SHREDnews

Bekka Collins was the first Shred News writer from overseas. She joined the staff earlier on in the launch and well it’s hard to imagine Shred News with out her. Bekka does all of Shred News’s social media stuff, those sweet Tumblr posts, all her. Bekka is the youngest writer on staff, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that from her writing. She’s known for doing her “UK Band” series where she writes about up and coming UK bands.

1. Mutemath Armistice. I actually adore this album making it one of my all time favorites of 2009. My favorite tracks off this album are “Clipping” and “The Nerve” due to both of their remarkable catchy guitar riffs. They are definitely the songs I appreciate most sound wise but regarding lyrics I really enjoy “Backfire”, although the lyrics are fairly simple and repetitive I think they make a lot of sense and can be related back to different situations.

2. Paramore Brand New Eyes. When this album was scheduled for release I was nervous about it. Thankfully though, this album really shows how much the band has matured both as people and as musicians. It’s a whole step up from both previous albums All We Know Is Falling and even Riot! Both the lyrics and music present a more mature feeling to those previous catchy songs from Riot! and the slower jams from All We Know Is Falling. The tracks that stand out the most for me are “Looking Up”, “Where The Lines Overlap” and “Misguided Ghosts”. “Misguided Ghosts” in fact for me, portrays such emotion and power that I can’t help but play it over and over. It’s such an amazing album in my opinion.

3. VersaEmerge VersaEmerge EP. This EP is my favorite pretty much of all time, never mind of 2009. Versa Emerge are one of my favorite bands, and even with favorite bands there’s always songs that you don’t really like as much as the others but there’s not one song on it I dislike and I think that they all have different aspects to them that I love. Whether it’s from the powerful guitar riffs in “Past Praying For” the incredible lyrics in “The Hider” and even the eerie sound that’s portrayed through the instrumental track “Theatrics” at the beginning of the EP. I can’t fault this EP and I would recommend it to anyone. It’s truly fantastic.

4. A Day To Remember Homesick. Normally I’m not into a great deal of “screamo” music as I would call it but according to Wikipedia it’s described as “post-hardcore”. Whatever genre you wanna call it, it’s not usually my thing but something about A Day To Remember makes me love them. I think it’s the fact they can go from gang vocals of screaming to Jeremy singing powerfully, and not screaming. I love “I’m Made Of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?” and “Holdin’ It Down For The Underground”. In fact they are both songs that make me sing along without me releasing at when it gets to the screaming parts I end up whispering because I don’t think my vocals chords could handle it. “If It Means A Lot To You” which features  Sierra Kusterbeck (VersaEmerge) is also another song I really love due to the fact it’s the only acoustic song on the album and sounds awesome when Sierra’s and Jeremy’s vocals are combined. Even if you’re not a fan of screaming but like powerful vocals I’d check it out.

5. Cobra Starship Hot Mess This album is what I like to call one of my “Happy Albums”, it sounds stupid but hopefully I’ll do an adequate job of explaining to you if you do not own this album as to why you should. You know those average days which are okay, they’re not dreadful but they’re not exactly exciting either. On those days I tend to put this album on shuffle and it automatically makes the day much better. Whilst listening to this album I tend to find myself tapping my feet on the floor in time to the beat as well as simultaneously moving my head and swaying in my chair. Besides that I find myself instead of whistling, I’m humming the choruses to songs like “Nice Guys Finish Last”, “Hot Mess” and “Living In The Sky With Diamonds”.

6. Lily Allen It’s Not Me, It’s You. This album was a great success for Lily Allen with her songs such as “The Fear” and “Not Fair” reaching high rankings in the charts as well as receiving lots of radio play for weeks on end. However the song that drew me to this album and that is my favorite is “Back To The Start”. This song makes the whole album for me with its catchy pop like beat that’s maintained throughout. Other great songs I would recommend are “Everyone’s At It” and “I Could Say”. All in all it’s a fairly good album with some top hits thrown in.

7. Enter Shikari Common Dreads. Enter Shikari are generally a unique band, that seem to have raw energy in almost every single one of their songs. I personally think this is a fantastic album and I have nothing else to say as to why I like it so much. It’s just different to other bands that are out there. “Juggernauts”, “Zzzonked” and “Step Up” are my favorite tracks off the record.

8. The Rocket Summer You Gotta Believe EP. I’ve never been disappointed with any Rocket Summer album or EP and I’m not about to start now. Even though it’s only a 4 track EP there isn’t one song that I don’t like. “Light” is such an amazing song, and the lyrics are quite inspirational. 10/10 for this EP, simple as. If you are a fan of The Rocket Summer I think you will agree that it does not disappoint in the slightest.

9. Muse The Resistance. I have a lot of respect for Muse, and each time they release a new album they improve each and every time and I never see how it’s possible for them to do this, seeing as in my eyes they are in fact musical geniuses. However, I was actually disappointed with “The Resistance” and you are now probably questioning as to why it’s in my top 10 albums. Well, any new music from Muse is a good thing, but as a whole I’m not a big fan of the album. However with a few songs I was pleasantly surprised and impressed and feel that with them, the album deserves to be sitting on the shelves in music stores, but without them on it I would be thoroughly disappointed if bought it expecting what previous albums have entailed. Some of the songs that I think deserve a whole load of recognition are “Uprising”, “Undisclosed Desires” and “I Belong to You / Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix”.

10. The Summer Set Love Like This. I only recently began listening to The Summer Set and expected the usual, an average band with average songs. Surprisingly I was wrong. Instead I found myself listening to a band who I thought had mature lyrics with mature music to intertwine with. I was pleasantly happy just sitting tapping my feet to songs I didn’t really know and picking the lyrics up as I went. It’s now one of my most played albums of this year so I would really recommend it to fans of Anarbor and A Rocket To The Moon. My top tracks are “Chelsea” “Punch-Drunk Love” “Girls Freak Me Out” and “Young”.