The LSJ Local Music Beat ‘Best of 2011 in Music,’ Picked by You - Part 1

Best of 2011: Local musicians pick the top Michigan albums of the year

This past year brought plenty of fantastic albums from mid-Michigan bands and artists. Per usual, we've put together a list of the “Best of 2011 in Music,” with various Lansing musicians, hip-hop artists and promoters offering up their favorite albums of 2011. The list was so long that I had to divide the picks into two weeks! Find part one of the two-part series, below. (The list is in alphabetical order.) For more, check out this week's Lansing State Journal What’s On.

What's your favorite local album of 2011? Let us know in the conversation, below!

Who: Jim Albrecht
Role: Bass player in Lansing metal band Genocya
Top local album of 2011: Battlecross, "Push Pull Destroy"
Why? Even though this was released nationally by Metal Blade this year, it's my local favorite of the year. Very good mix of good song writing/riffs and playing ability, and has something a lot of today's Metal lacks...great solos! Totally crushes any of the radio-friendly metal out there. These guys are definitely making Michigan proud!

Who: Nate Dorough
Role: Owner/talent buyer, Fusion Shows
Favorite local album: La Dispute, "Wildlife"
Why? I hate putting them in my "local" album slot, since the record was released nationally, charted on Billboard, and there's so many more independent releases from Michigan that made an impact on me this year. But no record made me FEEL like this one did.  La Dispute wrote a 14 song masterpiece, and people need to know about it. Like it or hate it, it evokes emotion in every one that listens to it, and if that doesn't define art, I don't know what does. 

Who: Craig Horky
Role: Bass player Cavalcade, guitarist the Cartridge Family, in-house designer for Bermuda Mohawk Productions, advertising graphic designer with Advertising Company of America
Top local album of 2011: Small Brown Bike, “Fell and Found”
Why? I've been a fan of them since the first album, and the first time I ever went to Mac’s bar was for a small brown bike show over a decade ago. This release is more than just nostalgia for me, though. It reminded me what it was that I had been nostalgic for.

Who: Ron Howard
Role: Design at Fusion Shows, Management for Jeff Pianki at Phantom Creative Group
Favorite local album: The Soil & the Sun, “Wake Up Child” (Download it for free via the group's Bandcamp site.)
Why? The Soil & the Sun makes beautiful music. Along with having a great record, they put on an amazing live show with an 8-piece band.

Who: Randall Ladiski
Role: Musician in Dagon and Whiskey Diski & the Barrel Boys
Favorite Local Album: The Devastator, "EP"
This album is straight up heavy. No pretenses, no bandwagon jumping, and best of all, no breakdowns! This is American Death Metal the way it's supposed to be played. Blast beats, sick slams, brutal vocals, thick guitar tone, and musical technicality that makes the music interesting, yet still accessible.

Name: Irving Ronk
Role: Co-owner of Fusion Shows
Favorite local album: Jeff Pianki, “Paper Window”
Why? I heard this come out last year, but I discovered it this year. Hands down my favorite record by a local musician, ever. It's not perfect, but it's damn close.

Jeff has figured out his sound, a middle ground of Damien Rice meets Bob Dylan, and he puts real emotion into every lyric, which is hard to come by.

Who: Cale Sauter
Role: Musician in Cavalcade and the Cartridge Family, owner of Bermuda Mohawk Productions
Favorite Local Album of 2011: The Hunky Newcomers, “Hard Dude Stuff”
Why? I have to give another big round of honorable mentions for Small Brown Bike’s “Fell & Found,” Genocya’s “Ever Descent” and The Plurals’ “The Plurals Today, The Plurals Tomorrow: a Futurospective.”

That said, for whatever reason, the Hunky Newcomers record ended up being the soundtrack to just about anything fun I did this year. That's not to say that the album was playing at those times, but just as likely, the band itself was...at a party somewhere. This is just four dudes looking to party, writing songs about looking to party. It's beautiful in its simplicity and ridiculousness, but it's staying power is in the catchiness you absolutely do NOT expect this have. Ridiculous. You probably can't even find a physical copy of this album unless you scraped it off the beer soaked floor of somebody's basement.