re: Best Albums of 2015

Sufjan Stevens - Carrie and Lowell
Alabama Shakes - Sound and Colour
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free
Tame Impala - Currents
Chris Stapleton - Traveler
Leon Bridges - Coming Home
Kacey Musgraves - Pageant Material

Just found Hop Along album from this thread, and it's solid. I've been listening all afternoon.

Some other albums not all mentioned here that I enjoyed this year:

Ratatat - Magnifique
Lyrics Born - Real People
Galactic - Into the Deep
The Revivalists - Men Amongst Mountains
Oddisee - The Good Fight
People Under the Stairs - The Gettin' Off Stage, Step 1
Jackie Greene - Back to Birth
BT - Electronic Opus
Wilco - Star Wars

Amazed how few aren't listing Grimes at all

15 for '15!

1. Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy
2. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
3. Grimes - Art Angels
4. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
5. Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect
6. Ought - Sun Coming Down
7. Beach Slang - The Things We Do to Find People Who Feel Like Us
8. Sleater-Kinney - No Cities to Love
9. Tame Impala - Currents
10. Tenement - Predatory Headlights
11. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
12. Deerhunter - Fading Frontier
13. The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Harmlessness
14. Built to Spill - Untethered Moon
15. Title Fight - Hyperview

EDIT: Tenement added, Tobias Jesso Jr dropped

quote:

---

American Aquarium - Wolves

---

Not their best, but had a few songs I liked.

quote:

---

Toadies - Heretics

---

Had no idea they came out with a new record. I'm going to have to check it out.

Also in no order:

The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid to Die: Harmlessness.
Lord Huron: Strange Trails
Grimes: Art Angels
Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly
Panopticon: Autumn Eternal
Title Fight: Hyperview
Deafheaven: New Bermuda
A$AP Rocky: AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP
Vince Staples: Summertime ‘066
Natalie Prass: Natalie Prass
Tobias Jesso: Goon
Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment: Surf
Grimes: Art Angels
Jason Isbell: Something More than Free
Beach House: Depression Cherry
Screaming Females: Rose Mountain

Bonus: I’m sure the new Baroness will crack this list once I get to listen to it in its entirety


Notable Exception: some albums that I'm surprised didn't make my list because they just never sank in for me for whatever reason. I'll probably end up coming back and appreciating them later, but they never really made it into heavy rotation for me:
Sufjan Stevens: Carrie and Lowell
Titus Andronicus: The Most Lamentable Tragedy

Random thoughts: This was also a strange year in my hip hop. I included TPAB and Surf on there because they were great, ambitious albums. That being said, both are full of interludes and instrumental sections that have me hitting skip pretty often when I listen to them. That should probably knock them out of "best albums," but the singles on them are so strong (and in the case of TPAB, the concept is so strong) that they still made my list.

I'm surprised that very little electronic music (other than Grimes, which really is a lot more than that) made my list. I did vibe on the Jamie XX album quite a bit, but probably not frequently enough to include it.

All in all, it was a fun year in music, but I didn't listen as much as I normally do. I ended up getting into some TV shows, so whereas I usually sit on my laptop, work, and listen to music with my headphones, I was sitting on my laptop, working, and watching TV shows at night. That cut down on a lot of my listening.

Albums that I recommend everyone check out which isn't showing up on a lot of lists:
The World is a Beautiful Place
Title Fight
Panopticon (if you can handle metal at all, it's a really pretty album).

It really is. I've been paying attention him/them since that first album, Kentucky, that featured a bunch of bluegrass interludes and such in with the metal. I just loved the concept (and the lyrical content). But to see the maturation over a few years into this really fully formed, awesome album is really cool.

Another metal album that I just found which I'm loving but discovered too late to put it on my list.
Elder: Lore

Really cool psychedelic/prog stuff in with the metal. I love metal that does a lot of genre bending.

Chris Stapleton - Traveler
Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
City and Colour - If I Should Go Before You
The Arcs - Yours Dreamily

quote:

---

Have you listened to that Hop Along album I and a few others were talking about? I think it would be right up your alley.

---

Yeah. It's good not great. I think people are forcing it. Speedy Ortiz is a lot better if you're trying to get your 90's indie fix, as are the Front Bottoms.

I don't want to bad mouth it. It's a good record. It's just not a great one. I feel its getting a little overpraised.