2015 End-of-Year Music Polls & Critics' Lists

The season of lists and lmao foolishness is upon us already.

Rough Trade Albums of the Year 2015
http://www.roughtrade.com/aoty15

why the fuck would you do your list in the middle of november

We stand for this country’s greatest traditions: the suffragettes and the trade unions, the Britain of Mary Wollstonecraft, Shelley, Alan Turing and The BeatlesGaz Coombes

oh, i guess if you're a boring, complacent bunch of cunts like the people who made that one :D

lol xposted by xelab while making a post in his hallowed style <3

why the fuck would you do your list in the middle of november

it's not as though they need to meet some vital publication deadline either

I like the Jessica Pratt and Colleen albums off that list but would actively avoid most of the rest.

a bit conservative list for rough trade? was expecting loads of indie and noisey rock that I don't know abt, but maybe I'm way off

haven't been to any of the rough trade shops for years now, i don't really know what their deal is anymore

I dunno I think it looks exactly like what you'd expect from Rough Trade

Can we have a normal titled thread for Americans?

Year-End Critics' Polls 2015

RT has been the first to release a list for a few years now. They are a shop. Their purpose is to sell music, and they rightly assume people like to start their holiday gift-buying right around now, and that becomes a handy little shopping list for all their little hipster nephews and adorkable music geek cousins.

Year-End Critics' Polls 2015
.

lists of albums by bands are serious business

i'm american and i vote for this thread

Who the fuck is Gaz Coombes?

Supergrass frontman who released an apparently-acclaimed solo album this year. UK people are clowning on him and the acclaim his album has received (although, from my non-UK perspective, it doesn't seem inconceivable that the Supergrass frontman put out a decent album).

It is very odd seeing Gaz Coombes have a critically acclaimed album in 2015. It's a good album, not a great one. I'm from the UK but live in America. Hope that helps.

did actually listen to some of his album, it's like a drive time thom yorke

Assuming it isn't a mind-blowingly amazing album, I wonder what accounts for the surfeit of praise. It's not like former members of moderately-praised bands haven't put out decent solo albums before. Is there some concomitant biographical narrative that's giving it a boost? Like, did he overcome spina bifida while recording the album or something?

I really don't know. He released an album in 2012 that was completely ignored. Matador is a better record than that one but I don't know why it's had such a bigger reaction from the UK music press. I'm happy for him as I absolutely adored Supergrass.

has he had that much acclaim? i know he got nommed for a mercury but i think he's just keeping damon albarn's seat warm

father john misty is going to be all over these lists isn't he? cannot see the appeal at all

father john misty is currently ilxbet's favourite to be my figure of greatest invective during the EOYs pending Tame Impala's eventual placement

has he had that much acclaim? i know he got nommed for a mercury but i think he's just keeping damon albarn's seat warm

― NickB

Mojo and The Guardian both game him five stars. 82 on Metacritic.

I haven't really paid attention to Father John Misty, so most of my ire is aimed towards Tobias Jesso Jr.

Things are changing just as slowly in the realm of indie rock. It's more than two decade since the weekly inkie music press went nuts for Supergrass and welcomed Caught By The Fuzz and particularly Alright as the new-born new wave of new wave, revelled in the old school Beatles-meets-Pistols http://blog.eatmove.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/wpid-dog-dance-o.giftunesmithery http://blog.eatmove.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/wpid-dog-dance-o.gifand patted them on the head as Oasis went about becoming the biggest band in the world.

Nice to see J-Gru and Shopping nestling next to each other on that RT list, but otherwise... eh. Like, I don't hate the list. It's not the worst list we'll see. It's got some okay-to-good-to-things-I-genuinely-like on it. But... eh.

Supergrass >>>>> Oasis
I mean come on.

Rough Trade is like "we have to be first because everyone reads the first list."

or maybe, just maybe, they use the list to sell some CDs and LPs for Xmas?

that also works. maybe both.

can't believe people are clowning Gaz Coombes

I should coco

He released an album in 2012 that was completely ignored. Matador is a better record than that one but I don't know why it's had such a bigger reaction from the UK music press. I'm happy for him as I absolutely adored Supergrass.

― Kitchen Person, Monday, November 16, 2015 4:01 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yup! Totally agree.

I really like "Matador." I wanted to stand up for it on the Mercury Prize thread but didn't want to be laughed at.

Gaz Coombes

I have to confess that I scanned the Rough Trade list in a vague "what should I get my brother-in-law for Christmas?" sort of way.

that is quite the thing to confess on a public message board

I know.

Normally something would suggest itself.

I used to know where I stood when he subscribed to the Fabric series.

Now I have a suspicion that he likes Coldplay.

guys there are plenty of good records on that Rough Trade list tbh

Colleen and Julia Holter both present and correct so it gets a pass from me.

There's another record store top 100 here:

Drift 2015 Records of the Year
http://thedriftrecordshop.net/blogs/deluxe/78358916-2015-records-of-the-year

won't post it all but here's the top 13:

1 Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
2 Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
3 Ryley Walker - Primrose Green
4 Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness
5 Kamasi Washington - The Epic
6 Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit
7 Badbadnotgood & Ghostface Killah - Sour Soul
8 Tobias Jesso Jnr. - Goon
9 Kurt Vile - b’lieve i’m goin down
10 Sleater-Kinney - No Cities To Love
11 Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
12 Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
13 Gaz Coombes - Matador

so many clunky album titles in there

Dj Mag

BEST OF BRITISH 2015: VOTE NOW
http://djmag.com/news/best-british-nominees-announced

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3E9cQL28ME

6 Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit

Horrible 2010s album title.

agree, it's trying to hard, reminds me of that terrible scene in Limits of Control where Tilda Swinton tells Isaach De Bankole: "Sometimes my favorite films are the ones where people sit there and don't say anything" and then they JUST SIT THERE

why the fuck would you do your list in the middle of november

― avant-garde, sissy bounce, zombie rave, aquacrunk, warlock, oceangrunge, (imago),

Because they're a record shop and actively want to sell copies over the run-up to Christmas? Come on this isn't rocket science and this exact point comes up every single year.

The title of the album was taken from a poster that hung in her grandma's bathroom.[7]

^thought it would be something like this

so you're saying it's about pooping then

Basically

looking forward to the follow up, Free Media Studies Degrees, Please Take One

My sister has an embroidered sign in hers that says Be good to your bowels and they will be good to you

Resident Music (Brighton record shop)
http://www.resident-music.com/annual

1 Algiers - Algiers
2 Low - Ones & Sixes
3 Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit & Think
4 Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
5 Mbongwana Star - From Kinshasa
6 Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness
7 Songhoy Blues - Music In Exile
8 Thee Oh Sees - Mutilator Defeated At Last
9 Blanck Mass - Dumb Flesh
10 Jacco Gardner - Hypnophobia

Courtney Barnett - If You Sprinkle When You Tinkle, Be A Sweet And Wipe The Seat

Courtney Barnett - If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down

Might be an idea to lock this awful thread and go with Whiney's version.

courtney barnett - bathroom reader

sorry matt

Gaz's downstairs toilet is quite good. There's a pink plastic tiara on the cistern, evidence of his four-and-a-half-year-old daughter, whose Velcro star chart in the kitchen shows she's had an excellent week.

