Best Of 2018
As usual, here are my arts and culture favourites of the year.
ALBUMS
1. Bruce Springsteen — Springsteen On Broadway
2. Stick In The Wheel — Follow Them True
3. Kathryn Joseph — From When I Wake The Want Is
4. Idles — Joy As An Active Of Resistance
5. Jorja Smith — Lost & Found
6. Brockhampton — Iridescence
7. Lucy Dacus — Historian
8. Deerful — Tell Me I Can Fix This On My Own
9. Jon Hopkins — Singularity
10. Robyn — Honey
11. boygenius — boygenius EP
12. Furrow Collective — Fathoms
13. Sweet Billy Pilgrim — Wapentak
14. Half Man Half Biscuit — No One Cares About Your Creative Hub So Get Your Fuckin’ Hedge Cut
15. Ímar — Avalanche
16. Nils Frahm — All Melody
17. Eliza Shaddad — Future
18. Jack Hayter —Abbey Wood
19. Mastersystem — Dance Music
20. Yo La Tengo — There’s A Riot Going On
21. Frank Turner — Be More Kind
22. John Bramwell — Leave Alone The Empty Spaces
23. Low — Double Negative
24. John Parish — Bird Dog Dante
25. Kings Of The South Seas — Franklin
Honourable mentions: Grace Petrie, Kamasi Washington, Vega Bodegas, Aphex Twin, Shame, Matt Creer, Marianne Faithfull, Oxygen Thief, Nathaniel Rateliff, Mary Gauthier, Ezra Furman, Bas Jan, Joan Baez.
EARWORMS
Idles — Danny Nedelko
Grace Petrie — Black Tie
Ariana Grande — Thank U, Next
Petrol Girls — Sister
Tom Williams — Early Morning Rain
Childish Gambino — This Is America
Adam Buxton — audio advertisement for The Economist
Annie Dressner — Don’t Go
Benjamin Folke Thomas — Tasteless & Complacent
The ‘Fortnite’ music
Robyn — Ever Again
Frank Turner — Little Changes
Shame — Tasteless
Ray Blk — Empress
Janelle Monae — Make Me Feel
Jade Bird — Lottery
LIVE MUSIC
A big shift for me in 2018 was that I saw far, far less live music than any year I can remember. The first six months I saw four gigs — and I’m very reluctant to go to live shows (including great ones). Idles is a good example: Rifa’s favourite gig was their Concorde show but knowing how much I’ve enjoyed the record and TV / radio sessions, I specifically avoided it. I went to MBV because Jen was playing. I went to Trembling Bells because I was DJing. I went to Nils Frahm because Tim kindly offered a ticket and Frahm’s music was used at Natalie and Joe’s wedding and that made me curious about what he’d do live, out of technical curiosity.
1. Jim Bob at Shepherds Bush Empire, London *
2. My Bloody Valentine at The Royal Festival Hall, London
3. Trembling Bells at The Brunswick, Hove
4. Jess Morgan radio session for Midnight Campfire (three songs)
5. El Morgan solo at Marlborough Theatre, Brighton
6. Hurtling at The Lexington, London
7. Nils Frahm at The Dome, Brighton
8. Penelope Isles at The Komedia, Brighton
9. Abdoujaparov at 100 Club, London
10. Mark McCabe, Olivia Awbrey & Margaret Wehr at The Exchange, Bristol
11. Say Sue Me at The Lexington, London
*I’ve included 11 because Jim’s gig at Shepherd’s Bush was my favourite gig of 2018 but I performed onstage (piano accompaniment) for some sections of the show, so if that disqualifies it, just count from #2 to #11 as my top ten.
