Best of 2019 Lists from Friends of Twist & Shout! (Round 3)

Trout Steak Revival

Trout Steak Revival will be appearing at Mission Ballroom on Saturday January 11th!  More details HERE.

From the band members of Trout Steak Revival- their Top 10 List (no particular order)

Rayland Baxter: Good Mmornin
Bon Iver: i,i
Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
Bill Callahan: Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest
Molly Sarle: Karaoke Angel
The Deer: Do No Harm
Hayes Carll: What it Is
Yola: Walk Through Fire
The Highwomen: The Highwomen
Mandolin Orange: Tides of a Teardrop

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Barry Osborne

I'm a Denver-based singer-songwriter, learn more about my post punk old time banjo music at barryosbornemusic.com. Also, Associate Marketing Director at Swallow Hill Music.

2019 (Alphabetical by band and/or first name)
Avenhart* - For July
Bellhoss* - Geraniums
Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
Dervish - The Great Irish Songbook
J.S. Ondara - Tales of America
Jesca Hoop - STONECHILD
Lula Wiles - What Will We Do?
Peter Mulvey - There is Another World
Small Glories - Assiniboine & The Red
Strand of Oaks - Eraserland

Best of the Decade (Alphabetical by band and/or first name, year in paren)
Aimee Mann - Mental Illness (2017)
Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019)
Allo Darlin' - Europe (2012)
Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig (2010)
Dinosaur Jr - Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not (2016)
J.S. Ondara - Tales of America (2019)
Jason Isbell - Southeastern (2013)
Kinesics* - Surfacing (2018)
Tanya Donelly - Swan Song Series (released as EPs 2013-2014, released as a collection in 2016)
Trampled by Turtles - Stars and Satellites (2012)

*Denotes Denver band

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New Mexican

New Mexican is the solo project of American folk rock musician Matt Hoffman, who was born in Las Cruces, NM, and whose family history extends through southern New Mexico. www.newmexicanmusic.com

Hiss Golden Messenger - Terms of Surrender

Wilco - Ode to Joy

Strand of Oaks - Eraserland

Joe Pug - The Flood in Color 

The Highwomen - The Highwomen

Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow

Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride

Josh Ritter - Fever Breaks

Chris Staples - Holy Moly

Lula Wiles - What Will We Do

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Covenhoven

Local Denver musician (Colorado native) Joel Van Horne (Covenhoven)

http://www.covenhoven.com

TOP 10 2019 (in no order)

Low Roar - Ross.

The Lumineers - III

Leif Vollebekk - New Ways

Gregory Alan Isakov - Evening Machines

The National - I Am Easy to Find

Sigur Rós - (presents) Liminal Sleep

Bon Iver - i, i

The Tallest Man on Earth - I Love You. It’s a Fever Dream

Rayland Baxter - Good Mmornin

Jose Gonzalez & The String Theory - Live In Europe

TOP 15 OF THE DECADE (in no order)

Leif Vollebekk - Twin Solitude

Low Roar - 0

Big Red Machine - Big Red Machine

Gregory Alan Isakov - Evening Machines

Jose Gonzalez - Vestiges & Claws

The National - High Violet

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

Sigur Ros - Valtari

Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs 

Junip - Junip

John Craigie - No Rain, No Rose

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats

Lord Huron - Lonesome Dreams

2019 Best of Lists from Friends of Twist & Shout! (Round 2)

Mike Marchant

My name is Mike Marchant. I’m a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer who has been releasing records under a bunch of different names for about a decade. My latest project is called Lightning Cult. It’s a collaboration with my pal Luke Bern Carr. You can find us in record stores, at www.lightningcult.bandcamp.com, and on streaming services. We have an Instagram (@lightningcultsound) but we mostly use it to post pictures of dogs and bicycles.

Floating Points - Crush - The rest of this list is in no particular order, but this is definitely my #1. It’s immersive and beautiful. I’ve listened to it more than anything that came out this year. I think that the most interesting sounds being made today are being made with modular synthesizers. Every synth sound and drum sound and blip and squeal on “Crush” sounds amazing... But, what makes this record really special is that all of those amazing sounds are working in service of excellent compositions.