Feel like Matt is trying to rob Gaz Coombes of his well-earned recognition here

Matt does not adore Matador

Support different regional versions of this thread, all with roughly the same level of Gaz content.

I guess it'll take one well-placed NO SURRENDER for the deed to be done

Gaz Coombes

that flaming Gaz Coombes again..

details of the new Mojo magazine

Mojo
http://www.mojo4music.com/22312/mojo-266-january-2016/

Sealing the deal, it’s our annual round-up of the year’s finest music, with a Best Of 2015 CD featuring top acts including New Order, Julia Holter, Sufjan Stevens and Bill Ryder-Jones, plus an in-mag rundown of all the essential albums, reissues, films, books etc. ....

FREE CD! THE BEST OF 2015 With MOJO revealing its albums of the year – see below – this month’s 15 track, free CD features essential tracks from 2015’s essential records, including New Order, Songhoy Blues, Father John Misty, Sleater-Kinney, Julia Holter, Gaz Coombes and many more....

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR Our top 50 countdown of the greatest records of 2015, with input from their creators. Plus: the best in reissues, film and books while some of our favourite artists share the best things they’ve heard all year.

Decibel Magazine's Top 40 Albums of 2015

1. Horrendous - Anareta
2. Tribulation - The Children of the Night
3. Paradise Lost - The Plague Within
4. High on Fire - Luminiferous
5. Lucifer - Lucifer I
6. Baroness - Purple
7. Skepticism - Ordeal
8. Panopticon - Autumn Eternal
9. Khemmis - Absolution
10. Killing Joke - Pylon
11. Sarpanitum - Blessed Be My Brothers..
12. Satan - Atom by Atom
13. False - Untitled
14. Mgla - Exercises in Futility
15. Refused - Freedom
16. Leviathan - Scar Sighted
17. My Dying Bride - Feel the Misery
18. Noisem - Blossoming Decay
19. Deafheaven - New Bermuda
20. Cattle Decapitation - The Anthropocene Extinction
21. Bosse-de-Nage - All Fours
22. Failure - The Heart Is A Monster
23. Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls
24. Intronaut - The DIrection of Last Things
25. Napalm Death - Apex Predator - Easy Meat
26. Hate Eternal - Infernus
27. Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Nigh Creepr
28. Myrkur - M
29. With the Dead - With the Dead
30. Dead to a Dying World - Litany
31. Crypt Sermon - Out of the Garden
32. Swallow the Sun - Songs from the North I, II & III
33. Prurient - Frozen Niagara Falls
34. Ghost - Meliora
35. Spectral Voice - Necrotic Doom
36. Cult Leader - Lightless Walk
37. Enslaved - In Times
38. Shape of Despair - Monotony Fields
39. Author & Punisher - Melk En Honing
40. Cruciamentum - Charnel Passages

goddamn it i followed the whiney spite-thread instead of the real one and i missed my chance to make up funny courtney barnett album names. FUCK

YOU KNOW WHAT? FUCK IT
Courtney Barnett - Red Touch Yellow You're a Dead Fellow, Red Touch Black You're OK Jack

*unbookmarks both threads, stops paying attention to music*

No Liturgy

Okay unilateral mod decision, Gaz Coombes can fuck off.

We Aim to Please, You Aim Too, Please

No Aklhys
No Abyssal
No Glaciation
No Krallice
No Locrian
No Misþyrming

I figured there'd be more Relapse, they had a crazy great year in 2015 imo

RIP Gaz Coombes

^new board description

Gaz Coombes

Gaz Coombes is the new Hen Fap

Thread's had a gaztric bypass

gaz not for coombes the bell tolls

It took a few days but I finally LOLed at 'Gaz Coombes'.

I've listened to bits of the Swallow The Sun, but not sure I'll ever get through all two and a half hours plus. Guess they got to hear the Baroness somehow -- I haven't heard that promos were even out yet. No Christian Mistress, Magic Circle, Ufomammut, Elder, Avatarium. I'm not feeling bad about letting my subscription lapse.

― Fastnbulbous, Thursday, November 19, 2015 1:20 PM

I have a stream of the Baroness album. It's good, but I don't feel like I've had enough time with it to put it on my year-end list. I've heard 14 of those 40 albums in all.

― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Thursday, November 19, 2015 1:24 PM

34. Ghost - Meliora
23. Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls
12. Satan - Atom by Atom
5. Lucifer - Lucifer I
2. Tribulation - The Children of the Night

These would be on my list.

― jmm, Thursday, November 19, 2015 1:32 PM

Yeah there's some good stuff on the list.

And here's this for reference:

