The 2013 Monsieur Oscars

This is a clearly well overdue appraisal of my favourite stuff in motion pictures from 2013. The Monsieur Oscars. I've adapted the categories as the year in film called for it. Each year has to be pliable or I risk not meeting the films on their own terms.



Favourite Fiction Film of the Year

1. The Immigrant
2. Inside Llewyn Davis
3. Dormant Beauty
4. The Past
5. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet
6. Computer Chess
7. The Wolf of Wall Street
8. 12 Years A Slave
9. A Touch of Sin
10. A Field In England
 11. The Congress


Favourite Non-Fiction Film of the Year

1. Leviathan
2. The Act of Killing
3. Traveling Light
4. Let The Fire Burn
5. Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?
6. A Spell To Ward Off The Darkness
7. White Epilepsy
8. An Oversimplification of Her Beauty
9. The Last Time I Saw Macao
10. The Jeffrey Dahmer Files 
 11. The Source Family


Favourite Performance by a Director

 1. Marco Bellocchio - Dormant Beauty
2. James Gray - The Immigrant
3. Andrew Bujalski - Computer Chess
4. Ben Wheatley - A Field In England / Sightseers
5. Chantal Akerman - Almayer's Folly
6. Raúl Ruiz - la Noche de Enfrente
7. Sofia Coppola - The Bling Ring
8. Ari Folman - The Congress
9. Pablo Larraín - No
10. Rob Zombie - The Lords of Salem
 11. Jia Zhangke - A Touch of Sin



Favourite Screenplay

1. Computer Chess - Andrew Bujalski   
 2. Dormant Beauty - Stefano Rulli, Veronica Raimo, Marco Bellocchio
3. It's A Disaster - Todd Berger
4. A Field In England - Amy Jump
5. Moebius - Kim Ki-Duk
6. The Congress - Ari Folman
7. The Immigrant - James Gray & Ric Menello
8. Wadjda - Haifaa Al-Mansou
9. Alpha Papa - Peter Baynham, Steve Coogan, Neil & Rob Gibbons & Armando Iannucci
10. Drug War - Wa Ka Fai, Yau Nai Hoi, Ryker Chan, Yu Xi


Favourite Cinematography

1. Darius Khondji - The Immigrant
2. Renato Berta - Gebo & The Shadow
3. Antonio Riestra - Mama
4. Daniele Ciprì - Dormant Beauty 
5. Chung-hoon Chung - Stoker
6. Lucian Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel, and the crew of a boat - Leviathan
7. Steven Soderbergh - Side Effects
8. Bruno Delbonnel - Inside Llewyn Davis
9. Philippe Le Sourd - The Grandmaster
10. Anthony Dod Mantle - Rush / Trance
11. Luca Bigazzi - The Great Beauty
12. Emmanuel Lubezki - To The Wonder
13. Oleg Mutu - In The Fog
14. Rob Hardy - Shadow Dancer
 15. Feliksas Abrukauskas - Vanishing Waves



Favourite Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role

1. Jessica Chastain & Megan Charpentier - Mama
2. Barbara Sukowa - Hannah Arendt
3. Jane Levy - Evil Dead
4. Elizabeth Moss - Top of the Lake
5. Marion Cotillard - The Immigrant
6. Missy Keating - Dark Touch
7. Juliet Binoche - Camille Claudel 1915
8. Jeong Eun-Chae - Nobody's Daughter Haewon
9. Waad Mohammed - Wadjda
10. Andrea Riseborough - Shadow Dancer
11. Abigal Breslin - Haunter



Favourite Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role

1. Oscar Isaac - Inside Llewin Davis
2. Leonardo DiCaprio - Wolf of Wall Street
3. Michel Lonsdale - Gebo & The Shadow 
4. Johan Philip Asbæk - A Hijacking
5. Toni Servillo - Dormant Beauty
6. Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years A Slave
7. Ben Affleck - To The Wonder
8. Reece Shearsmith - A Field in England 
9. Vincent Gallo - The Legend of Kaspar Hauser
10. Robert Redford - All Is Lost


