Best albums of 2015 (1 Viewer)

[El Floppo]

Am I the only one who doesn't really get the love for Deerhunter? Every time I try to listen to an album of theirs I get bored after the first 3 or so tracks. And the new one is no exception.

I hear one song and I'm all in. second song... tapping the foot and nodding along. third- eh, ok, sounds ok. 4th... time for something else.

I guess I kinda sorta agree with you in regards to albums- although I still like them a lot in limited doses. tbh, back in the 80s I felt that way about The Smiths.

 

[The Dreaded Marco]

Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Style

This is a compilation of his 11 Bandcamp releases over the past 5 years. RIYL Beck, Okkervil River, GBV, Julian Casablancas

 

[Eephus]

Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Style

This is a compilation of his 11 Bandcamp releases over the past 5 years. RIYL Beck, Okkervil River, GBV, Julian Casablancas

I like this one. I think it's re-recordings of his Bandcamp stuff but it's still pretty lo-fi.

 

[Fly]

Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Style

This is a compilation of his 11 Bandcamp releases over the past 5 years. RIYL Beck, Okkervil River, GBV, Julian Casablancas

I've been waiting for this to get to Spotify. I guess I just stopped checking a couple weeks back. A few tracks in and I like a lot.

Not sure if it's been mentioned but his release at the end of last year/beginning of this year "How To Leave Town" is also excellent.

Example:

Car Seat Headrest - "Beast Monster Thing (Love Isn't Love Enough)"

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

I love Deerhunter but didn't find their new one all that compelling. A few good songs but sorta boring otherwise.

 

[Steve Tasker]

Just got an email that they're adding tour dates. Don't know where you are, but if they're stopping by me that means it's a hella tour.

Yup, coming within an hour of us, and Fall Out Boy is my boy's second-favorite band (after Awol). His birthday is 3 days before the concert.

He's 11... can I take an 11-year-old to that concert?

I saw Fall Out Boy play before your son was born. ld:

 

[Steve Tasker]

Am I the only one who doesn't really get the love for Deerhunter? Every time I try to listen to an album of theirs I get bored after the first 3 or so tracks. And the new one is no exception.

I hear one song and I'm all in. second song... tapping the foot and nodding along. third- eh, ok, sounds ok. 4th... time for something else.

I guess I kinda sorta agree with you in regards to albums- although I still like them a lot in limited doses. tbh, back in the 80s I felt that way about The Smiths.

They're pretty hit or miss for me. Weird Era Cont. and Halcyon Digest are great. I've struggled to get into much of the older stuff. Monomania was okay but I never find myself revisiting it. I haven't listened to the new one enough yet.

 

[shadrap]

Just wanted to say: Listening to Neil Young. Full V. I'm okay. Kinda.

Feels good.

 

[Steve Tasker]

Finally had a chance to listen to another regular favorite, Keep Shelly in Athens. Their new one, Now I'm Ready, came out in mid-October. This is their first album with a new lead singer, but it sounds remarkably similar to their prior singer. I almost can't tell if some of the songs were recorded with the old singer.

Dark dream pop, kinda chillwave, kinda trip-hop. Check it out if you're the 2% of people reading this thread who have similar musical tastes as I do....

 

[Nick Vermeil]

Grimes? Anyone? I don't want to like it, but I do. Kill v. Maim is a good tune.

 

[Steve Tasker]

Grimes? Anyone? I don't want to like it, but I do. Kill v. Maim is a good tune.

Next on my list to listen to. Heard some disappointing reviews from two friends. I have high hopes for it.

 

[Fly]

Elaenia by Floating Points is pretty good. Ambient, electronic, instrumental stuff that does a good job of building up towards the back of the album. "Peroration Six" is a phenomenal track.

 

[Fiddles]

late to the party but just discovered antemasque with omar and cedric

mars volta was not my cup of tea although I probably will revisit them based on how good this is

this is the perfect follow up to ATDI. short catchy energetic tunes you sing along to

flea played on this but is not a part of the band. travis barker is their new drummer.

