My 2024 Spotify list

 << Click here and listen to my favourite music of 2024 >>

So hey, I've been putting out this list of tunes I liked during the last 12 months for 15 years now. So I had to put it out this year too, right? Not that I really felt like it: 2024 wasn't a great music year, to be honest. Everybody put out albums, and nobody surprised. And the undiscovered new talent is still undiscovered by me.

Let's see what next year is going to bring. All the best in 2025and keep enjoying music.

My 2023 Spotify List

<< Click here and listen to my favourite music of 2023 >>

This is number 14 of my yearly list of tunes and albums I especially enjoyed this year. It's always a bit of a struggle, to prepare my end-of year list, and this year wasn't any different.

2023 was actually a pretty tough year, not much for me to enjoy. So it's kind of ironic that Romy repeating endlessly "Enjoy Your Life" during 4 minutes ended with the #1 spot. The Austrian cabin-hike crew had to endure me putting it on time after time on our way back - thanks for the patiencie, lads!

PJ, Downpilot, the omnipresent Polacheck and Roisín Murphy came up with my favourite albums of the year. Special mention for the tunes is Marina Herlop, which I had the pleasure to discover during a live performance this year. I really need to do more concerts next year.

All the best for 2024! Enjoy music and enjoy your life!!

(listen to my playlist below this image)

My 2022 Spotify playlist

<< Click here and listen to my favourite music of this year >>

13 years. For 13 years I have been doing this.

For 13 years, I've been listening and following up on new outcoming music. And at the end of every year I compile my favourite music into a Spotify list. You can click on the link above, or directly listen using the widget below.

2023 was a strange year, music-wise. I went hardly to any concert. I wasn't sure I had 5 favourite albums until last week, and at one point I thought a might just skip making this list this year.

But, turns out there was actually plenty of great music out there. The Belgians are on top this year, with Chantal Acda and Stromae #1 and #2. Music person of the year Rosalia was never absent this year, thanks to her solo album Motomami and many colaborations. "Between There and Here" was surely the purest pop-song of this year.

Many cool and beatiful things to discover in this list. Let's give it a try!

Here's to a great 2023 full of music!

My 2021 Spotify List

Don't want to read?

Click straight here to listen to my favourite music of this year on Spotify.

Here we are back again with my list of prefered music. It's alreay been 12 years I compile a yearly list.

I must admit, I had a bit of a hard time following new music this year. I spent a lot of time traveling and looking at stock markets and being in love again. Priorities, you know. I also discovered a lot of 2020 music this year, which I had missed out on last year. So my 2021 list isn't only a list wih 2021 music.

Enjoy listening!! And what am I looking forward to on 2022? Concerts, concerts and festivals!!

Happy music-listening for 2022 for all of you.

My 2020 Spotify List

2020 was a fantastic year, not only for music: I retired, and everybody knows that not working was what I was looking for this year.

When it comes to music, there were a lot of highlights:

• Nobody blocked my view during festivals.
• No band I can think of right now officially split up.
• No major disappointments at concerts or on releases.

(Sorry for the sarcastic intro - now a bit more serious.)

Making my yearly list wasn't hard at all. I probably listened to more new tunes than ever. And this list is also a bit longer than normally. 

But I did miss more releases during the year, and more albums that will stick and that opened my eyes and ears. It does feels a bit of a non-optimal choice to put Nick Cave with his solo-concert of mainly old songs on #1. Even if the album and concert and film wouldn't have existed if Cave was on tour with his band.

But I'm convinced a lot of great stuff will be put out over the next couple of months and years after everything that has happened this year. Creativity will triumph. We can expect a super 2021 list, no doubt.

For any newbies: The list follows my traditional set-up: First my 5 favorite albums (Nick Cave, Sorry, Ellie Goulding, Halsey, Destroyer). Then 5 also-great albums (Matt Berninger - Bebel Gilberto - Georgia - POLIÇA - HEISA). Then the list of songs I liked.

My 2019 Spotify List

2019 - the year where music came in pairs!

Don't feel like reading a blogpost like it is still 2013? You can listen to my 2019 list here. 

Like all previous years, in 2019 I built my list with favorite music following this structure: first you get one song from my Top5 Albums. Then you get all the songs I like.
Btw, did you know I've made this list now for 10 years in a row? A decade!

