Anthropomorphic

As seems to be the custom on this day of the year on this here thing of mine here's a cultural round-up of the last twelve months. Last year I even featured the books that I managed to get through but let's just say that 2021 has not exactly been a vintage year for reading round these parts and we'll move on....

2021 was the year that I finally replaced my turntable, having received my old Technics as a Christmas present from my parents when I was 17, way back in 1986. It's been on the blink for ages and so with birthday money this year I invested in a nice new Pro-ject model, and bought a reasonable amount of vinyl throughout the year as well alongside it. I dunno if 'getting a new record player' has necessarily been the highlight of my year, but it's certainly brought me a lot of enjoyment. Here's the favourite albums that I've been listening to -

1. Sleaford Mods - Spare Ribs
2. Saint Etienne - I've Been Trying To Tell You
3. Pauline Anna Strom - Angel Tears In Sunlight
4. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d's Pee At State's End!
5. Floating Points & Pharoah Sanders - Promises
6. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg
7. Grouper - Shade
8. Ruth Mascelli - A Night At The Baths
9. Beatrice Dillon - Workaround
10. Vanishing Twin - Ookii Gekkou

I've always gone to the cinema a lot, but for obvious reasons they were closed for a good chunk of the early part of the year. I watched some great stuff on streaming and whatnot (Promising Young Woman, Nomadland and Ammonite included) but it's not really the same for me so I'm limiting my films of the year to stuff that I went to see in the cinema. Call me old-fashioned but...

1. Lamb
2. Another Round
3. The Nest
4. Last Night In Soho
5. Censor
6. C'Mon C'Mon
7. Limbo
8. Spencer
9. Petite Maman
10. In The Earth

My top choice is one that I saw twice in the space of a week, one of those films that is hard to describe without it sounding bonkers but, when you're actually watching it...the 'weird' quickly becomes very 'normal', the cinematography and the over-riding atmosphere are things of wonder, Noomi Rapace is absolutely brilliant in it, and if it was still showing I'd probably go and see it again right now!

Phew...here's to more great records and more great films in 2022.

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