Mixtape: Best of Industrial Vol. 2

Hey everyone and welcome to another Mixtape! Two in two weeks, they're coming like buses! Over seven years ago I did my first "Best of Industrial" Mixtape. You can find that link here. At the time I was struggling to create that Mixtape, reason being that while I love the genre, there weren't that many bands that I knew and loved beyond the obvious. Choosing around 20 artists of this genre isn't easy, certainly those of good quality. Yet the sound in its pure form is just beautiful. It's hard to put into words.

Anyway, doing this Part 2, seven years later was so much easier. I can't again explain why either. Perhaps my palette has increased for the genre? But it was always there and I've always loved it. As I said it's hard to explain!

Not familiar with the term Industrial? I'll copy and past what I put down in my Volume 1 because I explained it relatively well then.

The roots of Industrial music started in the seventies and with the Industrial Records company, but they weren't really successful, nor was the sound. But it inspired the "Post-Industrial" genre, what we now know as Industrial music. So if you're an Industrial purist, you could say that the list below is not Industrial music, but Post-Industrial music. I will continue to consider this Mixtape and the songs and sound as Industrial music, but let's not be ignorant to the original genre of the seventies. There's so many influences that helped made the genre, and there are so many influences from Industrial music that helped shape music today.

So what have I defined as Industrial below? Well, after the seventies Industrial Records scene, Industrial (or Post-Industrial) roots back to the early eighties. Arguably the first Post-Industrial band was Skinny Puppy, but of course, there were bands that influenced Skinny Puppy to make the sound they made, and there were a few bands around that time that while aren't Industrial as a sole genre, they also helped to the rise. Bands like Killing Joke, Bauhaus, Ministry, KMFDM and Kraftwerk are all bands that in some way, shape or form, helped Industrial music to become what it has been in the eighties, nineties and naughties.

But, and you can argue I'm biased in saying this, but to me, the band that pioneered Industrial music is Nine Inch Nails. A lot of the 1980s Industrial lacked melody, it sounded great but it was repetitive and became almost brainless music. But Nine Inch Nails added melody, added quality vocals and also started using ground breaking electronic metal music to add to the machinery sound that was Industrial music. As I said, I could be biased, as Nine Inch Nails are my favourite band.

Not familiar with my Mixtapes? Here are the rules.

A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or era. The list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with further recommendations if some of the songs aren't to your taste. Remember kids, downloading is wrong! 

This list you'll see below isn't just Industrial music. It's a celebration of the sound, and the sounds that have been influenced by Industrial music. Industrial music has been used in so many genres since the boring machine sound of the eighties, it's used in dance music, techno, alternative rock, indie, metal and most recently, dubstep. You name the genre, chances are Industrial had an assist in there for making the genre what it is today. So there's a lot of bands here that aren't Industrial. But I've selected certain songs by those bands, that have roots from the Industrial genre, and have them showcase how good the sound can be when done perfectly. I have some eighties industrial, nineties industrial, some electronic dance music and some heavy industrial metal.

Enjoy my second homage to Industrial music!

1. Mr Self Destruct - Nine Inch Nails
2. Hooker With a Penis - Tool
3. Death - Skinny Puppy
4. Flesh is the Law - Genitorturers
5. Shut Me Up - Mindless Self Indulgence
6. More and Faster (243) - KMFDM
7. Electric Head Pt 2 - White Zombie
8. Hey Man, Nice Shot - Filter
9. Do What I Say - Clawfinger
10. QWERTY - Mushroomhead
11. Rammstein - Rammstein
12. My Wall (feat Excision and Downlink) - KoRn
13. Bombshell - Powerman 5000
14. Verta Ja Lihaa - Turmion Katilot
15. BBB - How to Destroy Angels
16. Angel With the Scabbed Wings - Marilyn Manson
17. Just One Fix - Ministry
18. Sucked In - Jerk
19. Linchpin - Fear Factory
20. Get to the Gone - Static-X
21. Rock and Roll (In a Black Hole) - Rob Zombie

Don't like some of these? Give these five a try...