My top5 Albums:

1. MAGDALENA - FKA Twigs

Most inovative album. Futuristic and dark hiphop, with Miss Twigs' voice in a star-role. Also the album with the best pair of songs: sad day // holy terrain.

2. Big Thief

This band I had never heard of before. They came up with 2 albums in less than 6 months. Not sure if I'll still listen to them in 3 years time, but both albums are of great beauty. I couldn't decide between them. I hope to see them live in February. 

3. Ghosteen - Nick Cave

Maestro Cave came up with a double album in 2019, building further on his track towards a life's work that can only be described as an opus magnus. This album is again about his son who died a couple of years ago and you can feel the pain.

4. Nest - Brutus

This Belgian band has made such a big step from their first album. They mix rock and heavy up until post-rock, while the singers voice steers all the noize to safe places.

5. Norman Fucking Rockwell - Lana del Rey

La Lana does what's she's been doing for the last 10 years: nostalgic pop with a state-of-the-art production, singing about hedonistic 50´s California. And she's only getting better at it with each album.

Click on the image to enlarge

You can discover the rest of the list on Spotify. Som general thoughts:

• The list is probably the longest I've ever made. Probably a good indication on how rich 2019 was.
• I'm surprised how much commercial tunes have gotten into the list.
• I've added for the first time 2 tracks of the same album on here - Pairs!
• There's still a fair share of "country which isn't country" music, like my friends tend to call it.

Enjoy listening!

My 2018 Spotify List

At the last day of 2018, I’m proud to share with you my list of favorite albums and songs of 2018. Click link here to listen.

What a year it was, 2018, for music. I found it very exciting. Traditionally I make a list with the first 5 songs representing my favorite albums, and the rest are just songs I like. But this year, the first 16 songs all represent albums I really liked in 2018. So much albums that proved to be worth being in this list – that’s something that didn’t happen since 2012.

2018 might not have given us the albums that mark history, no albums that redefine the foundations of how music is made. But it was very broad and very high quality overall. As a result, I've created the longest year-end list since I started doing this in 2010.

 (click on image to enlarge)

U.S. Girls goes first, helped by the best song of the year Rosebud. Credit to them. Serpentwithfeet is bizarre and brilliant, our Paris neighbor Marianne Faithfull made a timeless album, The Blaze provided the perfect summer soundtrack and last-minute entry 6LACK (cheers, Dalons) will be a rap album I’ll still listen to long into 2019.

 (click on image to enlarge)

It surprises me how more and more of this list starts becoming Rap and R&B oriented and/or influenced. I used to be very rock, but here I only have Die Nerven in my list (first German album I include, I think).  

2018 gave me also a lot of Belgians worth including in the list (4), and some bands like SX didn’t even make my cut. The Belgian bands also provided the first French and (I think) Flemish songs I included in my list.

Listen on in 2019!

My 2017 Spotify List

Here is my traditional list of favourite albums and songs of 2017. (Click link to listen here)

Like every year, the first 5 songs of the list represent my preferred albums. Slowdive is all the way up there with their comeback album. Their nice concert on Rock en Seine added to making them the #1 this year.

(click on image to enlarge)

There are 3 funny things about this list:

1. From my Top 5 albums, I only knew Mount Eerie before 2017 started - it has been a year of discovering a lot of new bands.
2. I think this list is the least in line with what everybody else has in their list this year (No Kendrick, War on Drugs, Vince Staples or SZA for me).
3. Almost all my preferred music this year was released in the first half of the year.

What follows are my preferred songs of this years. Some lesser work from The XX, The National, Iron & Wine, Lana, Benjamin Clementine this year unfortunately.

(click on image to enlarge)

Many thanks to den Humo, Spotify's 'Discover Weekly' and Dalons for tips and discussions.

Hope you enjoy the 2017 list, and let me know what you think!

My 2016 Spotify List

Here is my list of favourite albums and songs of 2016.

2016 was a good year, I have to say. Not a brilliant year, but it was strong. We also saw some nice concerts of Gregory Porter, Yeasayer (a pitty about that album), Hot 8 Brass Band and Spain.

Beyond any doubt, my favorite album was 'Demain est une autre nuit' of Essaie Pas. Dark, ecclectic, stealing with proud until you get something original. Amazing.

(click on image to enlarge)

My list continues with a selection of songs from albums I liked, or just nice songs.

(click on image to enlarge)

Enjoy listening and let me know what you think!

