2023: "Not strong enough"

2023 soundtrack - on spotify. Not a banner year for music for me, but plenty of catchy songs and records in my existing lane, often by acts already very familiar.

1. It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody - Weyes Blood
And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow (Sub Pop, 2022)

2. County Road - Margo Price
Strays (Loma Vista, 2023)

3. Not Strong Enough - boygenius
the record (Interscope, 2023)

4. 80's Movie - Morgan Wade
Psychopath (RCA Nashville, 2023)

5. Rustin' in the Rain - Tyler Childers
Rustin' in the Rain (Hickman Holler, 2023)

6. King of Oklahoma - Jason Isbell
Weathervanes (Southeastern, 2023)

7. Brand New Eyes - Laura Cantrell
Just Like A Rose: The Anniversary Sessions (Propeller Sound, 2023)

8. French Restaurant - Lydia Loveless
Nothing's Gonna Stand In My Way Again (Bloodshot, 2023)

9. get him back! - Olivia Rodrigo
GUTS (Geffen, 2023)

10. White Horse - Chris Stapleton
Higher (Mercury Nashville, 2023)

James Han Mattson - Reprieve

Neat enough in how it lays out the layers of racial, cultural, capitalist, patriarchal and other forms of exploitation that comprise the real horror of the plot, but a bit overly programmatic for me. I would've liked it more if it were wilder and perhaps leaned more into its genre trappings.

Rebecca Solnit - Men Explain Things To Me

Rebecca Solnit is remarkable for many things - the clarity of her writing, her facility with the memorable meaningful image, the intellectual and ethical sophistication of her thought, the way she brings those all together. And all that's on display in this set of essays on the theme of feminism, patriarchy and female experience, where she's consistently light and somehow humble despite the weight of what she's saying and the force with which she says it.

Get Smart

Silly but charming enough.

Don't Worry Darling

Overly familiar premise maybe but done with a bit of style and some nice layers to Florence Pugh's performance.

Now You See Me

A lightweight entertainment that I've seen before.

boygenius - the rest

The ep that follows the record. For an outfit made up of three established artists each with their own distinctive voice, boygenius are impressively identifiable in sound.

Chris Stapleton - Higher

I wonder whether it's easy for Stapleton to write songs like these. They have an easy, classic feel to them that sometimes slips into being overly generic but just as often lands - as on songs like "What Am I Gonna Do", "The Fire" and "White Horse".

(Traveller)

"Connection" (THE LUME Melbourne)

A moving experience - art by First Nations artists projected onto the large gallery walls and floors (some static, others animated presumably for this exhibition), soundtracked by the same and themed as 'land Country', 'water Country' and 'sky Country'. Big names and emerging artists alike. 

I wrote down the names of Charmaine Pwerle, Jeannie Mill Pwerle and (in very different vein) Lin Onus, but could just as easily have written many more.

More quietly, in the small side rooms, other lovely discoveries - especially the 'infinity room' installation of a series of Emily Kame Kngwarreye panels.

(w/ 54r)

Ocean's 8

Pleasant diversion. What I said last time.

Mr & Mrs Smith

Kind of a silly movie, but not offensively so, and feels like it knows it.