2015 end of year lists

Old man Mahoney

Everyone's on Tidal these days mate.

The Skinny's top 50 albums. I've not heard the top two and don't plan to. www.theskinny.co.uk/music/opinion/albums-of-the-year/50-best-albums-of-2015

that's a shame, they're both really very good

That Sufjan Stevens LP might be the dullest record I've ever heard.

it's the most beautiful record i've heard since ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space.

37 mins to go

happy end of year list day guys! Hope to have mine all up over the next couple of days, including top gigs & favourite non 2015 records that I discovered throughout the year. 

Stuff that I enjoyed but didn't crack the top 40

41: Seu Jorge - Músicas Para Churrasco Volume II
42: Jazz Spastiks & Rebels to the Grain - Unkut Fresh
43: Tim Foljahn - Fucking Love Songs
44: Terakaft - Alone (Ténéré) 
45: The Libertines - Anthems for Doomed Youth
46: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Paper Mâché Dream Balloon
47: Tamaryn - Cranekiss
48: Ultimate Painting - Green Lanes
49: bully - Feels Like
50: Fraser A. Gorman - slow Gum
51: Dele Sosimi - No You Fit Touch Am
52: Giant Sand - Heartbreak Pass
53: Joanna Newsom - Divers
54: The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Mini Album Thingy Wingy 
55: Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra - Into Forever
56: Jesse Malin - New York Before The War
57: Thee Oh Sees - Mutilator Defeated at Last 
58: Matthew E. White - Fresh Blood
59: Jesse Malin - Outsiders
60: Westkust - Last Forever
61: Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe - I Declare Nothing
62: The Pop Group - Citizen Zombie 
63: Bram Weijters - Abstract Quantities 
64: Holly Golightly - Slowtown Now!
65: New Order - Music Complete
66: The Wave Pictures - Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon
67: Frankie & The Witch Fingers - Frankie & The Witch Fingers
68: Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band - Juguya
69: Twerps - Range Anxiety 
70: Susanne Sundfør - Ten Love songs
71: Mark Ronson - Uptown Special 
72: Sink Tapes - Creases
73: The Go! Team - The Scene Between
74: Blur - The Magic Whip
75: Black Pussy - Magic Mustache 
76: The Cribs - For All My Sisters

40: Bill Ryder-Jones - West Kirby County Primary

A real surprise for me. I'd dabbled into his solo stuff before & it seemed like he was still trying to figure out what he should sound like as a solo artist, but here he seems to have found the right sound. Surprisingly American sounding, reminded me of Pavement meets Electric Soft Parade. I'm no longer upset that the Coral are so boring without him if he's going to be putting out music this good.

39: Simon Love - It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

Cheers to Kev for bringing this guy to my attention. Just a really fun & playful pop/rock record. Reminds me of Supergrass meets Brakes perhaps.

38: Forro in the Dark - Forro Zinho

Eclectic record that is all over the place doing renditions of John Zorn's work. Jazz-rock & Tropicália, that kind of thing.

37: Jeffrey Lewis & Los Bolts - Manhattan

Such a great unique song-writer, I wish I had gotten into him a long time before now. Has that wonderful knack of throwing in an extra few lyrics into every sentence that shouldn't really fit, yet manage to. Tons of dark humour throughout his songs, will definitely be checking out his back catalogue asap.

36: Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell

Just great song-writing. I completely understand why so many will have this record high on their list. The problem I've always had with him is his vocals, they just simply aren't the type that I lean towards, I have the same problem with Elliott Smith. If he had a deep baritone voice, something like Cave, Hazlewood or Evan Dando I'd probably think this was the greatest thing ever. Still an excellent record though.

35: Songhoy Blues - Music in Exile

funky Blues-rock from Mali, great live too.

34: Barna Howard - Quite a Feelin'

This is pretty much full on Americana meets country-folk, the vocals initially were a bit much for me but the songs are just so damn strong that it completely won me over.

