Monday, December 31, 2012

This year in music

As part of my end-of-the-year wind-down, I'll be covering the year in music.

Sadly, I only made it out to ONE show this entire year, the Rock Star Energy Drink Mayhem Festival's Atlanta stop. But it was a damn good show, and I am so thankful that I got to see it....and with Spank, no less!

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One of the featured themes for the last Monday's Music Moves Me of the year is along the lines of the year's best songs. Right up my alley, right? This year saw a lot of new music from some artists I really like, so you should give them a listen on Spotify!

Some albums I really enjoyed this year:

Voodoo Glow Skulls, Break the Spell
Attack, Attack!, This Means War
Foxy Shazam, Welcome to the Church of Rock and Roll (you have GOT to hear this one!)
Nada Surf, The Stars are Indifferent to Astronomy
Lamb of God, Resolution
Rick Ross, God Forgives, I Don't
Rush, Clockwork Angels
B.o.B., Strange Clouds
Of Montreal, Paralytic Stalks
Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Big Moon Ritual
Pink Floyd, re-release of The Wall. 'Nuff said.
Cannibal Corpse, Torture
Biohazard, Reborn in Defiance
Iron Maiden, En Vivo! (A collection of live recordings.)
Shinedown, Amaryllis
The Cult, Choice of Weapon
Melvins, Freak Puke
The Avett Brothers, The Carpenter
Thousand Foot Krutch, The End is Where We Begin
Deuce, Nine Lives
The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Aufheben
The Smashing Pumpkins, Oceania
The Gaslight Anthem, Handwritten
Ryan Bingham, Tomorrowland
Devin Townsend Project, Epicloud
Stone Sour, House of Gold & Bones - Part 1
Travis Barker and Yelawolf, Psycho White
Green Day, Uno
Green Day, Dos
Green Day, Tre

While these are all some really great albums, my absolute favorites - the ones from which I love each and every track - were:

Hank Williams III, - Long Gone Daddy Did you know that the grandson (and lookalike) of country legend Hank Williams is a musician as well? Okay, now you do! His latest is full of rollicking, twangy, honky-tonk country covers (and some outtakes from some of his own earlier albums). Just like I love it! Enjoy this amazing Merle Haggard cover:



Marilyn Manson Born Villain I've blogged about this one before, and I'm no less excited about it now. I still think you should give it a listen if you've ever liked the band, especially their earlier stuff.



Jack White - Blunderbuss - I blogged about him in the same post as Manson, and I'm still listening to Blunderbuss regularly. With a variety of different sounds, there's sure to be something for everyone on it.



And of my absolute favorites released this year? My most favorite of favorites?

The Killers - Battle Born Oh, how I love every song just so so so much! Oh, how I feel like linking to every video from the album that I can find! But...I won't. So yeah, this one is probably my favorite song on the album. My "song of the year," if you will:



How about you? What were your favorite songs this year? I'd love to hear about them in the comments!

I'll close out my last Music Monday post of the year by honoring the musicians and others in the industry who passed away in 2012.

RIP Nicole Bogner, Dave Brubeck, Terry Callier, Elliott Carter, Lol Coxhill, Rob "Balfabar Nosugref The Almighty" Cranny, Hal Davis, Rob Doherty, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Robbie France, Robin Gibb, Michael Grant, Andy Hamilton, Jonathan Harvey, Mehdi Hassan, Levon Helm, Whitney Houston, Steeve Hurdle, Etta James, Davy Jones, Tonmi Lillman, Huw Lloyd-Langton, Joey "Fingers" Lombard, John Lord, Mitch Lucker, Jim Marshall, Scott McKenzie, Ronnie Montrose, Trondr Nefas, Johnny Otis, Dory Previn, Mark Reale, Mike Scaccia, Earl Scruggs, Ravi Shankar, Joe South, Big Jim Sullivan, Donna Summer, Richie Teeter, David S. Ware, Doc Watson, Bert Weedon, Bob Welch, Kitty Wells, Hans Werner-Henze, Andy Williams, and Adam Yauch.

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23 comments:

  1. Hank Williams III is definitely got the gene!! The more I listen to Jack White, the more I really like him!! Love the last song you chose, you are so right, great song!!
    Oh, and if I had to choose one song I really enjoyed from this year? I think I would go with "Whistle" by Flo Rida, it just brought me pure joy and fun and sometimes I just like a song like that :)

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    1. I love that song, too! Definitely catchy!

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. Oops, I forgot to wish you a Happy New Year!!!!

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  3. You definitely have some good ones up there, but I'm surprised you had no mention of The Black Keys: El Camino!!!!! They are probably my favourite band to listen to right now. Also not mentioned was Mumford and Sons: Babel. The Black Keys, Mumford and Sons as well as Jack White are up for a Grammy in February!

