Dokk's Top 100 Tunes of 2013 by iTunes Playcount

Here it is, what I listened to in 2013:

The Fall: another year, another album - and this is a good one, though that's likely not an objective opinion. so maybe just take my word on that...



Another high point is the new track from John MacLean and Nancy Whang. Yummy.




The new album from The Julie Ruin also has its moments, like this one:




...and the latest album from The Little Ones gave us this:

Other highlights of the year for me include Savages, Of Montreal and that amazing remix of Bowie's "Love is Lost" by James Murphy:







Speaking of James Murphy, good music that didn't make the list includes the Murphy-produced album from Arcade Fire, which I'm quite enjoying, and then there's that delightfully unlistenable second album from Death Grips - bewildering noise that could be accidental genius or utter toss (for some reason the beginning of their "Ann Bonny" reminds me of Alexei Sayles' "Ullo John, Gotta A New Motor?" - I'm probably the only person who thinks that though):





Late to the party on "An Awesome Wave" by Alt-J (∆), which is fantastic, "The Haunted Man" by Bats For Lashes, "Push the Sky Away" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and "Anxiety" by Autre Ne Veut - all good stuff. Also the first album by Body/Head, called "Coming Apart," is really interesting if you're into that kind of thing, which I am.

Also, really late to the party on this one:


Lots of other good stuff old and new in the Top 100 too. Here's the list:

# / Track Name / Artist / Playcount

1 / You Are My Destiny / The Juan Maclean / 25

2 / Comeback Kid / Sleigh Bells / 21

3 / Bad Insect / Ultraista / 21

4 / Just My Kind / The Julie Ruin / 20

5 / Argonauts / The Little Ones / 20

6 / Your Drums Your Love (Friendly Fire Remix) / AlunaGeorge / 19

7 / USA IV: Manifest / Dan Deacon / 19

8 / My Number (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Remix) / Foals / 19

9 / Evil Eye / Franz Ferdinand / 19

10 / Backyard Skulls / Frightened Rabbit / 19

11 / Give Me Every Little Thing / The Juan Maclean / 19

12 / Separation / Cloud Nothings / 18

13 / Strife / Savages / 18

14 / Kinder of Spine / The Fall / 17

15 / Hittite Man / The Fall / 17

16 / Holy / Frightened Rabbit / 17

17 / Shut Up / Savages / 17

18 / True Thrush / Dan Deacon / 16

19 / Return To Bass / Meat Beat Manifesto / 16

20 / Starships (Explicit) / Nicki Minaj / 16

21 / White Nights / Oh Land / 16

22 / NY Excuse / Soulwax / 16

23 / If You Wanna / The Vaccines / 16

24 / The Rhinohead / Von Südenfed / 16

25 / 212 (ft Lazy Jay) / Azealia Banks / 15

26 / Boum / Charles Trenet / 15

27 / I Can Hear The Grass Grow / The Fall / 15

28 / Thunderbird / Yunioshi / 15

29 / Default / Atoms For Peace / 14

30 / Pre-Mdma Years / The Fall / 14

31 / Hovering Hoover Skates / Ghostigital / 14

32 / Don't Push Me (ft Sensational & Nick Zinner) / Ghostigital / 14

33 / Full of Fire / The Knife / 14

34 / Kick Out The Chairs (Tom Boy Remix) / Munk Feat. James Murphy / 14

35 / Hegira Emigre / Of Montreal / 14

36 / Knock On Wood / Amii Stewart / 13

37 / Dominican Fade / Battles / 13

38 / Stay Useless / Cloud Nothings / 13

39 / Why Are People Grudgeful? / The Fall / 13

40 / VHS / FM Belfast / 13

41 / Right Action / Franz Ferdinand / 13

42 / Oh Come On / The Julie Ruin / 13

43 / Losing My Edge / LCD Soundsystem / 13

44 / Deceptacon [DFA remix] / Le Tigre / 13

45 / Hit Me / Savages / 13

46 / Smalltalk (Four Tet remix) / Ultraista / 13

47 / Guilford Avenue Bridge / Dan Deacon / 12

48 / Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix by James Murphy) / David Bowie / 12

49 / F For You / Disclosure / 12

50 / White Noise (feat. Alunageorge) / Disclosure / 12

51 / Hot Cake / The Fall / 12

52 / Girls like us / The Julie Ruin / 12

53 / Theme For Moon King / Moon King / 12

54 / Lovelight (Soulwax Ravelight Dub) / Robbie Williams / 12

55 / Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites (Zedd Remix) / Skrillex / 12

56 / Radical Chic / Cabaret Voltaire / 11

57 / Get Off / The Dandy Warhols / 11

58 / Hacker / Death Grips / 11

59 / I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down / Elvis Costello / 11

