Thursday, January 5, 2012

2011 blog retrospective

I have been feeling quite guilty for not providing regular posts and reviews, especially since a lot of bands have sent their material my way and I am honestly really eager to do some writing here. Despite my wish to share all of that with the readers, I have been sabotaged by several real life commitments and I just can't find the time to post things regularly. Currently most of my brain power is focused on writing my final paper for a diploma, something like a thesis, so the amounts of research I need to do and numerous complications with my own perfectionism are devouring my strength to write for something else. It is all not so tough, however, since my focus is also centered on some rather unexpected and beautiful life changing things, so all in all this resulted in the blog being more secondary. As I always say during the drought, I won't let the blog die, this is just a minor setback.
Until I post some up-to-date reviews and whatnot, here is a brief retrospective of the previous year. For 2010 I wrote a really extensive recapitulation of the year, but right now I think it would be hard to grasp everything, so here are some top fives of 2011, not in any particular order.

Top releases of 2011:
- Downfall of Gaia & In The Heart Of Emperors
- Vestiges & Ghaust
- Momentum - Wheeting Occam's Razor
- Light Bearer - Lapsus
- Thou - The Archer and The Owle

Runner-ups are:
- WITTR - Celestial Lineage
- Deafheaven - Roads To Judah

You will notice that there is no "Circle Takes The Square" here...and that is just because it isn't really a release, but rather a preview or something similar. If it was a complete release, it would definitely find its place among my top five.

Top 2011 featured on the blog:
- Todos Caeran & Bears
- Battle of Britain Memorial - The Aftermath of Your Bright Beings
- Raein - Sulla Linea D’orizzonte Rizzonte Tra Questa Mia Vita E Quella Di Tutti
- Flags Raised - Now or Never
- Coloumbian Necktie - Self titled

Top gigs of 2011:
- Nux Vomica, Helltard (Belgrade)
- Year Of No Light (at Fluff Fest)
- Battle of Wolf 359 (at Fluff Fest)
- Nadja, Aidan Baker, Ghone (Novi Sad)
- Downfall of Gaia, Reflections of Internal Rain (Novi Sad)

Top 2011 interviews on the blog:
- Panopticon
- Masakari
- Downfall of Gaia
- Resurrectionists
- Baton Rouge

Most visited posts of 2011:
1. Interview: Panopticon
2. Circle Takes The Square - Decompositions - Vol I. Chapter 1. Rites of Initiation
3. City Cop - The Hope In Forgiving & Giving Up Hope (2011)
4. Battle of Britain Memorial - The Aftermath Of Your Bright Beings (2011)
5. Interview:Downfall of Gaia

If some of you boys and girls are eager to share your top five releases of 2011, definitely leave a comment below, I'd like to read your thoughts.

11 comments:

  1. Kvelertak - Kvelertak je izasao sredinom 2010. :)
    Mnogo odlicnih izdanja, sada vec prosle godine.
    Da nabrojim neke bendove, bez posebnog redosleda: Alpinist/Masakari, Blut Aus Nord, Full Of Hell, All Pigs Must Die, Alaskan, Oathbreaker, The Matador, Young And In The Way, VYGR, Terra Tenebrosa, Tempest, Earth, The Canyon Observer (EP), ... Sigurno je nesto zaboravljeno da se napise.

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  2. 1. Russian Circles - Empros (Sargent House)
    2. Ghost To Atom - Lines (self-released)
    3. Light Bearer - Lapsus (Halo of Flies/Moment of Collapse/Alerta Antifascista)
    4. The Fucking Hotlights - High Society Torture Party (self-released)
    5. Hands Up Who Wants To Die - Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo (Richter Collective)

    My complete list: http://blog.flanneljammies.com/post/14267007457/best-of-2011

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  3. @Anon - Hvala za update haha, mislio sam da je to izdanje iz prosle godine, fail :)

    @Rusty - I have Russian Circles sitting on my pc for some time now, never got to listen to it. I'll definitely check it out then, asap.

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  4. I for sure can't get it down to 5 or put it in order but here's my list

    http://aplacetoburn.tumblr.com/post/15161516794/best-of-2011-pt-1

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  5. Good luck with the page in 2012 man :)

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  6. Thanks a lot man, I will need it haha! Best of luck to you :)

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  7. Hey, btw did you get those links w/ ambient stuff that I sent you or google decided it was spam :D

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  8. Haha, yeah, I got the email, I just failed to take a listen to it. Lately I really suck with listening to new stuff. But I will get back at you soon, don't worry :)

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  9. Oh no pressure man, I just wanted to know if gmail didnt filter it as spam due to the plenty of links. No rush for such thing, music is mostly about moods and state of mind.

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  10. 1. Monachus - Out Of The Blue
    2. Pyramido - Salt
    3. Momentum - Wheeting Occam's Razor
    4. Light Bearer - Lapsus
    5. Downfall of Gaia & In The Heart Of Emperors Split

    ....and some more like:
    Anchor - Recovery
    Morne - Asylum
    Omega Massif - Karpatia
    Walk Through Fire - Furthest From Heaven
    Vestiges/Ghaust Split
    La Ligne Maginot (http://med-user.net/~la-ligne-maginot/)


    ....what a year.
    by the way, I really like your blog. the tour reports and interviews are stunning!
    greetings from berlin

    apu

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    Replies
    1. @ apu - Great list for sure! I haven't checked out some releases you mentioned (Walk Through Fire, Pyramido...), so I'll definitely try to listen to them soon. And thank you so much for the compliment about the blog!:) It really means a lot that you enjoy the interviews and reviews! And by the way, your blog is awesome, gonna follow you!

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