1. Dorian Gray (2009, dir. Oliver Parker) – Humourless, straining-towards-art version of the Wilde classic, momentarily redeemed by the growling portrait which provides a couple genuine chills. 2. Ornette Coleman – Body Meta, Of Human Feelings, Free Jazz – My crusade continues (cf. last week’s entry). Like Richard Dreyfuss sketching mountains in Close Encounters of the Third Kind I can’t put this stuff down any … Continue reading Friday 5 (5/9/14)

Ornette Coleman Week: 1. Body Meta 2. Complete Science Fiction Session 3. Dancing in Your Head 4. Skies of America 5. John Rockwell, “Ornette Coleman” chapter in All American Music Can’t say anything half-intelligent about the Ornette binge, really. When Christgau ranked Of Human Feelings his #1 album of 1982, I got a copy from the library, tried to convince myself it was as good … Continue reading Friday 8 (5/2/14)

Quick note: last Friday, as a result of working in three WordPress blogs simultaneously (don’t try this at home, kids), I accidentally published my Friday list before I had a chance to edit the thing, and then I had to delete the entire post because even in draft mode it was accessible through the Twitter feed (and much of what I had started to crank out … Continue reading Friday 14 (4/18/14)

1. Fuzzy, “Flashlight” – One of those “there-are-a-million-other-punks-songs-just-like-this-and-none-of-them-are-bad” type of songs. 2. Zombies, “She’s Not There” in commercial for Coco Mademoiselle Channel – An art director’s wet dream, and a pop fan’s too (I haven’t stopped thinking of the song all week, and I crane my neck from the kitchen to catch a glimpse every time it comes on TV). 3. Laurie Spiegel, “Patchwork” 4. Beach … Continue reading Friday 8 (4/4/14)

1. Philip Glass, “Music With Changing Parts” – Barely. 2. Ekehard Ehlers “Plays Cornelius Cardew (Part 2)” – A serene racket. 3. Paul McCartney & Wings, Band on the Run 4. James Elkins, What Happened to Art Criticism – The idea being that I will find out what went wrong with art criticism before I really understand what was ever right with art criticism, though … Continue reading Friday 6 (3/28/14)

1. Rush (dir. Ron Howard) 2. The Yes Man (dir. Peyton Reed, w/Jim Carrey) 3. Lorde, “Team” – Mentioned here already a few weeks ago, and it continues to sound better every time it comes on. First candidate for single of the year. 4. Passing Observation Based on No Hard Data: Pop radio is suddenly, for the first time in a long time, teeming with … Continue reading Friday 5 (3/21/14)

1. Pharrell, “Happy” – Number One on Billboard this week, and not bad (it was dismissable until it wasn’t). It’s no “Hey Ya” or “I Gotta Feeling” (or, would you believe, “Moves Like Jagger”) but I can’t say I wouldn’t mind testing it at a wedding this spring to find out for sure. 2. Katy Perry, “Dark Horse” – Number Two on Billboard this week, … Continue reading Friday 4 (3/14/14)

1. Toni Braxton & Babyface, Love, Marriage, and Divorce – Not adding the word “Sex” to the title is one of the only false notes here — not that they fuck anywhere near as often as they fight, not that they fight as often as they simply try to figure things out. And that is the record’s sensuously-expressed triumph, the way, for instance, Babyface’s quiet, … Continue reading Friday 6 (2/21/14)

1. Broadcast, The Future Crayon – Best heard through earbuds at low volume on public transit, supplemented by randomly overheard chatter of other passengers (further maximized if you’re in the early stages of an oncoming flu). 2. Miley Cyrus, “Party in the U.S.A.” – Best heard on the deck of a Disney Cruise on a sunny day with dozens of kids going apeshit (not to … Continue reading Friday 7, Valentine’s Day Edition (2/14/14)

1. Wham!, “Everything She Wants” – Paranoid paternity pop. The missing link between “Billie Jean” and Ace of Base’s “All That She Wants,” the former of which I haven’t been able to hear in years, the latter of which holds up better than you probably hoped — though this holds up better than either. 2. “Dream Baby Dream” – Both the Suicide original (which I’d … Continue reading Friday 6 (1/24/14)