2022 SHORTLIST

If I were asked right now to choose a little time travel of just one night I would choose without hesitation the 5th of July 1984 to be able to attend the Xmal Deutschland concert at Cardiff New Ocean venue, Wales, United Kingdom and pay £3! . I find it incredible how this band has managed to grow so much on me over all these years. One day I will share the list of my favorite bands of all time, Xmal Deutshland will definitely be in my top 50.

You know?!? I always thought I was that guy with a slight but permanent depression and that sooner or later I would need professional help (an idea not ruled out for now...) but it seems that what I often feel are states of deep melancholy. Music plays a decisive role in these types of feelings and moods... and so, I started this post with Xmal because Fetisch [1983], Tocsin [1984] and Viva [1987] were the most listened albums in 2022, and I can tell in 2023 Xmal Deutschland fills my soul ( I don't have one but lets keep it ok?), repairs me, locates me in the world - it's raw, it's melodic, dark, wonderful. 

Equally extraordinary but on a completely opposite spectrum, a light, joyfull, engaging and powerfull one is the "Horizon Forbidden West OST". It's my album of the year! four composers, 142 songs and about 7 hours long of bright to dark, tribal and country to sci-fi, classical to electronica!! You have to play the game to fully get it I guess. I've spent 146 hours on the game to finish the main story and all the quests of HFW for the first time - cool story, lovely new caracters (Beta is way cool!), a tecnical and beautiful masterpiece! and man... maybe I'm old and it might seem off but I could not stop thinking of Sagan Cosmos/Contact, Jean-Michel Jarre, Princess Mononoke and Future Boy Conan while playing it, amazing stuff!!! 

Between Xmal Deutschland and the HFW OST is "Painless" by the creative and fantastic Nilüfer Yanya. I admire her so much, such a powerful voice in her subtle song arrangements, underrated and somehow dark . It's the second time that she builds and respects the structure of songs on the album (increasingly rare) as if we still listen to a vinyl record, side A and side B - a beginning, middle and an end, so cool!

BEST ALBUM

01. Joris De Man, The Flight, Oleksa Lozowchuk & Niels Van Der Leest - Horizon Forbidden West
02. Nilüfer Yanya - PAINLESS
03. Petrol Girls - Baby
04. Goat - Oh Death
05. PVA - Blush
06. Princess Chelsea - Everything Is Going To Be Alright
07. Wombo - Fairy Rust
08. Mattiel - Georgia Gothic
09. Julia Romana - Blood be Fluid
10. Jean Michel Jarre - Oxymore
11. Weyes Blood - And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow
12. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
13. Dry Cleaning - Stumpwork
14. Melody's Echo Chamber - Unfold
15. La Femme - Teatro Lúcido
16. Essencial Logic - Land of Kali
17. ROSALÍA - MOTOMAMI
18. Ada Rook - Ugly Death No Redemption Angel Curse I Love You
19. Nova Twins - Supernova

20. Wet Leg - Wet Leg

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

01." Midnight Sun" - Nilüfer Yanya
02. "Sick and Tired" - Petrol Girls
03. "Second Chance" - The Flight [Horizon Forbidden West]
04. "In the Flood (feat. Ariana Gillis) - Oleksa Lozowchuk, Ariana Gillis [Horizon Forbidden West]
05. "Geheimnis" - Xmal Deutschland
06. "Polarlicht" - Xmal Deutschland
07. "Grapevine" - Weyes Blood
08. "Storm on the Rise" - Joris de Man [Horizon Forbidden West]
09. "Hikari" - Aja
10. "Jeff Goldblum" - Mattiel
11. "Everything Is Going To be Alright" - Princess Chelsea
12. "Sacatela" - La Femme
13. "The Cure" - Melody's Echo Chamber
14. "Begrad Mein Herz" - Xmal Deutschland
15. "Kim" - PVA
16. "The Forest" - Princess Chelsea
17. "Abalone" - PACKS
18. "Clowns" - Petrol Girls
19. "In Corpore Sano" - Konstrakta
20. "The Dealer" - Nilüfer Yanya
21. "Untethered" - PVA
22. "Moon" - Julia Romana
23. "Queens of Keesh" - Wombo
24. "999999999 IN A DREAM" - Ada Rook

25. "Blood be Fluid" - Julia Romana

BEST VIDEO LIVE ACT

2021 SHORTLIST

Present day, there is only one person in the entire world who would make me leave everything behind, run away in a Peugeot 505 convertible and speed along a desert road to the sound of her singing, the chat and her jokes - Kim Deal.

Last year I came across to a Colleen Green song for the first time "Deeper Than Love" - a simple and wonderful track from 2015 LP "I Want to Grow Up", an album that I've never heard before. But I got intrigued, this particular song was quite diferent from the rest of the album, I mean, it had minimalistic elements that weren't present in the other nice 8 to 9 Radio/Rock/Hatfield songs. Please remember that in 2015 I was all in to Suburban Lawns magic, my mood was not so great and open. To be fair, I've had probably heard that Green's record but didn't sticked with me. 

Now the best part - Colleen Green released her fourth studio album via Hardly Art - "Cool" on September 10, 2021 produced by Gordon Raphael. There was a gap of six years in the making but I believe most of the songs were recorded in 2019. Many things happened between that period of time, for instance one global pandemic... but hey, we get the message: don't rush... sometimes time can be a precious tool and can elevate Art to another level of greatness. I think this is the case, "Cool" is more focused, ironic, beautiful but also dark. I can say it out loud, this is my album of the year 2021.