Rough Trade's Top 100 Albums of 2015
1. Bjork - Vulnicura
2. Father John Misty - I Love You Honeybear
3. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit
4. Ezra Furman - Perpetual Motion People
5. Max Richter - From Sleep
6. Wolf Alice - My Love is Cool
7. Kamasi Washington - The Epic
8. Royal Headache - High
9. Romare - Projections
10. Jamie XX - In Colour
11. John Grant - Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
12. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie and Lowell
13. Tame Impala - Currents
14. Nadine Shah - Fast Food
15. Wand - Golem
16. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
17. Django Django - Born Under Saturn
18. Tobias Jesso Jr - Goon
19. Georgia - S/T
20. Palma Violets - Danger in the Club
21. Calexico - Edge of the Sun
22. Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass
23. FFS (Franz Ferdinand + Sparks) - FFS
24. Public Service Broadcasting - The Race for Space
25. Floating Points - Elaenia
26. Bop English - Constant Bop
27. Ryley Walker - Primrose Green
28. Beach House - Depression Cherry
29. Sleaford Mods - Key Markets
30. Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness
31. Alabama Shakes - Sound and COlor
32. Trevor Jackson - Format
33. Joanna Gruesome - Peanut Butter
34. Shopping - Why Choose
35. Songhoy Blues - Music In Exile
36. Mac DeMarco - Another One
37. Richard Hawley - Hollow Meadows
38. Foals - What Went Down
39. New Order - Music Complete
40. Viet Cong - Viet Cong
41. Ultimate Painting - Green Lanes
42. Jim O'Rourke - Simple Songs
43. Ibeyi - Ibeyi
44. Matthew E. White - Fresh Blood
45. Fuzz - II
46. Liam Hayes - Slurrup
47. Death and Vanilla - To Where the Wild Things Are
48. Colleen - Captain of None
49. Girl Band - Holding Hands With Jamie
50. Deerhunter - Fading Frontier
51. The Orb - Moonbuilding 2703 AD
52. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
53. Lianne La Havas - Blood
54. Public Enemy - Man Plans God Laughs
55. Mercury Rev - The Light In You
56. Adele - 25
57. Joanna Newsom - Divers
58. Ghost Culture - Ghost Culture
59. Leftfield - Alternative Light Source
60. Sleater-Kinney - No Cities to Love
61. Mark Ronson - Uptown Special
62. Sarah Cracknell - Red Kite
63. Fraser A Gorman - Slow Hum
64. C Duncan - Architect
65. The Districts - A Flourish And A Spoil
66. The Unthanks - Mount The Air
67. Damaged Bug - Cold Hot Plumbs
68. Kurt Vile - b'lieve i'm goin' down...
69. Stealing Sheep - Not Real
70. Mbongwana Star - From Kinshasa
71. Public Image Ltd - What The World Needs Now
72. Drenge - Undertow
73. Holly Herndon - Platform
74. Follakzoid - III
75. Death Grips - The Powers That B
76. METZ - II
77. Spit and Shine - Everybody's A Fuckin Expert
78. Lana Del Rey - Honeymoon
79. Destroyer - Poison Season
80. Andrew Combs - All These Dreams
81. Hills - Frid
82. Grimes - Art Angels
83. Waxahatchee - Ivy Tripp
84. Jenny Hval - Apocalypse, Girl
85. Shamir - Ratchet
86. Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free
87. Ought - Sun Coming Down
88. Sauna Youth - Distractions
89. Nils Frahm - Solo
90. The Fireworks - Switch Me On
91. Leon Bridges - Coming Home
92. Bully - Feels Like
93. Low - Ones and Sixes
94. Arca - Mutant
95. Girlpool - Before the World Was Big
96. Laura Marling - Short Movie
97. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
98. Jessica Pratt - On Your Own Love Again
99. Ryan Adams - 1989
100. Protomartyr - The Agen

I was surprised to see Bop English at #26. It's pretty good -- White Denim frontman James Petralli's solo project.
https://bopenglish.bandcamp.com/album/constant-bop

― Fastnbulbous, Thursday, November 19, 2015 1:37 PM

better than flaming GC

The 405's Alternative Mercury Prize awarded to Little Simz's A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons
http://www.thefourohfive.com/music/article/the-405-alternative-mercury-prize-goes-to-little-simz-144

40 records on that Decibel list and no VHOL?

hardly heard any of those Decibel albums and the only one I thought was an unqualified tick.jpg was #40, Cruciamentum

I wouldn't mind but I already keep scolding myself for how much cool shit I bypass because I'm catching up on (predominantly) metal promos

I take it the Mercury Rev album is boring?

I take it the Mercury Rev album is boring?

― djh

It's Secret Migration levels of boring.

it's like being waterboarded but with sap instead of water

no pissgrave no credibility

Listened to the first tracks of Decibel's top five albums to "see what I'm missing" this year, then the first track of Lightning Bolt's new album, and how the former has been dubbed "Extremely Extreme" (Decibel's tagline) over the latter continues to elude me... feels like listening to a random selection of MOR (ie hard bop, here comes the bass solo!) contemporary jazz albums... but then again hasn't everything been done in Japanoise/noise rock/jazz rock as well since the 80s? Maybe viscerally I just respond more to the latter's driving rhythm, and blind myself to what makes metal lyrics "hit hard" for some.

Resident Music's list is the best of this lot. Not perfect, but I'll be surprised to see a better top 5 this year.

There are few current graves I would happily stripe, but I wouldn't want to make a scene of it.

Top 20 from that Resident Music list:

20. Jamie xx - In Colour
19. Wand - Golem
18. Gaz Coombes - Matador
17. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Nightsweats - s/t
16. Girl Band - Holding Hands with Jamie
15. Ryley Walker - Primrose Green
14. Lonelady - Hinterland
13. Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe - I Declare Nothing
12. Ghostpoet - Shredding Skin
11. The Maccabees - Marks to Prove it
10. Jacco Gardner - Hypnophobia
9. Blanck Mass - Dumb Flesh
8. Thee Oh Sees - Mutilator Defeated At Last
7. Songhoy Blues - Music in Exile
6. Julia Holter - Have You in My Wilderness
5. Mbogwana Star - From Kinshasa
4. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
3. Courtney Barnett - Everybody Poops
2. Low - Ones & Sixes
1. Algiers - s/t

oh god, are we really comparing five-album best of lists against each other now

when will the madness end

Nice to see Songhoy Blues rate so highly on a list; I was worried they'd be overlooked. First track from new album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOValSt7YOY

Rate Your Music has fluid charts so things will change but here's the Top 100 of 2015 according to the utilitarian website as of right now, including archival and live releases:

1 Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
2 Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
3 Joanna Newsom - Divers
4 Swans - The Gate
5 Kamasi Washington - The Epic
6 Miles Davis - At Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4
7 Bob Dylan - The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12
8 Toby Fox - Undertale Soundtrack
9 Yes - Progeny: Highlights From Seventy-Two
10 Mgła - Exercises in Futility
11 Panopticon - Autumn Eternal
12 Lil Ugly Mane - Third Side of Tape
13 Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete
14 Ryan Adams - Live at Carnegie hall
15 Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss
16 Julia Holter - Have You in My Wilderness
17 The Rolling Stones - The Marquee Club Live in 1971
18 Leprous - The Congregation
19 Zierler - ESC
20 Max Richter - Sleep
21 Horrendous - Anareta
22 Elza - A mulher do fim do mundo
23 Riverside - Love, Fear and the Time Machine
24 Deafheaven - New Bermuda
25 Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.
26 Amorphis - Under the Red Cloud
27 Satan - Atom by Atom
28 Deep Purple - Long Beach 1971
29 Avatarium - The Girl With the Raven Mask
30 Paradise Lost - The Plague Within
31 Gov't Mule - Sco-Mule
32 Viet Cong - Viet Cong
33 Stara Rzeka - Zamknęły się oczy ziemi
34 Björk - Vulnicura
35 Cattle Decapitation - The Anthropocene Extinction
36 Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld - Never Were the Way She Was
37 Enslaved - In Times
38 Iron Maiden - The Book of Souls
39 Milo - So the Flies Don't Come
40 Jamie xx - In Colour
41 Autechre - AE_LIVE_KRAKOW_200914
42 Nickelus F - Trick Dice
43 Thy Catafalque - Sgùrr
44 Susanne Sundfør - Ten Love Songs
45 Yes - Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two
46 Blues Pills - Blues Pills Live
47 Coil - Backwards
48 Mark Lanegan - Houston: Publishing Demos 2002
49 Caligula's Horse - Bloom
50 Vince Staples - Summertime '06
51 Enshine - Singularity
52 Lupe Fiasco - Tetsuo & Youth
53 The Chills - Silver Bullets
54 Timbre - Sun & Moon
55 Elder - Lore
56 Beach House - Depression Cherry
57 Gorod - A Maze of Recycled Creeds
58 Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
59 Gloryhammer - Space 1992: Rise of the Chaos Wizards
60 Thee Oh Sees - Mutilator Defeated at Last
61 Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
62 Symphony X - Underworld
63 Gazpacho - Molok
64 Shape of Despair - Monotony Fields
65 Ghost - Meliora
66 Katatonia - Sanctitude
67 Carly Rae Jepsen - E•MO•TION
68 Prurient - Frozen Niagara Falls
69 Tyranny - Aeons in Tectonic Interment
70 Ricercar Consort - Musikalisches Opfer
71 Neon Indian - VEGA INTL. Night School
72 Uncle Acid - The Night Creeper
73 Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Style
74 Anekdoten - Until All the Ghosts Are Gone
75 Tribulation - The Children of the Night
76 Melechesh - Enki
77 Napalm Death - Apex Predator - Easy Meat
78 Leviathan - Scar Sighted
79 Soilwork - The Ride Majestic
80 Van der Graaf Generator - After the Flood: Van der Graaf Generator at the BBC 1968-1977
81 Disasterpeace - It Follows
82 Floating Points - Elaenia
83 Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Tower Theater, Philadelphia 1975
84 Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars
85 The Dear Hunter - Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise
86 ２８１４ - 新しい日の誕生
87 Jim O'Rourke - Simple Songs
88 Deerhunter - Fading Frontier
89 Tame Impala - Currents
90 Gazpacho - Molok
91 Sulphur Aeon - Gateway to the Antisphere
92 Misþyrming - Söngvar elds og óreiðu
93 Sleater-Kinney - No Cities to Love
94 My Dying Bride - Feel the Misery
95 Clutch - Psychic Warfare
96 Tempel - The Moon Lit Our Path
97 Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress'
98 Royal Headache - High
99 Czarface - Every Hero Needs a Villain
100 Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free

Love the eclecticism there, thanks.

Anyone placing bets on Sufjan vs Kendrick at P&J?

that RYM list is certainly VERY different to the Acclaimed music 2015 and almost certainly very different to most EOY lists lol.

i'm glad this thread's title was changed, this is the first time i've looked at it because i thought it really was about Gaz Coombes (not that there's anything wrong with that, i liked the 2nd Supergrass album a lot)

top 100 of 2015 according to the utilitarian website as of right now, including archival and live releases

Why would you include archival and live releases? You have to check those boxes to get those, and most polls do not include them. Gazpacho's Molok is a good album, but probably doesn't need to be listed twice.

Without the archival and live, it's better than most of the lists we'll see in the coming weeks. After Jason Isbell, here's what's in the list without the other crap:

84. Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect
85. Junkie XL - Mad Max: Fury Road
86. W.A.S.P. - Golgotha
87. Obsequiae - Aria of Vernal Tombs
88. Richard Hawley - Hollow Meadows
89. Kamelot - Haven
90. Low - Ones And Sixes
91. Ought - Sun Coming Down
92. Kurt Vile - b'lieve i'm goin down...
93. Laura Marling - Short Movie
94. Bosse-de-Nage - All Fours
95. Sacri Monti - Sacri Monti
96. Caspian - Dust and Disquiet
97. Spock's Beard - The Oblivion Particle
98. Lamb of God - VII: Sturm und Drang
99. Arcturus - Arcturian
100. Fuzz - II

Christian Mistress - To Your Death just misses it at 101. Enforcer, High On Fire, Wand, I think I like the second 100 better!

Piccadiily Records (Manchester)
Top 100: http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/counter/feature.php?feature=751

1 - Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness
2 - Horsebeach - II
3 - Thee Oh Sees - Mutilator Defeated At Last
4 - Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit
5 - Lonelady - Hinterland
6 - Gwenno - Y Dydd Olaf
7 - Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
8 - Outfit - Slowness
9 - Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe - I Declare Nothing
10 - Linkwood - Expressions
11 - Romare - Projections
12 - The Charlatans - Modern Nature
13 - Blank Realm - Illegals In Heaven
14 - Floating Points - Elaenia
15 - Ruf Dug - Island
16 - Dutch Uncles - O Shudder
17 - Bambi Davidson - Brunswick
18 - Toro Y Moi - What For?
19 - Ryley Walker - Primrose Green
20 - Föllakzoid - III
21 - Ducktails - St. Catherine
22 - Boof - The Hydrangeas Whisper
23 - Colleen - Captain Of None
24 - Beach House - Depression Cherry
25 - Kurt Vile - B'lieve I'm Goin Down...
26 - Moon Duo - Shadow of the Sun
27 - D'angelo and the Vanguard - Black Messiah
28 - Chastity Belt - Time To Go Home
29 - Be (Garth Be) - H I P N O T O N Y
30 - Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
31 - Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
32 - Tame Impala - Currents
33 - Rozi Plain - Friend
34 - Other Lives - Rituals
35 - Badbadnotgood & Ghostface Killah - Sour Soul
36 - The Holydrug Couple - Moonlust
37 - Jamie xx - In Colour
38 - Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
39 - Mac Demarco - Another One
40 - John Grant - Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
41 - Moon B - Lifeworld
42 - Public Service Broadcasting - The Race For Space
43 - A Place To Bury Strangers - Transfixiation
44 - The Fall - Sub-Lingual Tablet
45 - Stealing Sheep - Not Real
46 - Ultimate Painting - Green Lanes
47 - Viet Cong - Viet Cong
48 - Kamasi Washington - The Epic
49 - Jose Padilla - So Many Colours
50 - Low - Ones and Sixes

i rely heavily on the rym lists, though i also filter out all the metal records when i run the top 100. i mean, i like metal, but rym _really_ likes metal. should probably filter out all the progressive rock records as well because i care nothing about steven wilson or beardfish, but even if i filter out metal, somebody will tell me about krallice or dodheimsgard. nobody is going to tell me about komara.