My 2015 Spotify List

Here is my yearly list of songs of 2015. You can listen to it by clicking here: Lista 2015 Stefvanef

This year, I've changed the set-up of the list. It's not longer first my Top 5 Albums and then some nice songs. It's just nice songs this time.

It's been a bit of a funny musical year. I can't remember a year where everybody was so full of some albums (Kendrick, Courtney Barnett), except for me. Even the entire Sufjan album didn't move me the way he did when Illinois(e) came out.
But still enough to make a nice list for a nice year. Beginning with Jamie XX, who I've listened to over and over and over again. Best song was in my opinion Natalie Prass beautiful single.I haven't done much concerts this year, but Dawes with just a few here in Paris was great to see: a not-near perfect sound made for some anachronistic nostalgia. Very happy also that Ms. Lauryn Hill has finally returned to the studios, to make a tribute to Nina.

I'm looking forward to discovering new music newt year - especially hoping for new good stuff from Yeasayer and The National.

Enjoy listening and enjoy 2016.

(click the image to enlarge)

My 2014 Spotify List: new and newer.

Here is my traditional list of songs of 2014 I really like. You can listen to it by clicking here: Lista 2014 Stefvanef

The set-up of the list is as any year: first 5 songs come fgrom my favorite albums. Afterwards there are some songs I really enojoyed as well.

Maybe 2014 was not the best of years when it came to music, but there were still some fine new tunes. Besides Ed Harcourt and Mogwai, not so much great stuff from the oldies. So 2014 was the year of discovering new and newer things, with notable mentions to Strand of Oaks ans FKA Twigs. Hippie Sabotage provided for the perfect summer soundtrack, and I'll be listening to them again as soon as temperatures start rising again. There was also a very nice concert by Peter Broderick, which is more or less why he's in this list.

Enjoy listening.

Big thanks goes this year to Dalons from Burgetto for pointing in the right direction at times.

Click on the image to see it large scale.

My books in 2013

This is what I've read in 2013:

Adapt by Tim Harford (2011)
I'm Feeling Lucky by Douglas Edwards (2011)
Wie Gelooft die Coureurs Nog? by Hans Vandeweghe (2013)
De Man zonder Ziekte by Arnon Grunberg (2012)
Nothing to be Frightened Of by Julian Barnes (2008)
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (2008)
Black Hole by Charles Burns (2005)
Drive: The Surprising Thruth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink (2009)

My 2013 Spotify list: I'm getting old

Here's my list of songs for 2013. You can listen to it clicking here: Lista 2013 Stefvanef

It's the same set-up as every year: the first 5 tunes are from my favourite albums of this year, the others are a list of nice songs. 2013 hasn't been the incredible year like 2012 was, but there has been some wonderful stuff to listen to.
When I was making the list I realised that neither Iron & Wine nor The National would have been on this list if I were 15 years younger. Guess I'm getting older, since they are going top. Even during The National's concert I was thinking: what happened with all the rock-bands I used to like so much?

But there is still that younger Stefvanef within this list, with some great noise and desturbing music, like tunes from M.I.A., Madensuyu, Death Grips and - hell yeah - Fuck Buttons.

Enjoy listening.

Big thanks to DJ Yolapongo, his friend Deniz and den Humo for the tips.

Click on the image to see it large-scale.

Ryanair and Conversion Rate Deconstructing

This year we are not flying Ryanair, even if it was cheaper to fly with them. I left the buying process on their website at one particular place without finishing the process.

Everybody who works in e-commerce deals with the same problem: lots of visitors start your on-line buying process, but a lot of these visits don't end with a completed sale. We spend a lot of time and energy trying to optimize this buying funnel to get more people to finish their sale. It often comes down to a specific step.

The last time I tried to buy our flights on ryanair.com, I knew exactly when I decided not to finish the buying process and buy somewhere else. So I'm writing this post for the guy responsible for Conversion Optimization for the ryanair website: this is the step where it went wrong.

When I wanted to add pieces of luggage to my flight, I saw a combo indicating 2 options. I didn't look too careful (nobody reads on the web, we all just scan), so I thought I had the following 2 options:

1 piece: 50€
2 pieces: 70€ 


This sounded OK: the second piece came with a discount

Of course I wasn't thinking clearly, this is nothing like Ryanair. So I looked again and saw what it realy was:

1 piece of 15 kg: 50€
1 piece of 20 kg: 70€

Say what?


