My charts for 2013

Let's wrap up 2013! What a surprise: Again, in retrospect the music of last year was extremely good. I made a lot of brilliant new discoveries. This year I added 131 albums to my library, which is again less than compared to last year (171 in 2012). Within the last 2-3 years I changed my listening habits quite a bit. Nowadays, I am way more picky on the items that will enter my library. The "oldest" record to enter the charts has been Chris Thile's "Stealing Second" from 1997 which I believe is so much better than his new releases.

My trends: World Music was extremely strong and there was quite a bit of Metal as well. As a small surprise there is no electronic music record on the list even thought there have been some serious contenders.

So Ladies and Gentlemen here are my winners:

January	Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar - Covek i truba (2012)	World Music, Serbia
February	Emel Mathlouthi - Kelmti Horra (2012)	World Music, Tunisia
March	hAND - Breathing (2011)	Metal, England
April	Youn Sun Nah - Lento (2013)	Jazz, South Korea
May	Tales Of Evening - Hajléktalan Lélek (2012)	Metal, Hungary
June	Mojácar Flamenco - Mojácar at the Madrid (2007)	World Music, USA
July	Chris Thile - Stealing Second (1997)	World Music, USA
August	Alborosie - Escape From Babylon To The Kingdom Of Zion (2010)	Reggae, Italy
September	Dark Tranquillity - Construct (2013)	Metal, Sweden
October	Anush & Inga Arshakyanner - Tamzara (2006)	World Music, Armenia
November	Chico Trujillo - Gran Pecador (2012)	World Music, Chile
December	S°unduk - Наше время (2013)	Alternative, World Music, Belarus

What can I say once more a year of amazing discoveries - just hit the play button on the youtube play list below and enjoy!

My charts for 2012

2012 is already long gone history - so it is once again time for a wrap up of the year. Musically, this year was extremely interesting and I could easily have picked more favourites each month.

This year I added 171 albums, which is slightly more compared to last year (160 in 2011).  Evaluating what I added I can identify two trends: World music was quite strong last year with surprisingly high number of excellent releases from the Ukraine / Russia (5 times). This time, the oldest top addition is just from 2007.

So here are the winners:

January	Dazkarieh - Ruído do Silêncio (2011)	World Music, Alternative , Portugal
February	Sonceklyosh (Сонцекльош) - Герої (Geroi) (2011)	World Music, Ukraine
March	Jacek Kleyff - Znaki (2009)	World Music, Poland
April	r.roo - There Is No Yesterday And No Tomorrow (2012)	Electronic, Ukraine
May	Romengo - Kétháné (2011)	World Music, Hungary
June	A Moving Sound - A Moving Sound (2011)	World Music, Taiwan
July	МЕЛЬНИЦА (Melnitsa) - The Best (2012)	Alternative, Russia
August	Tha Blue Herb - Total (2012)	Hip-Hop, Japan
September	Etwas Unders - Etwas Unders (2007)	Alternative, Ukraine
October	Ghosthill - Flying Through Imagination (2012)	Metal, Russia
November	Youn Sun Nah - Same Girl (2010)	Jazz, South Korea
December	La Cherga - Revolve (2011)	Raggea / Dub, World Music, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia

What can I say once more a year of amazing discoveries - just hit the play button on the youtube play list below and enjoy!

My charts for 2011

As 2011 is history now it is time to look back. In total, less music entered my personal library compared to last year. An evaluation within foobar2000 showed me that I added this year 160 albums, only which is considerably less than last year (583 in 2010). Musically, this year is equally interesting but I think I have been far more selective with new additions.
Interestingly, there is only one album which made it on the list which is from an artist that I followed for a longer time (Leaves' Eyes - Meredead). All the other ones were artists to which I did not listen to previously. I also got more critical towards discographies: Quite often one album of an artist is outstanding while others are simply mediocre. With the increased influx of new artists and releases on the Interwebs the necessity to bound to an artist (as a brand) for a longer time does not exist any more. So here is the list:

January	Dazkarieh - Hemisférios (2009)	Alternative, World Music, Portugal
February	Rotting Christ - Aealo (2010)	Metal, Greece
March	Zengineers - The 5th Realm (2010)	Electronic Music, Germany
April	UnSun - Clinic For Dolls (2010)	Metal, Poland
May	Suhov - Heartbox (2011)	Electronic Music, Hungary
June	Leaves' Eyes - Meredead (2011)	Metal, Germany, Norway
July	Gipsy.cz - Romano Hip Hop (2006)	World Music, Czech Republic
August	Longed for Fusion - Salvation (2009)	Metal, Germany
September	Haydamaky - Ukraine Calling (2006)	Alternative, World Music, Ukraine
October	Göksel - The Best Of Göksel (2009)	World Music, Turkey
November	Circo Vulkano - La Vida es... (2011)	Alternative, World Music, Venezuela
December	Elina Duni - Lume, Lume (2010)	Jazz, World Music, Switzerland

So, once again a year full of amazing discoveries - just hit the play button on the youtube playlist below and enjoy!

My charts for 2010

Heading towards mid February it is time to evaluate 2010: I feel that the importance of "record charts" is diminishing compared to lets say 20 years ago because music choices are more personal and styles and offers exploded. Nevertheless, if you look around the web there is plenty of them but I actually never cared about creating one so far myself. For instance, I like the lists over at BNR Metal a lot as they compare personal charts with votes ones. A short evaluation within foobar2000 showed me that I added 583 releases in 2010 (eps and lps) and these are my findings for the best of each month for 2010. Many of the entries are released in 2010 but As the release year does not matter for me there are also new highlights with a different release year:

January	Badi Assad - Solo (1994)	World Music, Jazz
February	Magaly Solier - Warmi (2009)	World Music
March	Crookram - Through Windows (2010)	Electronic Music
April	Various Artists - Futuro Flamenco Vol. 2 (2003)	World Music
May	Comfort Fit - Forget And Remember LP (2005)	Electronic Music
June	Vacation :)
July	Ghosthill - Embrace Of A Chasm (2010)	Metal
August	ReVamp - ReVamp (2010)	Metal
September	Dizzy Mizz Lizzy - Dizzy Mizz Lizzy & Rotator (2010)	Alternative
October	Evig Natt - Darkland (2010)	Metal
November	Hossein Alizadeh, Madjid Khaladj, Homa Niknam - Parandeha - Birds (2002)	World Music
December	Claudia Acuña - Wind From The South (1999)	Jazz

So, from the music point of view 2010 has been a year of great discoveries for me - maybe you discovered something here, too!