, pendarvais farm, oregon.

sadie underhill’s (jeffrey honeybunch’s daughter and japanese vocaloid specialist) top ten vocaloids

1. rin kagamine
2. IA
3. CUL
4. gumi
5. len kagamine
6. SF-A2 miki
7. piko utatane
8. lily
9. aoki lapis
10. KAITO

gail’s top ten things to avoid so we can stop climate change

1. meat
2. fish
3. big stupid supermarkets
4. non-recycled loo roll
5. bottled water
6. long-distance food
7. plastic bags
8. big stupid cars
9. waterfront property
10. monsanto

rachel blumberg & jeffrey honeybunch’s top ten cities we visited

1. savannah, georgia.
2. st. augustine, florida.
3. kingston, new york.
4. saugerties, new york.
5. new bedford, massachusetts.
6. woonsocket, rhode island.
7. rochester, new hampshire.
8. tarpon springs, florida.
9. arcata, california.
10. port orford, oregon.

sukhdev sandhu: ten books bought in london at the end of 2012

1. christopher fowler, invisible ink: how 100 great authors disappeared
2. eddie johnson, tales from the two puddings: stratford, east london’s olympic city, in the 1960s
3. kathy battista, renegotiating the body: feminist art in 1970s london
4. daniel poyner (ed.), autonomy: the cover designs of anarchy, 1961-1970
5. metrozones (ed.), faith is the place: the urban cultures of global prayers
6. jason eskenazi, by the glow of the jukebox: the americans list
7. born in flames
8. karren ablaze!, the city is ablaze! the story of a post-punk popzine, 1984–1994
9. maria fusco and richard birkett (eds.), cosey complex
10. hito steyerl, the wretched of the screen

joe brooker (the pines, foxgloves): top ten sentences from james joyce’s ulysses (only one per episode)

1. woodshadows floated silently by through the morning peace from the stairhead seaward where he gazed.
2. on his wise shoulders through the checkerwork of leaves the sun flung spangles, dancing coins.
3. listen: a fourworded wavespeech: seesoo, hrss, rsseeiss, ooos.
4. those homely recipes are often the best: strawberries for the teeth: nettles and rainwater: oatmeal they say steeped in buttermilk.
5. pineapple rock, lemon platt, butter scotch.
6. hot herringpies, green mugs of sack, honeysauces, sugar of roses, marchpane, gooseberried pigeons, ringocandies.
7. miss douce halfstood to see her skin askance in the barmirror gildedlettered where hock and claret glasses shimmered and in their midst a shell.
8. lady sylvester elmshade, mrs barbara lovebirch, mrs poll ash, mrs holly hazeleyes, miss daphne bays, miss dorothy canebrake, mrs clyde twelvetrees, mrs rowan greene, mrs helen vinegadding, miss virginia creeper, miss gladys beech, miss olive garth, miss blanche maple, mrs maud mahogany, miss myra myrtle, miss priscilla elderflower, miss bee honeysuckle, miss grace poplar, miss o mimosa san, miss rachel cedarfrond, the misses lilian and viola lilac, miss timidity aspenall, mrs kitty dewey-mosse, miss may hawthorne, mrs gloriana palme, mrs liana forrest, mrs arabella blackwood and mrs norma holyoake of oakholme regis graced the ceremony by their presence.
9. nevertheless, without going into the minutiae of the business, the eloquent fact remained that the sea was there in all its glory and in the natural course of things somebody or other had to sail on it and fly in the face of providence though it merely went to show how people usually contrived to load that sort of onus on to the other fellow like the hell idea and the lottery and insurance which were run on identically the same lines so that for that very reason if no other lifeboat sunday was a highly laudable institution to which the public at large, no matter where living inland or seaside, as the case might be, having it brought home to them like that should extend its gratitude also to the harbourmasters and coastguard service who had to man the rigging and push off and out amid the elements whatever the season when duty called ireland expects that every man and so on and sometimes had a terrible time of it in the wintertime not forgetting the irish lights, kish and others, liable to capsize at any moment, rounding which he once with his daughter had experienced some remarkably choppy, not to say stormy, weather.
10. furthermore, silly milly, she dreamed of having had an unspoken unremembered conversation with a horse whose name had been joseph to whom (which) she had offered a tumblerful of lemonade which it (he) had appeared to have accepted (cf. hearthdreaming cat).

chickfactor 2012 lists: round three

may we present round three of our 2012 lists! in case you missed them, round one is here and round two is here.

joe brooker (the pines): top ten attractive modernist writers

(all to be pictured at their peak, c. eg mid-20s: no alluring oldsters here)

  1. mina loy
  2. katherine mansfield
  3. jean rhys
  4. w.b. yeats
  5. ezra pound
  6. william carlos williams
  7. james joyce
  8. arthur rimbaud
  9. t.s. eliot
  10. virginia woolf

+ one hollywood wild card: anita loos (pictured above), ‘the soubrette of satire’ (photoplay), more stunning than any of them.

