25 of the year’s most memorable moments, from boundary-pushing unknowns to classic festival cult bands and more.

Boundary-breaking and nostalgia-evoking is a tough act to balance, and yet there were all kinds of acts doing so in over the past 12 months. 2011 was in fact an incredible year for all kinds of musicians, with many big name electronic acts creating Hollywood music scores, legendary indie bands such as Radiohead utilizing turntablists in the recording of their 2011 LP, and the incredible melting pots that are bubbling away in the underground, constantly battling between post-dubstep-badass-bassgasms and evocative barbershop crooning (Yes, James Blake, we’re talking to you).

Selected by our in-house DJ/producer/wannabe-rock-star Lee Jarvis, this Music Jobs list features touches of soul and funk such as Sharon Jones or The Roots, the classic blues rock of Chicago’s The Steepwater Band, electronic dancefloor heavies courtesy of Clicks & Whistles and SBTRKT, and an early contender for Hip-hop track of the millennium, from Odd Future ringleader, Tyler, The Creator.

Lee says, “I’ve tried to sum up not just the biggest tracks, but those that really spoke to me at various festivals across the US this summer, and some lesser-known acts who are making fresh sounds and deserve kudos for doing their own thing.” So, check out our Best Songs of 2011 playlist on Spotify, and feel free to add any of your favorites in the comments below.

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – He Said I Can
Cut Copy – Take Me Over
Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX – NY Is Killing Me
Gold Panda – Quitters Raga
James Blake – The Wilhelm Scream
Bon Iver – Minnesota, WI
Little Dragon – Brush The Heat
Mayer Hawthorn – Can’t Stop (feat. Snoop Dogg)
Nicolas Jaar – Variations
Radiohead – Feral
SBTRKT – Something Goes Right
The Steepwater Band – Remember The Taker
Death Cab For Cutie – Some Boys
Joe Goddard – Gabriel (feat. Valentina)
Tyler, The Creator – Yonkers
The Horrors – I Can See Through You
Battles – Ice Cream (feat. Matias Aguayo)
The Roots – Make My (feat. Big K.R.I.T., Dice Raw)
Clicks & Whistles – Raw Passion
Rewards – Equal Dreams (feat. Solange Knowles)
2020Soundsystem – Sliding Away
Friendly Fires – Hurting
Foo Fighters – Bridge Burning
Fabulous – Money Bag
Paul Woolford – Razor Burn

Music Jobs Playlist: Best of 2011

Enjoy, and Happy New Year!

The Music Jobs Team.

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It looks like Michael Buble might be digging a double-platinum plaque out of his stocking this year. Buble’s “Christmas” album, a collection of timeless holiday standards, has remained No. 1 on the Billboard for a month–and the crooning angel doesn’t seem to be coming down from atop the tree until well after the holidays.

Evidently the modern world is not growing tired of the same old Yuletide tunes (especially if they’ve been revamped by the likes of Buble), so in the spirit of the holidays, we’ve compiled a short list of some interesting interpretations of your favorite Christmas classics.

Last Christmas - Florence and the Machine

The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late) – Jim James (My Morning Jacket)

Silent Night – Tom Waits

White Christmas – Bob Marley & The Wailers

Happy Xmas (War is Over) – The Three Tenors

Happy Holidays from Music Jobs!

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This playlist was partly inspired by my recent watching of ‘Still Bill’, a documentary following one of my favorite soul musicians of all time, Bill Withers. The film portrays an honest, well-grounded, talented man, and instantly after watching I went to stream ‘Use Me’ on Spotify.

Although I’m kind of disappointed that Withers didn’t make more albums, that early period of the 70s also gave us many other soul and funk greats, some new, and some veterans who were moving away from the polished pop sound of the 60s, and evoking more bluesy, gritty, melancholic soulful feelings in many of the records. I hope you enjoy the legendary voices such as the recently passed Gil Scott-Heron and James Brown, and also some perhaps lesser known album tracks.