Favourite Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

1. Isabelle Nélisse - Mama
2. Lupita Nyong'o, Adepero Oduye & Alfre Woodard  - 12 Years A Slave
3. Jeanne Moreau - Gebo & The Shadow
4. Rachel McAdams - To The Wonder
5. Debbie Reynolds - Behind The Candelabra 
6. Emma Watson - The Bling Ring
7. Daniella Kertesz - World War Z
8. Noomi Rapace - Dead Man Down
9. Alexandra Maria Lara - Rush
10. Joey Lauren Adams - Blue Caprice


Favourite Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

1. Forest Whitaker - Out of the Furnace
2. Pier Giorgio Bellochio - Dormant Beauty 
3. Sharlto Copley - Elysium / Oldboy / Europa Report
4. James Franco - Spring Breakers
5. Javier Bardem - To The Wonder / The Counselor
6. Martin Landau & Adam Goldberg - Anna Nicole
7. Jeremy Renner - American Hustle / The Immigrant
8. Stacey Keach - Nebraska
9. Jim Caviezel - Escape Plan
10. Paul Dano - 12 Years A Slave
11. Michael Parks & Bill Sage - We Are What We Are
12. David Wenham - Top of the Lake

Special mention for actors I'm always happy to see who didn't get much screentime: Ralph Brown - Stoker, Kyle Chandler - The Spectacular Now, Mark Rappaport - Kiss of the Damned, Oliver Platt & Timothy Spall - Ginger & Rosa


Favourite Performance by an Ensemble

1. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet
2. A Hijacking
3. It's A Disaster
4. 12 Years A Slave
5. Wolf of Wall Street
6. The Counselor
7. Gold
8. In A World...
9. Blondie
10. Out of the Furnace
11. Drug War
12. Last Days On Mars
13. A Touch of Sin
14. McCanick
15. For Love's Sake

Special mention to Dario Argento's Dracula, which had a perfect cast, directed terribly. 


Favourite Duet Performances

1. Jean-Nicolas Dafflon & Hélène Rocheteau - White Epiliepsy
2. Tom Hanks & Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
3. Will Forte & Bruce Dern - Nebraska
4. Daniel Bruhl & Chris Hemsworth - Rush
5. Frank Langella & Christopher Plummer - Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight
6. Isaiah Washington & Tequan Richmond - Blue Caprice
7. Matt Damon & Michael Douglas - Behind The Candelabra 
8. Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy - Before Midnight
9. James Gandolfini & Julia Louis Dreyfus - Enough Said
10. Noam Chomsky & Michel Gondry - Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?
 11. Helena Bonham Carter & Dominic West - Burton & Taylor


Achievement in Sound Design


1. Leviathan
2. White Epilepsy
3. Stoker
4. The Wolf of Wall Street
5. To The Wonder
6. A Field In England
7. The World's End
8. The Immigrant
9. Inside Llewyn Davis
10. The Lone Ranger


Favourite Original Score


1. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - West of Memphis
2. Frankie Chan - The Grandmaster
3. Roque Baños - The Evil Dead
4. James Williams - A Field In England
5. Cliff Martinez - Only God Forgives
6. Alex Ebert - All is Lost
7. Christopher Spelman - The Immigrant
8. Carlo Crivelli - Dormant Beauty
9. Arcade Fire & Owen Pallett - Her
10. Sara Neufeld & Owen Pallett - Blue Caprice
11. Hans Zimmer - The Lone Ranger


Achievement in Art Direction

1. The Congress
2. Dormant Beauty
3. Vanishing Waves
4. The Immigrant
5. Trance
6. 12 Years A Slave
7. Inside Llewyn Davis
8. The Lone Ranger
9. For Love's Sake
10. The Bling Ring
 11. A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III

Achievement in Production Design

1. The Grandmaster

2. Stoker

3. Evil Dead

4. Trance

5. Inside Llewyn Davis

6. Mud

7. No

8. The Immigrant

9. Drug War

10. The Lone Ranger

Hardest I Laughed

1. It's A Disaster

2. The Wolf of Wall Street

3. Hellbaby

4. Alpha Papa

5. The Bling Ring

6. Frances Ha

7. Moebius

8. Nebraska

9. In A World...

10. White House Down

 11. Paradise: Faith

I cried during...

