top 10 albums of 2020 (in no particular order) /////
A few days of lockdown escape soaking up the sun on Norfolkâs sandy beaches www.visitnorfolk.co.uk
Dancing - anywhere anytime⊠to lift the spirits - mostly to Stevie Wonder, Puma Blue and Tierra Whack
https://open.spotify.com/album/1EFVYHuhITenIZQgL4yAFu?highlight=spotify:track:4OL39vZOiYvqBiC2UOwoyr
The Aidilfitri Eid family Eurovision dance https://twitter.com/adamimanullah/status/1264430635742945282
Rewatching all 7 seasons of Madmen with man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Men
BBC sounds - Arts and Ideas podcasts - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrvk3/episodes/downloads
Listening (and dancing) to pretty much everything from On The Corner Records https://onthecornerrecords.bandcamp.com/
Intimation by Zadie Smith - proceeds to charity https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/01/intimations-by-zadie-smith-review-a-wonderful-essayist-on-the-lockdown
Corona lockdown - What coronavirus looks like in EVERY country on earth â From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe https://www.channel4.com/news/what-coronavirus-looks-like-in-every-country-on-earth-from-afghanistan-to-zimbabwe
Staged - available on BBC and Netflix https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81329676
My #calixagainstcovid masks available at Bleep - proceeds to charity https://bleep.com/release/190950-mira-calix-calix-against-covid
10 Artists That Made a Small But Significant Stamp on My Year /////
2020 highlights /////
Some favourites:
top 10 mixes of the year 
no particular order /////
Jake Muir - Bathhouse Blues
Juliana Huxtable - Dekmantel Podcast 288
CCL - Juanitaâs Mix 034
Lara Sarkissian - NTS Armenian Special
Kilbourne - Discwoman mix 94
http://www.discwoman.com/mixes/kilbourne
W00dy - FACT mix 749
LSDXOXO - NU CENOSIS mix
ABBY - Club Cringe 02
Laila Sakini - Knekelhuis 70
KMRU - Motion Cast Vol. 57
top ten for 555 /////
10 - I got this to make the sun, I thought it would be magical but the slippery texture meant it was fickle and hard to work with so I didnât end up using it as much as I thought I would.
09 - This is the colour on Chinese phoenix wings, which is more like a rainbow peacock than a fire bird. In real life the blue is a lot more vibrant.
08 - I havenât used this one yet, it was a gift from Art Angel who asked me to be involved in their âThinking Timeâ project. Whilst I was thinking, I ended up doing a lot of sewing. And all of my lockdown embroideries are going on a jacket.
07 - I really love this one, itâs the darkest part of the inside of the rabbitâs ear.
06 - I got this for the clouds. When I was in the embroidery shop, I was genuinely shocked at how many different shades of white there were - and how they all looked so different. Someone could make an ambient album about that.
05 - This one looks very popular, I must have used it on a lot of things. Phoenix feathers, dragonâs mane, rabbit paws. On itâs own it isnât very inspiring, but marking it higher for being a good team player.
04 - Of all the shades of water, this is the one I like best
03 - By the time I got to this, I had mastered the silky thread. Still annoying to work with, but easier if you split it into six tiny strands. This is the colour of snake tongue and phoenix comb.
02 - I got so into the greens, most of my favourites Iâve completely used up - this is one of the last ones I have left. Itâs so acidic I can taste it. Itâs mixed into the dragon and the snake.
01 - This is basically the mood of 2020 for me, the colour I have used more than any other - must have got through ten if not more filling in all the empty space. But in the negative space there is possibility and opportunity.
Animes that penetrate the psyche /////
555-5555 EOY /////
The Do!! You!!! Breakfast Show, NTS Radio
A quarantine constant for me and so many others, a lifesaver every morning.
Randy Crawford, Raw Silk (1979)
The best album I heard for the first time this year and a front-to-back perfect record, thanks to Jesse Bernard for the recommendation.