 

[Hov34]

Really digging Leon Bridges - Coming Home:

Here is the title track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTrKkqE9p1o

 

[El Floppo]

Grimes? Anyone? I don't want to like it, but I do. Kill v. Maim is a good tune.

Next on my list to listen to. Heard some disappointing reviews from two friends. I have high hopes for it.

can't take a whole album in one shot, but I get into individual tracks. have heard a couple from the recent one that turn my crank a bit.

eta: I should add that I have to be in the right mood even for a track or two. there are days when the indie-techno-dancey stuff doesn't work for me.

 

[El Floppo]

Hooton Tennis Club?

keep coming back to this one.

I throw all the songs I hear that I like into my yearly spotify list and most days just listen to that. Jasper (by HTC) always gets me- one of my favorite tracks of the year. dived back into the album the last couple days... and while it doesn't show a lot of range, it consistently hits that note really well- something about the guitar tuning/work and vocals makes me think no age meets pavement meets parquet courts.

 

[El Floppo]

scratching the same itch, Tijuana Panthers have two albums out this year. more garage-surf-punk than the above. do some trippy old-school surf boy band harmonies, which- for now- is kind of fun to hear.

 

[Steve Tasker]

Julia Holter's new one, Have You in My Wilderness, is pretty good.

If you've ever listened to St. Vincent's debut, Marry Me, this is remarkably similar. Pretty big departure from St. Vincent's more recent stuff though if you're not familiar with her oldest work. Artsy, orchestral pop music.....not entirely different from the rest of Julia Holter's stuff, but maybe a little less ambient than past albums. More a poppy feel.

 

[Amused to Death]

Really coming into this thread with looking for advice. I'm an old rock & roll guy-Allman Bros.-Santana, lot's of guitar riffs & long solo's with guitar. Also got really into the Detroit black music; Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, etc. Also dig Dylan, Van Morrison. Anything our there for me?

Thanks!

me.

I know this post is a month old and I haven't read past it yet, but have you tried Gary Clark, Jr.?

Shoulda read a few posts more. Joe B. would also be a suggestion of mine. One of the best guitarist of our generation, imho. Actually just read some news that he may retire in the not-too-distant future.

 

[Buckfast 1]

Finally had a chance to listen to another regular favorite, Keep Shelly in Athens. Their new one, Now I'm Ready, came out in mid-October. This is their first album with a new lead singer, but it sounds remarkably similar to their prior singer. I almost can't tell if some of the songs were recorded with the old singer.

Dark dream pop, kinda chillwave, kinda trip-hop. Check it out if you're the 2% of people reading this thread who have similar musical tastes as I do....

I like this new Keep Shelly in Athens album. Some of these songs will definitely find their way onto my trippy psychedelic indie rock Spotify playlist.

 

[Steve Tasker]

Finally had a chance to listen to another regular favorite, Keep Shelly in Athens. Their new one, Now I'm Ready, came out in mid-October. This is their first album with a new lead singer, but it sounds remarkably similar to their prior singer. I almost can't tell if some of the songs were recorded with the old singer.

Dark dream pop, kinda chillwave, kinda trip-hop. Check it out if you're the 2% of people reading this thread who have similar musical tastes as I do....

I like this new Keep Shelly in Athens album. Some of these songs will definitely find their way onto my trippy psychedelic indie rock Spotify playlist.

It's pretty solid. The new singer chick sounds really amazingly like the last one....kinda astounding. Like if I didn't know if was a new singer I'd have no idea.

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

If you hate to rawk, DO NOT check out Electric Glitter Boogie by Power. Also, Ty Segall's T Rex covers album, Ty Rex, kicks ### of course.

 

[Good Posting Judge]

If you hate to rawk, DO NOT check out Electric Glitter Boogie by Power. Also, Ty Segall's T Rex covers album, Ty Rex, kicks ### of course.

Went to look at this, saw they were from Australia, and just turned it off.

 

[Northern Voice]

I should probably fire up a 2015 countdown thread soon.