Peter Ivers - Becoming Peter Ivers - I used to cover Ivers’ songs during solo performances. Every time I did, someone would come and ask me, “hey, what was that one song?” Well, that one song and a bunch of other great ones are on this record.

The New Pornographers - In the Morse Code of Brake Lights - A.C. Newman knows his way around a huge hook…  I love pretty much everything he releases.  Also, the string arrangements are amazing and Neko sounds better than ever.

Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising - Impeccable songwriting, impeccable production.

Fennesz - Agora - Most nights, around 8 or 9, I take a walk around my neighborhood and listen to a record. I must have listened to Agora a few dozen times during these night walks. This is ambient music that rewards active listeners. 

Oso Oso - Basking in the Glow - I guess I’m into emo again? Is this emo? Whatever, it’s great.

Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains - RIP David Cloud Berman. You and your songs mean whole lot to a whole lot of people.

Thurston Moore - Spirit Counsel - Woah. Two and a half hours of Thurston Moore. I’m into it.

Thom Yorke - ANIMA - So I put this on and think, “hey, this is cool, I like it but don’t love it.” Then this one melody shows up (4:40 into “Twist”, it repeats through the end) and makes me weak in the knees and brings me back to the record over and over again….

Cate Le Bon - Reward - Cate Le Bon is an amazing songwriter, and I love her inventive arrangements.

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Bevin Traylor

Former Twist & Shout employee Bevin Traylor is now a manager at Euclid Records in St. Louis (https://www.euclidrecords.com/). These are her faves of the year in no particular order/

Black Marble – Bigger Than Life

Ride – III

Nilufer Yanya – Miss Universe

Ezra Furman – Twelve Nudes

Highwomen – S/T

People Under The Stairs – Sincerely The P

Priests – Seduction Of Kansas

BabyFace Willette – Face To Face (reissue)

Fat White Family – Serf’s Up

Floating Points – Crush

Coathangers – Devil You Know

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Andrea Paschal

ThinkIndie GM/CIMS Executive Director 2020

A Selection of Favorites from 2019:

1. Aldous Harding - Designer

2. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen

3. Orville Peck - Pony

4. M83 - Knife + Heart (Official Soundtrack)

5. Bat For Lashes - Lost Girls

6. Blood Orange - Angel’s Pulse

7. Xeno and Oaklander - Hypnos

8. Vendredi sur Mer - Premiers Émois

9. Piroshka - Brickbat

10. Jenny Hval - The Practice of Love

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Bruce Trujillo

Host / Programming Assistant, Indie 102.3

Colorado Public Radio

In alphabetical order:

Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community Center

Black Belt Eagle Scout - At The Party With My Brown Friends

Alex Cameron - Miami Memory

Colfax Speed Queen - Dirty Mirror

Combo Chimbita - Ahomale

Helado Negro - This Is How You Smile

Kiltro - Creatures of Habit

Lizzo - Cuz I Love You

Angel Olsen - All Mirrors

Y La Bamba - Mujeres

I'd Love to Turn You On #247: Bob Dylan - Time Out of Mind (1997)

