Seeing as 2011 is drawing to a close, I thought it was fitting to look back over a great year of music.

So here are my top albums of 2011;


5. Example – Playing in the Shadows.

I liked this album before I went to see Example earlier this month, but personally I think that seeing the act live can make or break it. Luckily for Example seeing him live made me want to listen to the album over and over again, to the point that it is quite possibly permanently jammed into my car stereo. 

My Top Tracks – Stay Awake, Never Had a Day, Midnight Run.


4. The Streets – Computers and Blues 

Computers and Blues is the fifth and sadly the last ever Streets record. As I have said a few times before, a lot of people will say that they haven’t made a good album since ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’. I will agree that ‘The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living’ wasn’t their best work, but they were
in a transitional period. The latest two albums, including ‘Computers and Blues’ have had a different feel, slower dulcet songs with equally as poignant lyrics, just not as much about taking drugs and more about the philosophical side to life. I think Mike just grew up a bit. C&B has a lot of catchy songs, stretching from very guitar heavy to the return of garage. It’s a grower and takes a few listens, but it is well worth it.

My Top Tracks – OMG, We Can Never Be Friends.


3. You Me At Six – Sinners Never Sleep

You Me At Six never fail to disappoint do they. Sinners Never Sleep differs slightly from the previous YM@6 albums. The opening track ‘Loverboy’ is very much in the vein of their previous work, catchy chorus and lyrics that are essentially about sleeping with girls. That basically sums up YM@6’s first two albums. The rest of Sinners Never Sleep takes you through melodic slow rock ballads, to heavy guitar riffs, such as the single ‘Bite My Tongue’ which features Oli Sykes from Bring Me The Horizon, that alone should give you an idea of how heavy the album gets at points. All in all it is a very well balanced rock album that really shows the musical evolution of YM@6 from boys to men.

My Top Tracks – Jaws on the Floor, Reckless, Bite My Tongue


2. Foo Fighters – Wasting Light

Again, in the same way as seeing Example made me enjoy‘Playing in the Shadows’ more, seeing Foo Fighters in the summer made me love ‘Wasting Light’ even more than I already did. I was going to (I may still) do my top album openers of all time, and ‘Burning Bridges’ would have to be in there. It literally slaps you in the face and says for the next 47 minutes Dave Grohl is going to change your life. I have heard a lot of people say that this album was below par, or not their best, however I think that this is purely because of the high standards that they have set themselves. This album again has great balance, for me it is key to have the aggressive with the ballads and Wasting Light really does this, going from the out of control ‘White Limo’ to the anthemic sing along that is ‘These Days’. I may be biased as I listen to a lot of albums in my car, but if you want an album for your journeys around town, look no further.  

My Top Tracks – Arlandria, Bridge Burning, Dear Rosemary


1. The Blackout – Hope

Hope is the third studio album from The Blackout, and from the Welsh rockers we receive a punchy upbeat record, very much in the vein of their previous works. However, Hope, is more of a finished article, a more rounded and complete album. They embrace the ballads which show the vocal range of Gavin, as well as hitting back with the up tempo aggressive music in which they made their name. For me it has everything you expect from The Blackout but also all you need from a post-hardcore album. I have seen The Blackout live twice this year and a fair few times before, I have always maintained and still do that they are one of the best live bands around.

My Top Tracks – You’re Not Alone, The Last Goodbye, Higher and
Higher



There have been a lot of great albums this year, and these are my picks. Feel free to let us know some of yours!

 
Vizzle.

BILLY TALENT

Billy Talent with be returning in 2012 with their untitled fourth album and they will be touring again for the first time in over a year. The band are gradually releasing tour dates for next year and so far they have announced that they are playing Rock AM Ring in Germany next summer. They began recording the album in November, so it is well underway. If you want more information they are keeping people very up to date on their Twitter and Facebook pages;

http://www.facebook.com/#!/billytalent

https://twitter.com/#!/billytalentband


YOUNG GUNS - BONES
 
Young Guns are one of my favourite bands at the moment; well they have been for the past few years, since I saw them on the Kerrang! Tour in 2010.
If you haven’t heard their debut album ‘All Our Kings Are Dead’ then you really should. Their second studio album ‘Bones’ is released on February 6th next year, and the band spent most of this summer in Thailand recording it (not a bad location, even if it is somewhat random). They are touring with Enter Shikari in March, and also have another headline tour of their own.