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

If you hate to rawk, DO NOT check out Electric Glitter Boogie by Power. Also, Ty Segall's T Rex covers album, Ty Rex, kicks ### of course.

Went to look at this, saw they were from Australia, and just turned it off.

Crikey!

 

[Dan Lambskin]

You guys like that new Adele song?

 

[El Floppo]

Can somebody listen to City Calm Down and tell me whether it sucks, or is actually good 80s style knockoff stuff. I've listened through twice and can't decide.

 

[Good Posting Judge]

You guys like that new Adele song?

Never heard it.

 

[El Floppo]

saw that Parquet Courts released a new album last week on the spotify and got excited- I've been waiting for them and Savages to release something so that I'd have something to immediately throw up on the top of my end of year list. but then I listened to it. it's instrumental, and sounds like somebody recorded a half hour practice session where they were trying out different ideas. this is disappointingly bad and self-indulgent to the extreme.

 

[Nigel Tufnel]

saw that Parquet Courts released a new album last week on the spotify and got excited- I've been waiting for them and Savages to release something so that I'd have something to immediately throw up on the top of my end of year list. but then I listened to it. it's instrumental, and sounds like somebody recorded a half hour practice session where they were trying out different ideas. this is disappointingly bad and self-indulgent to the extreme.

It's terrible.

 

[Brony]

Can somebody listen to City Calm Down and tell me whether it sucks, or is actually good 80s style knockoff stuff. I've listened through twice and can't decide.

Big fan of this on first listen. Sounds like 10 different 80s bands but I can't put my finger on exactly one. Maybe Echo & The Bunnymen?

 

[skol asylum]

New Cage the Elephant song Trouble is solid as ever. Love these guys.

 

[El Floppo]

Can somebody listen to City Calm Down and tell me whether it sucks, or is actually good 80s style knockoff stuff. I've listened through twice and can't decide.

Big fan of this on first listen. Sounds like 10 different 80s bands but I can't put my finger on exactly one. Maybe Echo & The Bunnymen?

yeah- exactly. I get a lot of Bauhaus from the vocals... but it's definitely a mashup of a lot of stuff from back then.

 

[El Floppo]

I've been back-tracking my own list and also using the Discover feature on Spotify to find any new releases I missed (lots).

seems like there's some kind of 60s psychedlic revival happening in LA? (ca, not landry)not reinterpreting, but really mimicking hard-core. anybody out there seeing this first hand? I'd guess they're dressing the part too.

 

[kupcho1]

Looking forward to the year end countdown as always (hat tip, NV)

Although I have to say I've been more enamored of singles than albums this year. Playlist is about the best I've ever put together (credit to Discovery Spotify for a lot of it)

 

[Northern Voice]

I would love to do a songs poll as well, I just don't think we'd have enough people contributing to get any sort of consensus. Maybe a January song draft or something.

 

[Fly]

Looking forward to the year end countdown as always (hat tip, NV)

Although I have to say I've been more enamored of singles than albums this year. Playlist is about the best I've ever put together (credit to Discovery Spotify for a lot of it)

I was just thinking this the other day. I feel like I have a lot of solid/great singles on my playlist but have had trouble committing to full albums like I have in years past.

 

[General Malaise]

Always always late to the party, but Courtney Barnett is frigging brilliant. Avant Gardener is just awesome. I think she might be my musical discovery of the year.

 

[El Floppo]

Looking forward to the year end countdown as always (hat tip, NV)

Although I have to say I've been more enamored of singles than albums this year. Playlist is about the best I've ever put together (credit to Discovery Spotify for a lot of it)

I was just thinking this the other day. I feel like I have a lot of solid/great singles on my playlist but have had trouble committing to full albums like I have in years past.

Ditto.

and my #1 with a bullet Savages album isn't coming out until Jan 16.

 

[El Floppo]

Always always late to the party, but Courtney Barnett is frigging brilliant. Avant Gardener is just awesome. I think she might be my musical discovery of the year.

it came out so early in the year, and I played it so much, I think I got a little burned out by it.

but when I take the time to cull through the chaffe in my 2015 playlist, I have a feeling that will be right near the top. can't remember being grabbed by too many other albums.