1. Zerospace - Kidneythieves
2. Guilty - Gravity Kills
3. Fukken Uber Death Party - Hanzel und Gretel
4. Eye - Smashing Pumpkins
5. Golgotha Tenement Blues - Machines of Loving Grace

To listen to the playlist on YouTube click here!

So I hope you enjoy this list. As I said, some of these bands are not Industrial, but I hope you understand their inclusion in the list. They have roots from the genre, and like to implement it into their modern sounds.

Until next time, take care!

For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

The Mercyside 100: 2016 Edition

The Mercyside 100: 2016 Edition

Happy New Year people. For the last four years I've been calculating all my play counts on my personal media player, to see what songs I listen to the most. And then at the start of the next year I reveal what the 100 most listened to songs were that year. Last year I revealed The Mercyside 100 2015, the year before I did The Mercyside 100 2014 and of course the year before I did The Mercyside 100 2013 which was the first one. Click on those if you're interested in what I played most on those years.

This year I did The Mercyside 100 2016. Like last year the reason why I'm not doing this in radio show format is because there's a lot of entries in this list by a certain band called Slaves. Slaves are by far my favourite band at the moment and unfortunately, Mixcloud won't allow you to play more than three songs by one artist in the same show. And that means it's difficult, because, well, they appear a lot. Even more than last year even. Which is crazy!

I was going to make this into a playlist on YouTube but I can't do that either, because certain songs are not on YouTube which is frustrating.

So, in reverse order, here are is The Mercyside 100 2016! These are 100 songs I played more than anything else last year.

 

So, what was the most played song of the year for me? Here it is...

#1: Beauty Quest - Slaves ("Sugar Coated Bitter Truth", 2012)

 

So there we go! I hope you find some interesting entries in here, and if so, check them out on Youtube if you can, most of the songs are easily available on there. And if you don't like the band Slaves then this list clearly isn't for you! If there's something on this list you've not heard before and you end up really liking, let me know, comment below! I'd be happy to have gotten you into a song or an artist you've not heard before!

"Yellow text"
If you don't listen to The Mercy Side, my radio shows which you can find on Mixcloud, then you may not know that I reveal every month what was my "Song of the Month". Basically, those tracks where played more than any other track, on a particular month of 2016. Here's the list in order, with Youtube links attached:

January 2016: Live Like an Animal - Slaves
February 2016: Well Everybody's Fucking in a UFO - Rob Zombie
March 2016: Control (feat. Slaves) - Chase and Status
April 2016: The Sound of Silence - Disturbed
May 2016: OK - Slaves
June 2016: Leave it All Behind - Cult to Follow
July 2016: Miss Alissa - Eagles of Death Metal
August 2016: Spit it Out - Slaves
September 2016: People That You Meet - Slaves
October 2016: War Time - King 810
November 2016: Dig - Mudvayne
December 2016: NSFW - Psychostick

"Beauty Quest", my most played song of 2016 has never been Song of the Month. It's the first time a song has gotten to #1 without being Song of the Month since 2013, when "Rock and Roll (in a Black Hole) by Rob Zombie did it.

Multiple Artist Entries

Here's a list of artists with more than one entry in The Mercyside 100 2016:

24 Entries - Slaves
14 Entries - King 810
5 Entries - Saul Williams
4 Entries - The Fratellis, Nine Inch Nails
2 Entries - Arctic Monkeys, Eagles of Death Metal, Fear Factory, Foo Fighters, Leo Moracchioli

Multiple Album Entries

Here's a list of albums with more than one entry in The Mercyside 100 2015:

10 Entries - "Are You Satisfied?" by Slaves
8 Entries - "Memoirs of a Murderer" by King 810; "Take Control" by Slaves
5 Entries - "La Petite Mort or a Conversation With God" by King 810
4 Entries - "MartyrLoserKing" by Saul Williams
3 Entries - "Sugar Coated Bitter Truth" by Slaves
2 Entries - "AM" by Arctic Monkeys; "Costello Music" by The Fratellis

Here's some charts showing you how often songs appeared by the year, or decade...

