relief.

Uhm, hi! So...I have been neglecting this place somewhat, due to lack of time. But I wanted to give you a little retrospective on the last 12 months, which were possibly the best I have yet witnessed. And I sure hope the awesomeness will continue in 2013! 

Like usual, I wanna start with a review on my favourite records of 2012. I remember that, in summer, I had rashly announced BEAR IN HEAVENs album "I love you, it's cool" as my favourite record of the year 2012. It kind of blew me away like nothing I had heard in along while and so I was sure there would be no other record that could possibly oust this release from the throne. But here comes the Mancunian (yes I had to google that, too) in to the game. Like with BEAR IN HEAVEN, I needed several attempts with HOLY OTHERs "Held" to get into the full spectrum of this – yes I might just call it a – masterpiece. And because it is often too hard to clothe my thoughts into words, I picked out a quote from Pitchforks review on "Held":

"Desire, neediness, vulnerability, fear, pleasure, and confusion are all laid bare. Held is a love album, a modern love album. Not love as aspirational fantasy but lived love, contradictory love-- the real love that stifles as much as it soothes."

With LEMONADEs "Diver" I (re-)discovered my love for synth-pop in the vein of ZOOT WOMAN. I fell in love with tracks like "Neptune" "Vivid" and especially "Whitecaps". There is actually not one flaw on this release full of pop gems. And with the last two records I am still quite surprised as I never got along before, with their previous releases. I think the gates to HOW TO DRESS WELL opened a little with the collaboration on ACTIVE CHILDs 2011 release "You Are All I See" which was, if you remember, one of my favourite albums in 2011. In hindsight, I am very happy that I finally got access to this artists world, since his concert in Munich on the night before my birthday was one of the best experiences in 2012. And with GRIZZLY BEAR I am even more surprised, because on the one hand, it is actually one of the few non-electronic albums I listened to this year, and on the other hand, similar to HOW TO DRESS WELL, I never really liked this band before "Shields". Therefore I am still convinced that the older you grow, the more open you become to several stiles of music and I am looking forward to all the stuff I have to explore, yet. 

Below, you can see some more releases I enjoyed this year, warm-heartedly recommend to everyone who is open for something new and more or less unexplored.

But we're not done here, yet. I imposed myself with the merely impossible task to sum up this year in music by picking out 12 of my favourite songs. By all means, there are lots more than just 12 of them, but here we go:

1) HOLY OTHER_NOTHING HERE

Unconditional love.

2) WIFE_BODIES

When you get a personal recommendation from your current favourite artist, chances are high, that you dig it. But I completely fell in love with this song from the very first listen.

3) BEAR IN HEAVEN_THE REFLECTION OF YOU
This song had almost been ruined to me by a person. But fortunately I don't let people do this to me anymore.

4) TWIGS_ACHE
What the title says.

5) LEMONADE_WHITECAPS
The one song I desperately wanted to dance to in a club last year. But never had been given the chance to. And I love love love the drums in this one.

6) JOHN TALABOT_ORO Y SANGRE
If 16 wouldn't be such an odd number* when it comes to making best of lists, you would probably see John Talabots "Fin" up above. And: there should really be more songs with screams in them.

7) PURITY RING_OBEDEAR
Oh, look! It's a video from the concert in Munich. Nevermind the bass, though.

8) o F F LOVE_BE AROUND YOU
I still remember how it stunned me, the first time I listened to it. And it still does, today.

9) HOW TO DRESS WELL_STRUGGLE
Probably the most intense live performance from last year.

10) GRIMES_GENESIS
It took a very long time with us, Claire and me. But this song made me fall in love with her. Unfortunately, she did not show up, when we were supposed to have a date last november. Bitch.

11) ¥OIN_TIRED OF ME
This song introduced me to future garage. Thank you very much, song!

12) STAY+_DANDELION SEED
Because we did not have enough weird videos in this list, yet. But serioulsy though, I love the song.


