2015 - 1/2 (Albums)
My favorite albums so far, half way into 2015. |
| 35 |  | Panda Bear
Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
This was the first 2015 album I heard, and even without the competition I thought it was pretty bland. This is pretty meh, honestly. |
| 34 |  | Aphex Twin
Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Pt. 2
Definitely not as good as Syro, or his classic albums.. and honestly, quite the disappointment. But still enjoyable. Definitely not the first Aphex Twin release I would reach for, but you could do worse. |
| 33 |  | The Decemberists
What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World
Decent album. Some good songs, some forgettable ones. Not a huge fan, but a song like Lake Song is pretty great. |
| 32 |  | Purity Ring
Another Eternity
I love dream pop as a genre, but this album was only decent IMO. There's more interesting bands/artists within the genre, like Beach House dropping a new album later this year. |
| 31 |  | Adventures
Supersonic Home
I enjoyed the 4-5 listens I had with this one, but don't feel a strong urge to return to it. |
| 30 |  | Toundra
IV
I'd say this is your run-of-the-mill Post-Rock elevator music at best. It's not a bad album, but I forgot about it five minutes after I heard it, and after another 4-5 listens it honestly hasn't impressed me much more than that. |
| 29 |  | Sigh
Graveward
Their last album was pretty cool. This one was not too bad, but felt a bit like a clusterfuck. It's definitely an interesting listen (due to how they mix styles), just not that memorable for me, unfortunately. |
| 28 |  | Rishloo
Living as Ghosts with Buildings as Teeth
Enjoyed this Tool/Mars Volta sounding hybrid, but haven't returned to it in a while. |
| 27 |  | Susanne Sundfor
Ten Love Songs
Wish I could rank this higher because of how much I love Susanne's voice, but it was a mixed bag for me. Some songs were fantastic, I really liked the first 3-4 songs, and Memorial, but musically the album is all over the place, and some ideas work better than others. |
| 26 |  | The Tallest Man on Earth
Dark Bird Is Home
Not as good as The Wild Hunt, but I would say it is on par with the others. Would love to rate it higher, but I don't feel the quality warrants a higher place. At this point I expect TTMOE to blow us away with that one masterpiece album, but he keeps putting out albums below that level. |
| 25 |  | Enslaved
In Times
Great album. Perhaps not as good as RIITIIR, but some of the songs are really good. |
| 24 |  | Steven Wilson
Hand. Cannot. Erase.
Tough one for me to rate. On one hand SW always delivers a well packaged, well thought-out and passionate album with a lot of great craft behind it. But on the other hand I just think this is pretty boring and not that special. It's definitely a great album, but I expect more from SW. Would love to see him get away from the prog stuff he is currently doing, maybe drop his band completely or return to PT. SW used to be an artist who made albums I had near the top of my lists, now he just makes decent ones. Still, hard for me to rate due to the fact that the craftsmanship is good, there's a lot of effort involved, even if the music does little for me. |
| 23 |  | Mount Eerie
Sauna
First time hearing this guy, there's definitely great stuff here. The album is perhaps a tad uneven quality-wise, but the strengths of the two long songs and a few shorter ones make it worth it. If anyone else is a big Mount Eerie fan, album suggestions? |
| 22 |  | Bjork
Vulnicura
A really good album, and her best since Vespertine probably. But I feel like this is a hard album to listen to. Hard emotionally. It's definitely a great listen and a really strong album, but I don't feel like this is the kind of album I can revisit too often, and as a result I can't rate it higher. |
| 21 |  | Gavin Harrison
Cheating The Polygraph
Really great album. Love the new versions of the classic PT tracks, and overall it's just great hearing Gavin in action again. |
| 20 |  | Lupe Fiasco
Tetsuo & Youth
I had this higher initially during the year, but I haven't found myself revisiting the album a lot lately. It's still pretty darn great, and definitely worth checking out, and if it hadn't been for Kendrick Lamar overshadowing everything else this year, Tetsuo & Youth would probably have gotten even more recognition. |