Also, if you're interested, 53 songs on this list were not singles, which means that 47 of them were!

79% of songs on this list were from the last 6 years, down 1% from last year's statistic of 80% of songs being from the last 5 years.

Again I need to give a proper shoutout to King 810. Both King 810 and Slaves have been bands I haven't stopped listening to over the past two years. Both bands got played a heck of a lot in 2015, but both bands practically doubled their tallies this year. One reason is because they're brilliant bands but the second reason in fairness is because they've both released a new album last year. Both albums are very good. Clearly the message I'm giving you is listen to Slaves and listen to King 810, dammit!!

Well that's it from me at the moment, I'll be back at some point I'm sure with another website project! All the best and thanks for reading!

For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

The Mercyside 100: #10 to #1

Welcome to the final part of The Mercyside 100. On Saturday at around midnight I posted the DJ show revealing the 10 songs I played more than any other in 2013.

You can listen to that DJ show here:

The Mercyside 100: #10 - #1 (24/2/14) by Johnny Mercyside on Mixcloud

But if you want to see the single/album artwork, or want to skip the show to find out The Top 10, here you go!

#10: Bangarang

Artist: Skrillex (feat. Sirah)

Album: Bangarang

Released: 2012

#9: Gentleman

Artist: PSY

Album: None

Released: 2013
Most played song of April 2013

#8: We Like Them Girls

Artist: Your Favourite Martian

Album: None

Released: 2012
Most played song of January 2013

#7: Back in the Saddle

Artist: Aerosmith

Album: Rocks

Released: 1976
Most played song of February 2013

#6: Get Low

Artist: Lil Jon

Album: Kings of Crunk

Released: 2002
Most played song of March 2013

#5: Blackout

Artist: Linkin Park

Album: A Thousand Suns

Released: 2010

#4: Thrift Shop

Artist: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Album: The Heist

Released: 2012

#3: Linchpin

Artist: Fear Factory

Album: Digimortal

Released: 2013

#2: Speaking in Tongues

  
Artist: Eagles of Death Metal

Album: Peace Love Death Metal

Released: 2004

Okay... so... here we are... at the end. Before I reveal the most played song of 2013 in my personal media player, let's recap from #100 to #2...