And how about those concerts I visited in 2012. These were my favourite ones:
ACTIVE CHILD - 28th Feb - Atomic Café - Munich
Pure bliss. That is all.
M83 - 5th Mar - Theaterfabrik - Munich
I still think I was the one person in the audience who had the most fun.
BEAR IN HEAVEN - 5th June - KONG -
Munich So the sound wasn't perfect, as I recall, but still these guys were superawesome.
OTHER LIVES - 25th July - Kranhalle - Munich
Those peeps made me want to join a band and stand on a stage myself.
SPRING OFFENSIVE - 18th Oct - Orangehouse - Munich
Unexpected. Intense. Stunning.
HOW TO DRESS WELL - 30th Oct - Kranhalle - Munich
Heartbreaking.
HOLY OTHER/BEACH HOUSE - 14th Nov - Hansa39 - Munich
If only there wasn't the audience. But then again..I had a really great night.
PURITY RING - 15th Nov - Hansa39 - Munich
Best atmosphere.

Also, every time I had the chance to see Carlos play live. Always amazing.



Ok, three more categories, and you're through, I promise.

So what about cinematography in 2012? I must admit, I probably haven't seen too many relevant movies that were released last year, to make a proper judgement. But still I doubt that any movie I didn't choose to watch (for reasons) would be better than the one favourite movie I chose. And this would be:

Michael Haneke has been one of my favourite filmmakers for quite a while. And I was very much lucking forward to see this one. It is one of those movies, that employs your mind for longer than a day, after having watched it.

Other movies from 2012 I enjoyed a lot:

PROMETHEUS
CHRONICLE
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
LOOPER
THIS MUST BE THE PLACE
PARANORMAN
SHAME
and of course
THE HUNGER GAMES

and then there were TV shows of course. And one which was pretty outstanding. My favourite show this year comes as a real surprise mostly for myself, since I didn't enjoy the prior season that much. I am talking about:

The current season hasn't even ended, yet. In fact, as you might know, they split the season in two parts and expected viewers to put up with this terribly long latency. Damn you! And as if this is not enough, they ended the first part of the season with the most terrible cliffhanger!

And last but not least. My favourite book, released in 2012. What else would it be than this one:

I don't think I need to say more about this. I don't even know if there will ever be another book that will mean as much to me (and probably lots of other people) than this one. Seriously.


As usual, when encountering my dear followers with epic posts like this one, I thank you very much for  your attention! Stay tuned, I am will try to keep this thing here alive! :)

*I know 16 is not an odd number. In fact it is the opposite of it. But YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, RIIIGGHT!?! D'UHH

ex libris.

Clumsy me left the last image for the best of 2011 series at work and so this entry comes a bit late-ish.

The shelf displays my 5 favourite books I read in 2011 (not all were also published in 2011). 

Most of them have very young protagonists but are not necessarily only enjoyable for children. In fact some of them are quite dark and disturbing. Basically this year, I experienced, that I am a lot into dystopia themed stories. There is one book in particular, that made me realise this. It's THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins but it's not on the list, because I read it during the holidays. So currently my wishlist for books is exploding with young adult dystopian novels I would love to read all at once. 

I also finished my Goodreads Reading Challenge of reading 25 books during 2011. I have to admit I overestimated my self a little and challenged myself to read 50 books. Uhm..yeah. And these are the books I have read in 2011. I was pretty lazy in the beginning of the year and also only read the german versions, but currently I am focussing on original versions again.

the cold winds are rising.

It's time for the next category for my best of 2011 series. Allow me to show you which TV shows warmed my heart, entertained me or gave me the shivers the last 350 days.

1. HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER

I never would have imagined how much this TV show would mean to me, when I first started to watch it a couple of years ago. In fact I was like, what's the hype about this show, I don't get it, I hate sitcoms with fake laughter, and it isn't even funny. But I kept watching, and within season 02 Ted & Co. got me. And then came a time when I was devastated, last year in winter. I had no internet, yet in my new flat and that was the time when this TV show literally saved my live. I kept rewatching season 01 and 02 over and over again, and it made me smile when I thought I couldn't smile anymore. And oh boy, I don't even want to imagine what it will be like, when this, somewhen, eventually comes to an end. In 2011 we had the end of season 06 (which was in my opinion better than the seasons before with all those awesome guest stars from other favourite TV shows like SIX FEET UNDER, DEXTER or LOST) and the first part of season 07 which is more dramatic than this show ever was, but I dig it. I have seen people on the internet mocking about they finally want to know who the mother of Ted's kids is, but I am just thinking, this show has never been about the mother in the first place, but about this awesome friendship between five awesome characters I fell madly in love with.

