Still, I can’t let December tick by without a few lists. So here goes...
BEST BOOKS NOT FROM 2018
An Untouched House - Willem Frederik Hermans
A short, savage novella about the fragility of the civil façade, An Untouched House is a criminally neglected masterpiece of post-War European literature (it was first published in 1950). A retreating partisan finds shelter in an unoccupied house. Exhausted, he collapses into a deep sleep only to find the house overrun by Nazis when he wakes. With quick wit, he poses as the house's owner and ingratiates himself with his enemies. Until he sees the real owner approaching. All the tension of a thriller, and the moral complexity of a literary classic.
No More Boats - Felicity Castagna
In the context of our fractured and ugly political climate, No More Boats is about as pointed a novel as you could hope to read. It's kind of scary to think that, despite being set in 2001 - right at the beginning of the refugee panic - its lessons not only remain relevant but are probably even more so today. A gripping, if grim, insight into Australian life at a time we are destined to look back at with shame.
The Tidings of the Trees - Wolfgang Hilbig
I've always found Hilbig to be kind of impenetrable. Friends have assured me that's part of his charm. I'll take their word for it. That said, there's been something noticeably Krasznahorkaian or Sebaldian about the books I have read, and I've wondered if I could stomach him a bit better in small doses. This year saw the publication of two novellas - The Old Rendering Plant and The Tidings of the Trees - so I thought I'd give him another go. Well, I'm glad I did. Both were great. But it was The Tiding of the Trees that absolutely blew me away. Think a bleaker, more surreal Kafka (yeah...). In the ashes of what was once a forest, a failed writer encounters inhabitants called Garbagemen who are sorting through the detritus of a destroyed civilisation and arranging discarded mannequins into obtuse poses. This is horror at its most existential.
Her Father's Daughter - Alice Pung
Unpolished Gem might have established Alice Pung as a major voice on the Australian scene, but for me it is her second book, Her Father's Daughter, that really catapulted her into the stratosphere of the greats. A beautiful tribute to the suffering of her parents under Pol Pot, this book sits alongside the greatest literary works on the horrors of genocide. I'm embarrassed to say I knew very little about the Killing Fields before I read this, and spent much of the time with my jaw on the floor. The barbarity. The senselessness. The absolute inhumanity. It's a difficult read, but an absolutely crucial one.
One of the Boys - Daniel Magariel
Scenes of an ordinary domestic life slowly unravel to paint the portrait of a man who manipulates and viciously abuses his children. We see it from the perspective of the younger boy, at first wholly in awe of the father who rescued him from a mother he is told was dangerous and neglectful. It's all great fun, and life in a new town seems like a lark, but then the cracks begin to show. As the father slumps into a cycle of drugs, alcohol and violence the boys try to keep it together, until they are pitted against each other. A harrowing, short work of considerable brilliance.
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil - George Saunders
Ok. Time for me to commit lit-hipster hara-kiri: I just don't get the fuss about George Saunders. Sure, there are a few good stories, but other than that... meh. Oh, and, Lincoln In The Bardo was okay, but would have made a much better short story. In the hope of being proven wrong, I asked a friend who works in a bookstore to prove me wrong. He recommended The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil. And dammit, he was right. This hilarious, surreal novella (well, actually, it's really more of a slightly longer short story) is so bonkers that it's impossible not to fall totally in love with it. A tiny country, that can only fit a few people at a time, comes under siege from its expansionist neighbour led by the downright awful Phil. Bloody genius. Still doesn't make up for Lincoln, though.
THE SHELF OF SHAME
In previous years I've used the Shelf of Shame to bag out books that I didn't like: the overhyped, the overdone and the downright crap. Seems I've grown a conscience over the past 12 months so now I'm using it to bag myself out. So yeah, I read about 120 books this year (including manuscripts) but here are the ones I bought and, to my great shame, didn't get around to reading.
THE SOUNDTRACK TO MY DOWNTIME
2018 wasn't the most exciting music year. There were a fair few EPs (Gods of Mount Olympus, Slow Bloom, Michael Burrows, The Fever 333, etc) I really enjoyed, but when it came to full lengths, these were the ones that did it for me:
23. Peace - Kindness Is The New Rock N'Roll. Soulful, heartfelt and damn catchy, Peace came in early with this pearler. I still go back and listen to it every now and then, and just give myself over to its sweet charm.
22. Judas Priest - Firepower
How a bunch of dudes almost the same age as my dad can still put out this year’s riffiest, wildest dose of old school metal is beyond me. But hey, here it is.
21. Razorlight - Olympus Sleeping
Razorlight were once the darlings of the British music press. Countless years, and a bunch of silly controversies later, this album came and went without so much as a peep. The one review I did read mostly complained about the lack of musical growth it demonstrated. I, for one, don’t want Razorlight to mature. Jangly guitar pop? Yes please. My favourite album of theirs since the self-titled masterpiece.
20. Reef - Revelation
Maybe it’s just the nostalgia speaking, but I’ve kind of missed these 90s soul pop titans. Twenty-odd years on, they may look a little worse for wear - shit, they look like a Unabomber lookalike contest with guitars - and just might have tilted into full cheese, but they still have the chops to make me wanna get up and dance.