• #100: Hey, Cruel World… - Marilyn Manson (Born Villain, 2012)
• #99: Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown - Rob Zombie (Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor, 2013)
• #98: My Curse - Killswitch Engage (As Daylight Dies, 2006)
• #97: Babylon - Skindred (Babylon, 2002)
• #96: Supremacy - Muse (The 2nd Law, 2012)
• #95: Ayo Technology - 50 Cent feat. Justin Timberlake and Timbaland (Curtis, 2007)
• #94: 212 (feat. Lazy Jay) - Azealia Banks (1991, 2012)
• #93: Right Now - PSY (PSYFIVE, 2010)
• #92: YYZ - Rush (Moving Pictures, 1981)
• #91: Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd (Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd, 1973)
• #90: Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll - Blue Oyster Cult (Blue Oyster Cult, 1972)
• #89: I Put a Spell on You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins (At Home With, 1956)
• #88: Verta Ja Lihaa - Turmion Katilot (Hoitovirhe, 2004) - Most Played Song November 2013
• #87: Get Up! (feat. Skrillex) - KoRn (The Path of Totality, 2011)
• #86: Low Hangin' Fruit - Tenacious D (Rize of the Fenix, 2012)
• #85: Children of the Grave - Black Sabbath (Master of Reality, 1971)
• #84: Holy Diver - Killswitch Engage (As Daylight Dies, 2006)
• #83: Drivel - The Union Underground (…An Education in Rebellion, 2000)
• #82: The Ritual - Saul Williams (The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, 2007)
• #81: Tarantula (feat. Fresh) - Pendulum (Hold Your Colour, 2005)
• #80: Dracula - Basement Jaxx (2011)
• #79: Baby Got Back - Sir Mix-a-lot (Mack Daddy, 1992)
• #78: Sax Man (feat. Jack Black) - The Lonely Island (Incredibad, 2009)
• #77: Bom Bom - Sam and the Womp (2012)
• #76: Korea - PSY (2012)
• #75: Pussy Liquor - Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses Soundtrack, 2003)
• #74: Pull Me Under - Dream Theater (Images and Words , 1992)
• #73: Vicarious - Tool (10,000 Days, 2006)
• #72: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Disturbed (Asylum, 2010)
• #71: House of the Rising Sun - The Animals (The Animals, 1964)
• #70: My Wall (feat. Excision and Downlink) - KoRn (The Path of Totality, 2011)
• #69: Closer - Nine Inch Nails (The Downward Spiral, 1994)
• #68: I'm on a Boat (feat. T-Pain) - The Lonely Island (Incredibad, 2009)
• #67: Bad Girls - M.I.A. (Matangi, 2012)
• #66: Last Child - Aerosmith (Rocks, 1976)
• #65: White Limo - Foo Fighters (Wasting Light, 2011)
• #64: Fishfingers - The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster (Horse of the Dog, 2002)
• #63: Holy Wars... The Punishment Due - Megadeth (Rust in Peace, 1990)
• #62: Fukken Über Death Party - Hanzel und Gretyl (2012: Zwanzig Zwölf, 2008)
• #61: Jus' a Rascal - Dizzee Rascal (Boy in da Corner, 2004)
• #60: Death By Diamonds and Pearls - Band of Skulls (Baby Darling Doll Face Honey, 2010)
• #59: Slipping Away - Nine Inch Nails (Things Falling Apart, 2000)
• #58: Fire Like This - Hardknox (Hardknox, 1997)
• #57: Go Kindergarten (feat. Robyn) - The Lonely Island (The Wack Album, 2013)
• #56: Crying Lightning - Arctic Monkeys (Humbug, 2009)
• #55: Gold on the Ceiling - The Black Keys (El Camino, 2011)
• #54: Scentless Apprentice - Nirvana (In Utero, 1993)
• #53: People = Shit - Slipknot (Iowa, 2001)
• #52: Redneck - Lamb of God (Sacrament, 2006)
• #51: Sucked In - Jerk (When Pure is Defiled, 2003)
