This is a tradition. Previous year’s soundtracks are in the archives.
I converted our family to Tidal this year. In addition to feeling nice that Tidal pays artists slightly more than our previous streaming overlords at Amazon, the sound quality is better. I also like that when I search for something in Tidal, it will only show music in the results - no podcasts, no audiobooks.
The kids were given phones this year, and I lied about their age so they could create profiles and listen with the app. My son has a single playlist and has said it's four hours worth of songs now. He'll listen while he plays Fortnite, while he showers, while he's on a long car ride with me and doesn't want to listen to my music or enjoy my pleasant conversation. I'm not as informed about my daughter's choices. I know she had some songs saved that got removed due to Disney copyright violations. That wasn't easy to explain.
For some of these songs, I don't have anything exciting to say about them except, "The algorithm served this to me after I listened to something else," so I will be using those spaces to write about whatever I choose.
This year’s soundtrack is available on YouTube. Spotify. And Tidal.
1. George Jones - The Grand Tour
I was driving my mom to an appointment, so I tried to play something we'd both enjoy hearing. I must have generated a playlist based on Willie Nelson. This song started and I didn't know it but it's easy to identify George Jones' voice. As soon as he started singing I told mom, "Oh boy, this guy never has any good news to share," and the lyrics of The Grand Tour proved me right.
(Wikipedia references a theory that this song may not be about a lady who took her kid and walked out on her husband, but rather died due to complications of childbirth. I do not agree. What kind of a freak would save the news of that tragedy for last? "There's the bed. Man, we used to go at it in that bed. Same with the chair. Oh yeah and over here is the nursery where my now-deceased child would have slept.")
Did you know that George Jones was called "Possum" because he had an unfortunate-looking face? I know that because I watched Ken Burns' Country Music this year. I loved seeing how nearly every country artist profiled had a dreadful childhood. With the exception of Kris Kristofferson and Reba McEntire, they all had difficult origins. You hear that Peter Coyote narrator voice over the most faded black and white photo you've ever seen, "She grew up in Gas Leak, Kentucky, the daughter of a mine accident foreman. Her crippled mother earned an extra dime a week by allowing the local sheriff to use her legs as target practice. Every month, her grandfather would come by the house drunk, chiding the small child for allowing her hair to be curly, and hitting her with the family fiddle."
I decided to watch Country Music because the podcast Blank Check was covering all of the films of the Coen brothers this year, and after rewatching O Brother, Where Art Thou? I thought Country Music would be a perfect add-on. And bam, 16 hours later I had a perfect understanding of the origins and rich history of Country.
2. This is Lorelai - Dancing in the Club (MJ Lenderman version)
I believe author/journalist Liz Pelly recommended the This is Lorelai album on BlueSky. It didn't grab me but I do love this cover.
3. Sinead O’Connor - Mandinka
Wasn't previously familiar with this one. Why isn't this the most played song in the world?
4. Joan Baez - No Expectations
We took at trip to New York City (get a rope) in January, during the same weekend when Timothee Chalamet was hosting Saturday Night Live, performing some Bob Dylan songs no normal person recognized. A Complete Unknown was okay, and I liked the part where Joan Baez gave Bob the finger so I took her greatest hits for a spin. This Rolling Stones cover is my favorite.
I don't post much on social media or this blog, so when I take pictures like this at the Natural History Museum, who is it for?
5. Yo-Yo feat. Ice Cube - You Can’t Play with My Yo-Yo
Corinne asked for great running songs by female artists that she could put on a playlist for a marathon. My idea was Afro Puffs by The Lady of Rage, which I knew from hearing Death Row's Greatest Hits complication in car CD players throughout high school. The app played this afterward, based on songs similar. Ice Cube can say the stupidest shit and it still sounds cool.
6. Wet Leg - mangetout
I was excited for a number of albums this year, but the Wet Leg album was the one that really satisfied me. Somewhat disappointed with Ben Kweller, Samia, Japanese Breakfast, Black Country New Road, Beach Bunny, Car Seat Headrest, Arcade Fire, Sprints, and Neko Case.