2. TRUE BLOOD

Sexy, dirty, juicy True Blood is just perfect for the sticky summer season. And season 04 for me has been the most hilarious one. I just love how Alan Ball does not fear to make an episode cheesy and how he just doesn't take himself too serious. I also liked how Dr. Skarsgard can be both the cruel and reckless killer and the poor little bunny you just want to squeeze and cuddle. But I was also a bit disappointed about Lafayette's Character, he was way more funny in the earlier seasons and this time he was pretty boring, almost no swearing and this hair-do...um..I dunno. 

3. GAME OF THRONES

Again a series I didn't think I could like, all this dark age fantasy stuff did never attract me. But bored Simone needed something new to entertain her, and Game of Thrones seemed to be the new shit. So I gave it a try and i have to admit that I often caught myself not paying attention and skipping back to key scenes I missed. And like on every other TV show I need some time to identify with the characters, which is the main aspect that keeps me going with a show (seems plausible, right?) However, it didn't take long for me to feel sympathy for the House of Stark and especially Arya, the smallest of Eddard's and Catelyn's children, a smart little girl, willing to fight like a soldier. Another great character is Tyrion Lannister played by Peter Dinklage, who won a lot of prices for this role, i guess, not surprising for me, as he does a great job. Anyway, Game of Thrones is full rolling heads and other body parts, full of scheming and full of ruthless characters (especially that bitch Cersei) that make you want to slap their faces or wish other characters will have a bloody revenge on them. I can't wait for season 02! Four months to go! 

4. NEW GIRL

Another comedy show. Zooey Deschanel. I mentioned before that I never really knew what to think about her. But boredom must have played a big role, too, here, that I thought I give this one a chance. And what can I say, from the very beginning the episodes where amazing, and the writers set it on a very high entertainment level. This season isn't halfway through and I am curious if they can keep that level up.

5. AMERICAN HORROR STORY
Horror Stories? Yes, please! But this one's a very weird one, right from the start. It's actually not even scary but it's mentally challenging its characters AND its audience. It takes a while for the viewer to figure out, what is real, who is really alive and who is actually dead. Who is using who, to achive what? And why is there this sympathy for a person who is actually a scumbag (yes, Tate, I am talking about you!) This week will be the season finale, and I am excited what will happen next, and what a further season might bring.

I am sure, people might say now: "Simone! What about Breaking Bad?! It was so amazing, how can you not even mention it here?" It is simply because I haven't watched season 04, yet and didn't even finish season 03. I love Walter & Co. and I love how fucked up this series is, but I watched season 01 and 02 in a row and when I started number 03 it was just pretty exhausting and I fell asleep while watching, so I decided to "take a break" on Breaking Bad. And then all these series started at the same time, Dexter (which was pretty disappointing, but I already expected this) Misfits, The Walking Dead, New Girl, American Horror Story and HIMYM. So I am going to recommence when there is a tv-show drought, probably somewhen in february, and I am pretty sure, I will like it.

p.s. I know what I said about the length of the entries, but oh well.. 

reality drift.

I know you could hardly wait for the next issue of my best of 2011 series, couldn't you? Today let's talk about motion pictures. It is barely possible for me to watch all the current movies i am interested in. Although there are fabulous online streaming opportunities these days, i rarely find the right time, where i can concentrate enough to watch the whole movie through. I don't know what it is, but basically it proceeds like illustrated in this graphic. 

But the movies i am highly interested in, I try to watch almost exclusively at the theatre. And it turns out that my favourite ones of this year I indeed saw all of them in the theatre, with one exception (Blue Valentine, that wasn't in the program when i already desperately wanted to watch it.) 

So here is the list of my favourite movies of 2011 or should I say, all movies that deserve more attention than Melancholia. I didn't make a wall of shame for movies that have been released in 2011, but Melancholia would definitely be on it, but that is already enough talk about an irrelevant movie. 

some short thoughts about the movies:

BEGINNERS: hilarious, philosophical, sad and elusively congenial oh..and EWAN MCGREGOR!

BIUTIFUL: Javier Bardem playing a character that is both vulnerable and strong at the same time. In my opinion his most convincing and impressing role. 

THE TREE OF LIFE: imposing pictures and an impressive performance by the young actor Hunter McCracken. 

BLACK SWAN: DARREN ARONOFSKY. 'Nough said!

THE FUTURE: refreshing as one would expect another movie by quirky Miranda July.

WEEKEND: so realistic, so teasing, so heartbreaking!

BLUE VALENTINE: ouch ouch, ugh...uff...I don't know what to say. 

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.