Best Of 2011 part 6

Sole & The Skyrider Band - "Hello Cruel World"

This album is really interesting to me. He hits a lot of different angles of hip hop, but it still sounds focused and like all the songs fit on an album with each other. Unlike the other Skyrider Band albums, this does not have any live band elements, but the beats on here are quite nice. Boomin bass and definitely a much different sound from his early Anticon days, both lyrically and production-wise. In a good way.

Zion I & The Grouch - "Heroes In The Healing Of The Nation"

I don't know if they really live up to the title they made for this one, but it's still a good LP full of them doing what they do good. This is pretty on par with their first collaborative LP, the only thing that ever seems to hold them back is the occaisional lackluster beat from Amp Live, which he always makes up for on the dope beats.

People Under The Stairs - "Highlighter"

A par for the course PUTS album. Nothin wrong with that, they're always tight.

Louis CK - "Hilarious"

One of the strongest stand-up sets i've ever heard.

Hank Williams III - "Hillbilly Joker"

This was his last major label album. More of a long EP, only about 33 minutes long, this is all mostly what he calls his 'hellbilly' style, which is like rockabilly with a hard edge. During his live shows he uses this material to transition from the country songs into the metal songs he does later on in the show.

Beastie Boys - "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two"

This isn't really the comeback album i'd hoped for, but it's still an acceptable Beastie Boys LP. I think I enjoy this more than "To The 5 Boroughs" just for the grimy production style on most of the tracks, I don't think it's actually better. I also think it's amusing they still have a hit single off this that fits in with today's music world ("Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win"), even if it doesn't really fit on this album or even really sound like a Beastie Boys song. That single has some fresh remixes on it too, actually.

Mayer Hawthorne- "How Do You Do"

Straight from Stones Throw to the major labels, he hit this one out of the park. Better than his debut in every way, this is the opposite of a sophomore slump album. They need to release the song with Snoop Dogg on here as the next single, it's a huge hit waiting to happen.

Mastodon - "The Hunter"

I actually hated "Crack The Skye" when it was new, and it took a good year for it to grow on me. Luckily this new one didn't have the same effect, they just always seem to make good sounding rock music.

Jazzsteppa - "Hyper Nomads"

The mixture of jazz and dubstep seems kinda gimmicky, but I can't help but like this album.

Salem- "I'm Still In The Night"

Really looking forward to their next full length after how bugged out this 4 song EP is. Light it up and throw this on and get astro.

Nick Diamonds - "I Am An Attic"

Nick Diamonds is the lead singer of Islands, and formerly The Unicorns. He gave away this solo album for free, but it's hardly throwaway material. This has me eagerly anticipating the new Islands album that's about to drop. Apparently him and El-P are also working on a collabo project called The Stepsons. I can't wait for that.

Mariachi El Bronx - "II"

This band is normally a rock band called The Bronx that I don't particularily care for, but they started doing this mariachi music as a side project, and it sounds great. This is the 2nd album of them doing this as indicated by the title.