             The final song on Time Out Of Mind, Bob Dylan’s 30^th studio album, is the 16-minute “Highlands.”  It begins with what sounds like a world-weary sigh exhaled in unison with an opening guitar figure. The result is that the music presented feels as natural as breathing, as opposed to a contrived or constructed work. This central metaphor pretty well defines the mystery and magic of Bob Dylan. His best work feels like the musings of a naturally inquisitive and discerning mind, thus they are rewarding to the discerning and inquisitive listener. He asks and speaks for all of us. “Highands” is one of a very few songs in Dylan’s catalogue that breaks the 10-minute mark (“Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands” and “Brownsville Girl” being the other two), and as such it is given the room to breathe unlike much of Dylan’s contemporaneous work. Teetering between thoughts of mortality and alienation from modern society Dylan openly yearns for the peace and beauty of either youth or death - we’re never quite sure. Musically the song and the entire album creak with a wooden authenticity, while still betraying all the modern production flourishes of Daniel Lanois. The album is soaked in waves of reverb and Lanois takes great care in mike placement and the specific instruments used on each song. The result is the contrary sensation of someone whispering in your ear while standing on the moon. It sounds far away, yet incredibly intimate simultaneously. Lanois has taken shit for his techniques, but I am a huge fan. I feel like the albums he produced in the 80’s, 90’s and beyond are some of the very few which pay tribute to the past while pointing the way to the future. His productions are immediately recognizable and entirely magical. Time Out Of Mind might be his most consequential achievement because it threw open the door to a modern era of Bobness, an era where his albums sound great again and he seems to have comfortably shrugged off the expectations of modern record making and found a comfortable place in the timeless firmament of musical tradition.

          Leading up to Time Out Of Mind Dylan had struggled with his craft, leaning on albums of traditional covers, an unsatisfying stint with The Grateful Dead and generally weak new material (1990’s Under The Red Sky is in contention to be his worst album), yet suddenly he seemed reconnected to his lyrical and musical muse. The songs were heavy with folksy wisdom and ruminations on the natural order. Perhaps that is the greatest strength of this album; it restores Dylan’s rightful place in the tradition of great American singer/songwriter’s and lessened the incessant imperative to constantly be “the voice of a generation.” Now he was sounding like a voice for ALL generations. Take opener “Love Sick.” Dylan takes a common phrase and turns it around, exploring it from all angles “I’m sick of love…but I’m in the thick of it/This kind of love…I’m so sick of it/I’m sick of Love …I hear the clock tick…I’m sick of love…I’m love sick.” Two simple words, normally spoken together to indicate an early state of romance are tumbled around to show the complexities and pitfalls of the most fraught state of human existence. In so few words Dylan perfectly illustrates his poetic mastery. Love isn’t only beautiful… it can make you sick. Each song on Time Out Of Mind follows this template: simple, declarative language employed in the most strategic and extraordinary ways to illuminate the complexities of the human condition.


          Back to “Highlands” - Dylan ends the album with a fatalistic, but somehow hopeful sentiment: “Well, my heart’s in the Highlands at the break of day / Over the hills and far away / There’s a way to get there and I’ll figure it out somehow / But I’m already there in my mind / And that’s good enough for now.” These lyrics can be read as poetry, yet with Lanois at the dials Dylan’s musings become musical monuments as well. Time Out Of Mind is such an important album in Dylan’s discography because it succeeds so wildly on both of these fronts. After at least a decade of seemingly not caring what his music sounded like, he produced an album of compelling, relevant, modern roots-rock, and after casually tossing off lyrics for a number of years he had re-fastened his poet’s loupe and started offering his audience polished thought diamonds once again. Time Out Of Mind declared boldly that Dylan’s best days as an artist were definitively not in the past thus proving composer Edgard Varese’s bold proclamation of 1921, “The present day composers refuse to die.”

- Paul Epstein

2019 Best of Lists from friends of Twist & Shout! (Round 1)

Down Time

Here’s our top Ten List of best albums of 2019:

Not sure if we had to rate them, but we did anyways :)

10 - Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising

9 - Alex G - House of Sugar

8 - Devendra Banhart - Ma

7 - Crumb - Jinx

6 - Dehd - Water

5 - Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains

4 - Angel Olsen - All Mirrors

3 - Karen O - Lux Prima

2 - Y la Bamba - Mujeres

1 - Cate le Bon - Reward

Down Time is an indie art rock band from Denver that has been gathering a devoted following in the local scene since their first release in 2017.  Their new album, Hurts Being Alive will be out this March and was produced and engineered by Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley from Tennis.

www.downtimeforever.com

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Kendall Smith

1. Lizzo - Cuz I Love You

2. Big Dopes - Crimes Against Gratitude

3. Kiltro - Creatures of Habit

4. Kevin Morby - Oh My God

5. Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger

6. Deerhunter - Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?

7. Gary Clark Jr. - This Land

8.  Karen O, Danger Mouse - Lux Prima

9.  Larry Nix - Hardly Haggard

10. Prince - Originals

Kendall Smith is the former Event Director of The UMS and current Partnership and Events Manager for Colorado Public Radio. 