• #50: Pass Out - Tinie Tempah (Disc-Overy, 2009)
• #49: All Time Low - Nine Inch Nails (Hesitation Marks, 2013)
• #48: Low (feat. T-Pain) - Flo Rida (Mail on Sunday, 2007)
• #47: If I Had a Tail - The Queens of the Stone Age (…Like Clockwork, 2013)
• #46: Broken out in Love - (Mark Crozer and The Rels (2012)
• #45: Talk Dirty (feat. 2 Chainz) - Jason Derulo (Tattoos, 2013) - Most Played Song December 2013
• #44: Wretches and Kings - Linkin Park (A Thousand Suns, 2010)
• #43: Go Right Ahead - The Hives (Lex Hives, 2012)
• #42: Enough Space - Foo Fighters (The Colour and the Shape, 1997)
• #41: YOLO (feat. Adam Levine and Kendrick Lamar) - The Lonely Island (The Wack Album, 2013)
• #40: Bodies - Drowning Pool (Sinner, 2001)
• #39: The Great Destroyer - Nine Inch Nails (Year Zero, 2007) - Most Played Song August 2013
• #38: Figure it Out - Serj Tankian (Harakiri, 2012)
• #37: Elephant - Tame Impala (Lonerism, 2012)
• #36: Given Up - Linkin Park (Minutes to Midnight, 2007)
• #35: Salt in the Wounds - Pendulum (Immersion, 2010)
• #34: Gangnam Style - PSY (PSY 6 (Six Rules), Part 1, 2012)
• #33: I am the Warlock (with Jack Black) - Probot (Probot, 2004)
• #32: Hot Monkey Hot Ass (Remix) - Black Moustache (Unmade Beds Soundtrack, 2009)
• #31: Electric Worry - Clutch (From Beale Street to Oblivion, 2010)
• #30: Suit and Tie (feat. Jay-Z) - Justin Timberlake (20/20 Experience, 2013)
• #29: Radioactive - Imagine Dragons (Night Visions, 2012) - Most Played Song May 2013
• #28: The Vulture - Pendulum (Immersion, 2010)
• #27: Bassline Junkie - Dizzee Rascal (The Fifth, 2013)
• #26: Niggas in Paris - Jay-Z and Kanye West (Watch the Throne, 2011)
• #25: Structural Defect - Static-X (Machine, 2001)
• #24: Kalopsia (with Trent Reznor) - The Queens of the Stone Age (…Like Clockwork, 2013)
• #23: Night Street in Seoul (feat. YDG) - PSY (PSYFIVE, 2010)
• #22: Hey Man, Nice Shot - Filter (Short Bus, 1995)
• #21: Blurred Lines (feat. T.I., Pharrell Williams) - Robin Thicke (Blurred Lines, 2013) - Most Played Song July 2013
• #20: Panic Station - Muse (The 2nd Law, 2012)
• #19: Nobody to Love - Josh Homme and David Sardy (End of Watch Soundtrack, 2012)
• #18: Black Skinhead - Kanye West (Yeezus, 2013) - Most Played Song September 2013
• #17: Get to the Gone - Static-X (Machine, 2001)
• #16: Carry on My Wayward Son - Kansas (Leftoverture, 1976)
• #15: Church - T-Pain (Epiphany, 2007)
• #14: Came Back Haunted - Nine Inch Nails (Hesitation Marks, 2013) - Most Played Song June 2013
• #13: Smooth Sailing - The Queens of the Stone Age (…Like Clockwork, 2013)
• #12: Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys (AM, 2013) - Most Played Song October 2013
• #11: Zerstoren - Rammstein (Rosenrot, 2005)
• #10: Bangarang (feat. Sirah) - Skrillex (Bangarang, 2012)
• #9: Gentleman - PSY (2013) - Most Played Song April 2013
• #8: We Like Them Girls - Your Favorite Martian (2012) - Most Played Song January 2013
• #7: Back in the Saddle - Aerosmith (Rocks, 1976) - Most Played Song February 2013
• #6: Get Low - Lil John (Kings of Crunk, 2002) - Most Played Song March 2013
• #5: Blackout - Linkin Park (A Thousand Suns, 2010)
• #4: Thrift Shop - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (The Heist, 2012)
• #3: Linchpin - Fear Factory (Digimortal, 2001)
• #2: Speaking in Tongues - Eagles of Death Metal (Peace Love Death Metal, 2004)

