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30Hz 25 Best Albums of 2014

Yes. I’m delinquent. I realized just the other day that I’d never compiled my list of 25 favorite records from 2014. And since we’re now 22 days into 2015, that’s simply inexcusable. As I mentioned in my list of Top 101 Killer Jams, I felt that Oh-14 was a rather lackluster overall year. No record approached CHVRCHES status on the 30Hz totem pole. The upside to this is that a lot of records got a ton of play because I couldn’t focus on just one. I’m not going to pretend I’m doing this for the greater good. I’m not spreading knowledge or leading the tone-deaf masses to the trough of good taste. I’m merely sharing the records that caught my ear, the records that regularly found their way onto my turntable or earbuds. I hope you find something new on this list. I hope you find that new favorite band or record. If not, well, then feel free to berate me for failing to lead you to that promise land. And now…..

30Hz 25 Best Records of 2014

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The Almost Rans:

Alana Amram And The Rough Gems – Spring River; The Antlers – Familiars; Aphex Twin – Syro; Benjamin Booker – self-titled; Got a Girl – I Love You But I Must Drive Off a Cliff Now; Haley Bonar – Last War; Interpol – El Pintor; Jezabels – The Brink; Kishi Bashi – Lighght; The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Days of Abandon; Patsy Matheson – Domino Girls; The Rural Alberta Advantage – Mended With Gold; Shabazz Palaces – Lese Majesty; Sweet Soubrette – Burning City, Zammuto – Good Graces

I will now phone-in 25 26 blurbs for my favorite 25 26 records of 2014.

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30Hz Bl-g The Best Thing

Nicole Kidman on Jimmy Fallon: The Best Thing I Watched This Week

Nicole Kidman on Jimmy Fallon

Episode #2 of The Best Thing I Watched This Week. Shocking news. The series didn’t get canceled after one week. Phew. Since I figure you’re still catching up on last week’s assignment of the entire 24 episodes of The IT Crowd, I’ll make this one brief. Not that I planned such benevolence. It just worked out that way.

besthingIwatchedthisweek2

How often do conversations on late night talk sound rehearsed? Like the parties involved had scripted the entire thing just before coming out on set. Despite the “live” nature of late night talk shows, the chatter remains stilted and guarded, managed by PR reps and risk-averse network hooligans. Unless we’re talking about Craig Ferguson. I honestly believe he planned nothing during his entire brilliant run of wee-hour madness. But that’s part of what made his show so thrilling and earnest and wildly entertaining.

Last week on Jimmy Fallon, there occurred a moment between Nicole Kidman and Jimmy Fallon that appeared – at face value – to be entirely spontaneous. I suggest this because both Ms. Kidman and Mr. Fallon go flush with embarrassment. If you’ve seen this clip already (it’s been a viral sensation, or so I’ve read) you’re an overachiever and can take this “Best Thing” off. But this conversation that documents Jimmy’s inability to comprehend that Nicole might have wanted to get in his pants back when they were both free agents stood out to me as one of those honest, unscripted moments that we rarely witness anymore. Also, it’s nice to see that Nicole’s face can smile again. For some time there I was concerned about it’s apparent rigidity.

 

 

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30Hz Bl-g The Best Thing

The IT Crowd: The Best Thing I Watched This Week

The IT Crowd

This is the debut of a new series of posts here on the Rumble. I’ll pick the best thing I watched this week — be it from the television, Netflix, a movie, squirrel death match in the backyard with me doing a Mortal Kombat style voice-over — and tell you about it. It could be new. It could be old. I can’t make it any more simple than that. The trick is that you’ll have to watch it too… so you can then berate me for wasting precious time that could have been spent watching more House Hunters International. This is the unspoken deal you’ve made by continuing to read this post. Really, though, you have to watch it. No joke. This is like a blood pact.

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Over the holidays, I traveled to my in-laws’ home in Santa Fe, NM. And before anyone says anything about “oh that must have been a nice escape from the chilly Pittsburgh…” let me stop you right there. Yes. Santa Fe would otherwise be in the desert IF IT WASN’T SITUATED AT ALMOST 8,000 FEET. Santa Fe is cold. And it is snowy. And the first rule about being in Santa Fe is that you do very little while staring distantly at snow-capped mountaintops. When it is night, and the snow-capped mountaintops are obscured by darkness, you then adjust your vision slightly lower and watch some stuff on the tele or read a book. Mostly you do very little.

Some time ago I sampled a Channel 4 British sitcom called The IT Crowd created by Graham Linehan. Linehan being the brains behind one of my all-time most favoritest things ever, Father Ted.

The IT Crowd

The gist of the show is that the CEO of the fictional Reynholm Industries hires Jen (Katherine Parkinson) because she’s hot, her resume says “she has a ton of experience with computers.” The CEO places her in charge of the IT department… even though she can’t actually turn on a computer. She adapts her job description into “Relationship Manager” and attempts to bridge the communication gap between IT and the rest of the company. The IT department, comprised only of Chris O’Dowd and Richard Ayoade, resides in a dank and dingy basement cut off from the rest of the shiny, happy, glass and chrome company by design.

The show’s brand of humor often reminds me of a cross between Red Dwarf and Father Ted. Which may be why it’s my new favorite thing. I encourage you to watch the whole series (it is available on Netflix Streaming after all… just a few button pushes away), but if you absolutely positively cannot be bothered the full 24-episode slate (4 series of 6 episodes each) watch the episode embedded below (Season 2, Episode 1), because this was easily the best thing I watched this week.

Also, rumor has it, that NBC has been trying to remake The IT Crowd for years. Once upon a time it was a potential vehicle for Joel McHale before he did Community. Watch it now before NBC finds a way to ruin it for everyone.

This particular episode concerns an impromptu “date” for Jen that may or may not be with a gay guy that turns into an office outing to the theatre to see a play called Gay!