If you were wondering why our previous installment of 'Most Anticipated Album Releases of 2012' didn't feature any local acts... there was a reason for that. We have debated, deliberated and pulled many strands of hair in wishing that more could be included in the list. However, the following native heroes made the cut... in no particular order:

Despite the crappy weather of yesterday’s ‘Shtraya’ Day that affected all those wishing to indulge in some good ol’ Aussie shindigs at the beach or chuck back some coldies at a music festival (at least in Sydney), Triple J’s hottest 100 countdown became the rock of our iconic day. Parties were held in commemoration of its greatness and all Shtrayans worth their salt paused as the the number one track of the year was announced... which was no bloody surprise.

2012 is sure to be a great year for music, with many artists making a re-appearance after many years of hiding (in the form of recording in the studio). In alphabetical order, we present the 10 Most Anticipated Releases of 2012. Starting with...

Jumping on the bandwagon, here, in no particular order, are twelve Australian bands we're looking out for in 2012... five bands from overseas we're predicting big things for here in Australia... AND a couple of Australian bands the rest of the world should have their eye on! Madness! Read on...

What an amazing year we had in 2011! We bring our 2011 "Best Of" retrospective coverage to an end with a look back now at our 11 favourite tours from the year, featuring the international artists we hope will keep coming back to Australia for more...

What an amazing year we had in 2011! We're taking a look back now at our 11 favourite tours from the year, featuring the local artists who dominated our live scene...

We asked our contributors to share with us their favourite festivals of 2011. We collected the votes and these were their TOP FIVE touring festivals of 2011...

The “crème de la crème” of nights to celebrate the music industry, the Grammy Awards, is fast approaching and we couldn’t help but take a minute to reflect on the memorable performances over the last decade. Sure enough, there have been lots of controversial, genre-crossing and boundary pushing displays of unity between acts, however, the ones that stand out firmly deserve a mention... for a multitude of reasons.

3. Eminem feat. Elton John – “Stan” (2001)

In spite of lagging ticket sales, the 2012 Big Day Out boasts one of the strongest lineups in years. Sure, you've got a couple of frequent visitors, but from the top to the bottom, artists we've never seen in Australia litter the lineup, alongside the best in local talent. So we've put together 10 tracks we can't wait to hear at Big Day Out - some we'll be hearing for the first time, some old favourites - which was actually terribly difficult to narrow down. This should be one hell of a party.

Sydney Festival is as ingrained in Sydney music culture as the Hottest 100 is to Australia Day, and every year it just gets better and better. This year the festival sticks with what's worked so well over the last few years - from Festival First Night, to the Spiegeltent and the Keystone Festival Bar (Formerly Beck's Festival Bar) - while adding in new features at Parramatta, a free "Hunting Lodge" at the Festival Garden, and the anticipated Black Capital. In our fourth consecutive year of coverage of the event, here's a look at 10 of the events - both musical and otherwise - that we can't wait for at Sydney Festival 2012.

As voted by the AU review contributors, here are our favourite 11 music videos of 2011, which continues Gotye and Kimbra's sweep of our 2011 awards. Unlike the last countdowns, we'll let the videos speak for themselves....

And we're here! It's time to announce the top 10 albums of 2011, as voted by the contributors of the AU review. But before we get there, you may remember we had an album on the list released back in 2010 (Grinderman 2)... so we're going to kick off our final countdown with a look at what made number 41 on our list.

Let's dive right into the final batch of favourite tracks of 2011, as voted by AU review contributors! The number one choice won by a landslide and we reckon this is a pretty good indication of what's to come for the Hottest 100... does anyone else really stand a chance? Read on!

We're back with the top half of our top 20 countdown albums of 2011 list, and like all those before it, it's an electic pile of music from around the world that our contributors have been loving over the last 12 months. Let's get it started!

Let's dive right into the next batch of favourite tracks of 2011, as voted by AU review contributors!

20.

In 2011, this Melbourne based band became fast favourites of the live scene, with their catchy riffs, energetic stage presence and tracks like this one, which stick with you long after you turn it off...

The Fearless Vampire Killers - Tell Me What You're Trying To Say