13 - Blank Realm - Illegals In Heaven

^ not really all that nuts about straight-up indie rock, but this album is really good in a classic flying nun sort of way

Mojo Magazine - Top 50 Albums

1. Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness
2. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
3. New Order - Music Complete
4. Tame Impala - Currents
5. Jim O'Rourke - Simple Songs
6. Bill Ryder-Jones - West Kirby County Primary
7. Songhoy Blues - Music In Exile
8. Mbongwana Star - From Kinshasa
9. Sleaford Mods - Key Markets
10. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
11. Bob Dylan - Shadows In The Night
12. Courtney Barnet - Sometimes I Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit
13. Low - Ones An Sixes
14. Sleater-Kinney - No Cities To Love
15. Richard Dawson - Nothing Important
16. D'Angelo - Black Messiah
17. Hooton Tennis Club - Highest Point In Cliff Town
18. Blur - The Magic Whip
19. Joanna Newsom - Divers
20. Dungen - Allas Sak
21. Richard Thompson - Still
22. Young Fathers - White Men Are Black Men Too
23. John Grant - Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
24. Gaz Coombes - Matador
25. Paul Weller - Saturns Pattern
26. Wilco - Star Wars
27. Leon Bridges - Coming Home
28. Matthew E. White - Fresh Blood
29. Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside
30. Bill Fay - Who Is The Sender?
31. Ezra Furman - Perpetual Motion People
32. Jamie XX - In Colour
33. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Chasing Yesterday
34. Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free
35. The Libertines - Anthems For Doomed Youth
36. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
37. Promised Land Sound - For Use And Delight
38. Lonelady - Hinterland
39. Keith Richards - Crosseyed Heart
40. Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color
41. Kasami Washington - The Epic
42. Boz Scaggs - A Fool To Care
43. Mark Ronson - Uptown Special
44. Ryley Walker - Primrose Green
45. The Weeknd - Beauty Behind The Madness
46. Tobias Jesso Jr. - Goon
47. Deerhunter - Fading Frontier
48. David Gilmour - Rattle That Lock
49. Ibeyi - Ibeyi
50. Kurt Vile - B'lieve I'm Going Down

Gaz Coombes beating off Boz Scaggs there

It's amazing to think that Julia Holter is now a huge huge alternative star with big billboard campaigns on the tube and stuff.

I love that album but and enjoyed seeing her live last week but she isn't a "huge huge" anything, unless you're intending the word 'alternative' to completely negate the 'huge'.

It's amazing to think that Julia Holter is now a huge huge alternative star with big billboard campaigns on the tube and stuff.

don't underestimate how targeted these campaigns are. oval space has a billboard on hackney road.

Also they're probably anticipating a big sales bounce from 'Have You In My Wilderness' appearing at or near the top of a load of magazine lists (especially mags like Mojo whose readers still actually buy CDs). If you want to push an artist like that up a commercial level or two then now is exactly the time you want to be heavily marketing her.

11. Bob Dylan - Shadows In The Night
good looking out for the classics mojo!

16. D'Angelo - Black Messiah
hmmm

Julia Holter just got booked to play the arts centre near my house in Feb, capacity of the biggest room available is probably 200. her music has Crossover Potential for sure but let's not get carried away

eh i'm fine w/ d'angelo being on some 2015 lists, the album was released after most places published their 2014 lists

Alabama Shakes only making #40 on a Mojo list suggests their album is either terrible or actually really good in ways I wouldn't have anticipated.

I found it incredibly forgettable - the only reason I even remembered it existed is that one of the songs has popped up in a commercial recently.

Some nice surprises on that Picadilly list. The Linkwood album is really good!

I'm not much into the Steven Wilson or Beardfish, but I have gotten turned on to some new prog, and thanks to the RYM lists, I learned that I like The Dear Hunter way more than Deerhunter! Gazpacho and Anekdoten albums are pretty great if you're not allergic to mellotrons or Nordic dread. Goes great paired with a nice barrel-aged stout or Hammerheart's Sköll och Hati, smoked chocolate stout. Skål, heathens!

Honestly, I forgot Blur released an album.

lol @ New Order and Blur being so high in that list

will be even more lols when New Order win the ilx eoy poll

Mojo Magazine - Top 50 Albums

15. Richard Dawson - Nothing Important

Release date was early November 2014.

Gazpacho are kinda dweeby ("This CD may destroy the universe") but I like them too. They don't overload their songs, it's more about atmosphere.

the hip-hop representation in these lists is very sad. not that the kendrick lamar album isn't great, but it's painfully obvious how much work it (and a couple of inevitable others) is doing as Not Like That Other Rap Music

the fake courtney barnett album titles were one of the lowest points of ilx not just this thread but it really is a spectacularly bad album title (the album itself is fine)

still, would definitely listen in to a conversation between her and earl sweatshirt about their album titles

definitely, though tbf the whole point of year end lists is to highlight examples of Not Like That Other (x) Music

the hip-hop representation in these lists is very sad. not that the kendrick lamar album isn't great, but it's painfully obvious how much work it (and a couple of inevitable others) is doing as Not Like That Other Rap Music

most of That Other Rap Music is arguably terrible

Courtney Barnett's voice is one of the most unpleasant sounding things I've heard this year, just this horrible nasal drone.

definitely, though tbf the whole point of year end lists is to highlight examples of Not Like That Other (x) Music

This is transparently not true in the case of much of the guitar music in, eg, the Mojo list.

that's because Mojo is really incredibly boring

i don't mind courtney barnett's voice, it's just laconic sullen detachment. sheryl crow x aimee mann isn't a very exciting vocal mode but it's not unpleasant either. the album sort of falls down in places because when she's not as insightful as she thinks she is there's nowhere for her songs to hide really

Gazpacho are kinda dweeby ("This CD may destroy the universe") but I like them too. They don't overload their songs, it's more about atmosphere.
― jmm

Ha ha, yeah. I wrote about that, the CD includes a code at the end that generates a random number that could theoretically, with the Quantum Zeno effect, destroy the universe. The fact that they may not be joking is kind of great. Plus biblical demons, Norwegian folklore about religion and trolls turning to stone, and instrumentation that includes a 10,000 year-old Skåra stone.

Also regarding Komara, it is a good palate-cleansing jolt of avant jazz prog. Worth checking out for those who may also like Shining, Author-Punisher, Zu, Pinkish Black.

(i think after attempting some grimes songs this week i'd be happy with any vocal mode that isn't insufferably cutesy)

the hip-hop representation in these lists is very sad. not that the kendrick lamar album isn't great, but it's painfully obvious how much work it (and a couple of inevitable others) is doing as Not Like That Other Rap Music

― lex pretend, Friday, November 20, 2015 9:47 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea TPAB was obviously going to be the token rap album in otherwise non-rap lists but i didn't think it was gonna be this bad

also makes d40's "FU if future & young thug are the only rap u listen to" comment in the future/thug thread even weirder, bc clearly kendrick is occupying that role more than anybody else

ehhhhhh not really; if i read him correctly (which is a totally open question) deej was saying that moreso for the vox populi than the critical sphere
i don't think there's any doubt that the majority of genreblind year end lists will be putting pimp a butterfly in the top ten and that barter and ds2 are gonna be outliers at best

there's def a sphere of try-hard rap critics that applies to as well...

