Hello,
firstly, happy new year to all. I don’t have a good excuse for why this is so late this month, only an apology and gratitude for anyone tuning in.
New work
In October I made this new little zine called Photos from my Bratz camera, which is a collection of, well, photos from my Bratz camera. I got this camera as a gift sometime in the mid-2000s—I think… I can only approximate this, my memory does not serve me that well—and I rediscovered it again a couple years back. I then bought some black & white film for it, took some photos not knowing if it even works, and got them developed. Surprisingly, the thing does still work (and I love it dearly). I’m thinking to buy some colour film and take more photos with my Bratz camera!
See the full project here. Some of my favourite photos are below.
And if you happen to be in Ljubljana, it is also available to be viewed at Dobra Vaga in their zine library!
Music
I mostly just kept listening to Porter Robinson, nothing very new to report here, he was in very, very heavy rotation for the majority of November and December. I listened to so much Porter Robinson that, within a mere month, he became my most listened to artist of the year. However…
Roy Blair – Chasing Moving Trains
Seven years after his debut, Roy Blair finally released his sophomore album, Chasing Moving Trains. If Cat Haven was California in vibe, this is so very clearly New York.
He also (officially) released Graffiti earlier this year, which is actually still my favourite Roy Blair release. This post is supposed to be about CMT but I’ll take a paragraph to also write about Graffiti because I love it and I want to.
Titled Graffiti: A Mix by Roy Blair, it premiered exclusively on Beats 1 on 2019 and then just… never released anywhere, with the exception of three songs, released as GRAFFITI EP a few days later. Thankfully, rips of the full thing appeared online shortly after. Roy even toured on this release cycle, I saw him in Amsterdam during his first mini tour over here in Europe, a memory I cherish deeply. Graffiti was a major sonic shift from Cat Heaven, and it made me so excited about the future of Roy Blair.
He’s been teasing Chasing Moving Trains for forever at this poiny so I almost didn’t believe it when I saw it finally had a release date. I keep a running list of music releases I’m interested in in my notes app, and for the last 4 or so years, I’ve had a bullet point that said “TBA – Roy Blair” on there.
This album is yet another, but this time a slightly subtler, shift for Roy. He’s both expanding and refining the direction he set with Graffiti. The album feels like a (new) beginning of something, like he’s finally landed on a sound, a world, a vision of who he is as an artist, and he’s finally introducing it to us. It’s a consolidation of the last few years of his life, a closing of one chapter and the opening of a new one. Cat Heaven is a coming-of-age album, there is no doubt about that, but so is Chasing Moving Trains. I suppose growing up never stops.
Favourite songs: Rain, Strawberry, Belmont (I’ve been waiting for Strawberry for years and years, ever since I watched this snippet from an instagram live back in 2020 and I’m beyond ecstatic about the final result)
Cameron Winter – Heavy Metal
Cameron Winter, the lead singer of Geese surprise released two singles in November, which he then followed up with a full-length in early December. And they’re outstanding. While I know 3D Country ended up on many many end-of-year lists in 2023, I, for some reason, didn’t get into it. But I did get into Geese when (or actually, even before?) they released their debut and at the time I couldn’t really believe what I was hearing.
Considering one of my favourite Geese songs is one of the more mellow ones, First World Warrior off of their debut, a Cameron solo project is like that, but more stripped back and more mellow. Brat summer → Porter Robinson fall → Cameron Winter, perhaps?
I’ve been thinking a lot about why I like this album and why I think it’s good. After all, as we all know, taste is subjective. But I really can’t quite articulate my why for this one. Do I know what he’s singing about? No. Is any of it relatable to me? Also, no. I like the melodies. I like the sounds. I like the tone of his voice (I think he’s one of those either you like it or you don’t cases). I like how it all sounds together, it feels singular. I appreciate albums with a singular sound. But still, I can’t exactly tell why. And maybe it’s this mystery that’s appealing to me.
Anyway, check it out, it’s excellent, even if I can’t quite argue why. Maybe someday I’ll be able to.
Favourite songs: Nausicaä (Love Will Be Revealed), Love Takes Miles, Drinking Age, $0
Laura Marling – Patterns in Repeat
This was a bit of a last-minute listen towards the end of the year, but it almost instantly cemented its spot of my 2024 favourites list (coming…soon?). What a gorgeous, gorgeous singer-songwriter album. It’s a tender and stripped-back collection of songs about motherhood, aging, love and friendship. I really don’t know if I have any more words to write, I could keep stacking adjectives like beautiful and tender, but I’m not sure if that would do it any justice. Listen to it. It’s comforting.