7. Phantastic Ferniture - Change My Mind
I was pleased to learn Julia Jacklin has this side project.
Maybe I should start using this space to cover which injuries I suffered over the course of the year.
In the spring, I went to Wichita for the weekend. The first night, I got into bed without the plastic nightguard for my teeth and thought, "What's the harm?" and went to sleep. The next day it felt like a bottom tooth shifted an inch, and my jaw was clenched so much over the next few months that I was taking nightly muscle relaxants and seriously considering Botox injections in those jaw muscles.
The next night in Wichita, I laid down to sleep on my aunt's couch, and before I fell asleep I had a pinched nerve in my neck. That took several weeks of stretching to fix.
The second week of July, my left knee was swollen after my weekly Sunday basketball game, and a few weeks after that it became hard to walk up and down stairs. The knee doc said I didn't have anything serious inside my knee, but I had to go to weeks of physical therapy to strengthen it and the muscles around it. No doc or physical therapist was ever able to say exactly what the issue was. Right now it doesn't hurt, but it doesn't feel right, either.
8. The Beat - Don’t Wait Up for Me
The Beat are called The English Beat in the United States, and I think we should do that for all British bands. The English Rod Stewart.
9. Son Volt - Tear Stained Eye
I liked Son Volt's Drown during high school, but I never followed them and hadn't heard this before.
Here's the movies I saw in a theater this year:
The Minecraft MovieDog ManThe Bad Guys 2The Naked GunMission Impossible: The Final ReckoningOne Battle After Another
I sat between my kids at The Minecraft Movie, and neither of them laughed for the entire movie. Afterwards I asked them to rank the movie out of 10. The boy said 9.5 and the only reason it wasn't a 10 is because of "Jack Black's terrible songs." The girl said 8. So, they did find it entertaining but not funny? Or they found it funny but don't laugh.
10. The Walker Brothers - The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore
This was on the soundtrack to a movie called Turn Me On (2024), which I heard about through the Blank Check podcast. Three stars for the movie, five stars for this song!
11. Japanese Breakfast - Picture Window
Me and my aching knee stood for hours to enjoy this concert at Liberty Hall. It hurt like a bastard but we were right in front of the soundboard, in the center, on a step above the rest of the crowd.
She said this song was about being afraid of stuff all the time, compared to her husband who is not like that.
12. The Jesus and Mary Chain - April Skies
Never really explored these guys before this year, but always assumed they had some bangers beyond The Crow soundtrack.
13. Samia - Bovine Excision
I don't like diet soda and I haven't read Raymond Carver! I grew up calling soda "pop". In the covid era I was talking over Zoom to a bunch of temp employees, which was like monologuing to a screen of black squares. I don't know how it came up but I remember I said I switched to calling it soda because I was, "ashamed of my rural upbringing" and one of the few people with their camera on laughed.
14. The Beths - Mosquitoes
One day I was in a mood, staring at nothing, looking down at my desk in my office, hearing "I'm only here to feed mosquitoes, only skin, only blood, and little less now than there was." There are songs I like better off this album -- the boy likes Roundabout so much he put it on his own playlist -- but if I'm going with what songs will remind me of 2025 I gotta stick with this one.
The Beths was the second of two concerts I saw this year. They were good! Their encore was only one song. Fair enough!
15. Chris Farren - Cause of Death
Chris Farren led off our 2023 soundtrack! I saw he put this song out this year and had listened a few times, but I didn't listen to the lyrics until I was in Wichita for a funeral. Two weeks after going to Wichita for Gav's dad's funeral, I was back for my friend's memorial gathering. Unfortunately, the lyrics are applicable - we don't know the cause of death.
He has 42 tags on this blog! I reread all of them. I looked up old email correspondence. I'm glad we took the time to write emails and blogs, and that I recorded old texts before deleting them to regain the limited memory space on my old dumb phones. I'm glad that all exists.