    I really loved what Goyte put out this year as well. That song "Somebody That I Used To Know" is so damn catchy! Serj Tankian's song "Harakiri" is great, if you like SOAD. Soundgarden..... Live to Rise....mmmm. Those are just some off the top of my head.

    Adam Yauch was the one loss that made me the most sad this past year. :(

    Happy New Year, Kim. Thanks for a great list! I love Marilyn Manson, by the way. I may be old, but I'm not dead. :) haha!

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    1. Oh, I love The Black Keys, too - well, except for their obnoxious song "Lonely Boy" that radio just overplayed TO DEATH. But El Camino actually came out late in 2011 :)

      I haven't heard Serj's solo stuff yet, but I did like SoaD. I will have to check it out soon! And I have only heard one song off Soundgarden's new one. I like it, but it just doesn't sound like them to me, so I'm not sure how I feel about it. Maybe I'll give the entire album a go and see if any of it grows on me.

      Don't be so surprised by Mumford, though....I've heard a few songs, but they just haven't managed to pull me in yet like they have a lot of folks. I'm actually more of a hard rock/metal fan, but there's just been so little of it that I actually like here lately.

      Thanks for coming by, Rebeka!

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    2. Oh, and meant to say that Adam's death was definitely hard-hitting. Beastie Boys were such a ground-breaking band and a huge part of the "soundtrack" to my high school years.

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    3. Just an FYI - The Black Keys' nominations are all from El Camino for Record of the year, Album of the year, Best rock performance, Rock album, and Best rock song (I think it came out December of '11) DETAILS DETAILS!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!

      And who cares about Soundgarden. Let's just look at Chris Cornell and all will be well.

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    4. Oh, I agree. Chris Cornell is gorgeous, and the man has only gotten better with age!

      It makes sense about the Grammy nominations, since that record was released too late to be considered for the '11 Grammys.

      I'm not really a Grammy watcher or follower....what is the difference between Record of the Year and Album of the Year?

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    5. I admit I had to look it up because I had no clue either, Kim. I don't usually watch them myself. They bore me! I just like to see when deserving bands actually get nominated (and hopefully win) for a change. Anyway, "record of the year" is for an individual song while "album of the year" is for the entire album. I always thought (being a child of the 70s) that record and album were interchangeable. Learn something new every day! :)

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  4. Good set of tunes thanks for sharing ;-)

    Best wishes & Happy New Year ;-)

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    1. Happy New Year to you, too, Steve, and thank you for coming by!

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  5. Okay, where I'm not really into twangin' country music he does sport one of the greats names. Marily Manson isn't really my cup of tea either & Jack White is starting to grow on me. You & a Daft Scots Lass love the same music. Jack White is her favorite. hmmm Miss Atomic Bomb? Very new to me, but I'm thinkin' I really like that one out of all of them. Good choice. Happy New Year my friend you so ROCK!

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    1. Oh, The Killers are an amazing band! You might like them if you get a chance to check some of their other music out :)

      Happy New Year to you, too, and thanks for stopping by!

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  6. Glad you got to enjoy even one show under your belt this year.

    Thanks for sharing your tunes honey and Happy New Year to you and yours!

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    1. Oh, gosh, I am, too. 2012 was just a bit of a let-down concert-wise after having such a great year of them in 2011.

      Thank you for coming to listen to my tunes, and Happy New Year to you, too!

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    1. I do try, Stacy! Happy New Year to you, too! Thanks for stopping by!

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  8. Jack White is awesome! great, great sounds.
    I got an iTunes gift card for Christmas, so I'll have to check out some of the ones you have mentioned when I am browsing.
    Happy New Year!
    (Coffee Chat returns next week - Jan. 8th - when the topic will be.."In the coming year, I would like to....") Hope to see you then!

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    1. Thanks, that will be awesome! It'll be a week into the new year, and we can see if I'm still feeling confident, hopeful, and determined!

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  9. Phew, the holidays were awesome for me and I'm now playing catch up with all of my lovelies. I appreciate you stopping by my little niche in Blogosphere while I was MIA. Most, if not all of these groups are totally off my radar all with the exception of Hank Williams III (only familiar with him by name only). That being said, it's also very interesting to get my weekly music education from friends like you. I have grown a little more knowledgeable (music wise that is) with dancing with fellow 4M participants such as yourself. Thanks for making 2012 a success for us on Monday's Music Moves Me and we look forward to having you with us in 2013, too!

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  10. Hi! Thank you for your comments and visiting my blog. I am now a recent follower! Have a wonderful day!
    Tami

    www.prettypurplexing.com

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