Click the image below or check out http://open.spotify.com/user/leejarvis/playlist/1lYPWzWxuq4fBHLyG67hxU

Tracklist
Bill Withers – Use Me
Gil Scott-Heron – The Bottle
Bobby Byrd – I Know You Got Soul
Marvin Gaye – Inner City Blues
Curtis Mayfield – If There Is A Hell Below, We’re All Gonna Go
Isaac Hayes – Walk On By
Bobby Womack – Across 110th Street
Roy Ayers – Aint No Sunshine
The Temptations – Papa Was A Rolling Stone
The Undisputed Truth – Smiling Faces

Enjoy!

by The Music Jobs Team.

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Yeah Bwoy! We’re on a retro kick today, and revisiting the kind of tracks that were the soundtrack to many a high school adventure. There’s nothing quite like the early days of hip-hop. From the emergence of sample-based early mash-ups, to the storytelling greats of NYC, ‘old skool’ hip-hop shaped a generation and influenced many a modern musician.

So, dig out your Adidas track suits and clock-on-a-chain and kick it with some of the legends of the scene. Some of these guys are still producing and touring, some were a (prominent) flash in the pan of musical history. All of them left a mark on many a cool youth.

Click the image below or check out http://open.spotify.com/user/leejarvis/playlist/5Tl4lJ5cVX212cgTpbDybv

Tracklist
A Tribe Called Quest – Bonita Applebum
Public Enemy – Bring The Noise
KRS One – Sound of Da Police
Beastie Boys – No Sleep Til Brooklyn
Run DMC – It’s Tricky
Digital Underground – Doowutchyalike
De La Soul – Eye Know
Eric B & Rakim – I Know You Got Soul
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – The Message
The Sugarhill Gang – Rappers Delight

Enjoy!

by The Music Jobs Team.

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Join me in completely ignoring all off-topic intentions behind lyrics and forget all preconceived notions of particular artists… Some songs are just so feel-good funky-fresh that they were made for summer listening – with the windows down and the volume UP!

This Music Jobs playlist was compiled via Grooveshark, and moves through sing-along pop-rock, funk, disco-influenced grooves and a few classic moments from Supergrass, Roxy Music, Kings of Leon, Don Henley, Jamiroquai and more…

Lee Jarvis

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Electronic Dance Music has undergone something of a revolution over the last 15 years. Not least because music production and performance equipment has become cheaper to purchase, and the internet has opened up a heap of tutorials, forum advice and video demos. Being able to set up with an entire ‘software studio’ for a fraction of the price of a ‘traditional’ one, means that more producers are able to experiment and share their creations.

This may result in some under-par productions being out there, but luckily, it is still as easy as ever to tell good music from bad. As I am often working away to a soundtrack of 125bpm or so, I thought I would try and round up some of the biggest names in dance music and share them as a Music Jobs playlist. This is also something for fans of other styles, with modern artists pulling in youths and inspirations from Depeche Mode, Bowie, Disco and more.

Artists include: Fatboy Slim, Dennis Ferrer, Todd Terry, Mark Farina, Mike Monday, Jackson and His Computer Band and more… Go to http://www.myspace.com/usmusicjobs/music/playlists/electronic-1214353 to listen!

Lee Jarvis.

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I came across a lot of new rock / dance / electro funk punk / etc bands last year. Not that they were always new bands, but often new to me. There’s also a couple of more established bands who are threatening to get back together or released their first material for a few years.

With that said, I thought I’d make a shortlist of several artists that I’d love to see perform live in 2010, with a little help from Lala. Having received a lot of coverage with their recent buy out from Apple, I thought I’d compile a streaming playlist from their site, and must say I found the process simpler and more fluent than I remember from last using their system. Here’s to hoping that Apple help make the brand profitable and they continue providing a useful service.

And so, onto my rockin playlist – featuring music from Kings of Leon, Jet, Kasabian, The Strokes, The White Stripes, Silversun Pickups, Muse, The Prodigy, Foo Fighters and Soulwax.

Enjoy!

Lee Jarvis.

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There has been a lot of good music on the US office stereo over Thanksgiving and into the Xmas season, and being fans of streaming and sharing new music, we thought we’d create our own Imeem profile and share our office jams on the blog! Welcome to the first of (we hope) many Music Jobs Playlists, featuring Friendly Fires, Chromeo, MSTRKRFT and more. Feel free to comment here and get in touch via Imeem.

To Play All the tracks in full, click here:

Music Jobs Team playlist 001: US Office December 2009 (Compiled by Lee Jarvis)