1. Vanishing Waves

2. Inside Llewyn Davis

3. Frozen

4. Her

5. Me & You

Special mention...

Tactile old-fashioned Action films

1. Riddick

2. Elysium

3. Drug War

4. Outrage Beyond

5. Shield of Straw

6. White House Down

7. Bullet To The Head

8. The Lone Ranger

9. The Wolverine

Satisfying arthouse headtrips

1. Vanishing Waves

2. The Congress

3. The Legend of Kaspar Hauser

4. Stranger By The Lake

5. The Wall

6. A Field In England

7. Computer Chess

8. Stranger By The Lake

9. Gold

10. In The Fog

I hardly saw any animated films but loved The Congress and Frozen. 

"Welcome to Hell"

The legacy of the HM Prison Pentridge in Victoria, Australia is one of torment. In the 70s and 80s, things got so bad that the government had to step in and investigate the complaints of violent treatment from the staff, but that just made things worse. From the notoriously fierce guards, tellingly nicknamed "The Bash," to the creation of the Jika Jika solitary ward, every development was one more piece of bloody puzzle leading to the prison being shut down and bulldozed in the 90s. But not before it was immortalized in two different Australian independent productions, linked by more than ellipses in their titles. John Hillcoat, later director of The Proposition, The Road and Lawless, fired the first shot with Ghosts...of the Civil Dead, a dystopian dramatization of a prison's increasing hostility to its inmates, scored, co-written and starring in a minor but terrifying role Nick Cave. The management of a fictional prison want federal money to build a new, more severe facility, but need justification. So begins a campaign of oppression, winding up prisoners to induce violent behavior in order to prompt reprisals and keeping guards miserable and in the dark to make them more prone to take out their frustrations on the prisoners. Where does it end? Though based on a novel and framed as a piece of sci-fi, it stings like the truth. Hillcoat's film leaps through time, skipping to new lows like a hardcore kid skipping tracks on a Jesus Lizard album, dank corridors bridging the gap between the horrendous fiction and reality. Several narrators, some unreliable, tell the story of the growing harshness which comes across the prison like a heatwave. Hillcoat's camera is still as can be, moving only when the point of view changes from predator to prey, finding his inmates half in shadow and filth, unable to recognize themselves under conditions that start bad and get worse. They're the poisoned blood of a body losing a fight to infection. When Cave's appearance kicks off the final act, his bone-shaking rasp and preacher's cadence like the voice of cruelty itself, it's the final straw. The community on either side of the bars disintegrates. Cave appears like a bigot poltergeist and both the tired inmates and increasingly stressed guards finally know that their fates are out of their hand. Though as always, fate has the last laugh. 

Alkinos Tsilimidos' Everynight....everynight came next, and is based on a play detailing the circumstances of one Christopher Dale Flannery, a real inmate, and his stay in the maximum security H Division of the HM Prison. The HM and its horrific conditions flipped a switch in Flannery's brain and after his release he became a famous hitman dubbed Mr. Rent-a-Kill. Tsilimidos' film tries to determine what went on that forced the government to intercede on behalf of prisoners and what Flannery experienced that turned him from a petty crook into a murderer and spares no detail. Opening with the sound of nails being pounded by a hammer, the first lines are spoken by a guard who could scarcely look more like a buzzard. "On the Cross, Bryant. Get on the fucking cross, Bryant." So begins a suitably biblical regiment of torture, as Flannery's stand-in undergoes one humiliation after another including a beating and rape on his first night. Tsilimidos keeps his camera (in grainy black & white) inches from his the faces of his subjects, mocking Carl Dreyer's Passion of Joan of Arc, whirling around the dank prison like a drunken angel, or maybe just a lost bird. The body is broken and violated and the spirit cut to ribbons as degradations mount. Like the Irish prisoners of Hunger, the men of Everynight rail and scream against their captors, violence always on the tips of every finger and tongue. They find strength in not giving the guards what they want, resigning from their system one at a time. Both films can only guess what really went on in Australia's prisons, but they have a visceral understanding of systemic malevolence. Their dueling depictions of the annihilation of the individual feel like institutional passion plays. 