33: Richard Hawley - Hollow Meadows

After Standing at the Sky's Edge Hawley goes back to more of the sound everybody loved him for in the first place. Not his best work but even second-rate Hawley I can't help but love.

32: Bixiga 70 - Bixiga 70

Brazilian Afrobeat, has the classic afrobeat sound though there's some modern sounds thrown into the mix. The kind of sound I'm loving a lot these days.

31: Nev Cottee - Strange News From the Sun

Well I never thought I'd be putting a member of fucking proud mary on my list, but I have. Basically sounds like a long lost Lee Hazlewood record, & I fucking love Lee Hazlewood so of course, I love this.

Records I either heard for the first time, or got into fully during 2015:

01: Fela and Afrika 70 - Sorrow Tears and Blood (1977)
02: The Impressions - The Young Mods' Forgotten Story (1969)
03: Millie Jackson - Caught Up (1974)
04: Bill Withers - Still Bill (1972)
05: D'Angelo and The Vanguard - Black Messiah (2014) (has become my favourite of last year, unfortunately didn't delve fully into it until the new year)
06: Bill Withers - Just as I Am (1971)
07: The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die (1994)
08: Fela Ransome Kuti & The Afrika 70 - Gentleman (1973)
09: Françoise Hardy - Tous les garçons et les filles (1962)
10: Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda (1974)
11: Marijata - This Is Marijata (1976)
12: James Carr - A Man Needs a Woman (1968)
13: Tim Maia - Racional vol. 1 (1975)
14: Charles Mingus - Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1964)
15: Sam & Dave - I Thank You (1968)
16: John Coltrane - Blue Train (1958)
17: The Isley Brothers - 3 + 3 (1973)
18: Organized Konfusion - Stress: The Extinction Agenda (1994)
19: The Meters - Rejuvenation (1974)
20: Sundays & Cybele - Gypsy House (2012)

Happy End of Year List Day.

You beat me to it by seconds. However your top 40 will be void because Joanna Newsom isn't in it.

Stuff that didn't make the cut, but still enjoyed.


unknown mortal orchestra - multilove
deradoorian - the expanding flower planet
beach house -depression cherry
tame impala - currents
hannah cohen - pleasure boy
maricka hackman - we slept at last
viet cong - viet cong
matthew e white - fresh blood
dr yen lo- days with dr yen lo
Mountain Goats - beat the champ
patrick watson - love songs for robots
bassekou kouyate- ba power
laura cannell - beneath swooping talons
sleater kinney - no cities to love
SOAK - before we forgot how to dream

50-41


5050. belle & sebastian - girls in peacetime just want to dance
Never been much of a Belle & Sebastian fan, but thought this was loads of fun and the opening track is one of the best of the year

49. the helio sequence - the helio sequence
Wasn’t aware that this lot had been around since the 90's. Intelligent indie rock with melodies that creep up on you. Not unlike The National

48. blur - magic whip
Surprised this isn't higher in my end of year list, when it came out I would've sworn it'd be top ten, but I think it's position is as a result of the overall strength of releases this year. I think Albarn gets better and better with age though and while Blur were never that well known as an albums band, this might be their best album overall for me

47. holly herndon – platform
Dance music/electronica/techno/whatever seems to get stronger and stronger with each passing year. This probably would've been higher if I'd spent more time with it. I've heard it more at other people's houses than on my own earphones and think it'll be one I go back to again and again

46. the districts- a flourish and a spoil
Fun indie/rock/pop that wears it's influences for all to see- Strokes/Walkmen/Libs etc. Loads of tunes and in Young Blood one of the tracks of the year

45. my autumn empire - dreams of death and other favourites
A band I only came to this year. I actually preferred their previous album 'The Visitation' but this still has plenty going for it. Alternative folky pop

44. vince staples - summertime '06
I need to listen to this A LOT more. I've given it a few spins and it's so dense lyrically that it's gonna take forever to fully appreciate. Real hard sounding hip hop

43. kurt vile- b'lieve I'm goin down
I'd be amazed if Kurt Vile ever took a change of direction. More of the same stoned sounding summer tunes with smart lyrics

42. du blonde - welcome back to milk
The artist formerly known as Beth Jeans Houghton. An album full of pop hooks and slightly bitter, snarly but smart relationship based lyrics. I would like to sleep with her very much.