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YaSi

End Of Year No Order:

Ari Lennox - Shea Butter Baby

Clario - Immunity

Snoh Aalgrea - Ugh, Those Feels Again

King Princess - Cheap Queen

Maggie Rogers - Heard It In A Past Life

Megan Thee Stallion - Fever

Ariana Grande - thank u, next

Lucky Daye - Painted

Free Nationals - Free Nationals

End Of The Decade No Order:

Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon 2

Frank Ocean - Blonde

SZA - CTRL

Saba - Care For Me

Kendrick Lamar - DAMN. and good kid, m.A.A.D city, and To Pimp a Butterfly

Tame Impala - Currents and Lonerism

Lorde - Melodrama and Pure Heroine

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Yeezus

Drake - Take Care

Kali Uchis - Isolation

Anderson Paak - Malibu

Rihanna - ANTI

PARTYNEXTDOOR - PARTYNEXTDOOR and PARTYNEXTDOOR TWO

Beyonce - Lemonade and Beyonce

Solange - A Seat At The Table

JID - The Never Story and Dicaprio 2

Rosalía - El Mal Querer

Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour

Nai Palm - Needle Paw

Kanye West and Jay Z - Watch The Throne

Frank Ocean - Channel Orange

Kaytranada - 99.9%

Mac Miller - Swimming

Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap

Tyler, The Creator - Flower Boy

King Krule - 6 Feet Beneath The Moon

Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dreams

Bryson Tiller - Trap Soul

Iranian-American artist YaSi is a firecracker on stage with sentimental lyricism. Introspective, genre bending, and honest music has led YaSi to tour with Raja Kumari and open for the likes of Teyana Taylor to Zara Larsson. Her music has been on Spotify's Fresh Finds along with blogs like Earmilk and Indie Shuffle.

Visit YaSi's website here: https://www.yasimuse.com/music

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Vinyl Me, Please

My Best of 2019

1. FKA Twigs - Magdalene

2. Solange - When I Get Home

3. James Blake - Assume Form

4. Slowthai - Nothing Great About Britain

5. Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow

Honorable Mentions:

Faye Webster - Atlanta Millionaire's Club

Hatchie - Keepsake

Sturgill Simpson - Sound & Fury

Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising

Kevin Morby - Oh My God

Courtney Catagnus is the Director of Digital at Vinyl Me, Please (www.vinylmeplease.com), focused on bringing album campaigns to life across digital channels.

Twist and Shout Staff Picks: The Best Albums of 2019 (Pt. 4)

Extra Kool 

Albums:

1. Kool Keith (Psycho Les on beats!) - Keith

2. Billie Eilish - When We Fall Asleep Where Do We Go?

3. Awareness - Sushi Wave

4. Epic Beard Men - This Was Supposed To Be Fun

5. Murs & the Grouch - Thees Handz

6. Czarface Meets Ghostface - Czarface Meets Ghostface

7. Snoop Doggy Dogg - I Wanna Thank Myself

8. John "Spooky" Carpenter - Halloween OST

Movies:

1. Joker

2. Midsommar

3. Scary Stories To Tell In the Dark

4. Us

5. Haunt

6. It: Chapter Two

7. Child's Play (2019)

8. Happy Death Day 2U

9. The Banana Splits Movie

10. Satanic Panic

Clay Adams-Berger

CD:
1. Left Behind - No One Goes to Heaven
2. Kublai Khan TX - Absolute
3. Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Bandana
4. black midi - Schlagenheim
5. Sunn 0))) - Life Metal
6. Moodymann - Sinner: KDJ-48
7. Uniform and the Body - Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back
8. JPEGMAFIA - All My Heroes Are Cornballs
9. Kim Gordon - No Home Record
10. Various Artists - The Time for Peace is Now