I promise you, you will see at least one Pazz and Jop ballot that is >50% Young Thug and Future tapes and the writer then bragging about his/her decision on Twitter

oh no doubt
i mean, not no doubt
you know what i mean

the highest placing rap albums on Pazz & Jop the last 3 years were Kendrick, Kanye, Run The Jewels, Chance The Rapper and Azealia Banks. the 'Not Like That Other Rap Music' contingent rules as much as it ever has, no matter what dent someone like Future makes.

People let me tell you: Colleen Green's dynamite album I Want To Grow Up is getting hosed on these year-end lists.

like shining plenty (though was not too taken with their latest album), but pinkish black just leaves me cold. with atkins and ferguson both dead there's nothing left in it for me. :( glad great tyrant's records are finally making it out, though!

tal national's "zoy zoy" way too slept on.

i'm preparing now to seethe for two months about the lack of year end critical love for Dawn Richard and Jazmine Sullivan

28 of that Mojo top 50 consists of artists named after a lead/solo male, from Kendrick to Kamasi via Father John Misty.

i'm preparing now to seethe for two months about the lack of year end critical love for Dawn Richard and Jazmine Sullivan

dawn will get some, way more than last time, but on the basis of how much dust she was unjustifiably paid throughout the year, it's hard to imagine jazime getting any of her rightful due at all

*jazmine

had to google what "paid dust" means, first time i've heard that

kmt and pmd rn

Pretty sure jazz fans have rap fans beat in the "token album" complaint dept.

i'm preparing now to seethe for two months about the lack of year end critical love for Dawn Richard and Jazmine Sullivan

― i made a scope for my laser musket out of some (forksclovetofu)

I'd add Susanne Sundfør to that list. It's going to be a long wait for the ILM end of year list.

xp yea that kamasi album is placing in way more polls than i thought it would've

No Barry Altschul's 3Dom Factor, no darn credibility I say.

deafheaven the critics token metal pick again then?

grateful dead - 30 trips around the sun is the tokin' pick

So if I understand correctly, it's dissing Courtney Barnett season.

I wonder if Earl Sweatshirt releasing his album so early in the year (march I think) will work against him, was my favorite non-TPAB hip hop record this year.

dawn will get some, way more than last time, but on the basis of how much dust she was unjustifiably paid throughout the year, it's hard to imagine jazime getting any of her rightful due at all

― lex pretend, Friday, November 20, 2015 3:54 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This would be a damn shame as I've been hoping that Reality Show would become one of those albums that finally gets its due once the kind of people who only learn about new music from reading year-end lists would finally discover that way (the way many will discover Courtney Barnett, whose album I also like a lot).

the earl record was good

people moaning about how there's only one token rap album in the mojo list is a low point for ilx

deafheaven the critics token metal pick again then?

Well Pallbearer haven't released anything this year so yeah

this thread title change is a FUCKING OUTRAGE GAZ COOMBES 4 LIFE STAY STRONG GAZ FUCK A GAZ HATERZ

gazdooks

Earl Sportcoat's previous album was #42 on P&J and this last one didn't seem to make as much of an impact

Oh brother! I have dysentery already from these year-end polls and it's not even December. I'm going to have to stock up on toilet paper.

i have bad news for you- we're now living in a post-antibiotic world.

have another one...

Uncut Magazine - Albums of the Year 2015

1. Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness
2. Kendrick Kamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
3. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
4. Ryley Walker - Primrose Green
5. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
6. Tame Impala - Currents
7. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit
8. Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass
9. Sleaford Mods - Key Markets
10. New Order - Music Complete
11. Bjork - Vulnicura
12. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
13. Jim O'Rourke - Simple Songs
14. Robert Forster - Songs To Play
15. Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free
16. The Weather Station - Loyalty
17. Blur - The Magic Whip
18. Wilco - Star Wars
19. Mbongwana Star - From Kinshasa
20. Holly Herndon - Platform
21. Alabama Shakes - Sound & Colour
22. Gwenno - Y Dydd Olaf
23. Sleater-Kinney - No Cities To Love
24. Richard Thompson - Still
25. John Grant - Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
26. Joanna Newsom - Divers
27. Jamie XX - In Colour
28. Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - Ba Power
29. Kurt Vile - B'lieve I'm Goin Down
30. Kamasi Washington - The Epic
31. Four Tet - Morning/Evening
32. Sun Kil Moon - Universal Themes
33. Matthew E White - Fresh Blood
34. FFS - FFS
35. Young Fathers - White Men Are Black Men Too
36. Destroyer - Poison Season
37. Low - Ones And Sixes
38. Dave Rawlings Machine - Nashville Obsolete
39. Paul Weller - Saturns Pattern
40. Bob Dylan - Shadows In The Night
41. Jessica Pratt - On Your Own Love Again
42. JD McPherson - Let The Good Times Roll
43. Ezra Fuhrman - Perpetual Motion People
44. Laura Marling - Short Movie
45. Panda Bear - Panda Bear Vs The Grim Reaper
46. Olivia Chaney - The Longest River
47. Miguel - Wildheart
48. My Morning Jacket - The Waterfall
49. Songhoy Blues - Music In Exile
50. Yo La Tengo - Stuff Like That There
51. Algiers - Algiers
52. H Hawkline - In The Pink Of Condition
53. Roisin Murphy - Hairless Toys
54. Israel Nash - Israel Nash's Silver Season
55. Neil Young - The Monsanto Years
56. Deerhunter - Fading Frontier
57. Lana Del Ray - Honeymoon
58. Fuzz - Fuzz II
59. Stick In The Wheel - From Here
60. Chip Taylor - The Little Prayers Trilogy
61. Vince Staples - Summertime '06
62. Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy
63. Badbadnotgood & Ghostface Killah - Sour Soul
64. PiL - What The World Needs Now
65. Bop English - Constant Bop
66. The Apartments - No Song No Spell No Madrigal
67. Michachu And The Shapes - Good Bad Happy Sad
68. Dave Alvin And Phil Alvin - Lost Time
69. Modest Mouse - Strangers To Ourselves
70. Pond - Man It Feels Like Space Again
71. Drinks - Hermits On Holiday
72. Killing Joke - Pylon
73. Phil Cook - Southland
74. Keith Richards - Crosseyed Heart
75. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Loin Des Hommes OST

not sure who kendrick kamar is

Lana Del Ray, either.

i managed to spend all year not listening to that julia holter record and now i see some of the ppl i trust the most here were falling all over it in her thread

I wonder if the all new mainstream celeb free magazine NME will just have all the biggest sellers in their list or if they will throw an indie bone to its former hardcore readership.