 

stephin merritt: movies I liked in 2012

  1. life of pi
  2. searching for sugarman
  3. detropia
  4. a separation
  5. this is not a film
  6. photographic memory
  7. dark horse
  8. bear city 2: the proposal
  9. how to survive a plague
  10. die nibelungen (restoration)

calvin johnson’s (k records) 2012 favorites in no particular order

  1. laura leif, rough beast CS
  2. priests, “radiation” 45 (sister polygon)
  3. dent may, do things LP (paw tracks)
  4. quintron & miss pussycat, “haterz” 7″ (rhinestone)
  5. my friend wallis / watermelon split 45 (student loan)
  6. channels 3 and 4, christianity LP (gelgongo)
  7. cold warps, “slimer” 45 (fundog)
  8. christian mistress, possession LP (relapse)
  9. briana marela, speak from your heart LP (bicycle)
  10. stickers, buy my nightmares CS
  11. the evens, the odds LP (dischord)
  12. ballantynes, “misery” 45 (la-ti-da)
  13. hysterics, EP plus CS
  14. weird TV 12″ EP (perennial)
  15. nite prison, compilation LP
  16. memory boys, send it across to me LP
  17. fred thomas, night times LP (frameworks)

 

gilmore tamny’s (the yips, wiglet) 2012 list

  1. LOIS at the CHICKFACTOR NYC show
  2. bill orcutt and chris corsano show
  3. how to be black by baratunde thurston
  4. various and sundry major stars shows
  5. sweet tooth by ian mcewan
  6. sara marcus reading/benefit for girls rock camp alliance
  7. the endless boogie CD I bought that I don’t think even has a name
  8. jean comaroff lecture “divine detection: crime and metaphysics of disorder”
  9. native cats show
  10. nw by zadie smith

 

james mcnew (dump + yo la tengo)’s list

  1. allen callaci
  2. “check it out w/ dr steve brule”
  3. jing wei
  4. sightings
  5. “delocated”
  6. lambchop, mr. m
  7. great restaurant (stay away)
  8. great coffee place (stay away)
  9. great pedal (don’t use)
  10. “jon benjamin has a van”

 

brian nelson’s (black tambourine) top ten

  1. hanging with my black tambo fam
  2. folkroom records
  3. breaking bad
  4. building stories by chris ware
  5. neil halstead show at IOTA
  6. chickfactor’s back!
  7. honeybunch t-shirt
  8. ibuprofen (25 year running)
  9. anchor steam christmas beer
  10. cut the rope

 

jennifer o’connor’s top 13 things of 2012 in no particular order

  1. running a half-marathon
  2. my dog paco
  3. james mcnew
  4. touring with tom beaujour, tim foljahn, jon langmead, michael brodlieb and amy bezunartea
  5. funkbox
  6. having my music on TV a lot (thanks lyle!)
  7. rihanna’s “diamonds” and singing it with amy bezunartea at the final our hit parade
  8. monthly songwriter’s night with amy, jim, larry, bridget and david
  9. vanessa’s dumplings in williamsburg
  10. “bad religion” by frank ocean
  11. “the bill is due” by mark eitzel
  12. kelly hogan, I like to keep myself in pain
  13. “goldie,” A$AP rocky

 

joe brooker (the pines): one line each from top ten go-betweens songs

  1. “his father’s watch – he left it in the shower”
  2. “I wish you had a big house and that your work would start to sell”
  3. “you’ll get hurt if you play with crooks”
  4. “I can only say it when we’re apart”
  5. “but then the lightning finds us”
  6. “the mangroves go quiet”
  7. “her father works, her mother works in exports”
  8. “I took their top prize and paid them back with rain”
  9. “and I ride your river under the bridge”
  10. “please take out the garbage”