Vinyl:
1. Floating Points - Crush
2. Danny Brown - uknowwhatimsayin?
3. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
4. FKA Twigs - Magdalene
5. Daughters - You Won't Get What You Want
6. Andy Stott - It Should Be Us
7. Swans - Leaving Meaning.
8. Black Marble - Bigger Than Life
9. Big Thief - Two Hands
10. Kamaal Williams - DJ Kicks

DVD/Blu-ray
1. It's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
2. Parasite
3. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
4. Joker
5. Uncut Gems
6. John Wick 3
7. MidSommar
8. The Lighthouse
9. Honeyboy
10. Knives Out

Rory Dumas 

1. Battles – Juice B Crypts

2. Elbow – Giants Of All Sizes

3. Tool – Fear Inoculum

4. Oh Sees – Face Stabber

5. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Infest the Rats' Nest

6. Nolan Potter's Nightmare Band – Nightmare Forever

7. Flying Lotus – Flamagra

8. Tyler the Creator – IGOR

9. Devendra Banhardt – Ma

10. Sturgill Simpson – Sound and Fury

Matt Spivack

Vinyl:

The Neal Morse Band – The Great Adventure – 01/25/19

Soen – Lotus – 02/01/19

The Claypool Lennon Delirium – South of Reality – 02/22/19

Martin Barre – Roads Less Traveled – 03/22/19

Baroness – Gold & Grey – 06/14/19

Bent Knee – You Know What They Mean – 10/11/19

Opeth – In Cauda Venenum – 10/22/19

The Flower Kings – Waiting For Miracles – 11/15/19

Nolan Potter's Nightmare Band – Nightmare Forever – 12/06/19

Eloy – The Vision, the Sword, & the Pyre (Pt. 2) – 12/13/19

CD:

The Neal Morse Band – The Great Adventure – 01/15/19

Soen – Lotus – 02/01/19

Amalgam Effect – Sketches – 03/08/19

Baroness – Gold & Grey – 06/14/19

Tool – Fear Inoculum – 8/30/19

Opeth – In Cauda Venenum – 09/27/19

Bent Knee – You Know What They Mean – 10/18/19

The Flower Kings – Waiting For Miracles – 11/15/19

Nolan Potter's Nightmare Band – Nightmare Forever – 11/22/19

Eloy – The Vision, the Sword, & the Pyre (Pt. 2) – 12/13/19

Honorable Mention for Reissues:

Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused to Sing CD/BluRay Audio Set – 09/20/19

Jethro Tull – Stormwatch 40^th Anniversary 4 CD/2 DVD Box – 10/18/19

Ethan Griggs

2019 CDs:
1. Big Thief - Two Hands
2. Crumb - Jinx
3. black midi - Schlagenheim
4. Bon Iver - i,i
5. Nilüfer Yanya - Miss Universe
6. Jessica Pratt - Quiet Signs
7. Thom Yorke - Anima
8. Cate Le Bon - Reward
9. FKA twigs - MAGDALENE
10. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains

2019 Vinyl:
1. Stereolab - all 2019 reissues
2. Deerhunter - Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared? (Grey vinyl)
3. Various Artists - The Rolling Stones Rock And Roll Circus (3xLP boxset)
4. The Beatles - The Singles Collection
5. Big Thief - U.F.O.F. (Orange vinyl)
6. Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow (Blue vinyl)
7. R.E.M. - Monster (25th Anniversary 2xLP)
8. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors (Clear vinyl)
9. Cate Le Bon & Bradford Cox - Myths 004
10. Miles Davis - The Complete Birth Of The Cool (2xLP)