41. jacco gardner – hypnophobia
More of the same from the Dutch psych wonderkid. A great balance of hooks and experiment with the occasional full work out

40-31


40. low - ones and sixes
Another band that I've only started listening to in the last couple of years. Loved the last album and this carries on where that left off. Low-key rather than Lo-fi melancholic tunes with subtle hooks

39. heather leigh - I abused animal
Extraordinary voice- fascinating songs. Only came to this very late in the year and might've featured higher given more listens

38. fuzz - fuzz II
One of Ty Segall's side projects alongside Charlie Moothart and Chad Ubovich from Meatbodies. Mostly heavy, still tuneful, psychy in places, glam in places, other things in places

37. the black dog - neither/neither
Quite dark techno, sounds AMAZING on headphones when walking round TCOTU in the rain. I love this kind of textural (sorry, only word I can think of) atmospheric electronic music. It reminds me a bit of Pantha Du Prince

36. floating points- elaenia
More terrific electronic music but this feels a lot less sparse than some electronica. Loads going on, including quite a lot of proper instrumentation, Touches a lot more bases than simple electronic music. Really sucks you in

35. speedy ortiz - foil deer
Loved their last album and this feels like a natural progression from it. Love her voice, love the guitars, love the hooks

34. hieroglyphic being- we are not the first
Fucked up, way out there techno. I've read that he's influenced by Sun Ra and Marshall Allen plays on the record. Utterly compelling

33. natalie prass - natalie prass
I reckon if you read 100 reviews of this album they'd all use the word 'Timeless' somewhere. Pure blue-eyed soul pop music. Gorgeous voice and gorgeous songs

32. bill ryder-jones - west kirby county primary
Never bothered listening to his solo stuff until very recently. His debut (that fake soundtrack thing) was pretty bloody amazing I thought. This is totally different but still delightful. The boy has song-writing talent oozing from every pore. Like a scouse Kevin Burgess

31. rats on rafts - tape hiss
Bunch of lads from Rotterdam making fantastic fast punky guitary noise. Unrelenting right to the last.

30-21


30. romare – projections
Straight out of the late 90's jazzy dance music school. Full of personality and quite varied throughout

29. jamie xx - in colour
I hated the XX and as such assumed I'd hate Jamie XX. This is really great though. Touches all sorts of dance music and black music bases. Loads of interesting sampling and breakbeats all melded together to make a fantastic whole

28. laura cannell - beneath swooping talons
Weird and wonderful instrumental folk. Almost horror film score-like.

27. lana del ray - honeymoon
My guilty pleasure. Although there's absolutely no reason to feel guilty cos she makes wonderful records. I didn't like Videogames at first. I didn't get it, thought it was just shallow throwaway pop but over time I've realised what a fool I was. I thought Ultraviolence was a terrific album and this is even better. Lush, moody and beautiful


26. courtney barnett - sometimes I sit and think, sometimes I just sit
Everyone knows what she does- turns the everyday, run of the mill bits and pieces into fantastic indie rock songs. Lyrically it's similar to the double ep but musically it's moved on. Still with the languid, charming vocal delivery

25. abdulla rashim - a shell of speed
More atmospheric, psychedelic, moody techno. Got a lot more into this kind of thing over the last couple of years. Still very much a novice to the genre, but this blows my tiny mind

24. nils frahm - solo
Achingly pretty solo piano pieces. Nothing else needs adding

23. deerhunter - fading frontier
As good as anything they've done and again it's testament to the strength of other releases this year that it's sitting at No.23, I think the closing three songs are fantastic and all different.