These films (along with Romper Stomper) represented the changing of the guard in Australian cinema. Throughout the 70s and 80s, the line between commercial and artistic cinema was drawn in steel, but it started to melt in the 90s. The grammar of the grindhouse and the arthouse mixed like blood and skag. Ghosts  looks like it was shot on the set of a bad action movie and appears to have been a model for Philip Brophy's clinically icky Bodymelt, giving one the impression that antiestablishment art didn't yet have a place in the mainstream and had to linger in the marshy, disreputable dark until they could be claimed. Crassness and violence would eventually define important movies as much as it had marked the underground cinema of the first decade of the new wave. From the needle of these early experiments dribbled the first hint that the country could come to terms with its ugliest traumas through its art. Soon the makers of The Tracker, Chopper, Wolf Creek, Samson & Delilah, Van Dieman's Land & Snowtown would dip their brushes in the same blood and start painting their own masterpieces.

Our Favourite Albums of 2013

Scout Tafoya

1. Besnard Lakes - Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO

2. Phosphorescent - Muchacho 

3. Gauntlet Hair - Stills

4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away

5. Akron/Family - Sub Verses

6. Kadavar - Abra Kadavar

7. My Bloody Valentine - m b v

8. Rogue Wave - Nightingale Floors

9. Flaming Lips - The Terror

10. Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats - Mind Control

11. British Sea Power - Machineries of Joy

12. David Bowie - The Next Day

13. Dirty Beaches - Drifters/Love Is The Devil 

14. Ty Segall - Sleeper

15. Ghostface Killah - Twelve Reasons To Die

16. Austra - Olympia

17. Iceage - You're Nothing

18. Windhand - Soma

19. Okkervil River - Silver Gymnasium

20. Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I love You

Chloe Stewart

1. Wire - Change Becomes Us
2. Moby - Innocents
3. Joan Jett - Unvarnished
4. Elvis Costello & The Roots - Wise Up Ghost
5. Hugh Cornwell - Totem & Taboo
6. Crocodiles - Crimes of Passion
7. Savages - Silence Yourself
8. Pere Ubu - Lady from Shanghai
9. Wymond Miles - Cut Yourself Free
10. Adam Ant - Adam Ant is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter

Fox Johnson

1. Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You

2. Kavinsky - Outrun

3. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

4. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

5. Jake Bugg - Jake Bugg

6. Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob

7. Laura Marling - Once I Was an Eagle

8. Charles Bradley - Victim of Love

9. Arcade Fire - Reflektor

10. Jake Bugg - Shangri La

11. Rush - The Clockwork Angels Tour

12. Justin Timberlake - 20/20 Experience (Part 1)

13. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away

14. Bob Dylan - Another Self Portrait

Ash Redbone

1. Kurt Vile - Wakin' on a Pretty Daze
2. Steve Gunn - Time Off
3. Widowspeak - Almanac
4. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - II
5. William Onyeabor - Who is William Onyeabor?
6. Bombino - Nomad
7. Midlake - Antiphon
8. Washed Out - Paracosm
9. Savages - Silence Yourself
10. Lumerians - High Frontier
11. Quasimoto - Yessir Whatever
12. Ty Segall - Sleeper
13. Kadavar - Abra Kadavar
14. William Tyler - Impossible Truth
15. Four Tet - Beautiful Rewind


