Top 5 Albums of 2015

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Honorable Mentions:
Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls. Hasn't had the legs for me I thought it would. I really dig that 20 minute 'Empire of the Clouds' epic though.
The Darkness - Last of Our Kind. IMO, their weakest album _however_ the song 'Last of Our Kind'. Is one of my favorites of theirs and was my feel good jam of the summer, if not the year. I still don't tire of it.
Corb Lund - Things That Can't Be Undone. I'm not sure how well this guy is received in Canada. He could be the Canadian Blake Sheldon, a d-bag, but I really like his music and style. He came through Texas about two years ago, but an ice storm prevented him from coming south of Dallas. I hope swings through again at some point.

5) Lucero - All A Man Should Do
They've moved a little away from the Memphis Soul emphasized on their previous album and this goes more into the slower ballads like the recent Texas & Tennessee EP. Still my favorite band to listen to on road trips and this album got played plenty last week as we hiked the Chisos Mountains and canoed the Rio Grande for my 41st.


4) John Carpenter - Lost Themes
We're about a decade into synthwave's livespan and the grandfather puts out his album. Not a George Miller/Fury Road level schooling, but a great album nontheless. Perfect for playing Space Hulk: Death Angel or Neuroshima Hex to.


3) The Sword - High Country
I still feel Apocryphon may be the best 'Sword' album if one were to only buy a single album of theirs. But, I like this one more. It's their most diverse album to date with some tracks having a psychedelic Hawkwind vibe.


2) Night Birds - Mutiny at Muscle Beach
I'm not sure if this album is really great or if it's the fact that I discovered the band this year. I haven't listened to this sort of snotty punk since the early 90s when I veered into Oi and Street Punk. I feel like I'm 15 when listening to the Night Birds. This and the proceeding album 'Born to Die in Suburbia' have made it into my workout playlist.


1) Ryan Bingham - Fear and Saturday Night
After the success of The Weary Kind, someone made the call to tamper with the formula. His rodeo circuit band was gone and the following albums didn't have the same edge as his earlier two albums. Well, this one is not only back to form, but his absolute best to date, IMO. Not a single dude on the album and I could listen to this forever. It came out last Jan and held the title all year. I had a hard time deciding what video to include here, and since I couldn't make up my mind, am simply going with the lead off track.

I don't think I could make a list of 5, as I did buy an usually amount of great music this year, but I'll share my top 2 and my best "New To Me" record.

2. Dan Andriano and the Emergency Room - Party Adjacent

I'm way too fucking old to care about what Alkaline Trio is doing these days, but Danny put out a stellar, mature solo record this year, better than anything Alkaline Trio has done probably ever, and it didn't go away with the passing of seasons (which is typically what happens with me). Really loved this and it's the kind of album that makes me want to pick up a guitar again and write some new tunes. Danny handles both rockers and sad-bastard-ballads really well on this.





1. Baroness - Purple

This came out on December 19th and has already shot to my favorite album of the year. I didn't think they could top Yellow & Green, but they did. Every aspect of this album is completely on point, but the vocal melodies are especially terrific.





Best New To Me of 2015 - Graveyard - Hisingen Blues

These guys did put a new record out this year and it is really good, but this one...man. I've listened to this album more times than anything in the last year and I'm still just as into it when I first heard it.






I also really like High Country by The Sword.

Tough call for me. I can't really put them in an order but I can list a few none the less.

Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly - a great step forward for popular hip hop with a touch of Ornette Coleman style experimentation. This album is a lot of fun.



D'agnelo: Black Messiah - I loved this album, it's a complete package and the songs all flow nicely from one to the next. It feels almost like a throw back but there are enough new idea's on there to keep it fresh enough.



Hiromi: Alive - one of the best jazz albums I've heard in years. Obviously she is a virtuoso but there is more to this album than technique.



Deafheaven: New Bermuda - if not better than the first certainly different enough to warrant owning both. It's a little more riff heavy this time around and a little less pop focused.



James McMurtry: Copper Canteen - a great under-recognized songwriter with an original voice and some heart breaking lyrics.



Natalie Prass: Natalie Prass - more for my wife but I always try to find things that she will like and this was a big hit with her this year. Natalie can pen a pretty decent pop tune and delivers the lyrics with a kind of weirdo ease. It's catchy but it's also a little deeper than is expected from pop.



