Recommendation Station: Year in Consumption
For the tasteless heathens out there
Five hundred, twenty five thousand six hundred fit pics
Five hundred, twenty five thousand straight dudes pierced their earrrrr
Five hundred, twenty five thousand six hundred tins of tinned fishes
How do you measure, measure a year
Welcome to Recommendation Station, a monthly segment where I, a seasoned professional, tell you, a taste-deficient amateur, what to watch, eat, and wear.
Album(s) of the Year
From being sad working at home, to being sad commuting to the office, to being sad working at the office, to be sad commuting home from the office; these albums kept me going. Kind of a shit year in music tbh.
Erotic Probiotic, Nourished by Time
This is the perfect album to toss on for a “mental health walk” where you go and stare at a body of water. Listening to this dude float on 80s synths and sing bizarre semi-cogent lyrics feels like a vaguely religious experience.
Favorite lyric:
Once or twice I prayed to Jesus
Never heard a work back in plain English
More like signs or advertisements
Telling me to keep consumerizing
Favorite song: The Fields
10,000 Gecs, 100 Gecs
I feel weird recommending this album. Despite its critical acclaim, I’m not sure if anyone in my life also listens. And this shit is weird. High-pitched screaming lyrics, random cacophonous sounds, and absolutely nonsense subject matter1 might turn some people away. But, if you are able to embrace the chaos you will be welcomed into the most cathartic and energizing listening experience of the year.
Favorite lyric:
Put emojis on my grave
I’m the dumbest girl alive
Favorite song(s): Dumbest Girl Alive/ Hollywood Baby
Let’s Start Here, Lil Yachty
“Rapper makes a non-rap album” is no longer a novel concept. Cynically, this hook is a cheap way to market albums as an artist finally “maturing” out of rap to make some real music and stir up some excitement for an artist that’s grown stale. But that cynicism is quickly extinguished when the music is excellent. I’ve never been the biggest Lil Yachty fan, so I was surprised to find this whole thing just works. Back to front, this might be the most cohesive no-skips album of the year. By the end, even Yachty’s bad singing and clunky wordplay had charmed me. Also the AI art cover is one of the best uses of AI I’ve seen.
Favorite lyric:
Makin’ eye contact is suicide
Favorite song: sAy sOMETHINg
Lahai, Sampha
Sampha’s debut album Process is a transcendent album that ranks in my top ten all-time. So needless to say, my expectations for the next one were sky high. And after waiting a measly six years, it’s miraculous this record did not disappoint me. I came in expecting a peak sad-boi/down-bad vibe; instead, I felt uplifted while listening, albeit in a melancholy way. It’s not quite as strong as Process, but the highs might even be higher.
Favorite lyric:
Two bodies on this mattress
Save me as it sinks
Automatic self-protection
Like airbags in my limbs
Favorite song(s): Spirit 2.0, Can’t Go Back, Only
There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard, Lana Del Rey
I have been called ran-thru many a time for my love of Lana. If you don’t understand by now, I fear you never will. This album fucking rips!
Favorite lyric:
Pick you up at home, quarter to three
Ask you if you want somethin’ to eat
Drive around, get drunk, do it over again
Favorite song: Sweet
Songs of the Year (some of these songs did not come out in ‘23 but I do not care)
“Tried Our Best”, Drake
I love petty Drake so much.
“Dumbest Girl Alive”, 100 Gecs
This shit bangs.
“Finesse”, DJ Emir
Had an out-of-body experience hearing this for the first time riding 8-deep in a mini cooper.
“Totally Fine”, PUP
You’ve probably seen me mouthing this on the G violently enough to make you switch cars at the next stop.
“Freebird II”, Parquet Courts
Captures nostalgic middle-age2 perfectly.
“Take Me Home”, Pink Panthress
Pink Panthress consistently has me kicking my feet up in the air.
“The Fields”, Nourished by Time
Perfect song, perfect video.
“Idea/Intent”, The Beths
What Lindsay Lohan’s band in Freaky Friday would sound like if they didn’t tragically break up in 2009.