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Spent the first half of the year ticking off cinematic big hitters that Iâd put off for the best part of a decade, and this was the best. The most simultaneously ambitious and human film Iâve ever seen, Iâve thought about it every single day since.
Frank Ocean, âSoloâ (2016)
In a year where I listened to infinitely more old music than new, I must have played this song a hundred-plus times.
The Southern Hospitality / Regulators Show, Soho Radio
Rob Pursey and Superixâs unparalleled knowledge and total lack of pretentiousness makes this the best specialist show on UK radio for me.
The-Dream, âCedes Benzâ (Queen & Slim Version, 2019)
R&Bâs greatest modern songwriter reimagines 2015âs âCedes Benzâ as a tender ballad â his best song in years. Really great film too.
Phil Lynottâs Grand Slam, âHarlemâ (Studio Version, 1984)
A Do!! You!!! favourite that took on a whole other life for me â my dad is a big Lynott fan and Iâve not seen him since last year, so this one hits different right now.
Jessy Lanza, âLick in Heavenâ (2020) *
Sofie, âAsleepâ (2020) *
**My two most-played 2020 records that I didnât release.
The Sopranos (1999-2007)
Finally did it!
10 things that hit different in 2020 /////
Toyin Ojih Odutola âA Countervailing Theoryâ exhibition, which stretched around the Barbicanâs The Curve space. It felt like an epic immersive comic book with its corresponding soundscape by Peter Adjaye. Emotional and moving sci-fi at itâs best.
With sci-fi being a prominent feature this year, 2020 was the year Ursula K Le Guin entered my life! First off with The Left Hand of Darkness (of c) and then The Dispossesed which fucking banged. I think I was too eager to find likeness in the dystopian setting. Le Guin has been a huge inspiration to mine and Rupert Clervauxâs Lyl Radio residency that started this year. Titled Tanzen und Denken, weâve read many a passage of hers in our spoken word infused shows.
Sopranos. I donât think Iâve ever felt so passionate about a series. I truly love and adore, and now miss, the characters and all their fucked up flaws and humor. I would implore anyone who hasnât watched it yet to finally succumb. You have the time, in all fairness.
The Atlantic Ocean! I was lucky to escape London for sometime at home in Galway in August, which meant some necessary recharging in the sea. Nothing beats it.
The Other Latif Podcast by RadioLab. I was drawn to this six-parter as finding someone else who shares their namesake with a terrorist is pretty rare (I can lol here but you canât). Excellent in depth journalism over years long investigating, this series highlights the inhumane conditions of Guantanamo Bay and as the producer digs deeper, contemplates his own sliding doors scenario as the two Latifâs seem more similar than he could have imagined.
The label PatrĂșin. This year theyâve released the brilliant fundraiser compilation âFor MASIâ that showcases their impeccable taste. With previous releases from blusher and their scrapbook-esque âtren renzoâ and the Oooo EP by Cool Uncle, they manage to capture a perfect wonkiness in all their releases. Artwork by Mel Keane, too. Class. The label were raising funds very literally for MASI in aid of ending direct provision, which is a system in Ireland that essentially refuses asylum seekers personhood. It was an emergency measure put in place 20 years ago which needs to be ended as it perpetuates poverty and discrimination.
Yves Tumor - Heaven to a Tortured Mind. Obsessed with the horniest album of 2020.
Karaoke. Home karaoke, sorry neighbours. This has got me through bleak moments of this year. My go toâs are : The Cranberriesâ Zombie (pre-Miley) and Björk âItâs Oh So Quietâ
GIGS!!! Caroline Polachek and Christine and the Queens at the MOTH Club and Beatrice Dillon at Somerset House Studios. I miss live music : (
Sophie Hollingtonâs Autonomic Tarot Cards. I love Hollingtonâs trippy glam punk lino cuts and prints and picked up her and David Keenanâs deck collaboration at Donlonâs. Brutally honest and unforgiving, the images and prose take a life of their own as they donât have the major arcana cards. My friend who is a more experienced tarot card reader exposed some serious home truths to a group of friends.