Quinn Theis

1. Jamila Woods - Legacy! Legacy!
2. Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis
3. Kim Gordon - No Home Record
4. Salami Rose Joe Louis - Zdenka 2080
5. Pauline Oliveros - Reverberations 1
6. Cosey Fanni Tutti - Tutti
7. Eliane Radigue - Occam Ocean 2 
8. Paranoyds - Carnage Bargain
9. Georgia Anne Muldrow - VWETO II 
10. Amandititita - Pinche Amor
11. Mega Bog - Dolphine
12. The Coathangers - The Devil You Know
13. Caterina Barbieri - Ecstatic Computation 
14. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors
15. Rosie Flores - Simple Case Of The Blues
16. Big Thief - U.F.O.F.
17. Ellen Arkbro - Chords  
18. Laurie Anderson/Tensin Choegyal/Jesse Paris Smith - Songs From The Bardo
19. Holly Herndon - Proto
20. Lizzo - Cuz I Love You 
21. Martha Argerich/J.S. Bach - Toccata BWV 911/Partita BWV 826/English Suite No. 2 BWV 807 (LP reissue)
22. Zeena Parkins - Captiva (released in December, 2018)
23. Y La Bamba - Mujeres
24. Maryanne Amacher - Petra (posth.)
25. Hilary Hahn/Anton Garcia Abril - 6 Partitas
26. Spellling - Mazy Fly
27. Lafawndah - Ancestor Boy
28. Jenny Hval - The Practice Of Love
29. Felicia Atkinson - The Flower And The Vessel
30. Laurie Spiegel - Unseen Worlds (CD and 2xLP reissue)

Stephanie Rendon

Vinyl

1. Solange - When I Get Home

2. Freddie Gibbs/Madlib - Bandana

3. Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs

4. Anderson.Paak - Ventura

5. Beach House - 7

6. Tyler, The Creator - Igor

7. Lizzo - Cuz I Love You

8. Various Artists - The Daisy Age

9. Wu-Tang Clan - Of Mics & Men

10. Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka

CDs

1. Screaming Females - Singles Too

2. Snail Mail - Habit

3. FEA - No Novelties

4. Danger Doom - The Mouse & The Mask

5. Melissa Aldana - Visions

6. Los Piranas - Historia Natural

7. Kim Gordon - No Home Record

8. Allah-Las - LAHS

9. Desert Sessions - Vols. 11 & 12

|10. Oh Sees - Face Stabber

11. Floating Points - Crush

12. Torche - Admission

13. DAM - Ben Haana Wa Maana

14. Schoolboy Q - Crash Talk

15. Jimmy Eat World - Surviving

16. Miles Davis - Rubberband

17. Ezra Furman - Twelve Nudes

18. Gang Starr - One Of The Best Yet

19. Nas - The Lost Tapes II

20. Murs - The Iliad Is Dead & The Odyssey Is Over

I’d Love To Turn You On At The Movies #233 - Candy (1968, dir. Christian Marquand)

            French actor Christian Marquand’s 1968 directorial debut Candy is a film that could only have been made in the late 1960s. It’s one hundred percent a product of its time. It’s a largely plotless, psychedelic hullabaloo with enough gratuitous sexual misadventures to satisfy even the cultiest of cult movie fans or the perviest of sexploitation fans. It’s the type of hippie counter-culture film that seemingly oversaturated this era in cinema but has almost completely disappeared as a style in subsequent decades. It’s been a favorite film of mine ever since I first saw it as a very young man and I’m confident it will soon be one of yours too.

