Sara Hammerzmith

So, here comes a little more true summary over my year in music: My LastFM! My lastFm scrobbles my iPod plays, my iTunes plays and my Spotify plays.

And the result of this year is as follows…

In first place is Lordi. This is no surprise to anyone, now, is it? This is the immediate effect of “Scare Force One” being released. That is one KILLER of an album and it’s been played on repeat.

2nd place, a bit unexpected is SlipKnot. This is VERY unexpected to me, seeing that I got my first album with them on October 21st, when The Gray Chapter was released and I hadn’t listened to them on Spotify or anything. They are only four tracks ahead of Amaranthe though, so I guess it’s a fair game. This MIGHT have something to do with many of their songs being on my sleep-list… hm.

Third place is Amaranthe, my new babies as I call them. No surprise at all for me that they are so high on the list, I’m basically obsessed with their music. They are the perfect amount metal and the perfect amount of disco for me to scream out their lyrics any time of the day.

Fourth place – Sabaton. No surprise. I stated earlier this year I believe that Sabaton is that one band whose music you can put on to ANYTHING. It doesn’t matter the occasion or mood – Sabaton is ALWAYS perfect.

Fifth place is H.E.A.T. What can I say. I said it four years ago, and I’ll say it again – the most perfect band ever. Nothing to complain about. And their latest album, “Tearing Down The Walls” is as close to perfection as you can come.

Sixth place belongs to my baby Olly Murs. “Never Been Better” is a decent album, but not the best he’s done. But does that matter when you can put songs like “Dance With Me Tonight” and “Hand On Heart”? Absolutely nothing. He’s one of the artists I can listen to for hours and never get tired of.

Seventh place belongs to Lady Gaga. “Artpop” which came out late 2013 was decent, far from her best, but it has definitely started to grow on me more and more since the concert. But it should be no surprise that she’s so high on the list.

Eight place, Alan Menken, also known as Disney Songs. These are the instrumental pieces from Aladdin, Pocahontas and Beauty and the Beast which I used a lot for studying. But Menkens works… I can’t even start to tell you how much I adore Alan Menken.

Ninth place is Dynazty. THIS was a bit unexpected. But “Renatus” was a hell of an album so I guess it makes sense.

Tenth place, Phineas and Ferb. Don’t really need to say that much about that. Phineas & Ferb is the shit.

Eleventh place is Reckless Love. Spirit is a good album, but it appears I don’t listen that much to them all in all. Their show in Stockholm earlier this year was great though!

12th place is Steel Panther. THIS is so weird. Why the heck are they so low? I guess it’s because “All You Can Eat” wasn’t as good as I had hoped it would be. Oh well.

13th – The Pretty Reckless. “Going To Hell” was a really good album which I enjoyed heavily to write about, and I’ve found myself listening to it more and more.

14th – Disney. This is the Frozen karaoke songs and also some Hunchback songs in Swedish. Not at all odd.

15th – Alice Cooper. It’s a lil odd to see him so low on the list, but he’s on it I guess.

So yes. Apparently, this is how I’ve listened to music this year. Of course, this doesn’t include all the time  I’ve listened to the CD’s in real and such, but a little hunch. And a better hunch than the one Spotify provided, haha, as I can actually make sense of this one.

// Sara

Today has been a pretty calm day. I went down to my ‘workplace’ to settle some stuff that had happened during the weekend, and while I did so I treated myself with a little treat to what may be a little piece of heaven on earth: Knastret.

It’s a local recordstore that sells CD’s and vinyls second-handly. I had brought the list of CD’s I planned to get, but you know… letting myself loose in a record store like that… Not good. I only came out with three CD’s though, because I had limited myself money-wise, and only ONE of these CD’s were on my to-get list. Typical me, always end up buying THE OTHER albums…

So what did I get then? First of all, the CD that was actually on my list:

Dream Evil‘s “Evilizied“. The full discography of Dream Evil is on my list (aside Dragonslayer, which I already have). It was so fun – I was going through the D section looking for Dionysus, when I saw a Dream Evil album, which was Dragonslayer and I was like “damn, wrong album” BUT THEN – THE VERY LAST ALBUM IN THE CONTAINER WAS THIS ONE. And I’m like “YES! It’s on the list!” One more to scratch off. This is the CD that has “Children of The Night” on it, in case anyone cares. Released in 2003.

Quiet Riot‘s “Metal Health”. This is an album that I HAVE planned to get for a long time, but I have never put it on my list. And today, when planning to treat myself a CD, I decided to go for it, once and for all. I guess I don’t really NEED to tell people this is the album containing “Cum on Feel the Noize” but I’ll mention it just in case. This album was originally released in 1983.

Last but not least – Kittie‘s “Spit“. This is the all-female Canadian bands debut album and I was SO STOKED to find this there! Didn’t really see it coming, SOMEONE who dropped their CD’s there must have a rad musictaste. This is the album that contains “Brackish” and “Charlotte”, for those whom it may concern. Released in 1999.

By obtaining these gems, I’ve also managed to finally fill up the shelf. So tomorrow I’ll take myself the time to re-organize all my CD’s in Mr Blue and let the 32 records waiting to be sorted to be so. Ahh. Seriously, I’m gonna be a crazy CD lady one day.

// Sara

Today has been one of those days completely devoted to dig up old music things by favorite musicians, and I’ll just continue down the road with Joey Jordison. Murderdolls are already in, and I’ve had a taste of The Rejects, so I figure it was about time to check out the band with the funny name – Modifidious. Mod-i-Fi-Dious.

