Category Archives: 2023

Favorite Tunes of 2023

Posted on by
Reply

Guess what? I continue to buy music…and barely listen to it! Throwing more money down the drain in 2023. Of course, I listened to *some* of it, but my bark is always bigger than my bite when it comes to consuming pop culture (of all types. obvi.). That said, I only bought albums during six months of the year (January 13, March 4, April 6, July 2, September 4, October 1). So, perhaps I was more controlled than it feels like now reviewing my iTunes. (Yes, I still use iTunes, and an iPod, and shut up, get off my lawn.)

Favorite Singles:

  • “Paper” Kenzie I don’t even know if this was a 2023 release but 2023 is when I got it. I think I heard it on a TV show. I will put this on repeat for my entire bus ride to school. Can’t stop. The ultimate “how TF is it that you don’t love me” song. Story of my damn life.
  • “Flowers” Miley Cyrus Doh, was this not the song of most of the year. Even Diane Keaton (!!) made a video of herself singing along to this.
  • “Be On Your Way” Daughter I never listened to the rest of the album as much as this one song.
  • “Ignore Me” Mothe When am I not feeling ignored? Was this song stolen from my brain?
  • “Ghost in the Machine” SZA featuring Phoebe Bridgers All you had to do to get me to listen to a song this year was put Phoebe Bridgers on it (and yeah I don’t even think this song is from 2023? maybe?). That said, I never figured out what the SZA hype was. I maybe didn’t give it enough of a chance.
  • “Runner” Tennis Total epic movie soundtrack feel. Is that where I heard this first? We’ll never know.
  • “And We’ll Leave It There” Olafur Arnolds & Ella McRibb I don’t remember from where or why I found out about this but I watched a whole video of how this song came together and it’s just gorgeous.
  • “A Good Love, Part 1” Bear’s Den if you got a mix from me this year, this was probably on it, heh. I think I kept trying to add it to every one and then realizing I had already used it, oop.
  • “Run Away to Mars” Talk Every time I played this song, I thought maybe I WILL run away to Mars. How much worse could it fucking possibly be?!? I listen to it on the bus and pretend I’m on a spaceship.
  • “Our Song” P!NK I liked her whole album really but never listened to it *that* much.
  • “Lift Me Up” Rihanna from the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack. I think that means this song didn’t come out this year, but I listened to the fuck out of it. CHURCH.
  • “Just Like Heaven” Hannah Peel. Cover.
  • “Puzzle Peace” SAILR Aw. So pretty.
  • “If I Could” Charlotte Day Wilson If only
  • “Everywhere, Everything” Noah Kahan Someone (can’t remember) said to them when someone mentions Noah Kahan they just think “yeah, come to Nashville, meet every single long-haired boy.” Ha. I do know that his songs are all the same song to me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like them.

I made three mixes in 2023. I know I sent a bunch out early in the year. Email me if ya want a copy. 1: Ease on in. 2: Church. 3: Sing Me to Sleep.

Favorite Albums: Basically in the order they came out, with maybe a little slippage on that from The National.

  • Jacob Banks “Lies About the War” I’ve mentioned this before: the way Hanif Aburraquib writes about music convinces me that I will 100% completely adore every album he talks about. And it turns out, we just generally do not have the same taste in music and that’s almost always wrong. Heh. It’s to the point where I am no longer allowed to buy albums he hyped until I’ve listened to the samples at least 20 times and still want it. Yes, that’s how bad my Hanif persuasion goes. Regardless, I bought this in January based on his recommendation and I love it so so so very much. Deep and dark and tangly. What a voice!! Fave songs: “Just When I Thought”, “Our Song” (feat. Anna Leone.
  • Anna Tivel “Outsiders” Another January purchase that I never stopped listening to. You know, January, the month where I buy everything everyone else loved in 2023 that I missed. This one comes from Kiki’s husband Steve’s recommendation. My favorite song was “Heroes”.
  • boygenius “The Record” Anything that needs to be said has already been said by a bajillion people. I’m not all “I repost every picture boygenius ever posts on their instagram” levels of obsession, LIKE SOME PEOPLE I KNOW (not a joke), but there’s no denying how good this album is. At first, I was like obsessively figuring out who wrote which song and did that mean I liked one artist more (since I didn’t love any of their solo stuff as much as I loved this) but now I just think of it like the Beatles: better together. Favorite songs: “Not Strong Enough”, “Emily I’m Sorry”, “True Blue”, and “Cool About It”.
  • The National “First Two Pages of Frankenstein” AND The National “Laugh Track” I mean, what the AF, my favorite band in the world put out two massively fantastic albums in the same year. AND I got to see them in concert again (it was just such a fabulous night). Honestly, I love both albums in their entirety, but if you want just some snippets, here you go: Fave songs FTPF: “New Order T-Shirt”, “Eucalyptus” (that ending), “This Isn’t Helping” (w/ Phoebe Bridgers bien sur). “Your Mind Is Not Your Friend” (also w/ PB). Fave Songs LT: “Weird Goodbyes” (w/ Bon Iver), “Hornets”, “Laugh Track” (PB again), “Crumble” (w/ Rosanne Cash).
  • Olivia Rodrigo “Guts” For the twelve-teen in me, that never completely goes away. Silly, goofballs, OMG I’M SO IN LOVE and OMG I’M SO NOT music. Fun times. Favorite songs: the back to back play of “Logical” and “Get Him Back!”
  • Sufjan Stevens “Javelin” I’m sorry whut. Can words. No, they can’t. Fucking stunningly beautiful that’s all you need to know. STUNNING. Amazeballoons. Favorite songs: “Goodbye Evergreen” (THAT BEGINNING), “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?”, “My Red Little Fox” (kiss me like the wind), “Shit Talk.”