22. SELA - anniversary
It seems to me that Hip Hop is evolving in all sorts of interesting directions and this is as different as I've heard. It uses sampled hip hop lyrics very low down in the mix with all kinds of ambient noises over the top. It sounds awful from my description but is totally compelling

21. mikal cronin - MCIII
Warmer production than most in that west coast garage scene (with the exception of Ty Segall's Manipulator) and more poppy too. Still plenty of hook laden big guitar noise.

30: The School - Wasting Away and Wondering

Sugar-coated indiepop/twee. Now Camera Obscura have gotten a bit shit the School make a fine replacement.

29: Torres - Sprinter

I'll be a very lazy cunt and compare her to PJ Harvey, when PJ Harvey rocked out a bit.

28: Brian Ellis Group - Escondido Sessions

Jazz-rock that has a psychedelic edge to it. I really dig Brian Ellis' sound, he played on Psicomagia's record from a few years ago which was one of my favourites from 2013.

27: The Apartments - No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal

I'd heard the name in the past, yet had never heard anything by the Apartments. Australian chamber-pop in the same kind of mould as Mercury Rev, especially the vocals. Beautiful record that I love at its gloomiest. There's a moment or two where they go a bit poppy and I'm not so keen but the majority of this record is wonderful.

26: John Zorn - Pellucidar

LOVED this project from John Zorn, he's an artist that puts out so damn much material that is constantly so different that he's hard to grasp a hold of. This record though just ticked all the right boxes for me. Jazz-rock with some Exotica thrown in, even goes a bit surf-rock at times. Fuck knows where to go next with him, he releases about 15 projects a year.

25: Moon Duo - Shadow of the Sun

Moody Psych-rock, kind of what Suicide would sound like if they had more of an ear for melody. Not quite as good as their previous LP Circles but still excellent.

24: Kurt Vile - b'lieve i'm goin down...

The opening three tracks on this record are just fantastic. I had a problem with the rest of the record at first as it definitely changes direction into a more laid-back and retrospective sound, but once I got used to the change of pace I warmed to this in a big way. I still think he is capable of making a truly great record one day.

23: Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah - Stretch Music

Post-Bop record with a touch of fusion thrown in. Some great playing & bags of atmosphere.

22: Peach Kelli Pop - Peach Kelli Pop

More infectious than the BAD AIDS. indie-pop meets garage-rock, some of these song I've had in my head for the entire year.

21: Christopher Owens - Chrissybaby Forever

Never really bothered with Girls, but this is my kind of record. Tons of different styles, always adventurous with some great hooks. A few songs sound like the Lemonheads, other spiritualized. Maybe I should check out Girls.  

20-11


20. shamir -ratchet
Pure dance pop brilliance. Really assured debut from this 19 year old from Vegas. Track 'On The Regular' is a stone-cold club classic.

19. colin stetson/sarah neufeld - never were the way she was
Impossible to pigeon hole. Colin Stetson's saxophone and Sarah Neufeld's violin interacting to make weird and wonderful pieces of mainly instrumental music. Feels like modern classical compositions in places and something stranger in others. I love the way he uses his Sax as a Bass instrument

18. ezra furman - perpetual motion people
Masses of personality and catchy songsmithery. And once again supersmart lyrics.

17. wand - golem
Melted Rope off this album is my track of the year, but it doesn't fit with the rest of the album which also happens to be excellent, but different. Another band involved with the west coast garage/psych scene that centres around Ty Segall. This leans towards the psych side more than anything else


16. bjork- vulnicura
Usual Bjork vocal, interesting beats and gorgeous lush soaring string arrangements. Quite immediate but with enough depth to reward repeated listens

15. thee oh sees - mutilator defeated at last
For me these get better with every album- this has all the usual heavy, psychy tracks, big tunes and urgency of their other albums but with more consistency throughout

14. grimes - art angels
I thought her debut was pretty good, but this is a huge step up. Perfect dance pop, hooks, lyrically interesting and would fit at any party.

13. girl band - holding hands with jamie
Brilliant alternative noisy indie rock. You can hear The Fall influences clearer than any other, but I get bits of the Walkmen in there too. My description could never do it justice. Really exciting band.

