Louder Than The Music

Louder Than The Music wishes everyone a very Happy New Year! As we welcome in 2011, Jono and Dave take a look back at the past year, and think ahead to what's to come this year.

Looking back at 2010...

Jono: What a year we have just had, some amazing releases, but the two albums that stood out for me have to be Rend Collective Experiment 'Organic Family Hymnal' and LZ7 'Light'. I had the opportunity to see Rend live on the Frances Chan tour, and they lived up to the hype, they are going on tour with Chris Tomlin in America in 2011 and hopefully you guys from the USA will get the opportunity to check them out.

Dave: Those were some great UK releases, but from the US two of my favourite albums of the year have to be the stunning Newsboys release 'Born Again', and right at the end of the year Chris Tomlin with 'And If Our God Is For Us'. The Newsboys have turned out an album that is up there amongst the best a Christian band have ever recorded, in my opinion. It's just the ultimate rock/pop sing-along album, crammed with brilliant summer anthems. On the other hand, Chris Tomlin's latest shows exactly why he is the in-form worship leader of the moment. With incredible worship tracks like 'Our God' and 'I Will Follow', this album has barely left my CD player since it's release.

Jono:

 With regards to LZ7, 2010 has been a massive year for them, apart from winning three 2010 LTTM awards, the band had a top 26 UK mainstream chart hit with 'This Little Light' and they then released their album 'Light', which isn't a one trick pony album, it's a 12 track trick pony, but what made the release so great was that they backed up all the hype of the single with those 12 strong tracks, each of which could easily have been singles. Hopefully the chart momentum will continue for this brilliant group.

What to look forward to in 2011...

Jono: Well I think and hope 2011 will be as exciting and interesting as the last 12 months have been, hopefully producing exciting independent bands and artists for LTTM to discover and show to you guys. It's always nice to be able to bring to your attention fresh and interesting artists who maybe haven't had the biggest platform to show their songs, I hope we managed to do this for you in 2011.

Dave: Yes, LTTM will continue championing the best unsigned, independent artists out there. We are passionate about promoting Christian music and often some of the best gems come from artists that struggle to get noticed. What about the more well known artists Jono?

Jono: In regards to big artist releases for the new year, I'm personally very excited about seeing how The City Harmonic grow with the release of their full album. They have just put out a small EP Introducing The City Harmonic, which has really captured my imagination, some interesting and fresh sounding sound coming from these Canadian rockers. Other albums that I can't wait to hear are, Hillsong United 'Aftermath' and Tim Hughes 'Love Shines Through', these two albums will probably sell well, but at LTTM we are very interested to see what these great artists have to offer.

Dave: Something else that is going to be amazing in 2011 is the UK's BigChurchDayOut. Have you seen the line up this year? An incredible list of some of the best artists Christian music has to offer with TobyMac, David Crowder Band, Chris Tomlin, Newsboys and Matt Redman all on the mainstage. Not to mention some great UK artists like LZ7, Dweeb, Trent and Lou Fellingham.

Happy New Year...

We at LTTM would like to wish you all a great new year. 2010 has been amazing for us, we are so grateful for all your support, thank you to everyone who took time out and voted at the 2010 LTTM Awards, they have been our biggest so far and of course we hope to bring the awards back at the end of 2011. Over the next 12 months the face and shape of LTTM will continue to improve and change, and we hope you can join us on this exciting journey.

Jono & Dave