BRAD i would like to see you write an EOY piece about all the music you hated this year please :)

it'd just be a list of bieber and weeknd songs prob

if i was an editor i'd commission that on the spot

actually i just realised i'd rather read all my favourite writers write about shit they hate at this point

If I were an editor I would send you to review controversial Scottish comedian frankie boyle's new stand-up show, which he wrote in response to Kendrick Lamar's album To Pimp A Butterfly

That Paul Weller album must be terrible if Uncut only put him at number 39. Doesn't he usually have a spot reserved in the top 10 no matter what he puts out?

Hot Chip don't seem to be doing too well this year.

My Paul Weller comment could also apply to Bob Dylan who is just one place below him. His last four studio albums (not including his christmas album) all got 5/5.

one of my favorite ilx tics is when people like lex, forks, deej and adam j duncan rightfully call out the tokenism or straight up ignorance when it comes to hip-hop, jazz, R&B, dance music or pop music — spheres dominated by POC, women, LGBQ, etc.

And then, without fail, the ILX heavy metal kool aid man brigade bursts through the wall to complain about all the oily, doughy white men only being represented by one group of oily, doughy white men in the neverending marginalization of the genre that brought us "entrails ripped from a virgin's cunt" and cookie monster vocals and drawings of dragons.

...says the man who wrote for Revolver - the metal mag who does a 'chicks in metal' issue every year and has defended it on ilx

OH YEEEEAAAAHHHHHH

― Cosmic Slop, Saturday, November 21, 2015 4:36 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Whitney super duper otm, lol at George Clinton's misdirection there

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/whitney-houston-and-george-clinton-at-bets-25th-anniversary-news-photo/80631259

still, would definitely listen in to a conversation between her and earl sweatshirt about their album titles

― lex pretend, Friday, November 20, 2015

Sometimes I Want Lex to be an Editor, But Instead I Stare Blankly at a Laptop Screen

deafheaven the critics token metal pick again then?

― Cosmic Slop, Saturday, November 21, 2015 1:39 AM (21 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this fairly neutral comment is literally the only thing anyone has said itt about token metal albums, so I don't know where you're getting 'ILX heavy metal kool aid man brigade complains about neverending marginalization of the genre' etc from

Uncut Magazine - Albums of the Year 2015
1. Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness

this explains so much about the confusing demographic at the julia holter show recently

from flashily-whiskered pop tearaway to ivor novello and brit award winning rock star, the former supergrass mainman has come a long way in his 20 year musical career, through brash guitars and bragging choruses to emotive ballads and lyrical introspection.

and with ‘matador’ coombes has peaked, assembling 11 tracks that like damon albarn and patrick watson balance maturity with innovation, confident and striking but never formulaic, dancing from acoustic guitar to electronic growl to string-laden epic whilst always leaving the songs with enough room to breathe. “'matador' is a great record, the sound of an artist following his own singular path - an artist who becomes more interesting with each release” 8/10 – the line of best fit, “confidence without bravado, an analogue man refusing to succumb to the throw away values of a digital age” 4/5 – diy, “reaffirms his place as one of britain’s greatest songwriters” the guardian, "intriguing and revealing" 5/5 mojo

soref

its whiney

thats all.

Yeah forget about actually refuting arguments lets just assassinate characters

/Uncut Magazine - Albums of the Year 2015
1. Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness/

this explains so much about the confusing demographic at the julia holter show recently

This is so fucking cool, hope it's indicative of some kind of cultural "spark"

Dammit alternating in and out of sarcasm still doesn't really work on the net

I think these lists are all racist and sexist.

Except Mojo

Any jazz list this year ideally would be well represented by a few unfashionably middle-aged female artists without resorting to any tokenism. Kris Davis, Myra Melford, Matana Roberts, Nicole Mitchell, Ingrid Laubrock have all done brilliant albums and some of them are involved in a couple of them

I'm amazed Kendrick Lamar isn't topping all of these lists. Is it a US vs UK thing?

the sample size is pretty small so far and leans away from pubs that would necessarily give a record like that top priority, i think the consensus around it will become much stronger over the next few weeks.

Any jazz list this year ideally would be well represented by a few unfashionably middle-aged female artists without resorting to any tokenism. Kris Davis, Myra Melford, Matana Roberts, Nicole Mitchell, Ingrid Laubrock have all done brilliant albums and some of them are involved in a couple of them

This is a good point - I didn't wind up putting any of these folks on my year-end list, but there's solid arguments to be made for all of them.

Well as sometime pointed out last year, you do get very divergent jazz lists, because most of the artists regardless of quality receive zero promotion in what is already a very small pond.

someone

Glad to see Low's album showing up consistently. They're at a point in their career where they'd be easy to overlook, but Ones & Sixes really is terrific.

I guess Jamie xx is the token dance? That record's cool, but I wish Jlin was getting love.

the jlin album is amazing, for a while i couldn't get into the back half bc it was so much more punishing but then i discovered that the one song i hated, she hated too. there have been several really great dance albums this year, i can see holly herndon also crossing over to non-dance publications but jlin/levon vincent/helena hauff/nozinja/flava d/dj richard, probably not

jamie zz album is utter trash

Honestly I didn't find the Jlin album as interesting or exciting as the discourse around it suggested but I think I only 'get' footwork when I have something visually to latch onto (at which point I really get it, but I need both the music and the dancing in combination).

There's a school of Wire-friendly electronic music that will appear in a good few lists - Holly Herndon/Laurel Halo/Oneohtrix and Arca if those records weren't released too late - but most of them are not particularly concerned with dancing at all.

I've probably listened to more dance music this year than I have in years but (Levon aside) but most 2015 "dance albums" have not really been exciting or interesting enough to trouble most of these lists. The Helena Hauff is cool but doesn't do much to distinguish itself from a glut of industrial techno and EBM-homaging records over the last couple of years. The DJ Richard album is decent moody ambient but its exceptional qualities continue to elude me.

I had no idea a Flava D album even existed though, now that IS an exciting prospect.

What dance music have you been listening to? I think there's been lots of electronica/IDM-style releases that have been really good but I've struggled to find exceptional techno and house bobbins. I'm really not fussed about the wave of lo-fi house and I'm bored of the Innervisions deep bass w/sad chords formula. I'm hoping the RA tracks roll-out will give me something to sink my teeth into, doubly so now I seem to have all but retired from clubbing.