What I love about Candy is not necessarily that it’s such a great film. In fact, the screenplay, written by The Graduate screenwriter Buck Henry, and adapted from the Terry Southern novel of the same name, is for the most part meandering and lackluster. And it’s not even the fact that a strangely large number of amazing, high-profile actors threw caution to the wind and decided that the script wasn’t total schmaltz either (more on this later). No, for me, this film’s role and influence on my life has everything to do with being in the right place at the right time. In fact, if there was ever a moment that I could pinpoint in my life that was my absolute coaxing, albeit perhaps too early, into manhood, I may cite the time that I inadvertently (but intently) watched Candy for the first time. I must have been ten or eleven years old. I don’t really even remember how I stumbled across it. It could’ve been one of those deals where Cinemax was offering a promotional free weekend, or maybe just a routine viewing of USA Up All Nite (for you younger readers, that was a delightful late night trashfest that aired on the USA cable network, hosted by either Elvira or Gilbert Gottfried depending on the night, in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, which played wonderfully horrible B-movies and exploitation films). All I remember is that I happened upon it quite by accident and even now, in my 40s, I still feel like maybe I’m doing something wrong when I watch it.

            Of course, I, like every male character in the film, was immediately transfixed by the film’s lead, the mesmerizingly beautiful Swedish actress and model Ewa Aulin. Aulin, just 18 years old at the time Candy was filmed, was not very adept at acting in general yet, let alone portraying an American girl, so her acting seems a bit flat. Ultimately though, this doesn’t matter. Contrary to the rest of the cast, this isn’t a film to be watched for its brilliant thespianism. Candy should be watched because it is incredibly sexy, totally weird and beautifully shot by famed Italian cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno.

As I mentioned, there isn’t much to sift through plot-wise. Candy is a young ingénue who materializes from space (because: drugs). She then sets off on a series of bizarre adventures where she encounters a range of different men, each weirdly needy and pervy in their own way. Her first encounter is with a drunk, lecherous celebrity poet named McPhisto (Richard Burton) who, after a speaking engagement at her school, coerces Candy to get into his car where he proceeds to make grabby sexual advances at her. This sets off a string of similar confrontations. Among Candy’s conquests are a depraved army general (Walter Matthau), a depraved hunchback (Charles Aznavour), a depraved surgeon (James Coburn), a depraved bullshit-artist calling himself an Indian mystic (Marlon Brando) and a (you guessed it: depraved) Mexican gardener played by the decidedly non-Mexican Ringo Starr at his most delightfully (and not-so-subtly) racist best. Candy struggles her way through all these encounters in an almost dreamlike - or, more accurately, drug-induced - state, evidently learning more and more about the nature of life and love as she goes along. Candy seems blissfully unaware of the power she has over these men, which to the chagrin of her parents (John Astin and Elsa Martinelli), leads her into increasingly more troublesome situations the more men she meets. Her sojourn concludes in a large field populated by the entire cast, (which looks remarkably like the last Pitchfork Festival I went to, but I digress), Candy makes her way through everyone and on to the desert where she eventually dissolves, presumably back into space.

            What Candy lacks in narrative structure it more than makes up for in charm and aesthetic feel. The film was undoubtedly made for a ‘60s audience, but if you’re a fan of the look and feel of that decade, or the sound for that matter (among the contributors to the killer soundtrack are The Byrds and Steppenwolf), or if you’re familiar with the films of, say, Roger Corman or Russ Meyer, then Candy might be right up your alley. It’s an incredible piece of ‘60s exploitation celluloid that fits totally at home alongside any of those cult classics.

            - Jonathan Eagle

Twist and Shout Staff Picks: The Best Albums of 2019 (Pt. 2)