 

[Northern Voice]

Always always late to the party, but Courtney Barnett is frigging brilliant. Avant Gardener is just awesome. I think she might be my musical discovery of the year.

it came out so early in the year, and I played it so much, I think I got a little burned out by it.

but when I take the time to cull through the chaffe in my 2015 playlist, I have a feeling that will be right near the top. can't remember being grabbed by too many other albums.

Yeah, probably my favourite album this year.

 

[Fly]

I revisited some '15 albums tonight. Both "Star Wars" by Wilco and "Savage Hills Ballroom" by Youth Lagoon stood out as albums that I realized I like quite a bit more now than I did upon my first couple of listens.

ETA: There's not really one huge standout track on Wilco's album but every song feels solid. "The Knower" by Youth Lagoon is a standout track to me.

 

[JZilla]

I like "More" on Star Wars

Baroness tomorrow.. album drops AND I finally see them live

 

[Steve Tasker]

The reviews are terrible, but #### it, I like this Summer Camp album.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

One of my favorite always-underrated bands, Young Galaxy, has released their newest, Falsework, as of late last week.

Awesome! Didn't know this one was out.

Along the same lines (and I searched and didn't see it had been mentioned) I've been playing a lot of Big Data lately. Their latest album (2.0) is on Amazon Prime and is very catchy. New Chvches album still kicks ###.

In other random news got my kid a couple tickets to the Awolnation/Fall Out Boy concert next year. I'm hoping his girlfriend dumps him by then and he takes me.

Awolnation is my favorite band, need to see them live sometime.

Just got an email that they're adding tour dates. Don't know where you are, but if they're stopping by me that means it's a hella tour.

Yup, coming within an hour of us, and Fall Out Boy is my boy's second-favorite band (after Awol). His birthday is 3 days before the concert.

He's 11... can I take an 11-year-old to that concert?

How can you not? Unless it's in a bar I don't see the problem if you take him. Well, as long as he can stand Bruno letting out f*** every few songs.

And hope that MF isn't part of the repertoire for the night.

I took my (then) 9-year-old daughter to see Deltron 3030 at the Stone Pony last summer when we were on vacation in Asbury Park. So I say it's fine. You should see all of my father-of-the-year awards (though most of them are specifically for bringing her to bars and breweries).

 

[Apple Jack]

Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Style

This is a compilation of his 11 Bandcamp releases over the past 5 years. RIYL Beck, Okkervil River, GBV, Julian Casablancas

I like it. Psstt teenagers sounds like a lost Vampire on Titus track.

 

[Sand]

One of my favorite always-underrated bands, Young Galaxy, has released their newest, Falsework, as of late last week.

Awesome! Didn't know this one was out.

Along the same lines (and I searched and didn't see it had been mentioned) I've been playing a lot of Big Data lately. Their latest album (2.0) is on Amazon Prime and is very catchy. New Chvches album still kicks ###.

In other random news got my kid a couple tickets to the Awolnation/Fall Out Boy concert next year. I'm hoping his girlfriend dumps him by then and he takes me.

Awolnation is my favorite band, need to see them live sometime.

Just got an email that they're adding tour dates. Don't know where you are, but if they're stopping by me that means it's a hella tour.

Yup, coming within an hour of us, and Fall Out Boy is my boy's second-favorite band (after Awol). His birthday is 3 days before the concert.

He's 11... can I take an 11-year-old to that concert?

How can you not? Unless it's in a bar I don't see the problem if you take him. Well, as long as he can stand Bruno letting out f*** every few songs.

And hope that MF isn't part of the repertoire for the night.

I took my (then) 9-year-old daughter to see Deltron 3030 at the Stone Pony last summer when we were on vacation in Asbury Park. So I say it's fine. You should see all of my father-of-the-year awards (though most of them are specifically for bringing her to bars and breweries).