19. Alkaline Trio - Is This Thing Cursed?
Good Mourning is one of may favourite albums of all time. Almost everything since has made me want to stab my ears with a rusty trowel (which, I realise, might be a compliment when it comes to A3 but isn’t intended as one). This does not.
18. The Frights - Hypochondriac
Not sure when exactly it happened, but at some point The Frights turned from a hard-to-pin-down pinkish band to love child of The Eels and Weezer. In theory, I’d totally hate them. But this is a mighty fine, deliciously quirky record.
17. We Are The Union - Self Care
Ska-tinged, speedy punk done remarkably well with absolutely zero fanfare.
16. The Last Gang - Keep Them Counting
Snarly, snotty punk rock with a riotgrrrl punch.
15. Lee Corey Oswald - Darkness, Together
Come for the name, stay for the collection of abrasive, thoughtful alt-rock tunes.
14. Ash - Islands
There was a time when we’d all marvel at Tim Wheeler’s ridiculous youth. What was he when Ash released Petrol? Like 4? Now he’s approaching middle age but he’s still writing top notch abrasive guitar pop songs and Islands is one of Ash’s best albums in a very long time. Welcome back, young Tim.
13. Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers - Bought To Rot
Laura Jane Grace is one of the most prolific, inspirational and all-round amazing people in the punk rock world. A few listens of this and I’m left wondering why it isn’t an Against Me! Album but, hey, that’s her prerogative and I’ll take this killer collection of tunes in whatever incarnation she wants to give it to me.
12. The Coral - Move Through The Dawn
The Coral are one of those bands that I totally dug at the beginning but then grew bored of very quickly and mostly forgot about. Which is to say I really haven’t cared for their last five or so albums. But this… this is something special. Extra points for quite possibly my favourite song of the year: Strangers In The Hollow.
11. Ghost - Prequelle
The only thing Tobias Forge loves more than whipping up a controversy is making spectacular, bombastic, overblown metal masterpieces. This might very well be his magnum opus.
10. Albert Hammond Jr - Francis Trouble
A few days ago, I listened to The Strokes’s debut album Is This It? for the the first time in donkey’s ears. Yep, it’s still bloody great. All that money they spent making it sound like they spent no money making it really paid off. Almost twenty years on, it totally stacks up. Can’t say the same for most of the band members, though. Except, that is, Albert Hammond Jr. With a slew of solid albums to his name, he remains the one Stroke who doesn’t shame their name. I don’t think Francis Trouble got a great deal of attention but by god it should have.
9. The Bennies - Natural Born Chillers
The Bennies are the ultimate party band and seeing them live is tantamount to a transformative religious experience. I’ve never thought they had quite captured on record what makes them so great. Which is why Natural Born Chillers made me so damn happy. Far and away THE party album of the year.
8. Pass Away - The Hell I’ve Seen
I picked this up knowing nothing about the band. The cover kind of reminded me of something I Am The Avalanche might put out. No surprise then to learn that Pass Away are basically IATA without Vinnie Caruana. Same vibe, same killer songs. A total kick in the feels.
7. Tiny Moving Parts - Swell
Not the sort of thing I usually go for, but Tiny Moving Parts floored me with their emo-prog-math brilliance.
6. Andrew WK - You’re Not Alone
If Killing Joke went posi-core and dressed in all white, they might just have released this album twenty years ago. As it is, self-proclaimed party god and lord of making you feel good about yourself let this ripper slip early in the year and it’s still my go-to for a bit of an audio pat on the back.
5. Pennywise - Never Gonna Die
Jim is back. Properly this time. And these punk rock veterans sound all the fresher for it. An astonishingly good album that packs a solid wallop!
4. Antarctigo Vespucci - Love In The Time of E-Mail
There’s something about the combination of Jeff Rosenstock and Chris Farren that results in pure musical magic. Sure, it’s totally geeky and full of cheese, but it’s so, so loveable. Easily, the most sweetly endearing record of the year.
3. IDLES - Joy As An Act of Resistance
Goddamn you, hipsters. Why did you have to give rise to a band that I should totally hate but who make the most beautifully complex, emotionally painful album of the year? If songs like June and Danny Nedelko doesn’t make you reassess your life then you’re probably beyond salvation.
2. Spanish Love Songs - Schmaltz
Every year there’s one album that I pick up for no particular reason, give it a few spins and fall hopelessly in love. In 2018 that was Spanish Love Songs. It’s a bit punk, a bit folk, a bit rock and every bit awesome. Urgent in its longing for something better, this is the kind of album that helps you grow as a person.
1. Bloomington Cutters - Humming Status, Singing Quo
One of the biggest questions for me over the past five years (yeah, I sweat the big stuff) is what would have happened had PUP followed up their glorious debut with something even better? Well, at last I have my answer. On Humming Status, Singing Quo, Bloomington Cutters unleash fourteen tracks of blistering, mangled pop brilliance packed with perfect melodies, panicked screams and guitars that could cut diamonds.
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