I also dug Chvrches new recrod, Bjorks, Ruben Silk and a few others. Not the best year for great albums (last year was much better for me as I expect next year to be - new Michael Daves alone has me pumped) but there were some pleasant surprises.

Spotify has broadened my music selection and I get to find groups that I certainly will never see tour here in west Michigan. These are in no particular order. I am rather enjoying the rock coming out of Europe like The Amorettes and Small Jackets.

5. Hi Honey - Low Cut Connie


4. Dotted Lines - Dana Immanuel


3. Pleasure to Meet You - Dead Sara


2. All or Nothin' - Nikki Lane


1. Love Stuff - Elle King

how do you use spotify? radio channels based on stuff you like already, or do you use the pre selected suggested lists or what? I tend to listen to the same stuff I know and close to it and every time i see these lists I think, fuck I have never even heard of a single one of these, and theres always some stuff on here that sounds pretty good. I do enjoy chuckling though because not only have I not heard of any of these, people always talk about them in that tone like everyone obviously should know them, it just reminds me of loads of great comedy I've heard over the years with invented band names and people just name dropping them like they're world famous.

lala wrote: how do you use spotify? radio channels based on stuff you like already, or do you use the pre selected suggested lists or what? I tend to listen to the same stuff I know and close to it and every time i see these lists I think, fuck I have never even heard of a single one of these, and theres always some stuff on here that sounds pretty good. I do enjoy chuckling though because not only have I not heard of any of these, people always talk about them in that tone like everyone obviously should know them, it just reminds me of loads of great comedy I've heard over the years with invented band names and people just name dropping them like they're world famous.

I don't know if this makes me sound like an asshole, old, or a pretentious fuck... but I refuse to use any streaming device and buy all of my albums. Occasionally when I want to hear a new album from a successful artist I will just stream it on youtube. Which is hypocritical but I can live with it - if it's good enough I will buy it later. Streaming does nothing for the little guy and I want to support the people I listen to. That said, some of the people on my list are popular enough that they don't need the cash (Kendrick Lamar especially).

lala wrote: how do you use spotify? radio channels based on stuff you like already, or do you use the pre selected suggested lists or what? I tend to listen to the same stuff I know and close to it and every time i see these lists I think, fuck I have never even heard of a single one of these, and theres always some stuff on here that sounds pretty good. I do enjoy chuckling though because not only have I not heard of any of these, people always talk about them in that tone like everyone obviously should know them, it just reminds me of loads of great comedy I've heard over the years with invented band names and people just name dropping them like they're world famous.

I find the Discover function on Spotify quite useful to go mining for tracks and artists I would never have found otherwise. Then I look at the 'Similar Artists' list on the artist page to find more. There is also a Discover playlist that they put out for each user every Sunday that gives a decent selection of tracks from artists that are similar to your tastes. The money for the Premium is well worth it. I do also use the radio function and find that Spotify has a larger track rotation that Pandora.

Deafheaven's "New Bermuda" is definitely the best record of the year. Nothing else had as much impact on me, at least as far as new records go.

The new Chrvches record was really great, but it just wasn't quite up to "The Bones of What You Believe". Very strong singles off it though.

New Order's new one, "Music Complete" was the best thing they've done since..."Republic"? Take that, Peter Hook.

LOVED the new Pinkish Black record, "Brown Rainbow". I think they really got it together on this one. I liked their last record a lot too, but this one saw them going in this really interesting direction that is sort of like metal meets Joy Division meets Goblin.

D'angelo's "Black Messiah" actually came out at the very end of last year (like December 31st), but it definitely deserves mention. Best R&B record in a long time. Blows all of this Drake shit out of the water.

The Grimes record was really good, but I agree with what Win Butler (Arcade Fire) wrote about it. It trucks in a kind of pop music that I don't care for or trust, it's not coming from a more "indie" world. It's coming from a world influenced by Katy Perry and other mainstream junk pop artists.

LCD Soundsystem is doing a new record, so I will go ahead and slate that as the best album of 2016 if I may.

1. Blind Guardian - Beyond the Red Mirror
2. Almuric - Reaching For Majesty
3. House of Atreus - The Spear and the Ichor that Follows

Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete

Frohike wrote: Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete

LOL!