Kim Deal is driving the Olive Green Peugeot 505 convertible, I'm on her side, we are listening to Colleen Green's new cassette. The song "Highway" is playing, we agree that music can be beautiful and simple, we hit the road, enjoy the landscape, cool!  

  

BEST ALBUM

01. Colleen Green - Cool

02. Dry Cleaning - New Long Leg

03. PACKS - Take The Cake

04. Audiobooks - Astro Tough

05. Wednesday - Twin Plagues

06. Rosa Vertov - Day In Day Out

07. Amyl and the Sniffers - Comfort To Me

08. Circuit des Yeux - -io

09. Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend

10. Olivia Newton-John - Physical (remastered 2021)

11. Squirrel Flower - Planet (i)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

01."Silvertongue" - PACKS

02."Scratchcard Lanyard" - Dry Cleaning

03."Highway" - Colleen Green

04."Proud Home" - Lily Konigsberg

05."Chaise Long" - Wet Leg

06."The Doll" - Audiobooks

07."Vanishing" - Circuit Des Yeux

08."Three Sisters" - Wednesday

09."Someone Else" - Colleen Green

10."Dreamsickle" - Wombo

11."Guided by Angels" - Amyl and The Sniffers

12."Snakes" - MIYAVI/PVRIS

13."Station station" - Miynt

14."Physical" - Olivia Newton-John

15."Days In Vain" - Rosa Vertov

16."Big Beast" - Squirrel Flower

17."Nothing personal" - Miynt

18."More" - Low

19."New TV" - PACKS

20."Over the Hill" - Buke & Gase

21."Stabilise" - Nilüfer Yanya

22."Wet Dream" - Wet Leg

My choice for best music video of 2021 is "Vanishing" by Circuit des Yeux - a bold music video, intense and beautiful. Superb editing and the song its like an heavy metal song without beeing heavy metal, so great!

But man, I can not leave another dark year away without mentioning the first pick for honorable mention of 2021 - Imagine Dragons x J.I.D. "Enemy" from the awesome animated series that ran on netflix this fall, you know: "Arcane". I believe the future of entertainment will never be the same from this moment on. The quality of the 3D/2D animation, the blending of the two tecniques and the strong storyline based on the characters from the League of Legends game are out of this world, I'm so amazed, I'm stunned really.

BEST MUSIC VIDEO

Circuit des Yeux - "Vanishing" (Official Music Video)

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Imagine Dragons x J.I.D - Enemy (from the series Arcane)

cleopatrick - FAMILY VAN (Official Video)

2020 SHORTLIST

Hey, are you with me? Do you remember what I wrote a year ago?! ... oh yeah!. Well, if we got here so far it means that we are still alive and that is a good thing. If I am asked if I believe that things could still get worse, I'll say: yes, of course they do.

Three years ago a friend of mine gave up his PS3 console with The Last Of Us game on it for me try. It was the best thing a friend could offer, really - a breathtaking story with awesome, awesome gameplay! from that time on it was certain that I would play the part two of the game when it got out. In case you don't know I've been always a PC guy, but this year was the time to get a new PS4 Pro for the first time so I could play The Last Of Us part II that was finally released in June 2020.

I don't have words to describe The Last Of Us Part II. It's not only one of the best game I've played... with all the incredible graphics and the best gameplay of its generation; this game is special - very violent like life itself can be, not recomended for everyone for sure, but ultimately it's a game about loss - a condition that I’ve always identified with - a game with a sharp story in times of a global pandemic, it makes you think about your life and life in modern days with no clear or right answers.

This year my shortlist will be game OST only from games that I love, changed and are changing my life. Video Games are the present and the future of many many lifes on Earth, Its about time to credit the amazing work of all the artists in the game industry, specially the sound designers and composers that are way, way underrated!!!


SHORTLIST 2020

01. The Last of Us Part I & II (Original Soundtrack) - Gustavo Santaolalla & Mac Quayle
02. Horizon Zero Dawn (Original Soundtrack) - Joris de Man, Niels Van Der Leest and The Flight
03. Alien: Isolation (Full Soundtrack) - Christian Henson, Joe Henson & Alexis Smith
04. A Plague Tale: Innocence (Original Soundtrack) - Olivier Derivière
05. Rise Of The Tomb Raider (Original Soundtrack) - Bobby Tahour & Jason Graves
06. The BioShock Infinite (Original Soundtrack) - Gary Schyman
07. Alice: Madness Returns (Original Soundtrack) - Jason Tai, Chris Vrenna, Marshall Crutcher.
08. Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Original Soundtrack) - Brian D'Oliveira
09. Control (Original Soundtrack) - Petri Alanko & Martin Stig Andersen
10. Journey (Original Soundtrack) - Austin Wintory
11. Unreal (Complete soundtrack) - various
12. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Original Soundtrack) - David García Díaz
13. Dishonored 2 (Full Soundtrack) - Daniel Licht, Raphael Colantonio and Copilot Music + Sound
14. Hunt: Showdown (Original Game Soundtrack) - Port Sulphur Band
15. Quantum Break (Original Game Soundtrack) - Petri Alanko
16. Command & Conquer: (Red Alert Soundtrack) - Frank Klepacki
17. Doom Eternal OST - Mick Gordon
18. The Dig (Original Game Soundtrack) - Michael Land
19. Tomb Raider 4: The Last Revelation Soundtrack - Peter Connely
20. Quake 3: Arena (complete soundtrack) - Front Line Assembly, Sonic Mayhem and Bill Brown