raconte-moi une histoire.

It is the end of the year and time to look back to what treasures 2011 brought to us. today I will start with the musical treats and the following weeks I will enlighten you with my favourite movies, tv series and books of 2011. all in all, I can already say that it was a fruitful year from every point of view!

So here i'll display my favourite records of the year, music from 2010 i listened to a lot this year, and music from artists i expected a lot of, but got a bit disappointed. those i put on the wall of shame. ;)

Some words about the records:

AUSTRA :: Feel it break

With her unique voice Katie Stelmanis, together with her canadian mates, creates something very new, something i haven't heard in that way. This is exactly what i need, and I also think this is the reason why they grew so big in such a short time. I love how they combine dark melodies with catchy pop tunes and still don't sound ordinary. For me this was without doubt the best record of the year.

ACTIVE CHILD :: You are all I see

This one took a while for me to like as a whole record. In the beginning I only picked out several outstanding songs, but listened to them excessively. But meanwhile I learnt to love the whole record, especially "Playing House" that features "How To Dress Well". I thought it was so cheesy, but now I love it! The term "unique" also fits very well with what Pat Grossi and his friends create under the name "Active Child".

WYE OAK :: Civilian

It is incredible how much warmth this record, ney, this band, delivers, with every one of their records, imagining they only consist of two people. But here, too, i needed some time to get used to the sound. I think it is edgier than the ancestor, whose songs harmonised a lot better. But with every listen I learnt to love this release as well. On stage, the band showed a very congenial character.

WILD BEASTS :: Smother

Another almost classical falsetto voice just like Pat Grossi from Active Child. Not many people like this, I can comprehend. But this album shows so much passion that it really grew on me. I would love to see them play live, but haven't had the chance, yet since they didn't play in Munich this year. For shame! 

ZOLA JESUS :: Conatus

Last year I got into Zola Jesus via NME marking her as an artist to be watched for 2011 (or something like that) putting her on a sampler with 49 other artists, and for me she was outstanding and I wanted to hear more from her. But then i saw the video for "Night" which is still an incredible song, but for me it was so embarrassing serving all the stereotypes of gothic music. So I left that EP behind. And this year Nika is back with her new full album and I decide to give her a new chance, and that was a really good decision. The album is catchier than her first releases which had a much edgier sound but for me, writing catchy tunes seems a lot more difficult than just to create something that most people would find hard to listen to. 

About the WALL OF SHAME: None of these albums are really bad. But as i mentioned i expected a lot, for example the M83 record. In my opinion everything above 12 tracks is too much for a long player record. And Mr. Anthony Gonzalez just overdid it. Besides "Midnight City" there is no other track that pokes out, but at least this guy never runs out of ideas when it comes to naming his songs, haha. Nevertheless I am very much looking forward to the concert he will be playing in March next year, here in Munich. 

My 10 favourite tracks this year are:

01.AUSTRA :: The Beat And The Pulse 02. ACTIVE CHILD :: Johnny Belinda 03. UNISON :: Intimacy 04. LIGHT ASYLUM :: Dark Allies 05. WYE OAK :: Civilian 06. M83 :: Mighnight City 07. WILD BEASTS :: Albatross 08. BON IVER :: Perth 09. KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS :: Running Out Of You 10. JAMES BLAKE :: Limit To Your Love

Usually I don't pay that much attention to remixes, but this year some of them really got me, and some of them were even better, than the original versions. These are my favourites:

01. ADELE :: Rolling In The Deep (Deathstar Remix feat. MartyParty & Minnesota)

02. ACTIVE CHILD :: Hanging On (White Sea Remix) 

03. Lady Gaga :: Yoü And I (Wild Beasts Remix)

And then, of course, there were some concerts. Not many as usual, in Munich, but some memorable gigs were among them like Wye Oak or Austra whom, in fact,  I have seen twice this year, but the most special two concerts were EVENING HYMNS playing a secret gig for Hauskonzerte.com , there were maybe 30 people (i'm so bad at valuation) in an abandoned house and so it was quite intimate and intense but see for yourself  and then there were ESBEN AND THE WITCH, with probably the same number of attendies, which was in one way a shame, of course, but in the other, it is kinda nice if a concert isn't that crowded. However, the atmosphere was amazing, it was all dark, just a few lights standing on the bottom of the stage and when Rachel Davies started to play that drum I got totally lost. (Unfortunately the quality isn't thaat good, but it kinda delivers what i mean) 

Thank you for your attention, ladies and gentleman. And no, the other "best of" entries won't be about the size of a Tolstoy novel.

for the record, so I won't get sued: I used this and  some of this for the collage.