best of 2013 by brett & fiona of m'lady's records

1. Stewart Lee, and everything that Stewart Lee has written or performed publicly. (tie) Bridget Christie and everything that Bridget Christie has written or performed publicly.

2. Urupukapuka Island, Bay Of Islands, New Zealand

3. Hysterics & Vexx live in Olympia and in Portland and on record

4. Fred & Toody live and "unplugged" (though fully electric) at Doug Fir in Portland

5. Cate Le Bon "Mug Museum" LP and live, especially the single "Are You With Me Now?"

6. Neo Boys "Sooner Or Later" 2xLP reissue (K/Mississippi)

7. Ohana Sushi train, Portland, Ore.

8. Tig Notaro "Stool Movement" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo1oyoRGkCg)

9. Vaux's Swifts roosting in the chimney of Chapman Elementary, Portland, Ore.

10. Painted Hills, John Day Fossil Beds, and Blue Basin, John Day Fossil Beds, Oregon

11. Going to Los Angeles for a week in winter [just a week, mind...]

12. Portland Museum of Modern Art, in the basement of the Mississippi Records building, especially the Mr. Otis show, Portland, Ore.

13. Multnomah County Health Services

14. Edna Vasquez performing at the Lents International Farmers Market, Portland, Ore.

15. The women of the current cast of Saturday Night Live

16. Legalization of marijuana in Washington state

17. The Russian women's sychronized swimming performing to the theme from "Suspiria" (see no. 16)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUFJ2cGZtQk

18. Helsing Junction CSA / Shaksan strawberries / 3 day punk festival

19. Bowpicker Fish & Chips, Astoria, Ore.

20. Sou'wester Lodge's artist-in-residency program, Seaview, Wash.

21. Golden Teacher "Bells From the Deep End" 12" EP (Optimo Records, UK)

Best of 2011 by Brett Lyman

BEST HAPPENINGS OF 2011

1. Aramoana, just north of Port Chalmers, New Zealand; Harataonga Bay, Great Barrier Island, New Zealand (tie)

2. Moving house & home & underground business to Portland, Oregon, Republic of Cascadia

3. Mind-bending shows of this year: COASTING and THE GOLDEN AWESOME and approx. 50 other groups at Camp A Low Hum in Bulls, New Zealand; GRASS WIDOW, RAINCOATS, and FELT LETTERS at Comet Pizza and Ping Pong in Washington, DC;

4. Spectacle Theater in south Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York: the greatest tiny cinema in the country and, for many months this summer, my second home. best double bill: Chris Marker's "A BIENTOT, J'ESPERE" and Jean Eustache's "MES PETITS AMOREUSES"

5. Best 7" of the year that wasn't on M'lady's: Mecca Normal "Malachi" b/w "Blue Sky With Branches" on K

6. "There's far too much democracy in the culture, and not enough in society." - Fran Lebowitz, from "Public Speaking" by Martin Scorsese, my favorite non-fiction film of the year

7. Walking with thousands of people onto the Brooklyn Bridge in October, and again a few days later to take over Times Square, New York City

8. Realizing in the middle of the night back in June that recorded music is just a fad and soon enough the next stop on the underground express will be singing directly to one another

9. Getting older. So much more exciting than I ever could have imagined.

10. Seeing "Rock N Roll High School" on the big screen on my birthday at Anthology Film Archives. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Share Your Bikini Kill Story

Bikini Kill has set up an official archive online

We are collecting stories of how people got into the band/shows they saw/memories/testimonials etc.

It would be awesome if you wanted to contribute. It doesn’t have to be fancy or well-worded, we’d just like you to leave a record of your experience and get an idea of what Bikini Kill means to you. Maybe it’s your reaction to a song we wrote, something weird that happened at one of our shows, a personal anecdote or just WHATEVER. Send yr story to bkillarchive@gmail.com and we will post it or just leave a comment somewhere on the site. You can also send us images to post.

Please help us spread the word. To document the history (or herstory) of the band it is necessary to include an oral history from “the fans”. We say fans for lack of a better word—a more expansive term would be inclusive of friends, peers, comrades, co-conspirators and imply participation rather than an audience separate from the band—which is what we hope to achieve with this interactive approach.

Also, if you have video/film footage of the band, please contact us, Thanks!

Read this Bikini Kill story by M'Lady's own Brett Lyman:

I saw Bikini Kill on October 13, 1994, in Dayton, Ohio. I didn’t live there, and was in fact about six hours away in Detroit, but because of a fairly disastrous previous engagement in Detroit they seemed destined never to return, and Dayton was close as they were gonna get on that particular tour. I was 17 and constantly in trouble, teenage runaway style, no fixed address, and shame-facedly back at my parents’ house for that month, all strings attached. I was not allowed to go to punk shows when I was younger (nice reverse psychology, Mom and Dad) and had to run away every time I wanted to. This show was no exception. I hitched a ride with my friends Jef, Becky, and Carrie, in Jef’s incredibly fucked up 1980s Detroit behemoth car, and he insisted on listening to Shellac on repeat, and only dining at Denny’s.

The show was at this dump ironically called the “Palace Club”. It was in a strip mall, next to like a dry cleaners or something, I forget. There were four bands on the bill: BK, Team Dresch, and two incredibly shitty emo hardcore extremely damaged groups that I forget, though I vividly remember wanting to throw up while they were playing. Then Team Dresch came on, presented a “Free to Fight” self-defense course (most of which is a blur, though I do recall one of the scenarios featuring an assailant that was screaming “I’ll teach you to love Jesus!”), then threw down with a ferocity that I’d never seen before. BK then played, and I’ll spare you a bunch of florid nonsense and just say that they were and are the best group I’ve ever seen in concert, and it was worth every bit of hassle I had to go through when I got home and found out the cops were looking for me and I was no longer welcome in my parents’ home. I remember that they played a lotta songs from “Pussy Whipped” they were wearing these matching red jackets before the show, ‘cept for Bill who was wearing like a trench coat maybe? I always wondered what it was like to see the Misfits or Minor Threat or the Pretty Things in 1964 but I think that actually it was probably that good, you know? I went back to Michigan, stayed in trouble, and never ever forgot what that feeling was like. The end.

Best of 2008: Brett Lyman

1. "pearling" by sahra motalebi - favorite single of 2008. it's overwhelming.
2. mike leigh's "happy go lucky" - even more overwhelming and profound
and... its the very best
3. all the issues to date of make/shift magazine
4. "le corbeau" and "la salarie de la peur" by henri-georges clouzot -
both from long ago but excellent
5. yellow fever in concert and on record
6. best houseguests of 2008 - the carrots and steve dore (tie) (also
were here simultaneously)
7. pot punx and transcendental punks - tie for best new punks
8. "keep on keepin on" by n.f. porter
9. "all on the first day" by tony, caro, and john
10. realizing that many new groups these days are using the most basic
and base aspects of capitalism to artificially manufacture interest in
their recordings and are no more worthy of trust or respect than the
fucking international monetary fund. they are phonies, and should all
be forced to change the names of their groups to "ebay dot com" or
possibly "photo shoot". luckily i predict that 2009 will see a
resurgence in brilliant critical people that are not afraid anymore to
tell someone that they're fucked up. cross yr fingers