Remembering why they’re one of my favorite bands, and the first band I really loved. I want to see them live so badly again now!

sixwordlovestory:

The distance will never destroy us.

(via feel-dont-think)

That last post is not meant to interest someone except for my future self in 10 years. Possibly.

Better late than never I guess, but since this is probably the last day I’m doing absolutely nothing useful all day long (at least for about a month or so), I guess I’m finally doing this: my personal musical lists of 2011, yay! Anyway, to get started, I’m just going to put down some general overview of the things I liked this year (with the great help of awesome websites like LastGraph and Last.fm Explorer).

Poets of the Fall were a nice discovery at the start of the year, together with some further listening to Brand New, Billy Talent and good old Jimmy Eat World. For some reason I spent my studying time listening to post-hardcore/emo/punk bands, of which the most interesting ones seemed Senses Fail and Funeral For A Friend. Also: Mineral, what a gem of a band, totally unlike the nowadays emo music, just makes it sad they’re put under the same genre. Interestingly, those weeks were also the weeks I most listened to music ever or something like that - probably due to the exams.

Some turnaround after that, with the more ‘sophisticated’ bands like The National, Arcade Fire and Interpol sparking some interest (the last one failing miserably in concert). Two weeks of very intense Radiohead listening steers them towards the top of my charts - for some reason I can’t really dig their ‘masterwork’ OK Computer much though. Then there’s Rise Against - yet again, they’ve been a huge constant this year. Their simply amazing concert surely has been a contributing factor, probably the best concert of the year for me, such energy, such great songs, and unlike a lot of punk bands, actually delivering live and not creating some inaudible wall of sound. 

The next months spark some random amounts of listening to some bands, the most important ones including White Lies, Archive, The Gaslight Anthem, Foo Fighters, Avril Lavigne (!), Linkin Park, Flyleaf, Say Anything and Courtney Marie Andrews. Interesting facts being: visiting White Lies in a pretty exclusive venue, TGA’s awesome album The ‘59 Sound, an awesome concert by Archive, senseless feel-good music by AL and my favorite song of the year, Admit It!!! (yes, the three exclamation marks are necessary), although no one really seems to understand that last one.

Going on to… Death Cab For Cutie’s genius album Codes & Keys. Somehow it’s lost it’s appeal to me now, but for me it was an absolute standout record back then. Pinkpop sparked some interest in good old 30 Seconds To Mars again, and then: Björk. Simply Björk, or that’s what 453 plays in one week indicates. I guess that’s really all that needs to be said, her music is just genius - her Homogenic album makes Radiohead’s Kid A seem like a rip-off, just saying! 

Lots of interesting bands in summer, but I can’t name them all here. Some slight picks would be VETO, Jenny & Johnny, Bright Eyes, Deftones and most of all Lumen. I thought I had had most of them after some intense listening in 2010, but completely rediscovered them with a couple of really energetic live albums. Such a pity I can’t understand their lyrics much - yet! Some pre-Pukkelpop listening sparked metalcore/post-hardcore interests in Bring Me The Horizon (It Never Ends!) and Devil Sold His Soul, but that’s about it. Afterwards: Avril Lavigne again, and then a period of singer-songwriters, led by the genius of Elliott Smith. I’m pretty certain I’m not even half-done with his music yet. And of course Courtney Marie Andrews, who has also been a big constant throughout the year and whose self-organized concert here definitely was a highlight, just such a lucky opportunity, and it’s completely weird to actually meet one of your favorite artists like that.

The singer-songwriter madness is interupted for some weeks by Blue October, after which Ryan Adams, The Swell Season and Markéta Irglová get some plays. Then: Say Anything’s self-titled album, definitely one of my favorite albums of the year. Some slight rediscovery of Coldplay then, though quite frankly their new album is pretty bad, except for a couple of songs (Charlie Brown, most notably) - some good songs for sure, but it’s nowhere near things like Politik, Talk, The Scientist and Clocks. A bit of interest then for metalcore band Architects’ The Here And Now album. 

The end of the year can be summarized pretty simple: The Smashing Pumpkins + shoegaze. The most interesting bands being My Bloody Valentine (what a phenomenal record Loveless is!), Lamb (though not shoegaze), Slowdive, The Horrors and M83. Two other bands to end the year: Crystal Castles with their amazing second album (a completely new experience for me) and Pavement.

Also, a general remark is that I listened a LOT to music in the first half of the year, and then a big decline in the last half. No idea how come really.

But what about a couple of lists then, since this was just pretty much rambling? Here goes - or at least a poor effort to.

Starting with my favorite 10 artists of the year. I could just copy the order from the last.fm charts, but that would be pointless - also, some bands miss out on plays because of having lengthy songs, and others just get lots because of not much other interesting ones appearing at the moment. Though of course a list like this is very ‘changeable’. Anyways:

1. Courtney Marie Andrews
2. Radiohead
3. Say Anything
4. Björk
5. Rise Against
6. Jimmy Eat World
7. The Smashing Pumpkins
8. Brand New
9. The Gaslight Anthem
10. Blue October

But as said, it’s not ‘definitive’ or something like that, the order is pretty random. Only the top 5 really seem to be the 5 most interesting ones of this particular year.

As for albums then (again, pretty random):

1. Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
2. Radiohead - The Bends
3. Say Anything - Say Anything
4. Courtney Marie Andrews - For One I Knew
5. Rise Against - The Sufferer & The Witness
6. Brand New - The Devil & God Are Raging Inside Me
7. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
8. Say Anything - …Is A Real Boy
9. Björk - Vespertine
10. Courtney Marie Andrews - Urban Myths
11. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II
12. The Gaslight Anthem - The ‘59 Sound
13. Markéta Irglová - Anar
14. Radiohead - In Rainbows
15. Death Cab For Cutie - Codes & Keys

Less Rise Against albums than in my top plays, since they’re short. The new Endgame album wasn’t short, and I listened it loads, but I don’t even think it’s one of their best albums.

Then: songs! Arguably the most difficult, but here’s a try.

1. Say Anything - Admit It!!!
2. Courtney Marie Andrews - Broken Feet
3. Oceansize - Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs
4. Björk - Hyperballad
5. Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
6. Rise Against - Survive
7. Björk - Pagan Poetry
8. Jimmy Eat World - Goodbye Sky Harbor (Owen Meany!)
9. Bring Me The Horizon - It Never Ends
10. The Smashing Pumpkins - The Everlasting Gaze
11. Radiohead - Idioteque
12. Foo Fighters - All My Life
13. Crystal Castles - Not In Love (feat. Robert Smith)

The order of this one is even more messed up though.

As for concerts, that seems the only thing missing still, but that’ll have to be for some other time, because this is getting pretty tiresome.

1. Pavement (66)
2. M83 (44)
3. Defeater (31)
4. Angels & Airwaves (29)
5. Lamb (28)

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

1. Crystal Castles (44)
2. Yellowcard (29)
3. Courtney Marie Andrews (11)
4. A Place To Bury Strangers (10)
5. Slowdive (10)

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz