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"The best thing is surprising people, knowing that tomorrow it will all be forgotten" Regine Zylberberg

Top albums of 2015

December 24, 2015

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by

in

Albums of the year

Another year, another whack of newly discovered tunes and new music from old favourites. As usual, this is not a definitive list but just what I really liked out of the few hundred bits and pieces I came across over the year.

This year was an easy Top 20 and a fine mixture of folk, retro-indie, electronica, noise, classical and distortion.

Best Coast was my #1, but here are all 20 in no particular order:

Tamaryn – Cranekiss

Cocteau Twins meets Curve and swirling guitars

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Soley – Ask the Deep and out-takes EP Don’t ever listen

Icelandic lo-fi indie electronica.

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Julien Baker – Sprained ankle

Raw and cathartic collection from 19 year old singer-songrwiter — Raw and cathartic collection from 19 year old singer-songwriter

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Sexwitch – Sexwitch

Sexwitch is Toy and Natasha Khan from Bat for Lashes

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Zefur Wolves – Zefur Wolves

From Wales with a Super Furry Animals connection

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

The Go! Team – The scene between

An outreach program for bedroom-core DIY artists

Listen on Deezer or buy in iTunes

Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe – I declare nothing

40 minutes of scorching vocals and sweltering refrains, ambling rhythms and elated rhapsody.

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Remembering Mountains: Unheard songs by Karen Dalton

Sharon Van Etten, Lucinda Williams, Isobel Campell, Juila Holter... — Sharon Van Etten, Lucinda Williams, Isobel Campell, Juila Holter…

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Susanne Sundfor – Ten love songs

Sometimes dark theatrical, sometimes pure pop

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Sharon Van Etten – I don’t want to let you down EP

Heartbreak accompaniment

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Rachel Grimes – The clearing

Founding member of seminal neoclassical chamber trio Rachel's — Founding member of seminal neoclassical chamber trio Rachel’s

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

A place to bury strangers – Transfixiation

Channeling JAMC & BRMC

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Nite Fields – Depersonalisation

Early 4AD nod and a welcome bit of gloom

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Lower Dens – Escape from evil

Uncomfortable situations, both lyrical and musical

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Django Django – Born under Saturn

...lineage of late-'60s, early-'70s pop weirdos, but they listen like modernist samplers and crate diggers — …lineage of late ’60s, early ’70s pop weirdos, but they listen like modernist samplers and crate diggers

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Chelsea Wolfe- Abyss

“human frailty, intimacy, quiet passion, anxiety, and deep longing.”

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Best Coast – California nights

heavy-ish, filled with hooks, somewhere between "fast enough to dance" and "slow enough to sigh to while looking out of a window." — heavy-ish, filled with hooks, somewhere between “fast enough to dance” and “slow enough to sigh to while looking out of a window.”

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

True Detective 2 – Soundtrack

Lera Lynn songs make this all worthwhile — Lera Lynn, Handsome Family, Nick Cave, Father John Misty, Leonard Cohen

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Godspeed you! black emperor – Asunder, sweet and other distress

Listen to it on headphones, while staring out a window and losing yourself in your thoughts, and you will feel things.

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Emika – Klavirini

simple classical piano heightened by delayed keys and long attacks

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Re-issues and Compilations worthy of a mention:

Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee & Friends: Next Cut! Dub Plates, Rare Singles

Johnny Clarke, Linval Thompson, Prince Jammy, Barrington Spence — Vintage dub. Deep and reverb heavy

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll

Johnny Cash, Elvis, etc — Johnny Cash, Elvis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Jackie Breston, Howlin Wolf

Bought the 2CD collection off eMusic. Not on Deezer or iTunes

Ork Records: New York, New York

Alex Chilton, Richard Hell, Television, Erasers, Chris Stamey

Listen on Deezer or buy on iTunes

Disappointments of 2015 (or albums that should have been top but weren’t):

Wolf Alice – My love is cool (excluding Giant Peach which is great)

Sleater-Kinney – No cities to love

Foals – What went down (excluding the title track which is amazing)

New Order – Music complete

© Marc Latilla 2015. All rights reserved. This content may not be reproduced without permission.

A place to bury strangers, Albums of the year, Alex G, Best Coast, Big Grams, Branko, Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee, Chelsea Wolfe, Django Django, Emika, Foals, Godspeed you! Black Emperor, Julien Baker, Karen Dalton, Lower Dens, Nite Fields, Rachel Grimes, Sam Phillips, Sexwitch, Sharon Van Etten, Sleater-Kinney, Soley, Susanne Sundfor, Tamaryn, Tess Parks, The Go! Team, The Weeknd, True Detective, Ultimate Painting, Viet Cong, Wolf Alice, Zefur Wolves

2 responses to “Top albums of 2015”

//\Best of 2015//\ | Three Song Tuesday

December 24, 2015

[…] annual best music list is up. Check out the full list HERE. Below were some of my favourite tracks not on the top albums […]

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Amy

November 17, 2022

Nicce blog post

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