Favourite's from 2015
Some ridiculous music released this year. No doubt Baroness will blow some of these out the water when it's released on the 18th but I'll be far too drunk on mulled wine to review it by then. Also of note - I don't tend to listen to music I don't think I'll like, hence there are more good / great ratings than bad ones. Also, big ups to Carly Rae, Totem Skin, Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment...didn't have a chance to write you all up, sorry :( |
| 1 |  | Enter Shikari
The Mindsweep
2.5 - I feel that, as I get older, the appeal of Enter Shikari is starting to become wasted on me. On this one, they still combine the wub and the weight but it’s not really keeping my attention bar a couple of ok songs. Average, at best. |
| 2 |  | Kylesa
Exhausting Fire
2.9 - I really, really like Kylesa but this album is (excuse the pun) exhausting; the 45 minute run-time feels twice as long, despite some occasionally nifty riffage and their customary hazy production. My problem with it mostly lies with the vocals – Philip Cope and Laura Pleasants, normally so in-sync and creative, just sound tired and a bit bored on this one. It’s not god-awful, just a bit disappointing…and that somehow makes it worse. |
| 3 |  | Cloudkicker
Woum
3 - More a collection of sketches and ideas than an EP outright, this has been kicked a bit since its release. For what it’s worth, I like it; there’s almost always a groove to latch onto, everything sounds pretty and it’s GODDAMN FREE. With that said, I can see why most people dislike it and I’m being overly generous with my score just because I love Cloudkicker so much. |
| 4 |  | Godspeed You! Black Emperor
'Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress'
3 - Godspeed bring the robot apocalypse on two tracks of scorched-earth post-rock as only they know how. Don’t quite understand why two tracks of filler are sandwiched in the middle but the bookends are so strong that it’s difficult to moan too much. |
| 5 |  | Pyramids
A Northern Meadow
3.1 - The score I’ve given is entirely arbitrary as this one’s an extremely odd listening experience and I still can’t quite decide how I feel about it - blackened metal guitars rub against lilting Deftones-esque falsetto melodies while electronics bubble away in the background. Moments of heavy, moments of calm, moments of genuine bewilderment; like listening to a Salvador Dali painting slowly coming to life. |
| 6 |  | Wavves and Cloud Nothings
No Life For Me
3.1 - Likeable but slight mini-album from two artists who should probably have spent more time on putting out a hook-filled 4-track EP as opposed to the sketches that appear here. Still, some of the songs are great, especially when Baldi does his Cloud Nothings’ thing. |
| 7 |  | Gallows
Desolation Sounds
3.2 - In some respects this puts Gallows’ 2015 sound on another planet. In others, it’s BAU for the Watford quartet. So it’s a mixed bag but with some absolute monsters contained therein. |
| 8 |  | Idlewild
Everything Ever Written
3.2 - Decrease expectations and temper your judgement - this warm, likeable record won't win over many detractors but it gets better after multiple (ok...plentiful) spins. There's still some magic left in these boys yet. |
| 9 |  | Spylacopa
Parallels
3.2 - This album is weird, but I like it; I guess it sounds like Alice in Chains meets Chevelle-style riffage meets low-key post-punk meets a bunch of other stuff? Maybe? If you can get on its odd wavelength, there’s some good music to be found here. |
| 10 |  | Minsk
The Crash and the Draw
3.2 - Minsk borrows heavily from the Neurosis playbook, layering elements of doom, sludge, post-metal and crust-punk over 76 minutes. For all its strengths, it can be a long and occasionally testing listen; Minsk’s brand of meandering prog requires patience and isn’t worth diving into bit-by-bit, it really needs to be digested across one massive session. There’s some good stuff here, but you need to wade in deep. |
| 11 |  | Incubus
Trust Fall (Side A)
3.2 - Solid return to form (with one MAJOR exception…you know which one) from California’s second-finest nu-metal sons. Looking forward to Side B. |
| 12 |  | Metz
Metz II
3.3 - I really dig METZ and can imagine them absolutely pulverizing audiences live, but this album isn’t quite doing it for me. It is exceptionally vicious, heavier and more atonal than their 2012 debut but, unlike their cousins in Greys (cousins only because they’re both native Torontonians, I guess?), they don’t do much in terms of light and shade. Like being smashed in the face repeatedly, it gets exhausting after a while. Still, I jam it from time to time. |