“Eugene”, GLORB
Not only is this one of the best songs of the year, it might be the single best thing to come out of the rise of AI creative tools. GLORB makes trap bangers and puts them through AI filters to make the verses sound like characters from Spongebob Squarepants. And I can’t stop listening, it simply goes too crazy. Squidward probably has the verse of the year on this one, and the video goes nuts.
“I Don’t Wanna Talk”, Carter Veil
Feels like a Strokes song in a good way. Or a bad way. Depends.
“Latrell”, DJ Lucas
Another song I was served on TikTok, this time by Western-Massachussets-repping Kevin Garnett vintage jersey sporting DJ Lucas. This one has a grimy and goofy energy that reminds me of early shit on SoundCloud. Plus “Plug down bad he keeps sending me photos” is one of the bars of the year.
“Upset”, Brent Faiyaz
Men should get to be toxic too.
Movie of the Year
Past Lives
A quietly moving film3 that captures the opportunity cost of love and commitment better than anything I’ve seen this year. Very awkward film to see with your white significant other, so keep that in mind.
Aftersun
Walking out of this one many months ago, I wasn’t quite sure if I liked it. People I went with were debating exactly what had happened at the end. I understood, but the emotional impact didn’t hit me until wayyyy later. Which is my favorite thing! When a piece of art ferments in your head for months and months and means something different than when you first consumed it. Everything in this film is pretty much perfect, and Paul Mescal’s performance is definitely perfect. The recent news4 has only confirmed that he is my mulleted ran-thru king.
Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos cannot stop making sick, twisted, gross bangers. Of all the films I saw this year, my theater laughed the most at this one. Emma Stone will deservedly win another Oscar for this, but Mark Ruffalo should win one too for his portrayal of a charming, philandering, sexually competent playboy idiot. Don’t see it with parents!5
Honorable Mention: just this scene from Asteroid City
This might have to go on the best songs playlist as well. But this movie was disappointing! The Wes Anderson Roald Dahl shorts on Netflix, however, are definitely worth your time.
TV Show of the Year
Jury Duty
Real-life Truman Show shit, this entire thing seems like it should have been illegal. Ronald is the best protagonist of 2023.
Righteous Gemstones
I am a sucker for anything Danny McBride and Jody Hill do together. Their special brand of white guy who sucks but in a hilarious way just does not miss. The third season of their televangelist opus on HBO is no different. The crazy balancing act here is making the Gemstones floundering buffoons, while also making me, the hapless viewer, really like and care about them. The end of the third season had me damn near tearing up over a plot-line where a character realizes he wants to be a for-profit preacher. Crazy for a man as devoutly not devout as me.
The Bear
“Forks” is the best episode of the year. The Bear is probably the best show of the year. But more importantly, it’s responsible for my favorite TikTok of the year.
Beef
Watched this over the course of two days. Does “the main character is generational trauma” well somehow.
Archer
Archer wrapped this year after countless cocktails and one-liners, some comas, and fourteen uneven seasons. At its best, Archer has the highest “good jokes per minute” rate on television. The fourteenth and final season didn’t come close to its best, but it was still worth the watch. I commemorated the end with a full series rewatch6 and highly recommend the season where the spy agency turns to trafficking cocaine.
Books
Big Swiss
The New Yorker just dropped a piece on The Year of the Female Creep, and included Big Swiss as an example. The protagonist, a transcriptionist for a sex therapist, is compulsive, deviant, and yes, a bit creepy. Following her as she becomes consumed by obsession for a patient (the titular Big Swiss) is the most fun ride of the year. Along the way, the novel skewers therapy, wellness culture, white dudes who act like yogis,7 monogamy, and the concept of the “weekend town.” Fun book!
Girl in the Leopard Skin Hat
A bizarre little book that meditates on the irrational aspects of love and friendship, and what its like to be deeply involved with someone who struggled with physical and mental illness. I couldn’t tell you one thing that happened plot wise but I know it moved me. I bought this for the cover and did not regret it.
Bliss Montage
I like short stories for a couple reasons, my attention span is cooked from years of Twitter and Tiktok, but also, the short story format enables taking bigger narrative and conceptual swings. Ling Ma (who also wrote Severance) takes full advantage of this format by cooking up wild concepts and filling them in with excellent and emotionally effective writing. Her story about living with 100 ex-boyfriends will give you a good feel for her writing.
