LeapBackBlog 2011 Music Awards – Part 2: Ten Essential Songs (Singles)

Music in 2011 saw the further domination of hip hop and indie rock as the principal forms of ‘good’ music. Forms of electronic music have also taken up a much more mainstream appeal in recent years, and there is certainly evidence of this in what was great in music in 2011. Here are ten of my favorite songs not of my Ten Essential Albums.

Part 1: Ten Essential Albums

Part 3: Ten More Essential Songs (Deep Cuts)

Artist: Dum Dum Girls Song: Coming Down Producer: Richard Gottehrer & Sune Rose Wagner Featuring: N/A Album: Only in Dreams Why It Made the List: Coming Down is just a fantastically moody ballad, packed with almost tentative emotion and sorrow. Available: Here

Artist: Ellie Goulding Song: Lights Producer: Richard Stannard & Ash Howes Featuring: N/A Album: Lights  Why It Made the List: Lights is my favorite pop dance track of 2011. Ellie Goulding, already a star in England, is one of the many great new artists this year. Available: Here

Artist: Eminem & Royce da 5’9” Song: Fast Lane Producer: Supa Dups Featuring: N/A Album: Hell: The Sequel Why It Made the List: Eminem and Royce da 5’9” flow back and forth effortlessly, creating one of the best rap tracks of 2011 with Fast Lane. They have great chemistry. Available: Here

Artist: Frank Ocean Song: Novocane Producer: Tricky Stewart Featuring: N/A Album: nostalgia, ULTRA. Why It Made the List: Along with The Weeknd, Frank Ocean (of Odd Future) has reinvented and taken over the pop modern R&B sound. Novocane is a brilliant example. Available: Here

Artist: Girls Song: Vomit Producer: Girls and Doug Boehm Featuring: N/A Album: Father, Son, Holy Ghost Why It Made the List: The San Francisco duo has brought sort of a grunge sound to indie rock, and it is wonderful. I also like the sort of grand progression of Vomit as well. Available: Here

Artist: Neon Indian Song: Polish Girl Producer: Alan Palomo Featuring: N/A Album: Era Extrana Why It Made the List: As chillwave becomes more and more popular, Neon Indian’s Polish Girl serves as both a song to relax to and also get down to. Available: Here

Artist: Peter Bjorn and John Song: Second Chance Producer: Per Sunding Featuring: N/A Album: Gimme Some Why It Made the List: Second Chance is an immediately likable and catchy driving pop rock song; I dare you not to like it. Available: Here

Artist: Reks Song: 25^th Hour Producer: DJ Premier Featuring: N/A Album: R.E.K.S. (Rhythmatic Eternal King Supreme) Why It Made the List: Very nearly one of my ten essential albums, 25^th Hour is the best song off this great hip hop album. DJ Premier’s beat and Reks’s flow meddle together perfectly. Available: Here

Artist: Rihanna Song: We Found Love Producer: Calvin Harris Featuring: Calvin Harris Album: Talk That Talk Why It Made the List: We Found Love is a fun dance track that is catchy but also has a real emotional core. Available: Here

Artist: Tyler, The Creator Song: Yonkers Producer: Tyler, The Creator Featuring: N/A Album: Goblin Why It Made the List: Not only does it have a great (if not the best of 2011) music video, Yonkers firmly put Tyler, The Creator on the mainstream hip hop map. It is incredible. Available: Here

Bad Meets Evil – Hell: The Sequel (2011) – Review

Bad Meets Evil – Hell: The Sequel

Eminem and Royce da 5’9” appeared together on Eminem’s The Slim Shady LP on the song Bad Meets Evil promising a sequel; twelve years later we get Hell: The Sequel. Eminem and Royce da 5’9” complement each other very well on the album. It is at its best when they go back and forth trading rhymes. The production is also very good with Supa Dups, Eminem, Bangladesh, DJ Khalil, The Smeezingtons, and Mr. Porter (who handles most of the production work), giving the album a fluid sound. The song Lighters produced by The Smeezingtons, Eminem and Battle Roy is a little out of place, as it has the sound of something that belongs on the radio top of the pops (but they have to sell albums to the masses somehow), especially with the chorus sung by Bruno Mars. Along with Mars, the album features Mike Epps (as Mr. Porter turned a sample of a stand-up performance into a beat) and the recently signed to Shady Records Slaughterhouse (a group in which Royce da 5’9” is a member). Overall the album will appeal to fans of Eminem’s stuff and I think Royce da 5’9” brings a lot to the album as well. Every song on the album is solid and it should be among the best hip hop albums of the year. 4/5

Editor’s Song Picks:

1)      Fast Lane – Produced by Supa Dups

2)      Echo – Produced by DJ Khalil

3)      Welcome 2 Hell – Produced by Havoc

Available on CD and Digital Download