Albums I really liked when I listened, but just didn’t keep hanging with much beyond their purchase:

  • Natalie Merchant “Keep Your Courage” Dang, Natalie Merchant, I’ve been enjoying your tunes for over 30 years.
  • Tommy Prine “This Far South” Doing his dad proud.
  • Daughter “Stereo Mind Game” I did put one of their singles above. I liked this. It just dropped off my radar too fast.

Albums I’m enjoying on my 2023 review that I don’t even remember from actually during 2023:

  • Future Teens “Sensitive Sessions”
  • Wild Rivers “Sidelines”

Duff at the Movies 2023 / Review style cuz… I forget to keep a list!

Posted on by
Reply

Oh nooooooo I never kept my list! What happened in 2023?!? Here’s what I can remember off the top of my increasingly forgetful head…

On the big screen, in general:

  • Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning part 1 Loved it. One of the funniest action movies I’ve seen in ages. They definitely try to bring the drama, but so much of it made me laugh. That chase scene!!!
  • Asteroid City This was just a very Wes Anderson-y Wes Anderson movie. There were moments I enjoyed, but I would not put it in my top five Wes Anderson movies.

At home, but came out in 2023:

  • Cocaine Bear Unbelievably good, given its title. I would watch this a billion times.

At the Chicago International Film Festival: Yes, I finally made it back to the CIFF! After maybe a decade? I was soooo happy, but one movie every single day for 11 days was a LOT during the teaching year, heh.

  • All Happy Families Fun, good performances, but not a lot of plot. More a “moment in time” movie.
  • Eric LaRue I thought this movie was a COMPLETE MESS. I see some of the things it wanted to do or criticize, but I didn’t think it did a great job. Also Michael Shannon in the Q&A afterward seemed messy as well.
  • The Love Stories of Liv S. It was an enjoyable watch but not something I’ve thought about a lot since.
  • The Delinquents This was a WILD ride (and maybe I should check how long a movie is before I buy a ticket for 7:15 on a school night!!!) and very long but I definitely enjoyed it, even though the plot takes a lot of goofball leaps.
  • Only the River Flows I sat next to the most lovely people at this show and one is a film professor who really helped me decipher the ending! This movie was like a fever dream.
  • Solo This Solo, not Star Wars. This movie was gorgeous. Sad, frustrating (Don’t make that decision! Don’t do it!), beautiful songs, costumes, makeup, etc.
  • All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt Beautiful. Possibly the slowest paced movie I’ve ever seen. The atmosphere is amazing. But I think you definitely come away with unanswered questions as to what and why. Here’s a hint I would have liked to have known going in (took too long to figure it out!): it’s jumping back and forth in time. Those are meant to be the same girl at different ages! The pacing and contemplativeness (and overall experience of being in the theater) really reminded me of Tree of Life, but this one is much more realistic.
  • The Bride This was a rough movie to sit there. Nothing is explicitly shown, per se, but some really crappy handling of the main character, her agency, and her body. 🙁
  • The Taste of Things Bring a LOT of snacks to this movie, you are going to be sooooo hungry. It was beautiful, wildly intriguing and engaging if you know anything about cooking, and an interesting peek into a different world. Binoche was gorgeous in this flick.
  • Hard Miles Matthew Modine was at the screening and WHOA I had no idea what a total goofball he is. Also hats off to the dude who yelled VISIONQUEST as they started the Q&A. This was an engaging watch, the acting by all the boys was really good.
  • Perfect Days Another one of those movies that has almost no plot, just this weird repetition of this dude’s highly scheduled life and a few occasions where something happens to throw off his balance.

OK, I paged through the first 100 on IMDB’s list of movies that came out in 2024, and didn’t notice any others that I saw. So… maybe? that’s it. Sigh. Not a great year for Duff at the Movies.