So this combo summed up the whole Ryanair experience: I already saw how I would be checked and re-checked and then be asked by some unpolite and unhelpful groundstaf to pay more, just because I came with 20,9 kg. So no humiliation for us this year: we paid more with another airline and get spared the Ryanair-way.

Infographic: Email Marketing

In 2012, I was happy to be part in the creation of the following infografic on Email Marketing.


Created by Ventura24 and Internet República

My films in 2012

Here are the films I've seen in 2012

January
Shutter Island by Scorcese (2010)
There will be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson (2007)
An Education by Lone Scherfig (2009)
A Single Man by Tom Ford (2009)
La Môme by Olivier Dahan (2007)
Days of Heaven by Terrence Mallick (1978)

February
Moneyball by Bennet Miller (2011)
Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen (2011)

March:
Red Lights by Rodrigo Cortés (2012)
Les Triplettes de Belleville by Sylvain Chomet (2003)
Hugo by Martin Scorsese (2011)
Die Fälsher by Stefan Ruzowitzky (2007)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Stephen Daldry (2011)
The Departed by Martin Scorsese (2006)

April
Hodejegerne by Morten Tyldum (2011)
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol by Brad Bird (2011)
Good Will Hunting by Gus Van Sant (1997)

May
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by Tomas Alfredson (2011)
The Avangers by Joss Whedon (2012)
Dark Shadows by Tim Burton (2012)

July
Transformers by Michael Bay (2007)
Batman - the Dark Knight Rises by Christopher Nolan (2012)
The Breakfast Club by John Hughes (1985)
Rundskop by Michael R. Roskam (2011)

August
Alien by Ridley Scott (1979)
Aliens by James Cameron (1984)
Prometheus by Ridley Scott (2012)

October:
Lo Imposible by Juan Antonio Bayona (2012)
The Terminator by James Cameron (1984)
The Cabin in the Woods by Drew Goddard (2011)

November:
Looper by Rian Johnson (2012)
Never Let Me Go by Mark Romanek (2010)
The Game by David Fincher (1997)
Jerichow by Christian petzold (2006)
Skyfall by Sam Mendes (2012)
Capote by Bennett Miller (2005)
De Rouille et d'Os by Jacques Audiard (2012)

December:
Soul Kitchen by Fatih Akin (2009)
Limitless by Neil Burger (2011)
End of Watch by David Ayer (2012)
Amour by Michaël Hanneke (2012)
The Hobbit by Peter Jackson (2012)
No Country for old men by Joel and Ethan Coen (2007)
The Life of Pi by Ang Li (2012)

My 2012 Spotify list: never too much of a good thing

To keep it simple: 2012 was a brilliant year for music, full of new discoveries for me and with too little time to listen to everything worth listening to. The first few months of 2012 were just OK, but once Alt-J launched their album, the avalanche of high standard music kept coming and coming. No need to stop just yet.

Best Album 2012:
Fragrant World by Yeasayer

Best Song 2012:
Sometimes I Forget You've Gone by Dirty Three

Here is my list of 2012: like every year a combination of best albums (Alt-J until Two Gallants) and a mix of favourite songs. You can listen to my list of 2012 on Spotify over here: Lista 2012 Stefvanef

Apart from Yeasayers, great albums came from Kendrick Lamar (who said there is no variance in rap?), Alt-J (what a debut), Peter Broderick (subtle, perfect pop transformed into an internet address), Bill Fay (Respect for such a comeback), John Talabot (perfect summer album: volume at 10 and wind blowing through the curtains on a hot afternoon), Actress (best electro/beats/noise since Burial) and Two Gallants (hurray for the twisted guitar-bridges in their songs).

Two Gallants, The XX and Azealia Banks got extra points for some really good concerts in 2012, which helps to get in the list.

Florence is in the list since I got so disappointed by "Ceremonials" in 2011. In 2012 she came back strong with her Unplugged. Glad to have her back.

A lot of stuff  like Mala, Nick Waterhouse, Django Django, Soulsavers and Dylan, didn't make the list because there was some much else of high quality. Still happy to listen to you guys.

Deception of 2012 The Ting Tings, no discussion there.

My books in 2012

Should have read more in 2012, I know. But I blame Coursera: I was reading quite a bit up until I enrolled into 2 Coursera courses and haven't picked up since I finished. I've enrolled on more courses for 2013, so maybe this list won't exist next year, let's see.

