The Music Of 2015 - Albums

We've reached the end of the line. With only a few hours left to spare I've finally sat down, compiled and begun writing the final post of the year with a few of my favorite albums of the year. As with the previous charts, this one is also heavily influenced by records from the first half of the year with little room to spare for later releases. What I've heard from the past few months have honestly not quite been up to par with the best of this list but I've also missed out on a bunch.

Far shorter list this year than last, only 15 releases this time around but they are all worth your time if you haven't heard them already.

Favorite Albums Of 2015

15. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
Sufjan Stevens only barely makes it onto my final list for 2015. Carrie & Lowell is undoubtedly an impressive record while also filling a void for an even more introspective look into Stevens life that was unavailable in his discography since before.

14. Blanck Mass - Dumb Flesh
I was previously only acquainted with the music of Fuck Buttons through their latest release Slow Focus which I didn't care for. Dumb Flesh however is more in tune with the building, progressive and harsh sound of Tarot Sport and while it mainly feels like a continuation of the ideas explored on Fuck Buttons' hailed 2009 album it never comes across as unable to stand on its own two feet.

13. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
I think this record is more important than I find it enjoyable. Following up Lamar's latest record, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City seemed like an almost impossible task but To Pimp A Butterfly proves every doubter out there that Lamar has so much more to give and has quite a ways to go despite already having claimed the throne as the most important (and maybe even greatest) modern active rapper. I don't see how To Pimp A Butterfly won't go down as this generations Illmatic.

12. Black Cilice - Mysteries
This was released when I was caught up in a black metal binge. Mysteries doesn't do much new, its a record more in line with many of the early norwegian black metal demos but it does it enormously well. Like the black-metal counterpoint to a band like Gorguts, it often bridges on noise as the muddy, lo-fi recording blends the guitars into a a cacoponous mix.

11. Viet Cong - S/T
I like Women and hold their record Public Strain on quite a high pedestal. I wasn't expecting Viet Cong to rehash that sound but the bands debut feels like a solid continuation of the ideas at hand during the final years of Women. It doesn't ever feel like Women reborn either, making Viet Cong sound more like an original entity amongst the rise of post-punk revival that's popular in today's era.

10. Sicko Mobb - Super Saiyan Vol 2
Don't disregard this mixtape because of the shoddy DJ-samples and the ridiculous album art. Super Saiyan Vol 2 is a phenomenal take at a brigther kind of chicago drill-sound. It isn't actually that far from a rap version of the PC-Music movement that seemed to be gaining traction. It's heavily produced, auto-tuned to the max and focuses almost entirely on energy and melody. So much better than any of that Rae Sremmurd-type of rap that's been gaining a following.

9. Nicolas Jaar - The Color Of Pomegranates
Nicolas Jaar made this bootleg soundtrack to Parajanov's praised masterpiece with the same name as an alternative pick for the silent films music. I still haven't seen the film even though I've been curious about Parajanov for a while now. On it's own The Color Of Pomegranates might feel a bit stale after a while but it's nice to hear music from Jaar that again, feels as fresh and unique as his previous works with both guitarist Dave Harrington and a solo-artist have felt. The Color Of Pomegranates leaves me excited for what's to come (and the Nymphs 7'' have proven that Jaar is still at the top of his game).

8. Death Grips - Jenny Death
I've already written a fair bit about the circumstances regarding this "final" Death Grips album so there's no point in continuing that. Jenny Death feels closer to Exmilitary than any previous Death Grips album have done, where most have been moving into a more electronic territory with every release, culminating in last years Niggas On The Moon. Songs like I Break Mirrors With My Face In The United States and The Powers That B is two of the bands most energetic ones.

7. Graham Lambkin & Michael Pisaro - Schwarze Riesenfalter
Electroacoustic music that took me by surprise. I had previously dismissed Lambkin's music after not understanding the praise for The Salmon Run, a musique concrete record that I still find to be all kinds of weird. Schwarze Riesenfalter however feels far more natural and lies somewhere in between ambient, drone and field recordings. A highly meditative record that's well produced and deserves to be heard with a pair of good headphones.