Favourite songs: Child of Mine, No One’s Gonna Love You Like I Can, Lullaby, Patterns in Repeat
Lontalius – How Can We Lose When We’re so Sincere?!
I’ve been familiar with Lontalius since his 2016 debut I’ll Forget 17. If I remember correctly I listened to it because an artist I really liked at the time (Henrietta Harris) painted the album cover. Anyways, I’ve been casually keeping up with Lontalius since then (meaning I follow him on Instagram) but I must admit none of his releases since the debut really pulled me in as much. His latest offering, however, caught my attention again, and I quite enjoyed it.
It’s a pretty good album to have on in the background. And I don’t say that to suggest it doesn’t really deserve your attention. I say it because it creates a vibe. It’s lowkey. It has that energy of electronic music you put on when you have to get work done on your computer. Or when you’re just chillin’ but you want something on. It’s good for that. It deserves your time.
Favourite songs: When the Seasons Roll Over, Casualty, We Learn From Our Mistakes, Wish Love Wouldn’t Haunt Me, Apologise / City
I saw Friko live!
My first (and only, unfortunately) concert of the year was the Friko show in Amsterdam, which was sooo good. They’re touring their debut Where we’ve been, Where we go from here which, by the way, is one of my favourite albums of the year. They had some technical difficulties, which I probably wouldn’t have noticed had they not mentioned it, but they are an electric live band. So much energy, so much love, so much passion, and you can genuinely tell that all they really want to do is play music, and I love seeing that energy on stage. It was a great time.
Film & TV
Anora (2024, dir. Sean Baker)
I saw Anora and I really liked it! There’s been much discourse about it online (both positive and negative) which always sours my feelings about any piece of art / media that I like(d) but I do still think it’s a good film and a good watch and I had a grand ol’ time watching it in the cinema. I thought that the performances were really excellent. Definitely a movie I’d recommend you watch (I wouldn’t write about it here otherwise!).
The Holdovers (2023, dir. Alexander Payne)
Second annual watch of The Holdovers!! Honestly, I think I’ll watch this every year in December for the foreseeable future until I either forget to do it or until, for some reason, can’t watch it anymore.
The Holdovers has everything I love and for that reason I can only write good things about it. There’s coming of age, there’s some serious topics, there’s some lighthearted fun. There’s an outstanding soundtrack. I’ll just quote both of my Letterboxd reviews here:
2023:
Went into this knowing only that it’s happening at a school over Christmas break and seeing all the Letterboxd reviews saying “they don’t make them like this anymore” and “cosiest movie of the year” which yes all true!!
I loooooved it!! The vibes are immaculate and off the charts!
2024:
The 2nd annual The Holdovers viewing.
In the last 20 minutes I just thought “…is this… one of my favourite movies…?” and what can I say… I think it might be
Finished The Bear
I (finally) finished the third season of The Bear! I’m the last person in the world to finally watch The Bear but oh my god what an excellent show. I do think the first two seasons are much more exhilarating than this last one but it is overall a thrilling experience. I would genuinely recommend anyone to watch it show, except maybe to people who have bad experiences from working in kitchens/hospitality because it might make you way too stressed and anxious, just a warning. But I can’t wait for the next season!!!
Bits & bobs
Unfortunately, I was not able to find a suitable advent calendar in time this year, so it is with great sadness that I report the Advent Calendar Treat Reviews did not return on my Instagram story this year. (If you don’t know about this, last year I reviewed every item from my advent calendar on my insta story and it was great fun and I loved it and (some) people loved it also so I’m actually quite sad I didn’t get to do it again this year)
Knitting
I made so many things towards the end of the year that I am immensely proud of!
Scarf
Firstly, I finished this scarf for a dear friend and I am so so happy with how it turned out. I improved my double-knitting technique and also it was the first time I ever blocked a piece. Unfortunately I don’t have any better pictures than the ones below (yet) because I finished it the day before gifting it.
Socks
I made two pairs of socks as gifts for family right before Christmas, and, again, I’m so happy with how they turned out! I’m really into vertical stripes and I hope to make more things and maybe even experiment a little with it.
This was a bit of a lengthy one. I’ll post my end-of-year list soon. And I’ll continue writing these this year. I think it’s nice. I want to learn more and I want to share more (again).
Thank you for reading <3
Until next time,
Mia