Poor Economics was the most amazing read of this year. It challenges what we all think about poverty and how it can be beaten.

This is what I've read:

Freedom by Jonathan Frazen (2010)
Scorecasting by Tobais J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim (2011)
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger (1951)
You are not so Smart by David McRaney (2011)
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (2011)
Poor Economics by Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee and Esther Duflo (2011)
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (2000)

Extreme email retargeting in Spain: Seguros.es

The email you can see below has been the most extreme version of retargeting I've seen until now. It's in Spanish, I'm sorry. But don't worry, I'll translate. This is how it goes:

Dear user,
2 years ago you compared quotes for a car insurance on Seguros.es. We remind you that in a 2 weeks, your car insurance for your Toyota Auris will expire and you will have to renew your policy.

Click image to enlarge

Really?

Seguros.es targets me for something I did on their site 2 years ago? That's some heavy stuff - 2 years in the online world seem like various lightyears away.

I can't say that it's bad. First of all: it's true. I did compare quotes for an insurance 2 years ago for the car mentioned. Though it wasn't for my actual car. I don't even have a car. So the part of 'in 2 weeks your insurance will expire' isn't correct. I remember that for the devellopment of new site, I made some trials on insurance sites, that's all.
Second reason why it's not bad: even if Seguros.es might not sure if I have to renew my insurance, it's a good try. It might have been true and they're message doesn't put them in any bad light, even if it's not.

Retargeting in emails is actually good practice: if you, as a company, can send a specific message to a specific group of customers, as a rule, results tend to be better. Here's another example of Amazon:  I looked for a new telephone. Since I didn't buy the phone, Amazon reminded me a couple of days later, suggesting me also some other phones.

Click on the image to enlarge

Email Search Optimization (ESO)

A friend of mine was pretty honest when giving me feedback on the emails my company sends him:

"I never read or open your company's emails."

It didn't sound like my friend wasn't interested in what my company had to say. He also didn't seem to be fed up with too much email or advertising from a company. He just said it as a matter of fact.

He continued:

"I do know that I have those emails somewhere in my inbox. And when I need to buy your product I find that email and I make my on-line order from your email onwards."

Now here's a way I hadn't looked at email marketing: Some customers just keep the emails in their inbox, un-opened, for when they want to buy something from you and they can find you.

I have always looked at email marketing as the company reaching out to the customer to try and pull him back to your site. With emails to customers, the company is in control: the company defines when to send, how many times they send, what products to include, if our clients are worthy of a promotion, etc, etc. We see the client as the passive receiver of the email, and he can do what the company wants (open the email, read the email and buy) or ignore your communications (which about 90% of your clients tend to do with your emails).

Now my friend was telling me a complete new way of looking at email: the client is now in control, and he doesn't want to follow the company's lead. He opens the email when he wants, he doesn't give a damn about how great your products, promotions or designs are. He just uses the email as a way to come to your site and to buy what he already knew he was going to buy. It's very similar to a bookmark: people keep preferred links to pages as a bookmark to come back to that page pretty quick.

It explains various things I've noticed over the last couple of years:

• Outcomes of emails are sometimes very unpredictable: your email can focus on one product, or give the customer a specific promotion. But chances are that they just go on and buy what they were already going to buy and don't bother with your great design or splendid campaign.
• I've seen people open their Christmas email in May and actually buy something, although the products announced in the email weren't available anymore.
• In some cases I've noticed that more then 50% of the clicks on the email sent are on the header-logo: clients don't even bother to read or scan your content, they just open the email, click and move on from there.
• A lot of what I wrote last week about the importance of transactional emails can be explained by this.
• I've also seen that sending more emails can increase your sales of customers coming from emails, but it usually takes away sales from clients coming from other sources.

All this does put email better in perspective: your client is not a passive number in your data base that will jump up and do whatever you want them to do when you send them an email.

Email Search Optimization?

This also opens a new discussion of email-findability. Companies think that clients who already know what they want, search for your brand on Google. That's why company's spend so much time and effort of appearing on the first results in search.

But maybe we have to start thinking about how easy it is to be findable in the inbox of your customers. Everybody now has a spam-email where all the campaign emails enter. Your email will probably end there together with literally thousands of other emails. To be found there when your client is ready to use the email to find your site might require a different approach then sending your daily 'best offers' email. Maybe it's time to start a new sort of internet marketing. Email Search Optimization.