 

rachel blumberg & jeffrey honeybunch’s top ten tantalizing tastes we treasured

  1. homemade cured ham ginger rhubarb biscuit at huichica music festival, sonoma, CA
  2. sliced beef brisket with collard greens, butter beans, and banana pudding – prince george barbecue, chester, VA
  3. pepe’s white clam pizza, pepe’s pizza, new Haven, CT
  4. portuguese brown stew, antonio’s, new bedford, MA
  5. laksa, taste good malaysian food, elmhurst, NY
  6. phillipino style breakast plate at love bites, saugerties, NY
  7. ramen with kimchi greens and smoked pork shoulder, biwa, portland, OR
  8. falafel, l’as du fallafel, paris, FR
  9. shiso wrapped tuna, daikokuya ramen, los angeles, CA
  10. grilled ginger and plum muffin and side of hand cut bacon, the kitchen, providence, RI

 

michael grace jr’s (the secret history/my favorite) top events/things/phenomena

  1. barack obama/elizabeth warren/sherrod brown are elected/re-elected
  2. the revealing self-pity/fake outrage/fatalism/denial amongst the right upon this occurring
  3. the aislers set & the pines at chickfactor NYC
  4. dr. maz’s DJ set after the secret history/smittens/summer fiction NYC popfest run-up show at rock shop in gowanus.
  5. the northside fest’s “jameson’s artist lounge” remarkably makes free whiskey & ginger beers for about 22% of williamsburg’s population for 3 days straight.
  6. I spin quite a yarn for joe pinefox and carrick blair about my family’s historic ties to the sicilian mafia whilst all at dumont burger.
  7. the moma exhibits robert longo’s “pressure” in the contemporary collection.
  8. the opponent-confidence-sapping genius of andrea pirlo’s chip penalty kick in europe 2012.
  9. west ham united earn promotion back into the premier league.
  10. the debut season of the wythe avenue beatnik basketball association ends with zero fatalities.

 

joe brooker (the pines): one line each from ten stephin merritt songs: only one per LP

  1. “and we picnic in the winter on maple syrup and snow”
  2. “we will dance in the autumn with the leaves in our hair”
  3. “there’s no point pointing pistols at me”
  4. “after all those trains and all those breakdown lanes”
  5. “a crime, crime, crime, sin and illness is time”
  6. “summer left its light green lipstick on our wet faces”
  7. “in fact that’s where music comes from”
  8. “it’s drunk – I’m three”
  9. “the rain won’t change my heart at all”
  10. “I can’t make it twang and beep”

 

janice headley’s (cf, kexp, fantagraphics) top ten comics of 2012 (in no real particular order)

  1. big questions, anders nilsen (drawn & quarterly)
  2. the voyeurs, gabrielle bell (uncivilized)
  3. ticket stub, tim hensley (yam)
  4. marbles, ellen forney (gotham)
  5. my sincerest apologies, jessica campbell (oily)
  6. the cartoon utopia, ron rege, jr. (fantagraphics)
  7. barack hussein obama, steven weissman (fantagraphics)
  8. building stories, chris ware (pantheon)
  9. the making of, brecht evens (drawn & quarterly)
  10. sunday in the park with boys, jane mai (koyama)

 

rachel blumberg’s top ten places in providence so far for eating & drinking

  1. red fez
  2. AS220
  3. the kitchen
  4. julians
  5. white electric
  6. e and o tavern
  7. coffee exchange
  8. seaplane diner
  9. palmieri’s
  10. la lupita

chickfactor top ten lists (round two)

robert mctaggart: top ten cities

  1. copenhagen – because my heart is where home is.
  2. manchester – for all your faults, you were good to me for 27 years.
  3. helsinki/stockholm – for friends, and the joy of being by water.
  4. buenos aires – infuriating, polluted, conceited, thrilling, colourful and completely alive.
  5. tbilisi – kala’s warren of ramshackle beauty. being escorted to narikala by teenagers singing beatles songs. kachapauri. and this building…. (see above)
  6. rio de janeiro – every day brought an “I can’t believe I’m here” moment.
  7. istanbul – architecture, atmosphere and the sheer pleasure of squandering an afternoon with nargileh, mint tea and good company.
  8. vilnius – green and bohemian, warm nights and cold beer at uzupio kavine.
  9. moscow – bloody-minded, a little bit terrifying, thoroughly exhilarating. the new tretyakov gallery and the patriarch ponds.
  10. berlin – because at night, the possibilities just seem so endless.

if this has done anything it’s served to make me want to go to the far east, the west coast of the US and everywhere else. I am aware that I have neglected entire continents. that is something I promise to put right in the near future. and I only left out paris because it seemed too obvious.

