Category: A year in Music

The year that was – The definitive 2013 playlist

2013 was a very good year for music, which made our job of writing, enjoying and hyping music all the more easier. This wouldn’t have been possible… Read more “The year that was – The definitive 2013 playlist”

by substanceismeaningless

2013 in Music: Walzerkönig Pt.2

Walzer
Part 2 of the 2013 review with Walzerkönig looks at the best music videos and singles of the year.

Check out part 1 here

Substance is Meaningless top 10 on Walzerkönig here

Top 10 Music videos (Isis)

10. Effi – Bloom
Mr. and Mrs. Astronaut wander around the (Minimundus) world and film their holiday with a Super 8 camera. That is pretty fucking twee (I love it).
9. Half Girl – Lemmy, I’m a feminist
This video is a grainy, black and white, riot grrl tea party where Lemmy serves cake, flowers and feminist whiskey on a rooftop. What’s not to love?
8. Naked Lunch – The Sun
We still don’t know why there are three videos for The Sun. I like this first one best because the song really needs nothing more than a person feeling the sun on his face and experiencing emotions.
7. Garish – Auf den Dächern
I’ve tried in vain to connect the scenes from this video. Quite a pointless exercise really, since it is less about telling a story and more about painting a picture using various characters (whose lives may or may not be connected).
6. Sweet Sweet Moon – Devil Town (Daniel Johnston Cover) (They Shoot Music session)
It’s not technically a music video but Sweet Sweet Moon, They Shoot Music Don’t They and their project “Fuck the Atlantic Ocean” have given us so much joy this year, that not having them in our charts would be a crime.
5. Kreisky – Selbe Stadt, anderer Planet
There’s not much going on for the first half of the video and that’s my favourite part. It allows you to focus on the lyrics, and then, when you think, that’s it, maybe it’s a message about the ubiquity of music videos, things happen. E.g., chicken.
4. Nazar – Abrakadabra
Nazar paints himself as a crime king/Joker/circus director operating in Gotham’s underground in this video and let’s be honest, he is probably the only person in the country who can do that without looking completely ridiculous.
3. Mile Me Deaf – Brando
I tried to separate the songs from the videos for this list as much as possible but Brando is my personal favourite of 2013, so of course i’m ranking the video high. Besides, it’s a story told with puppets from various puppet-universes.  That alone is worth a spot in the top three.
2. Bilderbuch – Plansch
I don’t even know what my favourite part is. The dramatic flipping through the magazine? The slow-motion Water-bombing? The candy floss? The hula-hooping? All the turquoise? The greatness? The nonsense?
1. Fijuka – Behave (from now on)
The video’s credits show that a zen master was employed. Is that why the video is so wonderful and will you also be able to produce such brilliant music videos if you hire a zen master? No. Because you also need great hair and Fijuka’s all around radness.
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Top 10 Singles (Lynette)

1. Bilderbuch – Maschin (Maschin) & Bilderbuch – Plansch (Maschin)
Plansch or Maschin? Maschin or Plansch? Argh. Giving Bilderbuch two slots in this list seemed unfair, but it has to be said: damn, those two singles are freaking good. Anyhow Plansch (the hit of the summer) cannot not be mentioned. I just think of Maschin to be a bit more cool. On other sides of things: Plansch was one of two songs which were stuck in my head for several days in this heat dominated summer, the other song of course being Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines.
2. Francis International Airport – The Right Ones (Siluh)
Early March I really developed an addiction to this song and listened to it practically on loop for a few weeks. Because it is that good and beautiful and wise.
3. Fijuka – Behave (from now on) (Seayou)
Who did not enjoy this fresh pop song this year? The video has such nice artwork (choreographies, glitzi pants, cheerleaders!), what more would you want?
4. Gin Ga – Golden Boy (Monkey)
Long anicipated and more of the former more synth-free Gin Ga sound, the chorus of this song has mind-infiltrating qualities.
5. Gerard – Irgendwas mit rot (Heart Working Class)
Well, I do love my emotional hip hop artist. Thankfully we have a homegrown expert in this metier. The question here was once more: which song should I put in my top ten list?
6. Velojet – The sea is the ocean is the sea (Schoenwetter)
Somehow I did not realise that Velojet had that many singles out this year. After re-listening to all of them, I just picked the one I love the most (and which is maybe not the bigger hit of the year). This song really calms me, and the song title alone is great.
 7. SOHN – Lessons (4AD)
Here we have the combination of electronic meets sentimental, and I sometimes love to cry while listening to music. Lessons is one of those songs, sad but at the same time also daunting.
8. Ghost Capsules – Game of thrones (O*Solo)
Maybe I love this song more for the title than for the actual song. But it’s still solid and makes you wanna dance.
9. Half Girl – Lemmy, I’m a feminist (siluh)
This list really is a section through all the genres. This charming garage rock song makes me imagine to be a cool bassist in some lame american suburb trying to make it in the world and (weirdly enough) succeeding. also: feminism, yay!
10. Ken Hayakawa feat. Julian & der Fux – Über den Dächern (J. Hruza)
I chose this last track mainly because I like the Idea of constructing a weird ensemble of songs, which show nicely the width of the austrian music scene. It kind of disturbed me to have so many indie tracks on the list, so this nice one made the list (there were a few others I considered). Songs about the city and the way of life are nice songs. I always feel I can relate to everything mentioned in this song, and that’s why this is number 10.
by substanceismeaningless