...so! The most played song on my personal media player last year was...

#1: Rock and Roll (In a Black Hole)

Artist: Rob Zombie

Album: Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor

Released: 2013

Such a great song. It's definitely been my favourite song to come out of 2013. It wasn't a single but I loved listening to this track since the first time it hit my ears. It's just awesome. I highly recommend you listen to it if you like groove metal, or Rob Zombie in general.

So there we go! After 7 weeks I've finally finished the list! I hope you've enjoyed reading, or listening, or both reading and listening to the 100 songs that shaped 2013 for me. Hopefully you've found some new stuff you've never heard before. Let me know if you have! It'll be great to know I've got you into something new.

Here's some statistics for you, if you're interested...

31 songs were not singles.
...which obviously means that 69 songs were singles!

Albums with Multiple Entries
A Thousand Suns - Linkin Park: #5 Blackout, #49 Wretches and Kings
As Daylight Dies - Killswitch Engage: #84 Holy Diver, #98 My Curse
Hesitation Marks - Nine Inch Nails: #14 Came Back Haunted, #49 All Time Low
Immersion - Pendulum: #28 The Vulture, #35 Salt in the Wounds
Incredibad - The Lonely Island: #68 I'm on a Boat, #78 Sax Man
Machine - Static-X: #17 Get to the Gone, #25 Structural Defect
PSYFIVE - PSY: #23 Night Street in Seoul, #93 Right Now
Rocks - Aerosmith: #7 Back in the Saddle, #66 Last Child
The 2nd Law - Muse: #20 Panic Station, #96 Supremacy
The Path of Totality - KoRn: #70 My Wall, #87 Get Up!
The Wack Album - The Lonely Island: #41 YOLO, #57 Go Kindergarten
Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor - Rob Zombie: #1 Rock and Roll (In a Black Hole), #99 Dead City Radio and the New Gods of Supertown

...all the above had two entries. One album had three entries...

...Like Clockwork - The Queens of the Stone Age: #13 Smooth Sailing, #24 Kalopsia, #47 If I Had a Tail

...and "...Like Clockwork" was my favourite album of 2013, which makes sense.

Another interesting entry above is that The Lonely Island is the only artist with two albums with multiple entries.

Most Entries - Artists
2 Entries - Aerosmith, Arctic Monkeys, Dizzee Rascal, Foo Fighters, Jack Black (1 with Probot, 1 with Tenacious D), Jay-Z (1 with Kanye West, 1 with Justin Timberlake), Justin Timberlake (1 with 50 Cent, 1 solo), Kanye West, Killswitch Engage, KoRn, Muse, Skrillex (1 with KoRn, 1 solo)
3 Entries - Linkin Park, Pendulum, The Queens of the Stone Age, Rob Zombie, T-Pain (1 with Flo Rida, 1 with The Lonely Island, 1 solo)
4 Entries - The Lonely Island
5 Entries - Josh Homme (3 with The Queens of the Stone Age, 1 with Eagles of Death Metal, 1 solo), Nine Inch Nails, PSY
6 Entries:
Trent Reznor (5 with Nine Inch Nails, 1 with The Queens of the Stone Age)
8 Entries:
Dave Grohl (3 with The Queens of the Stone Age, 2 with Foo Fighters, 1 with Tenacious D, 1 with Probot, 1 with Nirvana)

I can't believe, technically, Dave Grohl appeared 8 times in this list! Very odd!

Here's some charts showing you how often songs appeared by the year, or decade...

Didn't think there was much point putting individual years until 2000.

Considering there were only 4 years in the 2010s so far, that's a lot of recent entries.

More songs were played from 2012 than 2013, which, when you think about it, makes some sense. Songs that were released in 2012 had at least a whole year of opportunity to get played, where as, say, Talk Dirty by Jason Derulo, only had from August to December to get played.

Okay, so that's the end of the list! Next week I'll be bringing back The Rock and Metal Double Feature Show, so if you have any requests in rock or metal genres of music, let me know! The show will be up at around midnight, Saturday 1st March! Take care!

The Mercyside 100: #10 to #1: 24/2/14
Track listing:
Bangarang (feat. Sirah) - Skrillex
Gentleman - PSY
We Like Them Girls - Your Favorite Martian
Back in the Saddle - Aerosmith
Get Low - Lil John
Blackout - Linkin Park
Thrift Shop - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
Linchpin - Fear Factory
Speaking in Tongues - Eagles of Death Metal
Rock and Roll (In a Black Hole) - Rob Zombie
Total running time: 01:10:13

See other parts of this listing!

#100 to #86 | #85 to #71 | #70 to #56 | #55 to #41 | #40 to #26 | #25 to #11 | #10 to #1

Other entries you might want to read:
Big News Regarding My DJing - Personal Blog
The Metal Hour Show (20/1/14) - DJ Show
My Top 50 Favourite Video Game Villains - Listing

For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

Mercy Licks - March 2013

Hey there, and welcome to the third edition of my Mercy Links. This section is basically me revealing to you the ten songs I've been listening to the most every month. I did February last month and naturally that makes March next on the list.

So what are the Ten Mercy Licks of March 2013? Let's find out...