Since this is way out of my comfort-zone, I’m just going to believe the page I found which held a review of one of the EP’s stating they are trash/speed metal. Apparently Joey created the band due to lack of local bands to play alongside bigger bands when he booked them to play in Des Moines/Iowa. They were created in 1991, and split up already in 1995 due to disagreements with bass-player Ryan. Other memebers in this band was Josh Brainard on vocals and guitar, who would later be one of the first guitarists of SlipKnot as well as Craig Jones on guitar, someone we nowadays know as #5, or, 133.

There’s not a whole lot more to say about this band than this, so I’m just going to link to you some of their material, and the rest is up to you. I like it, that’s for sure.

// Sara

Alright! Time for the second part of my year in music according to Spotify. This is the last part of the “series”.

According to the chart, I listen to music the most on Sundays, and average of 2 hours. So not a lot, apparently.

Most popular artist is Amaranthe, no surprise there. Like I said, I spent a few weeks listening through their albums prior to the show here in town.

Here comes reason number two why it actually is as much as six days of music: Frozen soundtrack. The most played album is Frozen Original Soundtrack in SWEDISH, because fuck the english one when you have Annika Herlitz. When making our Frozen cosplay before the premiere of the movie we listened to this on repeat.

Most play playlist is the list “Dreamscaperers”. Yes, I name my playlist after Gravity Falls episodes. Dreamscaperers is my “ultimate” list for me to bring out if I’m visiting someone else, and it’s also the list where I put in songs as a reminder to get that and that album if it’s an unfamiliar band.

Drumroll please for… Top 10 songs!

Number 10, “Blame it on the Disco” by Swedish Disco-group Alcazar. I have a weak spot for Alcazar, although I’m surprised to see it on the list since I started listening to it only lately… Hm.

Number 9, “He’s Back” Alice Cooper cover by Swedish death metalband One Man Army and the Undead Quartet. I absolutely LOVE this cover, and I think I recall posting the same cover here on my blog a few months back.

Number 8, “Ferb-Latin” by Phineas & Ferb. This is one of my favorite Phineas&Ferb tunes and I don’t even know why. I don’t care much for the episode with the same name, but this song.. I think it’s the rythm. It’s a fun and cheeky song. Like it.

Number 7, “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” by Meatloaf. Does this song need an introduction? Didn’t think so.

Number 6, “Let it Go”, (Idina Menzel). Well, Frozen-fever what can I say. I love the song, and I think most of you people already know this.

Number 5, “För Första Gången Nånsin (Repris). Frozen-fever, and this song is actually close to be my favorite song from this movie. Believe it or not, but it’s just something about it. “Let it Go” is good, but not even close to “For The First Time” or the reprise of it. It’s especially Elsa’s part I’m just so weak about… “No escape from the storm inside of me”…

Number 4, “Busy Doin’ Nothin‘” by swedish singer Ace Wilder. This was my favorite in Melodifestivalen this year, so no surprise it’s up here.

Number 3, “Dragula” by Rob Zombie. This was after I had discovered this beautiful creature on Sweden Rock and anxiously awaiting “Hellbilly Deluxe” to arrive at my doorstep. Imagine the discipline it took to keep to only this song.

Number 2, “We Drink Your Blood” by Powerwolf. THIS surprises me a little bit, but on the same time, it does make sense it would be this high up.

Number 1, I guess this comes as NO surprise to ANYONE: “Slå Dig Fri”. The Swedish version of “Let it Go”. No matter what you say – I’ll ALWAYS prefer the Swedish to the English, and this is no exception. The lyrics are amazing, and we are not even going to talk about the amazement that is Annika Herlitz. Love it.

Well then. This was my year in music according to Spotify, it does not in any way possible reflect my whole music year as it doesn’t list neither my iPod plays nor my CD or vinyl plays but it was a fun run to see!

// Sara

Alrighty! The new year is coming closer and closer and I thought that now with the days inbetween I’ll do some long dragged out year-resumé. I will start this thing with Spotify’s little feature “My Music Year” or whatever it is called. I had it done a little while ago, but I have waited all up ’til now to post the results!

However, I will split it up in two, and here’s part 1.

First of all, this image show how much music I’ve been listening to on Spotify. I think already by watching this you guys understands how little I use it, and thus why the list doesn’t show proper representation of my music.

But yeas – absolutely nothing on my phone, no surprise, I never listen to music on my phone and I never will do. 8726 minutes translates to about 6 days in total. Six days of music. It’s a little more than I thought, But I’m also not surprised when looking at the other results.

My most played genres throughout the year. It’s very close, percentage-wise to each other. The only surprise to me, personally, is the graph of melodic death metal, but I’ve started to accept the fact that I might have been wrong about the whole genre the whole time, and perhaps it’s not what I thought it was. But aside that, no surprises.

This is my most played artists/bands per season. Winter season features Norwegian singer Lene Alexandra, no surprise at all. Her songs may be stupid, but I effin love them. Can’t listen to brainy music all the time.

Springtime and Summertime has been dominated like hell by Amaranthe. I discovered the band during spring this year, and in an attempt to learn all the songs prior to the concert since I had no way to get the CD’s in time. And this is one of the reasons why I’m not overly surprised by those “6 whole days” since I probably spent AT LEAST a day or two going through Amaranthe’s two CD’s (at the time).

Autumn was dominated by The Haunted by the same reason as Amaranthe. I was about to see them on Nöjesfabriken and wanted to be a little familiar as to what I would be seeing. And when you think about it – going through all these cd’s, ca 50min/a CD (cirka), well, then it easily adds up to a day…

So yes! This was the first part of my year in music. Tomorrow we’ll go over the rest.

// Sara