Marissa D'Elia

1. Iron Chic - The Constant One
-Part of the placement of this record at the top of my list stems from my undeniable bias with this band. Iron Chic is and has been my favorite band for the past couple of years. Their records don’t do anything radical, technically or musically speaking, but the way the songs all come together creates a feeling that you really can’t find anywhere else.  That being said, The Constant One was the most ideal progression from their first LP, Not Like This, another record jam-packed with heavy choruses and chill-inducing lyrics. I can’t really find the words to describe the feeling these songs give me.  A must listen for anyone who was ever a fan of Latterman and older (original) pop-punk bands.
2. Beyoncé - Beyoncé
-There are so many reasons why this album is number 2 on my list. As a marketing student, I marvel at the brand that is Beyoncé. A secret album that sold over 80,000 units in the first three hours of its release is enough reason to put this at the top at any AOTY list. With that being said, this album really surprised me.  I love Beyoncé as much as the next person but I never really found that I enjoyed her records as a whole. Every single song on this is completely different from the next with perfect collaborations with Frank Ocean, Drake and Blue Ivy herself. But the most addicting aspect of this album is the strong feminist undertone to a couple of songs, especially “Flawless” which features Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. I had watched Adiche’s talk on “Why everyone should be a feminist” so I had heard the excerpt before but somehow the way it was paired with the music made it that much more powerful. If there was ever a time to listen to this beautiful goddess, it’s now.
3. Kelsi Grammar - Being Petty
-The best band you’ve never heard of. That’s really it. This EP slays just as hard as their full-length from 2012. If you aren’t listening to this band you are screwing your entire life up. Gritty. Angsty. Vocals that don’t sound like every other band you listen to.
4. The National - Trouble Will Find Me
-This record is so sad. The National are so sad. I’m so sad. I recently put in on in a car ride with someone who had never listened before and their first reaction was that it sounded like something gloomy from the 80s. I love this because it’s that album you go out of your way to buy the 180 gram vinyl and then put it on and lay in bed all day questioning every decision you’ve ever made.
5. Drake - Nothing Was the Same
6. Marietta - Summer Death
7. Balance and Composure - The Things We Think We’re Missing
8. Iron Chic - Spooky Action EP 
9. Old Gray - An Autobiography

Dan Khan

1. Dirty Beaches - Drifters/Love is the Devil

2. Baths - Obsidian 
3. Arcade Fire - Reflektor 
4. My Bloody Valentine - m b v  
5. Phosphorescent - Muchacho
6. Washed Out - Paracosm
7. Jagwar Ma - Howlin’
8. Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus
9. Deerhunter - Monomania
10. The Besnard Lakes - Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO
11. Atoms for Peace - Amok
12. Kanye West - Yeezus
13). Eleanor Friedberger - Personal Record
14. Wire - Change Becomes Us
15. Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Higher I Fight, The Harder I fight, The More I love You
16. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away
17. Cults - Static
18. Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience (Part 1) 
19. Smith Westerns - Soft Will
20. Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady

Honorable Mentions:
The National - Trouble Will Find me
Sigur Ros - Kveikur
Black Joe Lewis - Electric Slave
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Paul McCartney - New
David Bowie - The Next Day
Beck - Song Reader

Elias Ianacone

1. Drug Church - Paul Walker
2. Deafheaven - Sunbather
3. Nails - Abandon All Life
4. Wives - Wifes EP
5. Anciients - Heart of Oak
6. Full of Hell - Rudiments of Mutilation
7. Pissed Jeans - Honeys
8. Diarrhea Planet -  I'm Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams
9. Fuzz - Fuzz
10. All Pigs Must Die - Nothing Violates This Nature
11. (alternate) Besnard Lakes - Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO

Ashley Tryba

1. My Bloody Valentine - mbv
2. Kurt Vile - Wakin' on A Pretty Daze
3. Pissed Jeans - Honeys
4. Motorhead - Aftershock
5. Mazzy Star - Seasons of Your Day
6. Black Sabbath - 13
7. Sigur Ros - Kveikur
8. Black Flag - What the...
9. Dr. Dog - B-Room
10.  Meat Puppets - Rat Farm

Beccah Ulm

1. Xenia Rubinos - Magic Trix

2. Arcade Fire - Reflektor

3. Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Higher I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I love You

4. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual

5. Beyoncé - Beyoncé
6. Lady Gaga - Artpop
7. Colleen Green - Sock It To Me
8. Mannequin Pussy - Gypsy Pervert
9. Blouse - Imperium

Lucas Mangum

1. David Bowie - The Next Day

2. Fall Out Boy - Save Rock n Roll

3. Panic at the Disco - Too Rare to Live, Too Weird to Die!

4. Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience (Part 1)