60 / Sir William Wray / The Fall / 11

61 / Goodbye Lovers & Friends / Franz Ferdinand / 11

62 / The Woodpile / Frightened Rabbit / 11

63 / Housing (Out) / Frightened Rabbit / 11

64 / Love Action (I Believe In Love) / The Human League / 11

65 / Ready To Lose / The Knife / 11

66 / One Touch / LCD Soundsystem / 11

67 / Temporary Secretary (Hystereo Remix Rough) / Paul McCartney / 11

68 / Man In a Suitcase Main Titles / Ron Grainer / 11

69 / I Am Here / Savages / 11

70 / If You Want / Absofacto / 10

71 / Lies / Absofacto / 10

72 / You Know You Like It (Bondax Remix) / AlunaGeorge / 10

73 / Modern Art / Art Brut / 10

74 / Before Your Very Eyes / Atoms For Peace / 10

75 / Summer Fun / Barracudas / 10

76 / Telepath / Boards Of Canada / 10

77 / I've Seen Footage / Death Grips / 10

78 / I've Been Duped / The Fall / 10

79 / Masquerade (mr natural mix) / The Fall / 10

80 / No Respects (Intro) / The Fall / 10

81 / Irish / The Fall / 10

82 / Jetplane / The Fall / 10

83 / Flathead / The Fratellis / 10

84 / Oryx / The Knife / 10

85 / Waiting For A Sign / Savages / 10

86 / Husbands / Savages / 10

87 / We Will Become Silhouettes / The Shins / 10

88 / Ask / The Smiths / 10

89 / Here Comes the Summer / The Undertones / 10

90 / Steady As The Sidewalk Cracks / !!! / 10

91 / Stuck Together Pieces / Atoms For Peace / 9

92 / All You're Waiting For (Feat. Nancy Whang) / Classixx / 9

93 / You Gave Me Love / Crown Heights Affair / 9

94 / Doin' It Right (Feat. Panda Bear) / Daft Punk / 9

95 / Say No Go / De La Soul / 9

96 / FML / Deadmau5 / 9

97 / #5  / delia gonzalez & gavin russom / 9

98 / Hold Back The Rain / Duran Duran / 9

99 / Kicker Conspiracy (Live) / The Fall / 9

100 / Victrola Time / The Fall / 9

Reset for 2014.  

"I will do what I have to do as if Roger was looking over my shoulder" - The good soldier of cinema: Roger Ebert June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013

Roger Ebert's passing is an immeasurable loss. Countless words have been shared by those who knew and loved him, who were inspired by him and who were encouraged by him. I have little new to add, but would rather share my favorite words written about him, here from filmmaker Werner Herzog:

“I always loved Roger for being the good soldier. Not only the good soldier of cinema, but he was a wounded soldier who for years in his affliction held out and plowed on and soldiered on and held the outpost that was given up by almost everyone: The monumental shift now is that intelligent, deep discourse about cinema has been something that has been vanishing over the last maybe two decades. And it has been systematically replaced by celebrity news. It is what it is, and we have to stand the tide. I try to hold out and keep up what Roger was after.

[There] will be a long, long echo [of his work] reverberating for a long, long time. I’ve always tried to be a good soldier of cinema myself, so of course since he’s gone, I will plow on, as I have plowed on all my life, but I will do what I have to do as if Roger was looking over my shoulder. And I am not gonna disappoint him.”

--- Werner Herzog, April 4, 2013 (via EW)

Rest in peace, Roger. 

Dokk's Top 100 Tunes of 2012 by iTunes Playcount

I enjoyed doing this last year, so here it is again. 

"212" rocked my world, clearly, and Ghostigital released 'Division of Culture & Tourism' which got a lot of play with me...

...but other top discoveries of the year were definitely Absofacto, Grimes and Miike Snow. 

what's up with this video though..?

...not a video at all, but I love this track

Honorable mentions also go to Moon King, Cloud Nothings, Ultraista, and the latest from Dirty Projectors. 

In other news, I was late to the party on King Creosote, The Joy Formidable and Grinderman. Never too late, though...

And also special thanks to Die Antwoord for infecting my mind with "I Fink U Freaky" for months on end. Bastards.

Music I caught up with late in 2012 and will no doubt be hearing a lot in 2013, I recommended Pilotpriest's "Original Motion Picture Soundtrack," and Dan Deacon's "America," both of which are tremendous. 

I have no idea how 'Baggy Trousers' made it into the top 100... None at all...