#10: "Thrift Shop" - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
This song was a sleeper with me. My brother told me to listen to it, I didn't like it. My friends started playing it, I still didn't think much of it. But it just kept being played in the background in my presence and eventually I caved in. I do like this song, it's very catchy and it sounds different to a lot of the hip hop around at the moment. It's a great track.

#9: "Elephant" - Tame Impala
I heard this on an advert and immediately sought out the song. Adverts are always a good source for decent songs that aren't immediately mainstream. It turned out this song wasn't a big hit when it came out in the first half of last year, and I seem like a minority in searching for the track beyond the advert, which is a shame, as it's a funky little psychedelic indie track. Give it a listen.

#8: "Figure it Out" - Serj Tankian
Serj's solo career away from System of a Down, while has never lacked in effort or quality, has for me and a lot of people been quite underwhelming. It's always hard for a solo career to outshine or even be just as good as a band career, but to be fair, it's even harder when that band is System of a Down, probably the most popular metal band of the last decade (although Slipknot may also claim that crown). But "Figure It Out" is a cracker of a track, and shows Serj has never left his SOAD roots, despite him changing his music direction quite a lot throughout his solo career. It really deserves a listen if you haven't heard it before, especially if you're a SOAD fan.

#7: "Low (feat. T-Pain)" - Flo Rida
I've always liked "Low", although I've never really liked admitting it. I've found myself playing it a lot recently for some reason, more than likely because it comes on a lot in the local club. It's just a really good RnB track, and man, I can't believe it's five years old now. That's a little weird.


#6: "Church" - T-Pain
Ladies and gentlemen! T-Pain makes the list twice, well, kinda. He wasn't the featured artist on the post above so I don't really consider him a double entry. Besides, this song is better than the one above, but chances are you haven't heard this track. I truly mean it when I say this is one of RnB's really great yet underrated tracks of the last decade. I really think you should give it a listen, if it's a genre of music you like chances are you'll really appreciate it.

#5: "Bangarang (feat. Sirah)" - Skrillex
Last Month: #2
And the first song to be featured in multiple months is "Bangarang" by Skrillex. I don't really know what to add to what I said last month, so all I'll say is that it's definitely not boring to play this track yet. It's still fricking awesome and I have it as my ringtone.

#4: "Linchpin" - Fear Factory

Last Month: #7
I predicted this would be featured in March and I was right. In fact, I played it more in March than I did in February. I do love this song a lot. It's just fantastic, and it's become one of my favourite ever industrial tracks. I don't know why I didn't pay more attention to it earlier; I had heard the song years ago!

#3: "Jus a Rascal" - Dizzee Rascal

It's funny. I also played "Bassline Junkie" a lot too, his newest track, which is pretty great I have to admit, but I recently rediscovered this song from his first album. It's probably my favourite Dizzee Rascal song but I had completely forgot about it, and how good it was too. If you're a fan of Dizzee and haven't heard this song, play it now, it sounds as fresh now as it did when it came out.

#2: "Niggas in Paris" - Jay-Z and Kanye West

For some reason, it took me ages to download this song, and since I have I have played it a shit load. It's just one of the best collaborations ever, but then again, Jay-Z has a habit of making great music with other music artists. And Kanye, musical talent wise, is great, even if he comes across as a total dick as a personality. Anyway, "Niggas in Paris" is just an incredible song, and one of the best songs to come out in 2011.

#1: "Get Low" - Lil Jon

Brrrrr-dum-dum... I love this song so much. And the bass is just so awesome on it when you turn it up. Not that that's the reason I've played it so much. I've just been hearing it a lot recently, and evidently played it even more at home. It was simply one of the best hip-hop songs of the last decade, and hasn't aged a bit. Whatever happened to Lil John anyway? He never stayed at the top for very long. This song is just a classic though. I love it.

So, that's a wrap for today. I hope you've enjoyed this list. Until next time, take care!

If you liked this article you might want to read:

• Mercy Licks - February 2013 - Listing
• Metal is Dead - Music Article
• Best of Industrial - Mixtape

For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!