 

mark robinson’s top ten list

  1. haruki murakami 1Q84 (book).
  2. moonrise kingdom (film)
  3. miranda july – it chooses you (book)
  4. national geographic (magazine)
  5. la kings tee-shirt
  6. estoner the stump will rise (lp)
  7. the truth (podcast)
  8. roxy music, the complete studio recordings (boxed set)
  9. too much information (wfmu podcast)
  10. lana del ray, “video games” (single)

 

yoshi the aislers set’s top ten list

  1. chickfactor new york – lois!
  2. chickfactor london – the pastels!
  3. game of thrones
  4. deerhoof, breakup songs
5. grouper and jeffre cantu-ledesma performing circular veil at HAU2 in berlin
  5. jiro dreams of sushi
  6. françois & the atlas mountains, e volo love
8. janet cardiff & george bures miller exhibit at haus der kunst in munich
  7. je suis animal at indie pop days in berlin
  8. finally getting around to reading middlesex by jeffrey eugenides while on the beach in sardegna.

 

rachel blumberg: top ten hot sauces of 2012

  1. saucesome – red (from portland!)
  2. saucesome – green
  3. matouk’s calypso sauce
  4. salsa huichol
  5. poblano hot sauce – red jalapeno
  6. pepper plant sauce – chunky garlic
  7. cholula –  original
  8. tabasco – smokey chipotle
  9. tapatio
  10. sriracha

 

lisa the mad scene: 10 things I enjoyed the most in 2012 (in no particular order)

  1. harold lloyd film festival at film forum
  2. fence awaygame festival on the isle of eigg in july
  3. seamus fogarty god damn you mountain lp and live performance (counting as one under the seamus fogarty umbrella)
  4. reading little dorrit (dickens)
  5. the song “heart heart” by withered hand
  6. james yorkston I was a cat from a book lp
  7. drinking bourbon cocktails
  8. olo worms, yard is open lp
  9. volunteering with taran at the woodstock farm animal sanctuary
  10. walking up an sgurr and spending some time at the top sipping scotch and eating cheese with ade, mark and offramp, and then walking back down again.

 

top ten artists gail would like to see reactivated in 2013

  1. opal / kendra smith
  2. squirrel bait
  3. containe / the pacific ocean
  4. marine girls
  5. shitstorm
  6. dolly mixture
  7. glo-worm
  8. salem 66
  9. the cocteau twins
  10. the sundays

 

2012: our top ten lists (round one)

gail’s top ten list

  1. black tambourine hitting the stage at artisphere on april 7, 2012.
  2. pretty much every chickfactor show (there were 12). the things people said to me onstage and off reminded me why I do/did what I do/did and reminded me of my place in the universe. (I love you new york. I love you london. I love you sf. I love you d.c. I love you l.a. I love you portland)
  3. meeting grass widow, having a great photo shoot and seeing them play three times!
  4. going back to school. I studied psychology and the brain and stress management and public health. neurogenesis!
  5. weekend in olympia. lois, tae, momtch, nikki & calvin’s birthday.
  6. the oregon coast.
  7. watching the dolly mixture documentary with donovan kelly (son of debsey from dolly mixture!)
  8. saint etienne on halloween in portland! also: watching an MLS game with bob beforehand.
  9. may 30: spending the day with joe pernice. we ate lunch, we ran errands, we shopped for bmx bike parts, we talked about music, he chased a petty criminal who stole an iphone, he slept in my car, he played an amazing set at our portland chickfactor party at bunk bar.
  10. portland timbers win the cascadia cup.

hannah grass widow’s list

  1. starting our own label (HLR) and releasing internal logic
  2. getting obsessed with silver apples
  3. touring with the raincoats and joining them to sing “lola” every night
  4. discovering pimm’s cup
  5. scrapers band
  6. making 8 music videos and completely losing my mind.
  7. wet hair band
  8. hollywood nails
  9. stray light gray exhibit at marlborough gallery
  10. shockwave video nights in the cinecave at lost weekend

top ten poetry collections by daniel handler

  1. eileen myles – snowflake
  2. matthew dickman, mayakovsky’s revolver
  3. heather christle, what is amazing
  4. frederick seidel, nice weather
  5. emily petit, goat in the snow
  6. emily kendal frey, the grief performance
  7. dorothea lasky, thunderbird
  8. paul legault, the emily dickinson reader
  9. david ferry, bewilderment
  10. mary jo bang, dante’s inferno

jim ruiz’s top ten belgian or dutch beers he tried this year and liked, with insightful comments