16. Buckingham Nicks - Don’t Let Me Down Again
Alright, let's get back to movies. According to my Letterboxd, I have watched 228 films this year! I only saw a handful in the theater. In reverse chronological order:
One Battle After Another
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
The Naked Gun
The Bad Guys 2
Dog Man
The Minecraft Movie
I rewatched every MI film leading up to the finale, and rewatched the Naked Guns before the reboot.
As the year went on, I grew tired of this from repeat listenings. The album was okay, I like Passenger Seat. White Horses is so weird that sometimes I think it's good and most of the time I think it's bad.
18. Shelly - Cross Your Mind
Some movies I watched this year that you probably haven't seen that I recommend (in no particular order):
Get Carter - Michael Caine is a mob enforcer who likes to fuck, and he's kicking ass and taking names to avenge his brother in Newcastle, England.
Light Sleeper - Willem Dafoe delivers drugs for Susan Sarandon in 80s gritty NYC. Does he like to fuck? This lady thinks so!
(I watch movies on my TELEVISION so these screen captures are PHOTOS I take with my PHONE.)
White Sands - Willem Dafoe is a sheriff who finds a suitcase of money with a dead body, and goes undercover to solve the case.
Dressed to Kill - Brian De Palma directs this, so obviously some of these characters like to fuck. Dennis Franz is a NYC detective so obviously it's good.
Parallax View - Warren Beatty witnesses a political assassination. Does the conspiracy go all the way to the top? You bet your ass it does!
Get Over It - A perfectly silly movie about a high school play with stars in almost every role. Kirstin Dunst. Martin Short. Colin Hanks. Shane West. Ben Foster. Zoe Saldana. Mila Kunis. Ed Begley Jr. and Swoozie Kurtz. Sisqo was cast before Thong Song broke out! Vitamin C sings to camera during the opening AND closing credits!
Copycat - Watched some Holly Hunters I hadn't seen. In this one, she's a detective working with Sigourney Weaver to find a serial killer whose murders all resemble famous serial killer murders. A "copycat", if you will. Holly fires her sidearm sideways while doing some target practice and stole my heart. Why didn't her Incredibles character shoot pistols like this?
19. Flamin’ Groovies - Shake Some Action
I didn't know that Cracker's song on the Clueless soundtrack was a cover. I did rewatch Clueless this year. Probably the best movie that has The Mighty Mighty Bosstones on screen.
20. BENEE - Off the Rails
Back to Michael Caine. In 2024 I watched a documentary he produced called My Generation, which had some nice footage of Swinging London but ultimately didn't have a point. Since then I've been throwing Caine movies on my watchlist when I see them on my paid or free apps. I watched 10 Caines this year - all of these were first-time watches:
Deathtrap
Alfie
Dressed to Kill
The Cider House Rules
The Prestige
A Shock to the System
Billion Dollar Brain
Flawless
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Get Carter
21. Karen O and Danger Mouse - Super Breath
Books. Right. Well, just like Zuckerberg didn't get a million friends without making a few enemies, I didn't watch 228 movies without ignoring a few books. Let's see, the library borrowing history tells me I read one book this year: Intermezzo by Sally Rooney. I liked it. The library says I returned that book before I flew to Grand Rapids, so what did I read on the airplane? Oh right, I read Wild and Crazy Guys, a book about the rise of Steve Martin, Dan Ackroyd, Eddie Murphy, John Candy, et al making comedy movies in the '80s. My mom got it for me for Christmas years ago and I finally read it. Two books!
22. Matt Pond PA and Anya Marina - Telepathy
Nick took me to the Ford Presidential Library in Grand Rapids! Last year I'd never been in a Presidential Library and now I've been to TWO! I gotta say, if you know about the Vietnam War and you know about Watergate, you do not have to read much in this museum. But you do learn that he had two would-be assassins.
23. Nenah Cherry - Buffalo Stance
See you next year.
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