Again you can keep up to date on Facebook and Twitter;

http://www.facebook.com/#!/younggunsuk

https://twitter.com/#!/YoungGunsUK


And here is a taster of their new album, the first single ‘Learn My Lesson’.



Have a great New Year whatever you are doing and see you all next year.



Thanks

Vizzle.

Further to my post yesterday I thought I'd make it easier for everyone and put all the Knife Party tracks here for your free download. If you'd like to say thanks to the two Pendulum lads Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen for the tracks, you can hit up their website at knifeparty.com.

Coining the genre 'Seizure Music', Knife Party is an electro-house / dubstep hybrid act that the two lads say didn't fit the Pendulum mould. They've only got TWO live shows booked in at the moment - this boxing day in their home town of Perth (Australia) and then once more in mid-January at MOS in London. The Aussie pair have already remixed for mammouth acts like Swedish House Mafia & Nero.
 
If you're wondering where 'knife party' came from, it's inspired by the Deftones track of the same name. But in trying to work that out I stumbled across another meaning of knife party that was quite disturbing, if you're interested you can check it out at Urban Dictionary OR...

You can just get into these monsters;

Destroy Them With Lazers

It's Saturday night, it's time for electro music. Quite aptly, as 2011 draws to a close, these are some of the biggest club bangers we've heard all year. Enjoy. Tree Boy xoxoxo P.S. Check out the 'live reviews' section for the Vizzle's review of the 'Example' gig this week, as always, his word is gospel....

Deniz Koyu - Tung
Undoubtedly my favourite club tune of the year. Seriously, how much fun is this?! Deniz cites Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Daft Punk and Cassius as his influences - and I'm sure they'll all be flattered when they hear how good this track is.

Cee-Lo Green - F**k You (Audibotz Bassline Bootleg)
This is a very good bootleg! The 2 guys from Florida posted this for free download a few months back on their soundcloud and ever since, this hasn't left my 'top 25 most played' playlist. CAUTION: Explicit Lyrics.

Knife Party - Internet Friends 
A SIDE PROJECT OF TWO MEMBERS OF PENDULUM! Yes, the Aussie lads Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen released Knife Party's four track EP  'No Modern Talking' last Monday on Pendulum's record label 'Ear Storm'. It's in no way related to Pendulum but its tipped by so many bloggers as the track of 2011. While I admit it is top notch, I do struggle with the lyric;  "you blocked me on facebook, now you're going to die... Who is she, some f***ing s**t?". But, just as Pendulum thrived off 16 year old fans like myself - I'm sure that with lyrics like that, Knife Party also will. CAUTION: Explicit Lyrics.

They're giving away their EP FREE!! You can get it from our friends at EARMILK right here. "Destroy them with Lazers" is a tune to be fair.

Mord Fustang - Lick the Rainbow (Miles Dyson Breakfest Edit)
This is a classy number from the German guys, have a lovely weekend :-p 

You can't help loving a decent remix, and sir remix-a-lot is back with a fair few. Enjoy. Tree Boy xoxoxoxoxo

I can't say I like Lily Allen, I can't say I like her music, and I can't say that I thought these lyrics were appropriate for commercial radio. But what I can say is, the only way I was ever going to like this garbage was if dubstep producer oblivion got hold of it. He has, and now I do.

More dubstep for you here but this time the original track hails from one of my all time favourite bands. Strangely going under his pseudonym 'Feed Me' here (which is most often associated with his electro productions) Jon Gooch of Deadmau5' Mau5trap record label has produced a stomper! You'll recall that 'Spor', another of Gooch's aliases, is responsible for remixing the likes of Noisia, this man is a connoisseur of filthy bass music and this track is no exception.

Some huge names on show with this remix, it's not often we hear an uplifting d 'n' b track nowadays but with the Yorkshire outfit 'utah saints' involved it was never going to be anything but. Plus, given the treatment from the only Derbyshire duo I've ever idolised, Drumsound & Bassline Smith, this makes for a must have.