  1. lindeman’s apple. this ain’t cider, takes a moment to adjust but then—yummy!
  2. texels skuumkoppe. tried this in Amsterdam, as the name implies, creamy and delicious.
  3. liefman’s fruitesse. light and refreshing.
  4. casteel rouge. on tap. I’m no beer snob, I just like it. my favorite kriek so far.
  5. delierium tremens. if I’m in the mood for the old straight and narrow, this is as good a belgian as any.
  6. brouwerij timmermans—john martins, bourgogne des flandres. bruin sour beer is a challenging but sometimes it really hits the spot.
  7. heineken—on tap at the melkweg. heineken is better in the netherlands, a very pleasant surprise!
  8. unknown brand gueuze—tried this at tim’s house in london. tart but lovely.
  9. la chouffe—a blonde, lighter by belgian standards.
  10. la brasserie dupont—saison dupont. to be honest, one of the first belgians I tried. still love it.

top ten chapters of moby dick by lois maffeo

are you listening to the moby dick big read? all 135 chapters, one a day, read by academics, writers, marine biologists, melville keeners and movie stars! here are my top ten chapters of the 92 chapters read to date here.

  1. chapter 1 – loomings. read by tilda swinton.

“I always go to sea as a sailor because  they make a point of paying me for my trouble, whereas they never pay passengers a single penny that I’ve ever heard of.”

  1. chapter 11 – nightgown. read by neil tennant.

“truly to enjoy bodily warmth, some small part of you must be cold, for there is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast.” seems like a very pet shop boy-y thing to say.

  1. chapter 24 – the advocate. read by james woudhuysen.

“among people at large, the business of whaling is not accounted on the level with what are called the liberal professions.” defending the whalemen of the charge that they are all misfit wasters.

  1. chapter 58 – brit. read by benedict cumberbatch.

he makes the word “vast” sound way more vast that the way I say it. (when I say it it rhymes with fast. when he says it, it’s like someone fell into deep space. vaaaaahhhhhhssssst.)

  1. chapter 78 – cistern and buckets. read by david piper. in which a fellow with a speaking voice like david niven reads the thrilling story of tashtego falling into a dead whale as it is being butchered. “and with a horrible, oily gurgling, went clean out of sight.”
  2. chapter 65 – the whale as a dish. read by hugh fearnly-whittingstall.

if you are even glancingly familiar with HFW’s food column in the guardian, you will not in any way find it odd to hear him here describing balls of barbecued porpoise.

  1. chapter 54 – the town-ho’s story. read by joanna hollingworth.

this is moby dick in miniature. and if you only have 45 minutes to spare (rather than 4 months) this shipboard revenge tale is the way to go.

  1. chapter 68 – the blanket. read by andrew brewerton.

beautiful, codeine-slow delivery punctuated by an engaging pronunciation of blubber.

  1. chapter 15 – chowder. read by peter burgess.

“clam or cod?”

  1. chapter 42 – the whiteness of the whale. read by will self.

“bethink thee of the albatross, whence come those clouds of spiritual wonderment and pale dread in which that white phantom sails in all imaginations? not coleridge first threw that spell; but god’s great, unflattering laureate, nature.”

peter momtchiloff’s top 12 favourite recent records

  1. cate le bon: cyrk
  2. goat: world music
  3. beth jeans houghton: yours truly, cellophane nose
  4. om: advaitic songs
  5. the magnetic fields: love at the bottom of the sea
  6. hooded fang: album
  7. nicki minaj: pink friday – roman reloaded
  8. cornershop: urban turban
  9. earth: angels of darkness, angels of light 2
  10. burning hearts: extinctions
  11. django django: django django
  12. cats on fire: all blackshirts to me

top ten words gail doesn’t want to hear in 2013

  1. chillax
  2. chillwave
  3. darkwave
  4. LOL
  5. EDM
  6. skrillex
  7. totes
  8. amazeballs
  9. adorbs
  10. and most of all: just sayin’

top ten words no one wants to hear / other people added to my list on a major social media site

  1. awesomesauce
  2. cray-cray
  3. nom nom nom
  4. hot mess
  5. douchebag / douchey
  6. boom
  7. curated (when it has zero to do with art)
  8. adorkable (see zooey deschanel)
  9. no worries
  10. also: “said no one ever.” wow factor. pop up shop. boutique. artisanal. “I know, right?” really? seriously? webinar. that moment…. melty. moist. chilling out loud. this. best.donut.ever. meme. yay. like. laters. so there’s that.

photograph of black tambourine by jim spellman.