| 13 |  | Faith No More
Sol Invictus
3.3 - FNM pick up right where they left off with a nice collection of tunes. Though they’ll never top bizarro masterpieces Angel Dust or King for a Day..., they do still bring a little weirdness and sound very natural playing together. Here’s hoping they take the stabilizers off on the next one. |
| 14 |  | Fight Amp
Constantly Off
3.4 - I hear plenty of influences when I listen to this EP; Nirvana’s throat-shredding melodies, Helmet’s stop-start rhythm and Converge-esque mathy breakdowns all add up to a strong 18mins of noise-rock played with passion and precision. Not quite as good as the similar KEN Mode record from this year, but a solid effort nonetheless. |
| 15 |  | Years and Years
Communion
3.4 - Bought this on the strength of what, for me (along with Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘I Really like You’), is the pop single of the year ‘Shine’. Achingly gorgeous with an earworm chorus, it’s an absolute banger and I still love it now. The rest of the album isn’t quite as strong unfortunately, but there are still some very good songs on here and I spin it from time to time. |
| 16 |  | The Armed
Untitled
3.4 - Top-notch work from Nick Yasyshyn of Baptists on drums and Kurt Ballou on production (not to mention the other nameless members) gives this record a nasty kick which should leave you reeling for days. Excellent hardcore/metal/whatevs for people with ADHD. |
| 17 |  | Torche
Restarter
3.4 - Back to basics for sludge-pops finest with their heaviest album in years. Torche don’t take many proggy detours on this one which means perhaps it’s not as good as Harmonicraft or the still-stellar Meanderthal, but it’s still a kick to listen to and nice to hear them crank up the volume again. |
| 18 |  | Refused
Freedom
3.4 - It’s no SOPTC but then how could it be? Instead we get Refused-lite, but there’s still some excellent moments across this album and a real thrill in hearing them crank the new noise again. |
| 19 |  | Jose Gonzalez
Vestiges and Claws
3.5 - The sounds are a bit rawer and the cover songs are out but this is the same old Jose. Basically, it’s a very good album of warm folk tunes that are expertly played and that's more than enough. |
| 20 |  | Mutoid Man
Bleeder
3.5 - This excellent debut record from a sort-of supergroup touches on plenty of areas within extreme music (hardcore, punk, thrash, sludge, etc.) then gives them all a generous polish, which admittedly neuters their intentions somewhat but the head-down ferocity in which it’s played is infectious. Worth checking out. |
| 21 |  | Kurt Vile
b'lieve i'm goin' down...
3.6 - Another set of excellent songs by the master of sedate, 70’s inspired folk-rock jams. Some of the later cuts drag a bit (Kurt isn’t a very good editor), but the lyrics are often wise and funny and the music is warm, decorated nicely with ornate flourishes which keep each piece interesting. I dig, though not sure how often I’ll sit through the whole thing. |
| 22 |  | Statues
Together We're Alone
3.7 - Chaotic, unstable, groovy mathcore with nice little detours throughout the record to help it stand out. Nothing to reinvent the 'core' wheel but an excellent debut nonetheless. |
| 23 |  | Greys
Repulsion
3.7 - There’s more variety on this ten minute EP than the sum total of last year’s underwhelming If Anything; check the lazy, stoned shuffle of ‘I’d Hate to be an Actor’ or the lovely melodies in the chorus for ‘Nothing Means Anything’. They can still rattle up a storm (check ‘The Voyeur’…d’oh, I just did a track-by-track!) but this one shows real growth and has restored my faith after their disappointing debut. Maybe this band is best in small doses? |
| 24 |  | Hop Along
Painted Shut
3.7 - THAT VOICE. Frances Quinlan's vocal is by far the stand-out on this thing but the supporting cast ain’t too shabby either; this is lived-in indie folk-rock that just so happens to be fronted by a hurricane in human form. |
| 25 |  | Screaming Females
Rose Mountain
3.7 - Meat and potatoes rock and roll done absolutely right. |
| 26 |  | Turnstile
Nonstop Feeling
3.7 - Derivative but awesome 90’s-style hardcore for fans of Quicksand, Helmet, RATM and the Chili’s. Metal/hardcore you can dance to! |
| 27 |  | KEN mode
Success
