Best Songs and Other Best Things of the Decade Pt. 1

Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, etc. The end of a decade! Time starts to snowball towards the inevitable, whatever that may be. I figure I'll give you CNQ's best of the decade while I wait for Fallout 76 to download. Best game of the decade: Fallout 4. Best book of the decade: I don't read new fiction, but thinking about the books I read in the 2010s, I can count them on one hand because I'm such a poor, slow reader. Don't judge me for being a dummy.

I read The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester early on in the decade and I thought it was great. After that I read some modern fiction zombie book I saw recommended on the back of a "The Walking Dead" comic and it was ok. After that I'm not sure I read anything for a year or two until I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time. I really liked it. Especially Tom Bombadil.

It took me like two years to read Dracula, which in the end I didn't enjoy that much. I read a couple of Conan stories for the first time, "Red Nails" and "Beyond the Black River," and they were both great. I'm in the middle of another one again, "The Jewels of Gwahlur," and it's been good so far but I'm only a few pages into it.

Best movies of the decade: I don't keep up enough to have a super-informed opinion, but I did see more movies this decade than I read books, for what that's worth. Of what I saw, I'd say Fury Road was my favorite movie of the decade. I liked I, Tonya a lot, and I think of scenes from Looper quite a bit. Hereditary fucked me up when I saw it, I haven't been able to watch scary movies since. The scene in Toy Story 3 with Big Baby sitting by himself on the swing at night, looking up at the moon, defined me as a person. There's a ton of stuff I never saw. Of the Star Wars movies my favorites were Rogue One and Solo. I'm pretty sick of super-hero movies. None of 'em hold up that much. At least from this decade.

TV-wise, I dunno man, Big Mouth was funny. Was the meth drama this decade? We watched all of those, they were good. Wouldn't watch again. As much as I like sci-fi, I stopped watching Black Mirror after the first or second season. But there's some episodes I still think about it from it. Key and Peele produced some classic skits, and my fave is hands down "Prepared for Terries":

Music-wise, let's start with 2010:

2011. This is from 2006 but I first heard it on tt.fm, probably in or around 2011. Great cover:

2012: Nothing sums up the Mayan Apocalypse like Girl Talk's All Day:

Or White Lung's Sorry:

Up to this point I've just been looking at what I downloaded on iTunes by year. SI downloaded nothing on iTunes in 2013, I guess by that point I was doing CNQ and getting into Bandcamp. This song is from 2008, but I first discovered it in 2013:

Big Freedia became a big deal for us in 2013, and I loved both of these songs:

It's late so I'll pick up from 2013 next post.

Big Freedia

I'm really excited about seeing Big Freedia @ Fun Fun Fun Fest this year. This song he did with Katey Red and Akron/Family has been in my head since I heard it a couple of days ago:

Here's some more awesome:

Fun Fun Fun Fest Friday Sampler

Fun Fun Fun Fest is happening down in Austin at the end of next week -- so many bands, it's pretty overwhelming. I'm disappointed the Death Grips have cancelled but whatevs. Mostly to help myself wrap my head around the entertainment, here's a rundown of the noise on Friday:

Phranchyze, hip-hop from Austin, will be on the Blue Stage at 12:10:

Spray Paint, garage rock from Austin, will start on the Black Stage at 12:20:

The Tontons, rock with a lady singer from Houston, will be on the Orange Stage at 12:35:

I think we're gonna catch the Tontons during this opening volley.

RATKING, "no wave rap" from NYC, is on the Blue Stage at 1PM:

Black Stage at 1:10 is the Code Orange Kids, heavyosity from Pittsburgh:

On the Orange Stage at 1:25 is Active Child, electronic music from LA. Not really my bag but check out that link to his soundcloud page if you're curious. RATKING sounds promising but if it doesn't hold our attention then we'll mosey over to the Code Orange Kids. There's a comedy stage and like a skateboarder stage or something too, ya know.

Title Fight is hardcore punk from Kingston PA, on the Black Stage at 2PM:

On the Blue Stage at 2PM is LA's Poolside:

On the Orange Stage at 2:15 is Brooklyn's Beach Fossils:

All three sound promising, so we might try to check out a little of all three of the two o'clock shows?

At three on the Black Stage, is GTA V's Ceremony:

Blue Stage at 3:05 is Star Slinger, a producer/DJ from the UK. Again, not really my bag.

Montreal's Mac DeMarco, who has a Deerhunter thing going on, is on the Orange Stage at 3:15:

Austin's The Impossibles will be reuniting on the Black Stage at 4:05, and since the combination of ska and alt-rock makes me physically ill, I won't be catching that show.

London's electro-poppy Little Boots is playing at 4:10 on the Blue Stage. Check out this tasteless video:

Caligula means "Little Boots" in Latin, ya know.

At 4:15 on the Orange Stage is the Smith's Johnny Marr. Not my bag, wife sez she wants to Little Boots -- I might make 4PM my brupper and catch comedian Kyle Dunnigan.

At 5:15 on the Black Stage is No Age, and at the same time on the Blue Stage is Small Black. At 5:20 on the Orange Stage is Kurt Vile. If that wasn't enough, Patton Oswalt is on the comedy stage at 5:20 also. Since we've seen No Age and Small Black (enjoyed 'em both), it's Kurt Vile for us (I'd go see Patton Oswalt too even though he annoys me a bit, but since Kurt Vile is playing I don't have to make that choice). No links to any of these guys, they all get a lot of press and are easy to hear across the world wide internets. The same goes for the big acts coming up:

Thee Oh Sees at 6:25 on the Black Stage, Big Freedia on the Blue Stage at 6:20, and The Walkmen on the Orange Stage at 6:25?!?! This is getting frustrating in regard to the very first world problem of choosing who to see. I'd really like to see Thee Oh Sees but the wife will want to catch Big Freedia. I wouldn't mind seeing The Walkmen either. Truthfully, Big Freedia will probably be the most fun:

At 7:25 on the Blue Stage is Lupe Fiasco, at 7:35 on the Black Stage is reunited Quicksand, and Cut Copy on the Orange Stage at 7:35. I've seen Cut Copy and don't have an interest in Lupe Fiasco so Quicksand it is.

FINALLY on Friday (I'm worn out already!), at 8:45 on the Blue Stage is RJD2, 8:45 on the Orange Stage is Snoop Dogg, and 8:55 on the Black Stage is Flag (some of the dudes from Black Flag). I am incredibly excited to see the entirety of Snoop Dogg.

Up next: FunX3 Fest Saturday Sampler.