Brian Wyatt

1.  L'epee – Diabolique
2. The Brian Jonestown Massacre – The Brian Jonestown Massacre
3. Robert Johnson – Kind Hearted Woman / Terraplane Blues (RSD)
4. Frankie & The Witch Fingers – Zam
5. Babe Rainbow – Today
6. Death And Vanilla – Are You A Dreamer?
7. Gang Starr – One Of The Best Yet
8. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Fishing For Fishies
9. Wooden Shjips – Shjips In The Night (RSD)
10. Mystery Lights – Too Much Tension
11. The Murlocs – Manic Candid Episode
12. Oh Sees – Face Stabber
13. Freddie Gibbs/Madlib – Bandana
14. Reigning Sound – Abdication...For Your Love
15. Los Destellos – Sicodelicos (RSD)
16. Allah-Las – Lahs
17. Cosmonauts – Star 69
18. Black Mountain – Destroyer
19. Dead Meadow – Feathers (Reissue)
20. Follakzoid – I
21. Night Beats – Myth Of A Man
22. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Infest The Rats' Nest
23. Stray Cats – 40
24. Lorelle Meets The Obsolete – De Facto
25. Big K.R.I.T. - K.R.I.T. Iz Here
26. The Time Quinn Knocked His Bottle Over At The Meeting.
27. The Time Eagle Discovered You Could Make A Corndog Out Of A Tijuana Mama And Ordered A 'Tres Hombres' Gatefold Beach Towel.
28. The Time Cobos Came In On Time (I Should Talk)
29. The Time Spivack Picked A Prog Record
30. The Time Paul And Leo Discussed The Finer Points Of What 'Grindin' Is.

Jack Brown

1. Rhiannon Giddens - There Is No Other

2. Stephen Mallinder - Um Dada

3. Come Organisation - Box

4. Clipping. - There Existed An Addiction To Blood

5. Mike Patton/Jean Claude Vannier - Corpse Flower

6. Kaada - Zombielars OST

7. Melvins/Al Cisneros - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

8. Meat Beat Manifesto - Opaque Couche

9. Battles - Juice B Crypts

10. Zonal - Wrecked

Kevin McGrellis

1. Lingua Ignota - Caligula
2. Aldous Harding - Designer
3. Jamila Woods - Legacy! Legacy!
4. Little Simz - Grey Area
5. Nick Waterhouse - Nick Waterhouse
6. Pharmakon - Devour
7. Big Thief - Two Hands
8. Marissa Nadler and Stephen Brodsky - Droneflower
9. Nivhek - After Its Own Death/Walking In A Spiral Towards The House
10. The Twilight Sad - It Won't Be Like This All the Time

Bridget Hartman

1. FKA Twigs - Magdalene

2. Tyler the Creator - Igor

3. Solange - When I Get Home

4. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Infest the Rats' Nest

5. Alfa Mist - Structuralism

6. Y La Bamba - Entre Los Dos

7. Kiefer - Superbloom

8. Flying Lotus - Flamagra

9. Anderson.Paak - Ventura

10. Melissa Aldana - Visions

Madden Ott

1. Lingua Ignota - Caligula
2. Have A Nice Life - Sea of Worry
3. Black Midi - Schlagenheim
4. DIIV - Deceiver
5. Interpol - A Fine Mess (EP)
6. Chelsea Wolfe - American Darkness
7. Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror
8. Clipping. - There Existed an Addiction to Blood
9. FKA Twigs - Magdalene
10. Sunn o))) - Life Metal

Josh Eidler

Albums:

1. Toro y Moi - Outer Peace
2. Marvin Gaye - You're the Man
3. Anderson.Paak - Ventura
4. Carly Rae Jepsen - Dedicated
5. Young Thug - So Much Fun
6. Babymetal - Metal Galaxy
7. Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
8. Doja Cat - Hot Pink
9. FKA Twigs - Magdalena
10. Patsy Cline - Sweet Dream: the Complete Decca Masters 1960-1963

DVD/Blu-ray

1. Donnybrook
2. Shazam!
3. Long Shot
4. Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
5. Brightburn
6. Rocketman
7. Biggest Little Farm
8. Scary Stories To Tell In the Dark
9. Booksmart
10. Spiderman: Far From Home

Ace Stanley

1. The Coathangers - The Devil You Know
2. The Paranoyds - Carnage Bargain
3. Control Top - Covert Contracts
4. Laura Stevenson - The Big Freeze
5. Zig Zags - They'll Never Take Us Alive
6. PUP - Morbid Stuff
7. Stereo Total - Ah! Quel Cinema!
8. Cosmonauts - Star 69
9. Tyler the Creator - Igor
10. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - The Brian Jonestown Massacre