5. Avenged Sevenfold - Hail to the King

6. Black Veil Brides - Wretched & Divine

7. Bastille - Bad Blood

8. Knife Party - Haunted House EP

9. Skinny Puppy - Weapon

10. Arcade Fire - Reflektor

11. Lady Gaga - Artpop

Tim Earle

1. Paramore - Paramore

2. I the Mighty - Satori

3. Kanye West - Yeezus

4. The Wonder Years - The Greatest Generation

5. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2

6. HAIM - HAIM

7. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

8. Fall Out Boy - PAX AM Days

Noah Lyons

1. MIA - Matangi
2. Chelsea Wolfe - Pain Is Beauty
3. David Lynch - The Big Dream
4. Moby - Innocents

Blair Elliot

1.Goat - Live Ballroom Ritual
2. Blood Ceremony - Eldritch Dark
3. Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Higher I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I love You
4. Purson - The Circle & The Blue Door
5. The Black Angels - Indigo Meadow
6. Lumerians - High Frontier
7. Bombino - Nomad
8. Lee Ranaldo & The Dust - Last Night On Earth
9. Midlake - Antiphon
10. Wooden Shjips - Back On land
11. Kadavar - Abra Kadavar
12. Blues Pills - Devil Man EP
13. Night Beats - Sonic Bloom
14. Sigur Ros - Kveikur
15. Chelsea Wolfe - Pain Is Beauty
16. Mount Moriah - Miracle Temple
17. True Widow - Circumambulation
18. Mudhoney - Vanishing Point
19. Black Sabbath - 13
20. Charles Bradley - Victim of Love
21. Savages - Silence Yourself
22. Fuzz - Fuzz
23. Anciients - Heart of Oak
24. Besnard Lakes - Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO

Best Songs of 2012

The rules are all the same: No song that appeared on my best albums list. I've expanded from my usual ten this year because there was just that much excellence to be reckoned with. One is a bit of a cheat, but as we're simply sharing wealth, I hope you can pardon me. More than most this year have some association with film, which shouldn't exactly be news, but I do love that films have been a consistent source of other artistic pleasure this year.

The National - "The Rains of Castamere"

Written to cap off one of the most anticipated and striking hours of television in the history of the form. How best to quell the truly beastly things we'd been witness to than with a dirge, something that forced the audience to contemplate what happens when men decide to go to war. Game of Thrones had been a serviceable allegory before the Battle of Blackwater, but never before had it turned to the blackest part of political manuevering and showed the human cost with such gut-wrenching (often literally) force. The National get dark, but rarely in their own songs had they reached so far down into human cruelty and come away with something so striking.



Ren Harvieu - "Nobody Does It Better"

I admit it was Radiohead covering the Carly Simon-sung, Marvin Hamlisch-penned Bond theme that kept it in my brain. Could Thom Yorke really love it that much? I suppose I just hadn't heard the right version. Until this year. The right version, for me, it seems is the one performed by one of England's many well-kept secrets, Ren Harvieu. Her version of You Only Live Twice earlier in the Bond And Beyond Celebration hosted by film critic Mark Kermode and presenter Simon Mayo (and Hello to Jason Isaacs!) was pretty stellar, but this has the feeling of destiny in it. She sells the heartache like few others can.






Adele - "Skyfall"

From one Bond theme to another. I'd completely forgotten how much I love this song (more so isolated than with the dispiritingly banal opening title sequence it accompanies) until after publishing. I've sung it to myself once a day since seeing Skyfall. Calling Adele the Shirley Bassey of our day is probably less a compliment than an obscurity countdown, so I'll just say that the song, like the film, has real staying power. 

 



Scott Walker - "Epizootics!"

There's a moment in every music fan's life when they realize that the Scott Walker crooning "30th Century Man" at the end of The Life Aquatic, the fellow from the Walker Brothers, and the Scott Walker with the haunted moan who scored Pola X and gave the world the sound of its own death rattle in the album The Drift, are the same person. The avant-garde phases of Walker's career has got to stand as one of, if not the most, drastic reinvention in the history of music. I've loved his latest works starting from Tilt in 1995, but I think I may have found a favourite song from any point in his career, and it comes complete with a fabulous black-and-white movie to go with it. This Scott Walker is fearless.



