Top 50 of 2011

Just to make a point, these songs were not necessarily released in 2011, I just added them to my library in 2011.  Enjoy all 50, and enjoy the new year as 2011 comes to a close.  Here's to another year of fantastic music, and the end of the world.

Pumped Up Kicks – Foster The People

Yarilo – Arkona

No Church In The Wild – Jay-Z & Kanye West feat. Frank Ocean

Do Nothing, Be Nothing – Aficionado

Home (RAC Mix) – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes

As We Enter – Nas & Damian Marley

Revenge – Chevelle

Small Boxes – Black Light Dinner Party

Auld Lang Syne – Mairi Campbell & Dave Francis

When Dean Was The Man (And Monroe Always Smiled) – a balladeer

Moonshine – Swollen Members

Rolling In the Deep – Adele

Inis Mona – Eluveitie

We’ve Got A Score To Settle – The Dear Hunter

Yoü And I – Lady Gaga

Keep Me There – Nicolas Jaar

Is It True? (Brenda Lee Cover) – Tennis

Sail – Awolnation

The King – Ramesh

Dystopia – Yacht

Play Catch – Rockwell Knuckles

No Ending – Stacy Lane

I Want My Tears Back – Nightwish

An Old Photo Of Your New Lover (Class Actress Remix) – The One AM Radio

Emerald Isle – Whitehorse

Johnny’s Theme (P Smoov Remix) – Brent Amaker & the Rodeo

Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes

Det Haster ! – Casiokids

Techno Fan (Diplo Remix) – The Wombats

Suicide Dream 3 (Orchestral Version) – How To Dress Well

You (Planningtorock Remix) – Creep

Fireplug – Banquets

Moshpit – Ninjasonik feat. The Partysquad

Block After Block – Matt & Kim

You Don’t Want To Dance With Me (Moonlight Matters Remix) – Monarchy & Britt Love

48 Roses – Mariachi el Bronx

6 Foot 7 Foot – Lil Wayne feat. Corey Gunz

Swell Window – Zee Avi

Thor’s Hammer – Vast Aire feat. Raekwon & Vordul Mega

Nadine – Project Jenny, Project Jan

Boring Horror – Gobble Gobble

Bullet – Hollywood Undead

Written In The Stars – Tinie Tempah feat. Eric Turner

Still Be There (Noah Rubin Remix) – The Entrance Band

Sea of Hate – Digital Leather

Army Of Love – Kerli

Me and Mr. Wolf – The Real Tuesday Weld

Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met...) – Panic! At The Disco

Maps – The Front Bottoms

Weed In The Rizzla – Teddybears feat. Trimbal

Not The 1s - Your Dad Hate Me

Not The 1s is a rap duo of yin and yang proportions.  Cuzzo and MC Mawnstr are easy to tell apart by their different rapping registers, but the contrast is what allows them to compliment each other.  Is that possible?  I was never good with that part of art class.  They give us the stellar "Your Dad Hate Me," a rap ditty that might make you laugh, make you think, or make you dance.  This is the problems with their girlfriends' dads, set to some 80's beats thumping in the background.

By the way pops, you're not the only one she's calling daddy.

This is the definition of fun rap.  Not The 1s are just two guys rapping their way about what they want, and it's brilliant.  This is also the definition of lyrical genius.  And I know I'm not so polite, in fact I'm more like dolomite.  I'm not the guy to show up with a bouquet, I'm the kind of guy your daughter wanna show her pussy to.  I'm sure that if I brought home two guys like this, my dad might whip out a rusty chain and start swinging it around with a cinderblock tied to one end.  Or something like that.  I'm fine with enjoying the song only, and not the characters in real life.  That's what fun rap is all about.

The Dear Hunter - We've Got A Score To Settle

Who is The Dear Hunter?  They are a group of young men from Rhode Island who dabble in the art of alt-y rock that you probably wouldn't want to call alternative.  Think of The Dear Hunter as modern classic rock.  And let me say this before you get so far in that you can't get back out...the vocals are ahhh-mazing and the guitars are nothing short of perfect.  You will die.  So, how did this group worm their way into my head?  Through the stellar track "We've Got A Score To Settle."

Someone's got blood on their hands.

What is "We've Got A Score To Settle?"  Rock with feeling to it.  Rock unlike any other rock you've ever heard before.  Part of being a good musical act is keeping things fresh and unique, and The Dear Hunter does exactly that.  "We've Got A Score To Settle" will be so different from anything you've heard before that it'll immediately stick.  I'm in love with the lyrics too: forget about truth and consequence, we've got a way to deal with it.  Someone might have blood on their hands, but The Dear Hunter has something magical here.  Miss it at your own risk.