12. c.duncan -architect
Gorgeous pastoral folk album from classically trained Scottish geezer. Full of lush instrumentation, soaring harmonies and easy melody. Not unlike fleet foxes

11. mbongwana star - from kinshasa
This is mind-blowing stuff- if I'd had more time with it, it would be much higher and like everything else from here up could have been number one in other years. I'm not a huge expert on African music. My knowledge tends to be Fela Kuti and more 'mainstream' stuff like Tinariwen, Amadou & Mariam etc- but this is a whole different level. A thrilling listen.

10-2


10. milo- so the flies don't come
I was new to Milo this year and others have said his earlier stuff is better (not heard it yet) but for me this is near perfect alternative hip hop. I LOVE his flow and lyrics, As the years have passed I've leaned more and more towards the less aggressive and more stream of consciousness style content with hip hop and this fits the bill perfectly.

9. the amazing - picture you
Wooze all your cares away. Sometimes records remind you of where the artists are from and this feels how I imagine the Scandinavian countryside to be. Hesitate to call it dream pop, cos it's not very poppy, but it's 'dream' something. Interesting, brooding guitar work outs, lush woozy choruses. Lovely.

8. donnie trumpet & the social experiment - surf
This record is an utter joy. A big disparate group of artists (including Chance the Rapper) combine to make a pop/hip hop/jazz/rnb/instrumental record that defies classification but is irresistible from start to finish. The track 'Go' is one of the best things i've heard this year.

7. kendrick lamar - to pimp a butterfly
So much has been said about this album already that not a lot needs to be added, and anything I said would've been written 10 times already. Suffice to say this feels like more than an album. Way out in front on his own in the hip hop world at the moment. The Blacker The Berry and How Much a Dollar Cost are MASSIVE.

6. julia holter - have you in my wilderness
Her last album didn't click with me at all but I guess this is much more accessible without sacrificing quality and interesting music. Since hearing Feel You on Marc Riley I've been hooked. There's so much going on that you never tire but at the same time the melodies flow so effortlessly. Numbers 2 to 13 in my list are pretty much interchangeable and if it wasn't for a certain other lady this could've easily been number one.

5. sufjan stevens - carrie and lowell
I love everything he's done, including the Christmas albums but after Age of Adz I didn't see this coming at all. It's affecting, beautiful, sparse in parts, complex in others but always very lovely. A genuinely great album

4. jenny hval- apocalypse girl
Stumbled across this from someone else's end of year list but despite the short time, I've listened to it loads. She's a fit, blonde Norwegian woman that sings about grabbing her cunt and cupping balls. Nothing else needs saying. But, it's genuinely different. She'll switch from spoken word to beautiful soaring vocal melody in the blink of an eye. The music is all over the place, loads going on without ever being anything less than captivating. Desperate to see her live.

3. ryley walker- primrose green
I swear Ryley Walker is a figment of everyone's imagination. A ghost of some guitar toting 60's folk troubadour. If this album had been made in California in 1969 no-one would bat an eyelid. But, that makes it sound like some naff exercise in revivalism when in fact it's truly outstanding and a whole lot more than a sun-drenched folk record. He must listen to Tim Buckley every morning when he wakes up, every night before he goes to bed and a good chunk in between because the vocal tics and yelps couldn't sound more like him. I hear late 60's Van Morrison in there too but whenever I say that people look at me blankly. Really though it's all about the guitar playing and accompanying music which a lot of the time has a more jazzy feel to it. Having seen him live a couple of times this year (and drinking excessively with him at the Sebright Arms gig) you really appreciate more what's going on the record. The green vinyl is a very pretty thing too.

2. kamasi washington - the epic
I couldn't begin to give any kind of description that would do this justice- but anyone with even the merest interest in Jazz couldn't go wrong with this ludicrously good record. So many Jazz bases touched, all expertly. And like Ryley Walker, really comes to life when played live.