6. Dawn Richard - Blackheart
Early favorite, released in January already. Great contemporary RnB that does its own thing and stands on some terrific production signed Noise Castle. Incredibly varied while combining introspective songs about drug abuse with empowering pop bangers like Phoenix that don't sound too far from what you might hear on the radio. This is a record that makes me wonder why Richard isn't seeing the same amount of praise as someone like Janelle Monae which do a similar thing, just not as interestingly.

5. Råd Kjetil Sanza Testa - Levande Död I Norra Norrland


Dark ambient record that springs to life through Mattias Alkberg's guest performance where he recites poetry over lonesome ambient pieces or acts as vocals over the terrifying darker songs. It's atmospheric and captures the grand and desolate feel of the barely populated wooden areas of Norrland. One of the best dark ambient records I've had the pleasure of listening to.

4. Girl Band - Holding Hands With Jamie


Melodic record that combines post-punk with noise rock while retaining an easy-going feel. Cynic songs about boredom and the average life is colorized by thundering but controlled bass lines and a climatic explosiveness. One of the strongest debuts of the year.
What surprised me the most is how effortlessly Girl Band pulls of their more chaotic and noisy elements. The buildups to the climax on a song like Paul never feels forced and when it finally hits it arrives just in time and always feels warranted.
Definitely a force to be reckoned with in the future.

3. Timbre - Sun And Moon


This record is the only one on this list that I'd consider a must hear for any fan of music reading this list. While the following records are stronger in my personal opinion, Sun & Moon is a tremendous record that hits almost every note correctly. It's a double album where the first side, the Sun side, features more traditional baroque folk songs not too far from Joanna Newsom even if they often loose the playful edge of Newsom's music for a more mature and evolved feel mostly owing to Timbre's root in classical music that we see more of on the second disc. The second side of the album, the Moon side, features a more classical take of the already established sound of the first side. Choirs, flutes and strings make a more prominent appearance which turns songs into something grander which feels both orchestral and symphonic.

2. Colin Steson & Sarah Neufeld - Never Were The Way She Was


I'm a huge fan of Stetson's music and his most recent collaboration with violinist Sarah Neufeld never fails to impress despite lacking some of the key elements that made an album like Judges the masterpiece that it is. Never Were The Way She Was is stripped down to its core where the only thing you'll find is the combination of violin and saxophone as they brutally step up toe to toe to face in destructive emotional battles over and over again for the span of eight heavy hitting tracks. Stetson's brutish saxophone play combines perfectly with Neufeld frantic, shrieking violin and while the finished product isn't on par with Stetson's greatest solo efforts it still stands as stronger than many of this years albums.

1. Liturgy - The Ark Work


Possibly this years most controversial album. Liturgy has always been seen as somewhat of a black sheep in the metal scene after front man Hunter Hunt Hendrix wrote a quite odd manifest. Black metal purists often look down on the band for attempting to make a pure form of "transcendental black metal" which is supposed to become the American black metal as opposed to the well known early Norwegian scene of the 90's.
The Ark Work might not be the best black metal album ever and at this point I wouldn't talk of Liturgy as a black metal band. They make an odd type of music which on this record conists of tremolo picking meeting computerized trumpets which sound like something you'd be taught to create in an FL-Studio tutorial. The artificial feel of the record is what makes it great. Nothing out there sounds like it and I don't think anyone will attempt to recreate it. It is far too much and it is far too crazy but it somehow works even though none of the elements on the record seem to work on its own (except for Greg Fox' drumming, which is of course outstanding).
The Ark Work takes the cake for shocking, provoking and inventing while also sounding good in my ears.

And that's it for this year! Now I'm off to eat a New Years dinner, head to a New Years party and I'll see you next year!

The Music Of 2015 - Albums
Anton Öberg Sysojev