3.8 - Supremely nasty but excellent record from a band I don’t really know well, but this has burrowed under my skin in a nagging way which I can’t shake. Mostly bludgeoning noise-rock but there are nice detours (see ‘The Owl’) for respite when it’s needed. |
| 28 |  | SUMAC
The Deal
3.8 - Aaron Turner’s most primal release in a long time with excellent support from Nick Yacyshyn (one of two projects on this list he’s involved with) and Brian Cook. Meandering is to be expected due to the improvisational nature of the record but it’s utterly compelling nonetheless. |
| 29 |  | Foo Fighters
Saint Cecilia
3.8 - Tasty surprise EP which goes some way towards restoring the goodwill lost on the back of their distinctly average Sonic Highways project (killer series, weak album); 4 tracks of rip-snorting punk/metal influenced alt-rock with a nice slower song in the middle giving off some TINLTL vibes (‘Iron Rooster’, though…what a dumb-ass name). Pulling their heads out of a ‘project’ and focusing on unfinished songs from Foo history has been good for them. Maybe for the next full length…just do it again? But yeah, great stuff and it’s totally FREE! |
| 30 |  | Thundercat
The Beyond/Where The Giants Roam
3.8 - Thundercat continues his neo-soul journey into the cosmos with a short, sharp set of exceptionally strong songs. Sure, the short running time is a bit of a let-down, but tracks like ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ and the exceptional ‘Them Changes’ make this an extremely worthwhile release and a natural progression for the bass wunderkind. |
| 31 |  | Tame Impala
Currents
3.8 - I don’t know Tame Impala bar the obvious tracks, so this was a really nice surprise as it reminds me quite a lot of Random Access Memories; that is to say, it’s full of excellently recorded bruising electro-pop which, while perhaps not the absolute smash it’s been deemed critically, makes for an excellent and entertaining listen. |
| 32 |  | Coliseum
Anxiety's Kiss
3.8 - Turning the volume down and jerking the rhythm about has done wonders for Coliseum as they’ve crafted the best record of their career on this one. Excellent post-punk played by hardcore lifers. |
| 33 |  | Bosse-de-Nage
All Fours
3.9 - Like Slint playing black metal (seriously, listen to the spoken word bits in ‘Washerwoman’), there’s something really sinister about the music/lyrics which I can’t quite put my finger on. The music twists and turns a plenty, with lovely melancholic downbeat passages exploding into cacophonous noise. Took me a while, but I dig this a lot. |
| 34 |  | Fucked Up
Year of the Hare
3.9 - Fucked Up love to shake things up on their Zodiac singles and this year’s no different; Hare plays with the concept of time and whether a song needs a verse-chorus structure over 21+ minutes with a stormer of a B-side thrown in too. |
| 35 |  | We Lost the Sea
Departure Songs
3.9 - Based on heroic (but cruelly fatal) acts of bravery, this five song set is a soundtrack of all-too-real heartbreak and loss. It’s post-rock that’s extremely emotional, each song dripping with pathos and bursting with catharsis. The finer details of WHY it’s so emotional I won’t go into here but suffice to say it’s expertly put together and well worth your time if you’re a patient listener. |
| 36 |  | SikTh
Opacities
3.9 - The tech-metal overlords return with a very good mini-album which slots in nicely at the end of the year. To be honest, there’s nothing here which will fundamentally alter anyone’s perception of the band; this could have followed a year after Death of a Dead Day and no one would have batted an eyelid. Exceptional musicians, though, and if you’re a fan there’s soooo much here to love. |
| 37 |  | Intronaut
The Direction of Last Things
3.9 - This album is amazing. It’s a distillation of everything Intronaut have done so far (harsh vocals, proggy time-signatures, fretless bass noodlings) thrown together into the best 7 songs of their careers so far. I’ve listened to it a lot since it dropped, I can’t even count…and yet it still feels like a 3.9 to me? I don’t quite get it, time will probably find it higher on a hypothetical retrospective list but here it sits for now. Recommended, though. |
| 38 |  | Intervals
The Shape of Colour
3.9 - Intervals do so much to keep their brand of instrumental metal interesting, and the jazzy-flavours on this one really go a long way in helping them stand out from the pack. What REALLY separates this from the usual humdrum (aside from the winning melodies) is the sheer joy in which it’s all played. This one’s taken the spot of last year’s Joy of Motion by AAL and I would struggle to separate the two in terms of quality. Excellent stuff. |
