Another year has passed us by again. For the thrird time we’re gonna end the year with our very own ‘Best of 2011′. Together with Nevill and Deluge, I’ve picked out some of the finest music that was released this year. Many thanks to all our visitors and of course the artists out there making music that matters. We wish you a blessed 2012 with loads of great music and make sure you go out with a blast!!

Now on to the Best of 2011..

Best Album 2011
1. Thundercat – The Golden Age of Apocalypse
2. Amalia – Art Slave
3. Brandon Coleman – Self-Taught
4. Elzhi – Elmatic
5. Osunlade – Pyrography
6. Evil Needle – Cirrostratus
7. Mark de Clive-Lowe – Renegades
8. Teeko – Light Up The Darkness
9.  Phonte – Charity Starts At Home
10. Kan Sano – Fantastic Farewell

Best EP 2011
1. KING – The Story EP
2. Dirg Gerner – Preface EP
3. Terrace Martin – The Sex EP
4. fLako – Carving Away The Clay EP
5. Hazel – Playground EP

Best Compilation 2011
1. Soulection
2. The Heart Vol. 2
3. Starship 27 Vol. 2: Take Off
4. LA♥JPN♥LA Vol. 2
5. Label Love Pt.3

Best Videos 2011
1. Erykah Badu – Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long
2. J*DaVeY – Raincheck
3. Jay Electronica Dimethyltryptamine
4. Overdoz – Pasadena
5. Amalia – Freeze That!

Best Remixes 2011
1. Daedelus – Tailor Made with Milosh (Floating Points Remix)
2. Salva – Wake Ups (B. Bravo Remix)
3. Meemee Nelzy – Comme Un Lotus (Buscrates 16​-​bit Remix)
4. Leon King – More Than A Crush (Opolopo Remix)
5. Architeq – Into The Cosmos (Mr Beatnick Dub)

Best Documentaries
1. Real Scenes: Detroit
2. Still Shining
3. Planet Rock: The Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation

Best New Musical Talents Spotted 2011
1. ERIMAJ – Conflict Of A Man
2. Brandon Coleman – Self Taught
3. Ayanna – Truthfully
4. Greg Spero – Acoustic
5. Manuals – MPG

Best Collaboration 2011
1. Martyn Slott – Pointing Fingers
2. Zebrahim – In My Heart I Am
3. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Thuggin EP
4. Onrazel – Two for the P (Bonus)
5. Bun B & 14KT – The Life

Best Record Labels 2011
1. Tokyo Dawn
2. Tru Thoughts
3. Plug Research

Most Slept On Artist 2011
Christoph El Truento

Ones to watch in 2012
1. Dirg Gerner
2. Union
3. Derrick Hodge
4. KING
5. East Liberty Quarters

It Was Your Time To Go 2011 (R.I.P.)
1. J-1
2. Fonce Mizell
3. Sylvia Robinson

written by nilez \\ tags: 14kt, amalia, ayanna, b. bravo, best of 2011, brandon coleman, buscrates 16-bit ensemble, christoph el truento, daedelus, derrick hodge, dirg gerner, east liberty quarters, elzhi, erimaj, erykah badu, evil needle, flako, floating points, fonce mizell, greg spero, hazel, j'davey, j-1, jay electronica, kan sano, king, label love, leon king, madlb, manuals, mark de clive-lowe, martyn slott, moovmnt, mr beatnick, onrazel, opolopo, osunlade, overdoz, phonte, plug research, salva, soulection, staff pick 2011, sylvia robinson, teeko, terrace martin, the heart vol. 2, thundercat, tokyo dawn records, tru thoughts, union, zebrahim

The tall fella with funky beard named Opolopo is back with a collection of remixes and reworks called “Mutants” on Tokyo Dawn Records. We find some mutated funk from Amalia, Gregory Porter, Leon King, Union, Colonel Red and Lisa P. The list of features is also quite long with artists such as Amalia, Talib Kweli, Ursula Rucker and Erik Rico. Time to get your mutant on and grab the CD over at the TDR shop or if you prefer.

Leon King – More Than A Crush (Opolopo Remix)

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Keith Campbell – Dawn Light (Opolopo Remix)

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written by nilez \\ tags: amalia, cd, colonel red, erik rico, gregory porter, house, itunes, leon king, lisa p, modern funk, mutants, opolopo, remix, rework, sweden, talib kweli, tokyo dawn records, union, ursula rucker

Quite weird we never did a post about Ben Jones before. Always knew he was responsible for some great productions, but I just discovered some new gems he produced. Hadn’t heard this Leon King song before that goes by the name of “Fresh”. What ever happened to Leon….where you at bro? Also hadn’t heard this crazy nice Ben Jones remix of Matti Roots‘ track “OCD” before. Don’t know if they are still in the demo-fase, but these need to find their way out into the world if you ask me!

Leon King – Fresh

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Matti Roots – OCD (Ben Jones Remix)

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written by nilez \\ tags: Ben Jones, ben jones remix, drums, fresh, guitar, leon king, london, matti roots, ocd, the digital church

This London based singer hasn’t released a whole lot of music yet, but has already worked with the likes of Illa J on ‘Realness’, which was dedicated to J Dilla. Find out a little bit more about this very humble guy.

Leon King has been playing guitar since he was five years old and at the age of fifteen he started getting into keys combined with programming and producing, then playing bass guitar.
He sees himself as a very soulful vocalist with a strong sense of honesty that comes through in his music.

Now you might have heard the magnificent ‘The Digital Church’ on the second Pound for Pound album released on Jazzy Sport. This is such a mellow, soulful track with a mad sexy bass. By the way…Ben Jones is the one to thank for the production (he also produced the track ‘Knowingness’).

The second track ‘Faze’ was co-produced with, fellow UK singer/producer, Matti Roots. This is a more traditional new soul track, but also very tight!

Be on the lookout for Leon’s forthcoming EP called ‘The Digital Church’ that will be dropping early 2009.
Check out Leon’s Myspace www.myspace.com/leonkingleonking for updates, tour info and future projects. Leon also features on the New Worlds compilation so be sure to check out that album too!

Thanks to http://www.straightnochaser.co.uk for the triple soul special feature and off course thanks to Leon for the wonderful music.

Leon King – The Digital Church

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Leon King – Faze!

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Leon King – Knowingness

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written by moovmnt \\ tags: illa j, jazzy sport, leon king, pound for pound, the digital church