MUSIC ON SMALL SCREENS
1. Bruce Springsteen — Springsteen On Broadway on Netflix
2. Stormzy at The Brits
3. Childish Gambino — This Is America video
4. They Might Be Giants — Last Wave
(matched to Run DMC/Aerosmith ‘Walk This Way’ video)
5. Julien Baker NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
6. Idles — Danny Nedelko on Later With Jools Holland
7. Shame at Reading Festival 2018
8. Audrey & Kate’s metal videos
9. Nadine Shah at the Mercury Music Prize
10. Lemon Twigs on Later with Jools Holland
11. Wolf Alice cover Charli XCX ‘Boys’ on Australian radio
12. St Vincent NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
13. Elise Trouw’s multi-instrumental live looping mash-up videos
14. Brockhampton at Reading Festival 2018
15. Wolf Alice at Reading Festival 2018
FILMS
1. The Florida Project
2. Black Panther
3. Widows
4. Leave No Trace
5. Roma
6. 22 July
7. Grenfell
8. You Were Never Really Here
9. The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs
10. They Shall Not Grow Old
11. The Post
12. Atomic Blonde
13. Quincy
14. Annihilation
15. The Ballad Of Shirley Collins
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TV
1. Atlanta: Robbin’ Season
2. Stewart Lee: Content Provider
3. Killing Eve
4. Antony Bourdain — catching up with Parts Unknown
5. High Maintenance
6. Horizon: Antarctica Ice Station Rescue
7. Sharp Objects
8. Ugly Delicious episode #2: Tacos
9. She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power
10. The Little Drummer Girl
11. Inside No 9 — Halloween live episode
12. The Good Fight
13. Babylon Berlin
14. Maniac
15. Salt Fat Acid Heat
16. The Good Place
17. Wild Wild Country
18. Mark Kermode’s Secrets Of Cinema
19. The Defiant Ones
20. Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony
BOOKS
1. David Grann — Killers Of The Flower Moon
2. Mark Fisher — K-Punk: Collected And Unpublished Writings
3. Willy Vlautin — Don’t Skip Out On Me
4. N. K. Jemisin — How Long Til Black Future Month?
5. Gabriel Tallent — My Absolute Darling
6. Dave Eggers — The Monk Of Mokha
7. Michael Lewis — The Fifth Risk
8. Dark Mountain #14
9. Robin Ince — I’m A Joke And So Are You
10. Hannah Sullivan — Three Poems
11. Haruki Murakami — Men Without Women
12. Richard Powers — The Overstory
ART & EXHIBITIONS
1. Christian Marclay — Clock at Tate Modern
2. The Future Starts Here at V&A London
3. Rip It Up: The Story Of Scottish Pop at National Museum Scotland
4. All Too Human: Bacon, Freud And A Century Of Painting Life at Tate Britain
5. Jordan Wolfson — Colored Sculpture at Tate Modern
6. Scottish Design Galleries at V&A Dundee
7. Picasso 1932 at Tate Modern
8. Sarah Maycock’s illustrations for Whales: Beneath The Surface at Natural History Museum
9. Magic Realism: The Weimar Republic at Tate Modern
10. Gem Fletcher’s Instagram feed
11. Shape Shifters at The Hayward Gallery, London
12. Modigliani at Tate Modern
13. The Blake Room at The Clore Gallery, Tate Britain
14. VR Parlour at The Old Market, Hove
15. The Impressionists In London at Tate Britain
16. Video Games at the V&A London
17. Abdala Al Omari — The Vulnerability Series, online portraits
18. Alternate Realities by Sheffield Docfest at Lighthouse, Brighton
19. Turner permanent exhibition at the Clore Gallery, Tate Britain
20. Greg Nolan — This Was Our Scene at Pop-Up Carnaby Street, London
RADIO / PODCASTS
1. West Wing Weekly
2. Longform
3. Rule Of Three
4. Slate Culture Gabfest
5. Intercepted
6. Always There: The Howards’ Way Podcast
7. Slow Burn
8. Slate Political Gabfest
9. Adam Buxton Podcast
10. Kermode & Mayo Film Show
11. In Our Time
12. Mostly Lit
13. Pod Save America
14. Too Much Not Enough
15. SongExploder
16. Angstrom
17. Vitriola
18. Off The Fence
19. The Daily
20. Waves (formerly DoubleX)
THEATRE / TALKS / STANDUP
1. Complicité / Simon McBurney — The Encounter at The Barbican, London
2. Michaela Coel — MacTaggart Lecture at Edinburgh TV Festival on YouTube
3. Makropol — Doom Room at The Old Market, Hove