Maria Mena - Power Trip Ballad

Who is Norway's answer to Fiona Apple?  Well, Maria Mena isn't exactly Miss Apple, but she's close enough to make that comparison.  She's a contemporary pop artist from the land of fjords, an I'm quite a fan of the music I've heard so far.  Why not branch our of your normal music (yet again) and give a listen to "Power Trip Ballad," a rising-in-action ditty from her most recent Cause And Effect that makes for perfect long-car-ride music, or a good afternoons-alone tune.

How could he leave you, could he fuck that whore he left you for? Get revenge. 
And by all means, asking nine-year-old daughter to choose between you, don't stay friends.

Be careful, Miss Mena sings these words quickly, which makes for a few repeated listens if you want to catch the lyrical genius here.  And I encourage multiple listens; this is a song that gets better every time you listen to it.  I'm a fan of two minutes in twenty seconds in, Maria crooning you will always be the bitter, saddest part of me.  Stunning.  Then she sings it again.  Beautiful.  I'm going to Norway.

Disturbed - Hell + Chevelle - Revenge

I hope that everyone had a fantastic two days of holiday fun.  And if not, I hope that the last two days were still wonderful in any sense.  What did Santa bring me for Christmas even though I've been the furthest from good this year?  An ipod that is actually big enough to hold all of my music, and more.  As well, I was lucky enough to get The Lost Children, Disturbed's collection of b-sides and rarities from their musical career, along with Chevelle's newest release, Hats Off To The Bull.  I thought it only fair to feature my favourite song from both selections.

"Hell" is the clear highlight of The Lost Children.  There's no contest here.  Mr. Draiman describes it, according to Wikipedia, as being "about a relationship with someone who keeps coming in and out of your life, and every time they come back they fuck up your whole world."  Huh.  It's a b-side from the band's third album Ten Thousand Fists, and you can hear the similarities between "Hell" and tracks from the album.  It's just a good four minutes to rock out to, lamenting in the final words burning, now I'll bring you in.  Even though Disturbed is reportedly on a hiatus as of now, "Hell" and The Lost Children proves that they'll be around to last.

Hats Off To The Bull is Chevelle's sixth release, and I'll say that it's no Sci-Fi Crimes, but is still a collection of wonderful tracks that has the band reminiscing about earlier works.  After listening to the entire album once, I've deduced that the track that stands out the most to me is "Revenge," a song that reminds me of almost everything form This Type Of Thinking (Could Do Us In).  It's just Chevelle at their best, and I don't expect any less from the Loeffler brothers and co.  I'll leave you, and finish this post, by sharing the second verse of "Revenge" with you:

Me, I'd let the panic ride and pin it on the wall
Identifying pride is the saddest of the chores
Those burning eyes indeed define a churning of the soul
Feels better to be lost, but haven't felt the choice

Lloyd Banks - Make It Stack (feat. A$AP Rocky)

Interesting rap song alert!!

That's exactly how I like my rap music....interesting.  Lloyd Banks knows a thing or two about interesting rap music.  He falls into the category of rappers who aren't afraid to do things a little differently.  Why speed things up when you can slow them down just as effectively?  With the help of new-to-my-radar rapper A$AP Rocky, Mr. Banks brings us "Make It Stack," a delightful rap ditty (yes, delightful) that will cleanse your palette of anything bad you've heard before.

With a delicate background beat and some lyrical genius, "Make It Stack" is enjoyable and easy to get stuck in your head.  Let's take this money, then let's make it stack.  Then let's make history, 'cause they can't take that back.  Oh, Mr. Banks...you've come a long way since "On Fire," which by the way wasn't too bad either. 

Ancient Bards - The Birth Of Evil

Perhaps, if we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, then we shouldn't judge a band by its music videos.  Case in point: Ancient Bards.  The Italian collective produces some of the best power metal I've ever heard, but the videos will cause your mouse to drift to the search bar so you can find something else to watch on youtube.  I'm sorry!  But it's true.  But let's put all of that aside for the sake of good music.  I came across "The Birth of Evil" way back when around the time I was obsessed with Arkona.  I've just started looking into more of their songs, but it remains my favourite by a large margin.

And yes, this is another edition of female-fronted metal bands that I'm obsessed with.

Lead vocalist Sara Squadrani is good.  Really good.  "The Birth of Evil" allows her to show off her pipes to the world, though this isn't all about her.  The guitars have me drooling.  This is what power metal is and should be.  Forget about any 80's group insisting that it's their genre.  They lied.  This is how it's done.  No, you know what "The Birth of Evil" is?  A female-fronted Iron Maiden performing on a viking ship that is making the most epic of all journeys.  Don't worry, this kind of rambling means I'm in love with a song.  Just do me one favour: don't watch the video.  I've somehow been banned from commenting on it.