Musical Discoveries of the Year
This is a bit of a different year end list. Instead of talking about new albums from 2015 this list is just my favorite albums I discovered or re-discovered in 2015. Hopefully you will enjoy this list as much as I enjoyed this year in music for myself, it is probably the best year for my personal music taste's growth. (ranked) |
| 1 |  | Love
Forever Changes
I got rather lucky in how I discovered this album, Danny Brown had mentioned it in an AMA on reddit and I never got to it until this year. This album is stunning in almost every aspect and it never gets stale to me. The song writing is very excitable and I enjoy the mixing of Latin influences quite a lot, the production is also super good especially for its time. |
| 2 |  | The Beach Boys
Pet Sounds
The first time I listened to this album was several years ago. I liked it back then but after I revisited the album this year it really started to click with me. If it weren't for #1 on this list I would easily say that this is the best rock album I've ever heard. |
| 3 |  | Nick Drake
Pink Moon
I had always seen Nick Drake mentioned on sputnik but I kept putting off listening to his albums. Then I started branching out this year into more folk stuff like The Tallest Man on Earth and decided to give his album pink moon a listen. It was so simple sounding but also mind blowing how well written the songs are considering how brief and bare-bones the album is. Then I started going back in his discography and he is one of the few artists that I can't pick a favorite album of his. |
| 4 |  | Panopticon
Roads to the North
Black metal is easily top 3 favorite music genres for me. It is such a diverse genre with a surprising amount of experimentation with sounds and incorporating influences from other type of music. I attribute black metal to re-igniting my curiosity of different genres. This album is just such a beautiful piece of work that in my opinion does a good job of creating an atmosphere and incorporating folk/bluegrass. |
| 5 |  | Yes
Relayer
I know many people prefer Fragile or Close to the Edge by Yes but I could not help but to fall in love with this album. I have never heard an album as intense and chaotic as this before. This album also introduced me to the jazz-fusion genre, which is something that I have been obsessing with lately. I know it’s not really jazz-fusion but it is very close. |
| 6 |  | Talk Talk
Spirit of Eden
I just love this album from start to finish, especially the first track "The Rainbow" is one of my favorite opening tracks to an album. It acts as such a good foreshadowing of how great the rest of the album would be. Even when the album is in its calmest moments it doesn't get boring or become a chore to listen to. The amount of sounds and instruments this band plays with is absolutely incredible and never comes off as gimmicky or cheesy. If any of you reading this list enjoys Radiohead listen to this bands two latest releases RIGHT NOW. |
| 7 |  | Coroner
Mental Vortex
I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of thrash metal (that’s what this is right?) despite that this album blew me away. I love the guitar playing on this album and considering how technical most of the album is it doesn't come off as pretentious or super self-indulgent. It also has very catchy and memorable riffs and lyrics and overall just a very consistent album quality wise. Also this album includes one of the best cover songs in existence. |
| 8 |  | The Pharcyde
Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
To me hip hop was rather underwhelming this year... so I decided to go back and listen to some older stuff and this was the only Hip-Hop album that has impressed me all year. It is such a fun listen but don't let that fool you, there is a lot of legitimate rapping here and the beats are very unique in the sense that it was unlike west coast hip hop acts to make this kind of music. |
| 9 |  | Ulver
Perdition City
This band has one of the most interesting evolutions in music that I know of. In the beginning of their career Ulver was a black metal band that excelled at capturing the more atmospheric and folk side of black metal. This album saw a complete departure of their previous black metal/folk sounds and delves deeply into electronic music. Probably the most astonishing thing about this album is how flawless their transition into this style of music was. Besides the fact that they are not playing anything black metal on this record it still captures the atmosphere of winter perfectly, overall just an incredible album. |
| 10 |  | Mahavishnu Orchestra
Birds of Fire
This album is just an absolute beast and every one of the musicians that makes an appearance is extremely talented. I don't really have much more to say other than this being a solid album this and if you like self-indulgent playing that isn't too over done this is a good album to check out. |
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