Food
Eyval
This Persian spot in East Williamsburg is my favorite place in New York bar none. It also has the single best cocktail (saffron martini)8 and entree (tamarind lamb ribs). Eyval was recently written up in the New Yorker and the Times, but it’s still not crazy difficult to snag a table. For similar food and a homier vibe try their sister restaurant Sofreh.
Acre
My preferred site for the Japanese breakfast renaissance happening in North Brooklyn. On Sundays I often walk north from my beautiful apartment overlooking the BQE and grab a solo salmon bento, miso soup, and yuzu vanilla cake. Then I put my Airpods on transparency mode and eavesdrop on the real housewives of Greenpoint.
The Commodore
Best fried chicken sandwich I’ve ever had + lukecold Miller High Lifes, it’s impossible to have a bad time here.
Internet Creators
Sylvaniandrama (TikTok)
These videos scratch an itch in my terminally online brain that I didn’t know existed.
Charley’s Journal (Tiktok)
This account shares the journal entries of a 24-year old woman who I think lives in New York. The entires mostly focus on her experiences with love and dating. The account is completely anonymous (I’m assuming the names have been changed) and features some truly heart-wrenching writing. I really love this account because when my brain is fried from scrolling so much video content it’s nice to just swipe and read something. This is part of what I hope is a larger trend of more written content on TikTok. My thesis is we will see a bit of a swing away from choppily edited videos with text overlays to more straightforward content like these journal entries.
Feed Me (Substack)
The single best source for keeping up with the micro-cultures of late 20s early 30s New York City, CPG and Consumer trends, and overall vibe news. It’s also daily! It’s like if the Morning Brew was written for cool people.
Honorable mentions:
Friend of the newsletter @trilliondollartam on Tiktok,
(especially this essay), Tony P, Brenda Hashtag, myself, and many more.Brand of the Year
Swedish brand Our Legacy by a wide margin. I wore an OL tux to a wedding, an OL cardigan on dates, and whimsical little OL mules to New Years that several Bushwick-coded girlies dubbed the “shoes of the night.”9
OL makes clothes that can be dressed up, down, made classy, made goofy, for work, for play, and really any other context you can think of. Despite my thoughts on sale culture, this is a brand that is stocked at a variety of retailers and is frequently on sale. Their end-of-season sale will hit the Our Legacy website in mid-January, I highly recommend buying direct from them to support and less importantly, save significantly. There’s also a thriving market for secondhand OL on Grailed and other secondhand sites.
Honorable mentions: Auralee, Kapital, orSlow, Karu Research, Wythe
Articles of Clothing
Note: I did not/will not buy any of these items, I just think they are fun. I will likely do a best/worst purchases recap at some point.
This jacket from Kapital that you can turn into a pillow for some reason
The Year in Consumption
In 2023 I spent a lot of time looking at bad screen10 and good screen, 11bookmarking clothes I shouldn’t buy, buying clothes I shouldn’t buy, finding old songs through TikTok, finding new songs through TikTok, speed-walking through Brooklyn restaurants to grab the coveted booth seat, watching Reels my extremely offline roommate sends me six months after they go viral on TikTok, going to bad movies,12 going to good movies,13 and readings books while listening to music while scrolling Twitter.
I don’t have any resolutions to consume more intentionally, but I would like to find stuff that enhances time rather than stuff that just fills or passes it. As the great Jimmy V once said, if you laugh, think, cry, and consume, that’s a full day. Wishing my beloved 31 subscribers a year full of fire jawns, depressing books, and happy meals.
There’s a song on here that details a frog visiting a party, and features actual “ribbits” in the chorus
Being 28
Not that quiet, most of the theater was sobbing by the end
Apparently after sleeping with dates he takes them on a morning walk then sprints away. The original Irish exit
Unless you grew up in a sex-positive household
Brooklyn has been quiet
Rick Rubin
I am 4 months into trying to recreate this drink
This is why we play the game
My virtual desktop for work
The twenty tabs I have open at any given time in additional to my virtual desktop '
Wonka
Wonka once I embraced silliness