Gridlines: Top 10 Top 10s*—a look back at 2015

Gridlines is our recurring feature about the world of visual arts, performing arts, media arts, and beyond. We’re talking about the latest and greatest (and less-than-greatest) happenings—what’s grabbing our attention, bringing us joy, piquing our curiosity, and otherwise making us stop and take note. Today’s Gridlines come from Jennifer Wray, Wex Marketing & Media Assistant.

David Letterman’s final Top Ten list, May 20, 2015

I’m a big fan of Mystery Show, a podcast by This American Life regular Starlee Kline. From divining Jake Gyllenhaal’s height (“Case #5 Source Code”) to reuniting a man with an elaborately constructed belt buckle 30 years after he lost it (“Case #3 Belt Buckle,” named one of the year’s best podcast episodes by the Atlantic and Vulture), Mystery Show is whimsical and engaging, but has real emotional stakes.

1. Bust magazine recently picked its top 10 books of 2015, including selections by Wex favorite Miranda July, plus memoirs by Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney, Portlandia) and Patti Smith, both of which are available at the Wexner Center Store.
2. NPR’s John Powers has a “different and guiltier” list for the end of the year—“Books, CDs And DVDs He Wishes He Had Reviewed.” Entries include Viet Thanh Nguyen’s debut novel, The Sympathizer and Criterion Collection’s releases of two François Truffaut films: The Soft Skin and Day for Night.
3. Over at Aquarium Drunkard, you’ll find a number of familiar names in the blog’s year-end review, whose list of “albums that caught, and kept our attention in 2015” include Yo La Tengo, Destroyer, and Wilco, plus the soundtrack to the documentary Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll.
4. NPR Music polled 147 jazz critics on their favorite jazz recordings of the year, including a number of names familiar to Wex followers. More on the 2015 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll elsewhere on our blog.
5. Jenny Hval, who opened for Perfume Genius here in March, makes Pitchfork’s Top 100 Songs of 2015, as do past Wex performers such as Oneohtrix Point Never and Joanna Newsom.
6. The fine folks at RogerEbert.com have collectively decided on the top 10 films of 2015 and have made individual picks, including Guy Maddin’s The Forbidden Room, which was supported by our Film/Video Studio Program.
7. On Artforum, filmmaker John Waters ranked his top 10 films of 2015, which likewise included a nod to The Forbidden Room, which he called “The most insanely inventive, hilariously funny faux-silent movie of all time, with sound design that should win the Oscar. (And if you haven’t yet picked up the magazine’s December issue, we recommend it. Inside, you’ll find Fiber: Sculpture–present and Noah Purifoy: Junk Dada—which opens here on January 30—on its print-only list of the year’s best exhibitions.)
8. More praise for Noah Purifoy comes from the New York Times’ Holland Critic, who named it one of the year’s best visual art shows.
9. The 2015 DownBeat’s 2015 Critics Poll includes a number of names that will be familiar to Wex jazz fans, including Lee Konitz (Hall of Fame), Vijay Iyer/Vijay Iyer Trio (Jazz Artist/Jazz Group), Rydresh Mahanthappa (Jazz Album for Bird Calls, Alto Saxophone), Bill Frisell (Guitar), and Erik Friedlander (Miscellaneous Instrument, cello).
10a. NPR’s “All Songs Considered” catalogues The Year in Music 2015 highlighting performers such as Sleater-Kinney and Missy Elliott. Meanwhile, NPR critics Ann Powers, Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson , and David Dye made their own selections, including Columbus’s own Saintseneca. NPR Music’s 50 favorite albums of 2015 included the Vijay Iyer Trio, Four Tet, and Low—all of which have been previously seen on our stage. Looking for more top music selections? Find a roundup of NPR listeners’ favorites here.
10b. And of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t direct you to this roundup of top 10s from our film/video department, which range from films that made their area debut here at the Wex to music, TV, and other media from around the world. Trust me, it is not to be missed.

* Note: Some lists may have more than 10 entries. Some may have fewer. Heck, if you read closely, you may note that we’ve fudged the count a bit ourselves.