Fantastic Metropolis

Beyond Skin, Nitin Sawhney

A deeply beautiful collection of linked songs, sometimes sad, angry or mystical, or even all three at the same time, sometimes more upbeat and funky. The album opens with ‘Broken Skin’ an infectious but somehow still wistful dance number. This is followed by two even more remarkable songs, the melodious ‘Letting Go’, featuring the lovely vocals of Tina Grace, and ‘Homelands’, featuring the gorgeous voice of Nina Miranda, singer from Smoke City whose ‘Underwater Love’ is still probably the finest song ever written about mermaids who fall in love with a drowning man.

Something Dangerous, Natacha Atlas

My favourite album of the year, a wonderful selection of tracks which demonstrates Natacha’s range and versatility and her willingness to try anything, even to the point of taking a back seat to other singers. Natacha sings equally well in Arabic, French, English and Hindi and she can adapt her voice to almost any style. The first song on this album, ‘Adam’s Lullabye’, is the ultimate mystery-drenched composition, dizzily reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins, as is the later ‘When I Close my Eyes’, but ‘Eye of the Duck’ is a raucous and absurdly catchy slice of Arabesque ragga with impossibly deep bass lines and lunatic keyboards and ‘Just like a Dream’ is groovily reminiscent of the great Bellemou. There are examples of Rai and Bhangra fusions, deep soul and even old time blues and ‘Janamaan’ is a powerful Bollywood style duet. Natacha is a goddess—I kiss the toes of her shadow!

This list is somewhat biased toward dance music, which makes me wonder about the sort of music writers of speculative fiction, fantasy or whatever you want to call it are supposed to listen to. I sometimes get the feeling our ears are exclusively reserved for prog-rock or alternative ‘indie’ rock. This is the sort of music I used to favour but in the past few years I’ve become more dance oriented, perhaps as a desperate yearning to regain my lost youth now that I’m quite old. Having said that, my youth can stay where it is because I’m enjoying myself a lot more now, so I make no apologies for the present state of my evolving tastes. I have nothing against Radiohead, R.E.M. and Coldplay, but at the same time I have nothing for them. I’m quietly confident they can live in peace with this situation.

Other

Film of the year: Divine Intervention, Elia Suleiman

All I can really say about this is that it’s probably the most visually original film I have ever seen. It seems to be all about unexpected (but everyday) symmetries and causations. The humour and rage are blended perfectly and the sometimes moody, sometimes deadpan, acting is extraordinary. Manal Khader has an astoundingly beautiful and effective screen presence and the soundtrack is remarkable. The one dimensional political aspect of the film might be considered a flaw by some, but this is in keeping with the impotence underpinning the revenge fantasy sequences.

Other films of the year

Cidade de Deus, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Run Lola Run.

Flapjack of the year

Brazil nut.

Ladies of the year

Nuria, Tammy, Amy, Jessica, Helena, Jingjing, Sarita, Caroline.

City of the year

Dublin.

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Rhys Hughes is the prolific Welsh author of Nowhere Near Milkwood (Prime Books, 2002) and Stories from a Lost Anthology (Tartarus Press, 2002). His homage to J. L. Borges, A New Universal History of Infamy, will be on the shelves in early 2004 from the Ministry of Whimsy Press.