A new Fall album due any time soon...

reset for 2013 

# Title Artist Plays

1 212 (ft Lazy Jay) Azealia Banks 52

2 Bootprints King Creosote 35

3 Theme For Moon King Moon King 35

4 Don't Push Me (ft Sensational & Nick Zimmer) Ghostigital 34

5 Lies Absofacto 33

6 If You Want Absofacto 32

7 Circumambient Grimes 32

8 Paddling Out (Jaques Lu Cont remix) Miike Snow 30

9 That One Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs 30

10 Hot Cake The Fall 29

11 Give Me Every Little Thing The Juan Maclean 29

12 Kill Everybody Skrillex 28

13 Kick Out The Chairs (Tom Boy Remix) Munk Feat. James Murphy 27

14 Bone Marrow Black Lips 26

15 Separation Cloud Nothings 26

16 Cradle The Joy Formidable 25

17 If You Wanna The Vaccines 25

18 Heart Heart Withered Hand 25

19 Steady As The Sidewalk Cracks !!! 25

20 Inchworm Battles 23

21 How Can U Luv Me Unknown Mortal Orchestra 23

22 Hovering Hoover Skates Ghostigital 22

23 One Touch LCD Soundsystem 21

24 The Rhinohead Von Südenfed 21

25 Buy Nothing Day The Go! Team 20

26 Hello Teenage America Meat Beat Manifesto 20

27 God Help This Divorce Miike Snow 20

28 The White Flash (Feat. Thom Yorke) Modeselektor 20

29 Cerulean Simian Mobile Disco 20

30 Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites (Zedd Remix) Skrillex 20

31 NY Excuse Soulwax 20

32 Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg (Left Eye Mix) TLC 20

33 Norgaard The Vaccines 20

34 When My Baby's Beside Me Big Star 19

35 Go Out and Get It Black Lips 19

36 Why Are People Grudgeful? The Fall 19

37 I'm A Mummy The Fall 19

38 VHS FM Belfast 19

39 Genesis Grimes 19

40 Black Tin Box (ft Lykke Li) Miike Snow 19

41 Heart Oberhofer 19

42 It Rich Aucoin 19

43 Strange Formula (David Lynch remix) Ultraista 19

44 Sister Wife Alex Winston 18

45 Dominican Fade Battles 18

46 Stay Useless Cloud Nothings 18

47 Oh My God Cults 18

48 Get Off The Dandy Warhols 18

49 Lack of a Better Name Deadmau5 18

50 Royal Gregory Holy Fuck 18

51 Crush The Liberation The Juan Maclean 18

52 You Are Could I? King Creosote 18

53 Circles Meat Beat Manifesto 18

54 Psyche-Out Meat Beat Manifesto 18

55 The First Rebirth Modeselektor 18

56 Vines Nomadic Firs 18

57 Temporary Secretary (Hystereo Remix Rough) Paul McCartney 18

58 Undead Pt. 1 - Estrangement Rich Aucoin 18

59 Death as a Fetish (feat. Mattress) Starfucker 18

60 Smalltalk (Four Tet remix) Ultraista 18

61 Here Comes the Summer The Undertones 18

62 Mercy Time - Original Mix The 2 Bears 18

63 80844264@81 (Love Song) Absofacto 17

64 Summer Fun Barracudas 17

65 Peach, Plum, Pear (Joanna Newsom) blithe field 17

66 Soul Vine (70 Billion People) Cabaret Voltaire 17

67 Bohemian Like You The Dandy Warhols 17

68 Say No Go De La Soul 17

69 I Can Hear The Grass Grow The Fall 17

70 Masquerade (mr natural mix) The Fall 17

71 Eight Grimes 17

72 Skankenstein Kora/Cabaret Voltaire 17

73 La Femme Ressort La Femme 17

74 Disco Infiltrator LCD Soundsystem 17

75 Losing My Edge LCD Soundsystem 17

76 Drunk Girls LCD Soundsystem 17

77 I Can Change LCD Soundsystem 17

78 Baggy Trousers Madness 17

79 Forcefield Marius Vries 17

80 Vase Miike Snow 17

81 Alien Theme Nostromo 17

82 Bruises Sin Fang 17

83 Ask The Smiths 16

84 Alright Supergrass 16

85 Thunderbird Yunioshi 16

86 Punk Rock Girl Dead Milkmen 15

87 Dark in Here Ghostigital 15

88 Devil's Work (Alex Metric Remix) Miike Snow 15

89 This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us Sparks 15

90 Psychic City YACHT 15

91 Venus Bananarama 14

92 Freon Shortwave Cha Cha Cohen 14

93 I Fink U Freaky Die Antwoord 14

94 Don't Bring Me Down Electric Light Orchestra 14

95 Telephone Thing The Fall 14

96 I've Been Duped The Fall 14

97 Palaces Of Montezuma Grinderman 14

98 Greyhounds In The Slips The Joy Formidable 14

99 Take My Time Junior Senior 14

100 God O.D. (Part 1) Meat Beat Manifesto 14

dokk's movie list 2012

I personally don't feel 2012 was a particularly good year for movies. Certainly not for American movies, which is largely what I saw last year. But in amongst the chaff there was some golden wheat...