I only mentioned the bar thing as he might be barred from attending.

Still pretty excited about giving my kid those tickets - really think he'll be excited about them. Even more glad it isn't Cage the ####### Elephant coming. My ears run and hide every time he forces me to sit through them.

 

[Northern Voice]

The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Helplessness is really good. Just read this review by Ian Cohem and tell me you aren't intrigued:

Their restlessness and prolificity reminded me of Deerhunter in 2008 or Animal Collective in the early-to-mid 2000s. They could either release a masterpiece or totally implode (you know, like Mineral, Sunny Day Real Estate, Cap’n Jazz, the Promise Ring, etc.).

They did the former, and Harmlessness’ greatest success is breaking down any perceived barrier between indie rock and emo and pop punk, speaking for the people who owned Funeral and Futures in 2004, stayed for the entire Desaparecidos/Built to Spill/Brand New triple bill and saw little difference in the effect of Refused and Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s versions of agitprop.

If all of the above seemed self-evident, Harmlessness respects the hell out of you, its guiding principle being an allegiance to all forms of maximalist, ambitious, emotionally overwhelming rock music. My god, does this band try. It knows it has to, because even if Harmlessness speaks for itself, it doesn’t have a podium. One of the characteristics of the best emo albums of recent years (Pianos Become the Teeth’s Keep You, Foxing’s The Albatross, The Hotelier’s Home Like NoPlace Is There, Joyce Manor’s Never Hungover Again, hell, Restorations’ LP3, and Cymbals Eat Guitars’ LOSE count) is their earnest, centrist ambitions, the sense going in that if they don’t make their greatest ####### album ever, no one outside Fest might notice.

I almost don’t even want to talk about the music because there are at least 50 moments on this thing where I imagine yelling at a non-convert, “how can you think THIS IS JUST OK?” The run of “Mental Health”-“Wendover”-“We Need More Skulls” spans raw folk confession, Pacific Northwest lope and stoner metal and are the best Bright Eyes, Modest Mouse, and Jesu songs of the past eight years. Read that sentence again, this happens in the span of, like, ten minutes.

Here’s the most important thing: Harmlessness is not a nostalgic document, not an emo, indie rock, or any kind of throwback. TWIABP live in 2015, debating violent retribution against sexual predators (“January 10th, 2014"), disordered eating (“The Word Lisa”), the difficulties of being a creative being in the current economy (“We Need More Skulls”), seeking help for depression (“I Can Be Afraid of Anything”), loving another human being… it’s as overwhelming or comforting as you want it to be.

The fifth song on Harmlessness has a title that’s equal to the band’s name and is the apotheosis of indie rock self-actualization: “Rage Against the Dying of the Light.” Like every song on Harmlessness, it’s bold and complex and dazzling in a way that can objectively satisfy in a chin-stroking way—it sounds like Fugazi covering Arcade Fire’s “Neighborhood #2 (Laika)” and thus like nothing I’ve ever heard before. But the concept hits directly in the emotional hot zone of the 18 to 22 age range that no other rock band is aiming for right now with more firepower. It makes a humorous allusion to Rage Against the Machine, a completely humorless band whose binary politics are most sensible to a high schooler. Bello and maybe six other people wail, “We’ll build a fire so high, they’ll turn all the lights out and we will sing, ‘I am alive, I deserve to be, not getting quiet, swallowing age.’” This appeals to the super serious guy who’s aged out of Rage, the idea that there’s this metaphysical light in the world and that if it’s dying, you might have to offer yourself as kindling for the greater good—not coincidentally, I’ve heard this expressed most passionately on Cure and Thursday albums. You know, one maximalist, ambitious, emotionally overwhelming rock music who clearly influenced the other.

As much as I want to say Harmlessness is what the emo revival was leading up to, that still feels like selling it short. The band was called “post-emo” in an early PR email for Harmlessness, a term which was removed in subsequent press releases. I wish they kept it. The emo revival ends here because its flagship band made the best indie rock record of 2015, period.