| 39 |  | TesseracT
Polaris
3.9 - It’s not as good as 2013’s Altered State, (where’s the sax?!) but there’s enough going on here for any fan to call this a success. They’re exploring proggier, warmer atmospheres on this one (bar the odd scream harking back to their earlier stuff) and once this has been spun a few times, it settles in and reveals itself to be quite a lovely record. Hope they do something a bit crazy on the next one, but this will do nicely for now. |
| 40 | | Cavern
Outsiders
3.9 - Excellent, exemplary instrumental metal in the vein of early Mastodon or Baroness but played with a silkier touch; passages slink and twine into each other before bursting into action. It’s not perfect but as instru-metal goes, it’s damn close. |
| 41 |  | Death Grips
The Powers That B
3.9 - Who knew Death Grips were a punk band? n****z on the moon and Jenny Death form like Voltron to make one part cerebral spazz-hop, one part aural sledgehammer. Combine and you get this headscratcher of an album, though it’s terrific fun for the whole weird ride. |
| 42 |  | Sun Kil Moon
Universal Themes
4 - Sounding more like a speak n' sing diary than ever, there's more variety on this thing than last year’s amazing Benji although it doesn't quite hit the same emotional heights. Still a great record in its own right, though. |
| 43 |  | Clutch
Psychic Warfare
4 - Look, you know what you’re getting; whiskey-drenched blues riffs played by masters of their craft with scene-setter Neil Fallon in the foreground cackling about flying sauces, griffins and whatnot. This is not the album to reinvent that wheel. But it IS bad-ass rock n’ roll, and I love it, like I love every single Clutch album (bar Jam Room) so it comes highly recommended from me. |
| 44 |  | Kamasi Washington
The Epic
4 - Three hours of intergalactic jazz sounds like no-one’s idea of fun but this record bursts at the seams with creativity and passion; Kamasi is slowly starting to tear my jazz-phobic walls down. Lengthy (HA!), but absolutely worth the trippy journey. |
| 45 |  | Every Time I Die
Salem
4.1 - This nasty little EP will jab straight for your throat and still leave you with a nosebleed. Only 9 minutes long (and one of the four tracks is a cover) but it retains the manic delivery and excellent standards from last years From Parts Unknown. Recommended (also, can I just LOL at the fact that this 9min thrown-together haiku of an EP places higher than the gargantuan The Epic on my list…don’t ask, I don’t even know how that works and I wrote this thing). |
| 46 |  | Titus Andronicus
The Most Lamentable Tragedy
4.2 - Picture everything TA have done up until this point, put it into a blender then Jackson-Pollock the results over 90 minutes of just OURTRAGEOUS indie/punk fun. Yes, there’s a story for those who want to go down that rabbit hole (it’s worth it, I guess?), the run-time is inflated and it’s all a wee bit pretentious, but the songs (my lord, THE SONGS!!) are just so much goddamn fun that I haven’t felt this giddy listening to a new album in a hell of a long time. I love it. |
| 47 |  | Deafheaven
New Bermuda
4.3 - Deafheaven craft a superb follow up to 2013’s also-excellent Sunbather. Hell, I actually think this record is better; they’ve taken the ‘metal’ bit of their genre exploration and cranked it, resulting in lenghtier parts that might actually give you whiplash this time around. The wonderful shoegaze-y sections are still there (as well as a few other things) but their melding of progressively more aggressive metal-stylings to their already pretty heavy music is astonishing. I love this album. |
| 48 |  | Steven Wilson
Hand. Cannot. Erase.
4.7 - There’s something so comforting about listening to an expert do something expertly, and that is the absolute truth here as this is Wilson’s best solo album to date which touches on every phase of his career with astonishing confidence. Absolutely essential for fans but highly recommended listening for newbies as an entry point to his wonderful back catalogue as well. |
| 49 |  | Kendrick Lamar
To Pimp a Butterfly
5 - Absolutely astonishing from front to back, it’s as fresh now as when it dropped and will be whispered in the same breath as 36 Chambers, Ready to Die and Illmatic in the not-too-distant future. Can’t use enough superlatives to describe this one and do it justice, so I’ll just say this – it was the best album released this year. |
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