| 19 |  | Faith No More
Sol Invictus
With many older bands returning with weak or sub-par albums, FNM managed to release a new album that was actually really good. I wouldn't say it's AS good as the best of their classic work, but definitely a great addition to their discography. |
| 18 |  | Amplifier
Residue
The missing link between the debut and Insider, this is a really solid release. So much so that I went and ordered the CD after hearing it the first time. This band is one of my personal favorites and I'll gladly buy whatever they put out. |
| 17 |  | Sufjan Stevens
Carrie and Lowell
Perhaps not AS good as the hype, but definitely a great album. Don't like it as much as Illinois, but Carrie & Lowell has several really good tracks. The minimalist style of the album is both a plus and a negative, in some cases it really works, but with the songs you don't care for that much, there's really not much interesting going on. |
| 16 |  | August Burns Red
Found in Far Away Places
First time I heard this band, but I like this album a lot. Nice variety, nice blend of genres and stays interesting through the entire album. |
| 15 |  | Prurient
Frozen Niagara Falls
Have a hard time deciding if I think this is a 4 or something higher. Definitely ambitious and at parts brilliant, but the glitchy high pitched noises at parts throw me off. Very enjoyable double album though. |
| 14 |  | Viet Cong
Viet Cong
An early favorite that still holds up. Nice post-punk album with a great filthy industrial sound to it. |
| 13 |  | Death Grips
The Powers That B - Part II: Jenny Death
Their best since Money Store and On GP is probably their best song. |
| 12 |  | Mew
+-
Tough choice between a 4 or 4.5 on this one. A great follow-up to a great run of albums, this one has some really great tracks, but lacks the cohesiveness that made And the Glass Handed Kites and No More Stories so good. Both of them felt like albums crafted with a great flow in mind, this feels closer to Frengers with just being a collection of songs put on an album. Good songs though! |
| 11 |  | Godspeed You! Black Emperor
'Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress'
A really good album that unfortunately falls in the shadow of the band's other albums. Maybe the band's weakest album, but I would still comfortably give this at least an 8. I really like all the songs on the album (technically it's just one I guess) but for whatever reason it hasn't made me come back as much as their best has. |
| 10 |  | Periphery
Juggernaut: Omega
Screw the haters, I liked this a lot. |
| 9 |  | Periphery
Juggernaut: Alpha
Screw the haters, I liked this a lot. |
| 8 |  | Attalus
Into the Sea
At first this sounded a bit like another Thrice-clone, but after more listens, this album has really grown on me. Love the oceanic theme and how it perfectly captures the atmosphere of the artwork. A tad long and a lot to absorb, so you will probably need to give it time. |
| 7 |  | Hop Along
Painted Shut
I remember hearing the previous album and liking it, but this one definitely has more staying power for me. |
| 6 |  | Sun Kil Moon
Universal Themes
I like this even more than Benji, but despite the first three and the last three songs being amazing, the album does drag a bit in the middle, unfortunately. |
| 5 |  | Kendrick Lamar
To Pimp a Butterfly
Just as good as the hype suggests, the only reason it's just nr5 is because I have a few "personal" favorites I would rank slightly higher. Still, this album is dope. |
| 4 |  | Between the Buried and Me
Coma Ecliptic
Screw the haters, this is their best album since Colors. |
| 3 |  | mewithoutYou
Pale Horses
Really nice combination of interesting music and great lyrics. |
| 2 |  | Vennart
The Demon Joke
Makes the loss of Oceansize a little bit easier to cope with. I really love this album, but the one thing keeping it from the top is the fact that it doesn't really have a Music For a Nurse or The Frame. A stronger closer would have given this another 0.5 points. |
| 1 |  | Kamasi Washington
The Epic
Perfect from start til finish. A 3 hour jazz journey, and I'd be surprised if this isn't my nr1 at the end of the year. |
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