4. Dougald Hine — Reflection on Ivan Illich at Convivial Tools, Design Museum
5. Circa69: While The Rest Were Sleeping at The Old Market, Hove
6. Hannah Gadsby — Nanette on Netflix
7. Truestory Theatre — Dracula at The Spire, Kemptown
8. Myra Appannah for TheatreXR at 68 Middle Street, Brighton
9. Joseph Wykwert — Reflection on Illich at Convivial Tools, Design Museum
10. Kyle D Evans at Skeptics In The Pub, Caroline Of Brunswick, Brighton
11. Rufus Norris speech at the Arts Foundation Awards, London
12. Sam Lee & Nathaniel Mann interview (with me) at Sam Lee’s house
13. Ruth Oliver at SheSays Brighton
14. Michelle Wolf at the White House Correspondents’ Club, on YouTube
15. Dan Hett talks about Lost Levels for Alternate Realities at The Lighthouse
ESSAYS
1. David Grann — The White Darkness: A Solitary Journey Across Antarctica, New Yorker
2. James Risen — The Biggest Secret, The Intercept
3. Nathaniel Rich — Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change, NYT magazine
4. Tad Friend — Donald Glover Can’t Save You, New Yorker
5. Andy Greenberg — The Untold Story Of Notpetya, The Most Devastating Cyberattack In History
6. Imani Perry — As Goes The South, So Goes The Nation, Harper’s
7. Ben Taub — The Spy Who Came Home, New Yorker
8. Michael Hainey — Beneath The Surface Of Bruce Springsteen, Esquire
9. Ta-Nehisi Coates — I’m Not Black, I’m Kanye, The Atlantic
10. Molly Ringwald — What About ‘The Breakfast Club’?, New Yorker
11. Ronen Bergman — How Arafat Eluded Israel’s Assassination Machine, NYT Magazine
12. Jeff Maysh — How An Ex Cop Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly And Stole Millions, Daily Beast
13. Bryan Burrough — The Miranda Obsession, Vanity Fair
14. Shaun King — The Assassination Of Marielle Franco, The Intercept
15. Raheem Sterling’s blog entry
RESTAURANT / CAFÉ EXPERIENCES
1. Six By Nico, Edinburgh (Sicilian menu)
2. Samphire, Whitstable
=3. Pakal Taco Pop-up, Brighton
=3. Carlito Burrito, Brighton
5. 64 Degrees, Brighton
6. Holy Pundit, Hythe
7. Bento Ramen, Camden
8. Starfish & Coffee, Brighton (best brunch)
9. Crate & Apple Pub, Chichester
10. River Cottage Canteen, Winchester
11. The Sussex Yeoman, Brighton (best roast)
12. Chilli Pickle, Brighton
13. Ethos, Fitzrovia
14. Shirez, Knightsbridge
15. Henderson’s, Edinburgh
COFFEE BEANS
1. Ecuador, Vitaliano Merino (Smallbatch)
2. Colombia, El Cedro, Faiber Santa (Pact Microlots)
3. Brazil, Comunidade Serra Nova, Luiz Carlos Oliveira (Pact Microlots)
4. Mexico, Adan Altamiranoe, Veracruz (Smallbatch)
5. Colombia, El Silencio, Oscar Ortiz Gonzalez (Pact Microlots)
6. Peru, Fredy Bermeo (Coffee At 33)
7. El Salvador, El Carmen Orange Bourbon Natural (Smallbatch)
8. Guatemala, Filedelfia — Bosques De San Francisco (Pact Microlots)
9. Rwanda, Butembo (Smallbatch)
10.=Brazil, Cerra Do Cabral, washed (Coffee At 33)
10.=Brazil, Cerra Do Cabral (Smallbatch)
OVERALL FAVOURITE CULTURAL DOINGS (not in any order)
• Playing Fortnite BR (solo, especially season seven) on IOS
• Playing piano for Jim Bob at Shepherds Bush Empire
• Walking the Sussex Downs for Charlie Peverett’s birthday
• Playing piano in Non Canon for three gigs
• FNG private screening day at Electric Cinema — watching pre-release Pose, The Passage, Mayans, What We Do In The Shadows…
• Completing first draft of novel (loads of work still to do)
adventures in podcasting–
• Making Refigure with Rifa
• Recording Always There with Julia Raeside (twice)
• Making StoryHackXR with James Turnbull
• editing The Possibility Club for Rich Freeman at Always Possible
• TheatreXR training course led by Simon Wilkinson (Circa 69)
• Edinburgh and Dundee trip
• interviewing Sam Lee and Nathaniel Mann for Art Foundation pilot
• south coast road trip
• live-blogging Talent 2018 Skills Summit for Wired Sussex
• Natural History Museum: The Vault and the Minerals Gallery
• falling in love with football again, via Crystal Palace / World Cup