The cast of The Hobbit - "Misty Mountains"

Or whatever... Look, maybe it's unforgivably nerdy of me to include this song, but I do know that it was during these ludicrous-on-paper musical numbers that I realized I was watching a movie that was going to stand the test of time. Haunting harmonies from the cast, who through nothing but intonation communicate generations of despair and fatalism. Ask anyone, I was completely indifferent to this whole film and everything it stood for before I saw it. This song is a big part of what changed my mind.



Kylie Minogue - "Who Were We?"

It takes a genius to get the world to notice Kylie Minogue for who she can be: one of the most heartbreaking singers out there. And the song, penned by Carax himself with Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy, seems lifted from a Judy Garland musical, but with a sadness and tragic hope lacking from the best of Meet Me In St. Louis or even A Star Is Born.



Pharaoh Overlord - "Rodent"

Falling just shy of the apocalyptic grandeur of the latest Godspeed record, Pharoah Overlord's Lunar Jetman nevertheless had "Rodent," one of the most crushing, haunting and electrifying rock songs in history. Part swamp rock, part doom drone, part black metal journey, for those ten minutes "Rodent" makes you feel alive.



The Walkmen - "Angela Surf City"

The Walkmen have a pass for life at this point and so as long as they're going to give me a toe-tapper in this vein for all their soul-searching and concept records, I'll follow them wherever.



Jesca Hoop - "Hospital"

She may be one of the world's most thoughtful songwriters and studio craftsman, but when she puts on the guise of pop star, Jesca Hoop really comes alive. It's a put-on and she knows it, but there's something to indulging our collective guilty pleasure, especially when devised so deliciously by someone with Hoop's ear for a hook. The lyrics betray her intelligence - if she's going to deliver top 40 fodder, it's going to hurt.



Lee Ranaldo Band with J Mascis - "Albatross"

And what would one of my lists be without a single song from a tribute album. They're largely wrectched endeavors, never the sum of their parts. But there's rarely one without at least one point of interest. Case in point: two of the world's greatest guitarists putting a distinctly 80's spin on one of the best guitar tracks of all time.



Laura Jorgensen - "The Climb"

Oh Laura, my dear, dear friend! You continue to fill my life with joyous, heartfelt music. I don't know if this is your best song, it could very well be (you've not exactly made it easy on those of us trying to decide these things), but that opening is among the sweetest sounds I've ever heard. Don't ever stop.



The Bootleggers - "White Light/White Heat"

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis' music may not have exactly been what the movie Lawless needed, but I can't complain because otherwise they'd never have recruited Mark Lanegan to sing just out of his range. The voice he adopts, attempting to reach the highest register he's perhaps ever gone for, is worth the movie being less than it could have been. This song has been in constant rotation since the film's premiere this summer.



Spiritualized - "Hey Jane"

I maintain that this is Spiritualized's best song. Other opinions are available.



JJ Doom - "Banished"

Release after release, MF Doom remains an enigma. While the world waits for Madvillainy 2, he continues to spin webs of gloomy hip-hop in whatever direction catches his fancy. The fly he caught this time around would be Jneiro Jarel, a beat-maker of almost equal dexterity to Doom himself. Relegated to just the man at the mic, Doom doesn't disappoint, least of all on "Banished," which has the most eccentric flow of any modern rap song perhaps ever. What would be marbles in the mouths of lesser MCs becomes liquid gold, spat with his usual wink-wink impudence.


Bonus
Les Surfs - "Tu Seras Mi Baby"

Now, this is disingenuous, I confess. This song in its original incarnation (writ by Phil Spector, sung by The Ronettes), and even this version, are decades old. But I'm willing to bet the world at large was largely ignorant of its existence, as I was, until we watched Miguel Gomes' Tabu. I could thank the man for making a beautiful movie all day, but really I must thank him in person some day for introducing me to this song.