 

[Fly]

The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Helplessness is really good. Just read this review by Ian Cohem and tell me you aren't intrigued:

Their restlessness and prolificity reminded me of Deerhunter in 2008 or Animal Collective in the early-to-mid 2000s. They could either release a masterpiece or totally implode (you know, like Mineral, Sunny Day Real Estate, Cap’n Jazz, the Promise Ring, etc.).

They did the former, and Harmlessness’ greatest success is breaking down any perceived barrier between indie rock and emo and pop punk, speaking for the people who owned Funeral and Futures in 2004, stayed for the entire Desaparecidos/Built to Spill/Brand New triple bill and saw little difference in the effect of Refused and Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s versions of agitprop.

If all of the above seemed self-evident, Harmlessness respects the hell out of you, its guiding principle being an allegiance to all forms of maximalist, ambitious, emotionally overwhelming rock music. My god, does this band try. It knows it has to, because even if Harmlessness speaks for itself, it doesn’t have a podium. One of the characteristics of the best emo albums of recent years (Pianos Become the Teeth’s Keep You, Foxing’s The Albatross, The Hotelier’s Home Like NoPlace Is There, Joyce Manor’s Never Hungover Again, hell, Restorations’ LP3, and Cymbals Eat Guitars’ LOSE count) is their earnest, centrist ambitions, the sense going in that if they don’t make their greatest ####### album ever, no one outside Fest might notice.

I almost don’t even want to talk about the music because there are at least 50 moments on this thing where I imagine yelling at a non-convert, “how can you think THIS IS JUST OK?” The run of “Mental Health”-“Wendover”-“We Need More Skulls” spans raw folk confession, Pacific Northwest lope and stoner metal and are the best Bright Eyes, Modest Mouse, and Jesu songs of the past eight years. Read that sentence again, this happens in the span of, like, ten minutes.

Here’s the most important thing: Harmlessness is not a nostalgic document, not an emo, indie rock, or any kind of throwback. TWIABP live in 2015, debating violent retribution against sexual predators (“January 10th, 2014"), disordered eating (“The Word Lisa”), the difficulties of being a creative being in the current economy (“We Need More Skulls”), seeking help for depression (“I Can Be Afraid of Anything”), loving another human being… it’s as overwhelming or comforting as you want it to be.

The fifth song on Harmlessness has a title that’s equal to the band’s name and is the apotheosis of indie rock self-actualization: “Rage Against the Dying of the Light.” Like every song on Harmlessness, it’s bold and complex and dazzling in a way that can objectively satisfy in a chin-stroking way—it sounds like Fugazi covering Arcade Fire’s “Neighborhood #2 (Laika)” and thus like nothing I’ve ever heard before. But the concept hits directly in the emotional hot zone of the 18 to 22 age range that no other rock band is aiming for right now with more firepower. It makes a humorous allusion to Rage Against the Machine, a completely humorless band whose binary politics are most sensible to a high schooler. Bello and maybe six other people wail, “We’ll build a fire so high, they’ll turn all the lights out and we will sing, ‘I am alive, I deserve to be, not getting quiet, swallowing age.’” This appeals to the super serious guy who’s aged out of Rage, the idea that there’s this metaphysical light in the world and that if it’s dying, you might have to offer yourself as kindling for the greater good—not coincidentally, I’ve heard this expressed most passionately on Cure and Thursday albums. You know, one maximalist, ambitious, emotionally overwhelming rock music who clearly influenced the other.

As much as I want to say Harmlessness is what the emo revival was leading up to, that still feels like selling it short. The band was called “post-emo” in an early PR email for Harmlessness, a term which was removed in subsequent press releases. I wish they kept it. The emo revival ends here because its flagship band made the best indie rock record of 2015, period.

I've had "January 10th, 2014" on my 2015 playlist for a bit but it was before the album came out. I kind of forgot about them but now I have to check them out more. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[General Malaise]

Why did Wilco go with the name 'Star Wars' and why didn't Lucasfilms Empire try to crush it? Good album on early listens.