Sophie Hollingtonâs Autonomic Tarot Cards. I love Hollingtonâs trippy glam punk lino cuts and prints and picked up her and David Keenanâs deck collaboration at Donlonâs. Brutally honest and unforgiving, the images and prose take a life of their own as they donât have the major arcana cards. My friend who is a more experienced tarot card reader exposed some serious home truths to a group of friends.
Ten words I loved in 2020 /////
10 - Theater
9 - Interstitial
8 - Peppered
7 - Blooming
6 - Circumnavigate
5 - Responsive
4 - Irreparably
3 - Forthcoming
2 - Adjacent
1 - Appreciative
my 2020 /////
Top 10 songs of 2020 /////
2020 was a mad year, period.
I feel like weâre going through a slow motion cultural reset.
For me these tunes cut thru, in no particular order
Pa Salieu ft Mahalia - Energy - just some real uplifting and positive vibes. Refreshing
Peake - Tantalyse - Joe and Nikita done their thing on this, much needed escapism in the form of a dizzy pop heater, with some truly poetic bars. Bringing romanticism back to this cold world.
MizorMac - Return of the Mac - Kenningtons finest, thereâs a message behind this one and the production and vocal performance is the most lush shit Iâve heard for a minute.
Hook - Get Bacc - one of the best artists on the rise this year, whole tape fiya.
Tati Au Miel - Clairvoyance - love this track I mix it a lot, dope song from a dope compilation.
Estoc x Evian Christ x Gangsta Boo x Chyna Whyte - Ultra Bundle - fucking crazy blend, love slapping this in the car.
Kamixlo - Cicatriz - the don himself dropped his long await debut, a real tripped out experience, you gotta listen the album in one go or listen to a their dj mixes to deep the beautiful chaotic world K has crafted.
Lancey Foux ft Bakar - Poison - I fuck w lancey something so London about his sound, sincere, elegant flow and a mad visual.
Ecco2k - Pollen - if you ever want to paint Ecco with one brush think again, this is some real neo folk manic shit.
Slightly unhinged and off in the best possible way.
Raverstaywifme - Rewind - I donât know much about this artist but I found this mixtape on bandcamp and Iâve been mixing with it ever since. Just gives me greazy vibes⊠the slightly jumpy key loop on this one spins me differently.
I hope 2021 can be of some respite to anyone reading this, all we got is each other in this toxic dunya. Love - F
ten people who got me through 2020 /////
music to traverse the metasphere with, 20 steps, in no particular order /////
liminal sonic experiences for a liminal year
â
Laylow - TRINITY (Chopped & Screwed by Kandea)
World Serpent - Memnon Sa
Rosa Pano - Luis Pestana
Wordcolour - âPeople Can You Hear Meâ Mix
nine-sum sorcery - LABOUR (feat. Hani Mojtahedy)
BABii - Beast+
Keeley Forsyth & Matthew Bourne | Chronotope for Marsden Jazz Festival, in three parts
Cruise Utopia - Canaan Balsam
ThritĂŽnh (2nd Passage: The Colour Of Death) - Esoctrilihum (Eternity Of Shaog)
Ways - Xyla
Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin - Eartheater
My Enemy, My Love - Mentrix
Phurpa - Live at Lastochka 2020.10.22
ralph - Selfish (Prod. Double Clapperz)
Ficciones Del TrĂłpico - Molero
Rosa AnschĂŒtz, live at Hyper Real Radio (06.11.20)
The Strangeness of Dub - Edward George, Morley Radio
https://www.morleyradio.co.uk/series/the-strangeness-of-dub/
Dreamcrusher âAnother Countryâ
WRACK - HAM (OUT OF FASHION BOYS)
The Totemist by Akâchamel, The Giver Of Illness