OK... The Duck Sauce duo of Armand Van Helden and A-trak have struggled to reach the heady heights of 'Barbara Streisand' since it's release, and that's even despite their high profile remixes for the closely affiliated 'Chromeo'. In my opinion, this track was never going to land them in the spotlight again but man of the minute Toddla T puts a jackin' / fidget house slant on this, and it's making headlines in the blog worls. It sounds like something we've come to expect from 'herve', and having not heard a peep from "the Count" in a while now, I love this. If you do like this track, also check out 'audiobotz' on souncloud - I'll be featuring their remixes shortly but the fidget house genre is all over it for me this weekend. Enjoy.

This is a quick update that will make my good friend Tree very happy. Even though he is in Australia, I know that he will be excited to hear the new record from The Maccabees.

They were one of our favourite bands during Uni, and remain a class act. They are a must see live band if you like their stuff.

Anyways, below are the details.

They will play:

Edinburgh HMV Picture House (March 5)
Middlesbrough Town Hall (7)
Nottingham Rock City (8)
Brighton Dome (9)
Leeds O2 Academy (10)
Liverpool O2 Academy (12)
Bristol O2 Academy (13)
Norwich UEA (14)
Southampton Guildhall (16)
Cardiff University (17)
Wolverhampton Civic Hall (18)
Cambridge Corn Exchange (19)

Before that The Maccabees will play a series of already announced gigs next month to coincide with the release of their third studio album 'Given To The Wild' on January 9.


Unfortunately, there is not a show in London??? Sad Face.

I will hopefully catch them next year at some point, and will definitely be getting the album!

Cheers.
Vizzle

And there we all were thinking dubstep was the only new genre we needed bother ourselves with, when all of a sudden Dave Nada (of house duo, Nadastrom) creates 'Moombahton', which he did by slowing down records at a high school gig because he didn't think the kids woud feel his techno set... and everyone is going mental for it! It is therefore with great excitement, that I share with you iknowasong.com's first official moombahton post...

Given it's name by combining the title of Nada's original track 'Moombah' which is a combination of the Dutch house 4/4 structure and the genre of 'reggaeton' played down at the depths of 108b.p.m, it was conceived in Washington D.C. circa 2009. Nada didn't play a full set of moombahton until in Vancouver, 2010, and now moombahton plays internationally with the big names, from Toddla T to Diplo (with moombahton releases hitting the monster label 'Mad Decent').

Just like dubstep did, moombahton has already spawned sub-genres, with 'moombahsoul' taking on latin influences with its vocals and 'moombahstep' (no prizes for guessing what that is). And just like dubstep did, moombahton now begs the question; if a moombahton track drops in a nightclub, and you happen to be on the dancefloor, where do you even begin?! These guys in the below video give us a masterclass... It would appear that the answer is, 'with alcohol and slow motion';

Some of you may recall that our first moombahton track on iknowasong.com was posted back when Munchi (who has since suffered a haemorrhage, which is tragic, and it's inspirational to hear that the small family of moombahton producers all banded together through a series of fundraisers to help towards the cost of his medical treatment) remixed 'warface' by Jakes which was voted as our song of the week... a lot has happened since then, and we'll be sharing everything with you as soon as we get our hands on it... Now on to the moombahton, 'right click' --> 'save as' you're away. Tree Boy xoxoxo

MiM0sa - Flourescence (Moombahton Remix)

Four dubstep tracks for your download ('right click' on download file --> 'save as') - A great way to end your week, or get it started again. Enjoy. Tree Boy xoxoxo

NAPT & Lucian X - Perfect Day
A 'Red Sugar Records' release getting support from all the big names, and also a big hit at the festivals if the footage is anything to go by!

Jakwob - Right Beside You
Has Jakwob improved since the seminal Ellie Goulding remix? Indeed he has. Some massive remixes of this have been kicking around since it surfaced a few months back, including an instrumental VIP mix from Jakwob himself and a jungle take on things from DJ Fresh.

Flux Pavillion - Bass Cannon (Zomboy remix)
Zomboy aka 21 year old Josh Mellody from Guildford, UK, is making waves with releases on the peak dubstep label 'Never Say Die'. This track hugs tight to the original but if you did like that, you'll love this.

Friction ft. Mclean - Someone (the Prototypes Remix)
Now, I really do like this! This is my pick of the bunch. I think it borrows a lot from the liquid drum 'n' bass that shogun audio label boss Friction is known for, and this type of vocal is the perfect condiment for it. Hats off to the Prototypes for doing things a bit differently here.