10. The Master :: Not a good film, frankly, but rather some sterling performances that are edited together into something that approximates a story. I might've scored this higher if the hype surrounding this movie hadn't been so hysterical. Nowhere near as bad as "The Tree of Life," but nowhere near as good as many would have you believe.

9. Argo :: Not much plot here either, and Affleck's character is so untainted he's nearly non-existent, but otherwise this is a terrific cinematic experience and one of my favorites of the year.

8. Cabin In The Woods :: Genre horror movies CAN still be smart and fun! I went into this screening with zero expectations and kept getting rewarded at every story turn. I enjoyed this so much I raved about it for months. Highly recommended. I do suspect, though, that Joss Whedon operates on a gut level that capitalizes on emotional momentum rather than cumulative narrative suspense. As a strategy that really fell apart in The Avengers, but really worked for me here.

7. Still Alive: Paul Williams :: I find Paul Williams to be a fascinating human being, and I love his music from the 70s (his score to "Bugsy Malone" is an all-time favorite of mine). But this is more a story of filmmaking, and of an artist seeking redemption. It works on both levels. Highly recommended.

6. The Raid: Redemption :: Outstanding action flick, directed with flare and a super-tight budget. It's extremely similar to "Dredd" which also came out this year, and I can't tell if either film is emulating the other. While "Dredd" was executed with more polish, "Raid" has a lot more going on under the hood, and is a more satisfying story AND a better choreographed action movie.

5. The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye :: a documentary love story executed in an experimental style that I found very appealing. Hard to encapsulate, so I recommend you see this on faith instead of me trying to tell you why you should see this.

4. The Grey :: The most underrated movie of the year. Yes, the depiction of the wolves here is beyond awful, but then again the shark in Jaws is hilariously dumb too, and that movie's a classic. It's the Jack London masculinity in this yarn that sets it apart, with spectacular performances from everybody involved. I was riveted to the very last frame. A tremendous film worth revisiting.

3. The Snowtown Murders (or just "Snowtown," as Netflix has it) :: An Australian film very much in the vein of working class crime cinema that I seem to see a lot of coming from the Antipodes in recent years. But as a first feature this film is all the more remarkable for the cool, distanced perspective of the alienated teen protagonist, and for the experimental flourishes in this otherwise kitchen-sink style portrait of a serial killer. Emotionally ugly and cinematically uncompromising, one of my favorite films of the year.

2. Holy Motors :: I heard about this on the web after it got some buzz at Cannes, so saw this without expectation at Film Forum in NYC. Utterly hypnotizing performance by Denis Lavant, who travels from one bewildering vignette to another "Cosmopolis" style in a chauffeured limousine. If you're not in love with this movie by the time you get to the accordion music scene then this movie was never for you. An outstandingly poignant performance from Kylie Minogue too. I never thought I'd ever type that sentence, but there you are.

1. Beasts of the Southern Wild :: Call me a sentimental old fool, but this is my favorite movie of the year by a long stretch. I commented at the time that I wished this is the kind of movie Terry Gilliam had moved towards in his late career. Nothing about this movie felt insincere, and the six year old girl at the center of this story is as wild and passionate as any actor I've ever admired. I'd trade this film for a dozen "Dark Knight Rises," "John Carter" or "Skyfall" blockbusters. Can American cinema get back to this, please?   

Honorable mention :: "Killer Joe" (this nutty William Friedkin crime movie would totally have made the list if I'd seen it sooner), and "Cosmopolis," which just didn't make the cut.

Other movies that had aspects I appreciated but otherwise was disappointed by :: "Looper" (solid - not as inspired as I'd hoped, but if you can ignore the implausible plot this is great scifi fun featuring JGL with a variety of firearms), "Lincoln" (finally a Spielberg movie I can enjoy with only minor reservations), "Cloud Atlas" (it's not the book, which is its strength and its weakness), "Skyfall" (it's the best James Bond movie ever, in that it has almost nothing to do with Bond movies as we know them), "Dredd" (a Judge Dredd movie that I never expected to see never mind enjoy), "John Carter" (Andrew Stanton should've paid more attention to that script, but at least it's visually breathtaking sci-fi), "Silver Linings Playbook" (the best implausible movie-about-faith-that-ends-with-a-dance-competition movie that I saw all year - dazzling direction and entertaining performances from all save this from utter ridiculousness)

I haven't seen "Django Unchained," "Moonrise Kingdom", or "Flight" yet, but I'm reliably informed they're awesome. Haven't seen "Life of Pi" either.

"The Dark Knight Rises" and "Prometheus" absolutely sucked. And I also found "Zero Dark Thirty" to be grossly overrated.

And that's that for another year. I must admit there is a lot I'm looking forward to in 2013. Meet you back here in 12 months..!