Blogg

Most listened to:

Artists

Overall for the year
Crystal Castles
Gorillaz
Coldplay
The Naked And Famous
Foster The People
The Killers
Beck
Sex Bob-Omb
Sufjan Stevens
Hans Zimmer

2011 Artists
Gorillaz
Coldplay
The Naked And Famous
Foster The People
Sufjan Stevens
The Joy Formidable
Big Talk
Daft Punk
M83
Yellowcard

Tracks

Overall for the year
Crystal Castles – Celestica
Crystal Castles – Courtship Dating
Crystal Castles – Suffocation
Crystal Castles – Not in Love (feat. Robert Smith)
Sex Bob-Omb – We Are Sex Bob-Omb
Sex Bob-Omb – Threshold
Crystal Castles – Baptism
Crystal Castles – Through The Hosiery
Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks
Metric – Black Sheep

2011 Tracks
Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks
The Naked And Famous – Young Blood
Foster The People – Houdini
Foster The People – Warrant
Foster The People – Miss You
The Naked And Famous – Punching In A Dream
Gorillaz – Amarillo
…

I don't have the time to do this thoroughly this year, so I've decided to present my personal list of favourite 2011 records austerely and without much ado. I'm open to an exchange concerning last year's albums notwithstanding and I'd be happy to substantiate and restate my choices in a more extensive manner.

2011 - Trivia:

- For the first time since 2006 Portugal. The Man don't feature in my annual recapitualtion.
- I've listened to ca. 90 records released in 2011, including a few EPs.
- I was surprised with the fact that some of my favourite albums got many favourable reviews and how often those records appeared in the "best of 2011" summaries done by major music websites.
- I'm mildly disappointed with the overall quality of the albums which have been released this year. However, if I were to judge the year by the amount of single songs I found myself coming back to, I would surely concede that it was more than satisfying.
…

1. A Day To Remember - Homesick

2. blink-182 - blink-182

3. Kid Cudi - a KiD named CuDi

4. blink-182 - Enema Of The State

5. Breaking Benjamin - Phobia

6. Hans Zimmer - Inception: Music From the Motion Picture

7. Balance and Composure - Separation

8. Brand New - Deja Entendu

9. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

10. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare

And so to the traditional review of all things musical, for the year of 2011.

I can’t really say that there was anything special about this year, musically speaking. Probably the biggest event of interest was A Fine Frenzy taking over as my most scrobbled artist. Perennial #1 Harry Gregson-Williams was finally dethroned after a very quiet year for film scores on my charts. Despite no new album this year (huge sad face) I still racked up over 1800 plays for Ms. Sudol; a huge testament to how much I appreciate each and every one of her remarkable songs. I am anticipating next year’s release so much that I fear I may actually be placing too high an expectation on it. The handover of supremacy was actually a highly staged event on my part, as I also pumped out enough Dido tracks to simultaneously change the guard from M/F/M/F to F/M/F/M (Hans Zimmer dropping to #4). With both these ladies releasing new albums next year, I feel the female dominance will only grow - and I guess I’m quite alright with that…

Top 10:
1. Devin Townsend Project - Deconstruction/Ghost
Mind-blowing metal and beautiful ambience from the craziest character in metal... and now also the ambient scene
2. Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
Completely revolutionary and downright fantastic in almost everything it does
3. Efrim Manuel Menuck - plays "High Gospel"
Moody ballads and soundscapes from one of main minds behind A Silver Mt. Zion and Godspeed You! Black Emperor
4. Fair To Midland - Arrows & Anchors
Exceptionally catchy and well-written alt-pop-death metal
5. Mastodon - The Hunter
Comparatively stripped-down but thoroughly enjoyable metal
6. Boris - New Album
Drone/stoner/doom rockers do J-pop
7. This Will Destroy You - Tunnel Blanket
Transcends post-rock to encompass a broader drone/doom/ambient sound
8. Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972
Tim Hecker. Nuff said.
9. Steven Wilson - Grace for Drowning
Still nagged by the large chunks of this album which basically form a love-letter to Robert Fripp…