Limiting this to commercially available stuff - mostly Function's Berghain 07, the Gesloten Cirkel EP, Mathew Jonson's Fabric mix (which is a live set really), Kink's Cloud Generator and Fantasia EPs, the Bicep EP from this summer, a lot of high-intensity Lisbon stuff (DJ Marfox, Nidia Minaj, DJ N*gga-Fox, Dotorato Pro), the Nick Hoppner album, DJ Koze's XTC, most of what Paul Woolford's put out this year, plus that school of heavily percussive British dance music that no one really has a name for yet (Monki's Fabriclive 81 and Mele's Ambience, again and again and again).

I've also been retreating into the past a lot given the mindbending amount of amazing stuff from 10-20 years ago that I missed the first time, but that's not relevant here.

The bobbins thread is worse than useless now it's like 90% people going "well hello there" and posting a contextless Youtube link that will have expired within five minutes, with no title or artist name. Still, there's some good stuff in the playlist, as well as a lot that does very little for me.

None of this will trouble end-of-year lists obviously.

Also a shitload of DJ Q although so little of what he plays seems to hold the same *magic* outside of the mix that I stopped bothering trying to track things down in isolation.

I had forgotten about those Kink EPS, they are really good. Koze has had another good year, Pampa has been a play-on-sight label for a few years now. I had always pegged Melè as being one of those mershy Radio One types, I'll need to investigate.

Xpost DJ Q Kiss Fresh show from 8th Feb is probably my mix of the year

I have no problem with Radio One mersh, quite the opposite in fact.

this fairly neutral comment is literally the only thing anyone has said itt about token metal albums, so I don't know where you're getting 'ILX heavy metal kool aid man brigade complains about neverending marginalization of the genre' etc from

The handwringing about a lack of metal reliably happens every year, but I'm pretty sure that Whiney's point is that there's no point complaining about the marginalisation of a genre that already revels in its own marginalisation. As opposed to artists from unfairly marginalised groups who want and need the exposure but hey what's the point in bothering to check them out when you can just pad out the lower bits of your personal list with mid-career drift from Kurt Vile or Wilco.

Like I'm not saying that there shouldn't be more non-Kendrick rap here, but that album is substantively different enough from Rae Sremmurd or Future or Vince Staples that it's at least understandable why someone would enjoy it an none of the others. Like at least they picked a great record this year. Lord knows it's preferable to having 'Compton' turn up everywhere.

i wonder if miguel isn't gonna be forgotten for most people's top 20 in favor of a nod to 'coffee' as a single

i'm thinking it could very well be neither

yeah...nice album but it flatlined commercially and the critical enthusiasm felt kinda short-lived

the genre that brought us "entrails ripped from a virgin's cunt" and cookie monster vocals and drawings of dragons.
--bricc baby hitlo (Whiney G. Weingarten)

dying

Newsom isn't doing good on those lists, at all. Yet her album is all sorts of special.

the genre that brought us "entrails ripped from a virgin's cunt" and cookie monster vocals and drawings of dragons.

--bricc baby hitlo (Whiney G. Weingarten)

dying

― flopson, Sunday, 22 November 2015 21:11 (49 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what would take this thread to new levels

would be if I listed some of hip-hop's misdemeanours

http://media.giphy.com/media/YCkqss70IBBxm/giphy.gif

I'd forgotten how grim this thread gets every year while nothing is happening

save us johnny fever gaz coombes

deafheaven being the one metal record on these lists bc they're a heavier and way less good hum seems fine to me, otherwise there'd be...nothing?

no way i think horrendous can totally break thru to the critics mainstream if only they would just give em a listen

well i was about to mention that horrendous nearly have what i'd characterize as a mastodon accessibility but also i don't think they're quite there

it probably came out too late in the year tbh

why don't christian mistress have mastodon accessibility

i think horrendous can totally break thru to the critics mainstream if only they would just give em a listen

But they never will, because Horrendous has the wrong publicist. It's that simple. Critics respond to whatever's on the spoon that's pushed into their mouths by Nasty Little Man, Big Hassle, and/or one of 3-4 other big PR houses. They don't search, they don't discover, and they certainly don't write about music that won't reflect well on them socially.

idk! throwback-ish metal gets really ignored. why not jess and the ancient ones?

that's an xpost

also idk about all that but deafheaven do have monstrous pr

yeah...nice album but it flatlined commercially and the critical enthusiasm felt kinda short-lived

― The Cuddling Of The American Mind (some dude), Sunday, November 22, 2015 9:10 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

critical enthusiasm feels short-lived about just about everything now, unless an artist keeps themselves in constant rotation

wildheart still one of my albums of the year and in no way a fall-off

otm

wildheart fans should check out the new boots album aquaria too, gnarly and weird in similar ways

my prediction for those coming to terms with 2015 is elephant9's silver mountain will be ignored by people who should know better

Limiting this to commercially available stuff - mostly Function's Berghain 07, the Gesloten Cirkel EP, Mathew Jonson's Fabric mix (which is a live set really), Kink's Cloud Generator and Fantasia EPs, the Bicep EP from this summer, a lot of high-intensity Lisbon stuff (DJ Marfox, Nidia Minaj, DJ N*gga-Fox, Dotorato Pro), the Nick Hoppner album, DJ Koze's XTC, most of what Paul Woolford's put out this year, plus that school of heavily percussive British dance music that no one really has a name for yet (Monki's Fabriclive 81 and Mele's Ambience, again and again and again).

― Matt DC, Sunday, November 22, 2015 5:03 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

downloading everything matt dc name dropped in this post. find it hard to believe there is a new style of british dance music british people have not found a goofy name for yet

reynolds' influence has waned

for 'nuum the bell tolls

wildheart fans should check out the new boots album aquaria too, gnarly and weird in similar ways

― lex pretend, Sunday, November 22, 2015 6:00 PM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

does he rap on it? the amount of rapping on his mixtape gave an otherwise good release a very short shelf life for me.

most of the good stuff in matt dc's post has been mentioned in the bobbins thread, which is a mostly challop-free zone nowadays, not seeing much of a downside to that, tbh. yeah it's quiet, but context is overrated

check out the new boots album aquaria too, gnarly and weird in similar ways

So I took lex's advice and did this just now. Cool beats, but he sounds like the dingleberry from Muse doing a speak-sing thing and I was giving it the finger the whole time.

also idk about all that but deafheaven do have monstrous pr

― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Sunday, November 22, 2015 5:52 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

They have the same PR person as Millencolin, what the fuck are you two on about?

it's really hard following this conversation because without capitalized words i have no idea if 'horrendous' or 'monstrous' are being used as adjectives or names of things

Horrendous is a band

monstrous may be a band, but in this thread it's an adjective

i have a hard time picturing Horrendous ever breaking thru into mainstream critic love, but i dunno ... i guess you could've said the same thing about Deafheaven ... don't underestimate the importance of image (press photos) and cover art, maybe?

Baroness could've been this year's token heavy record but for the December release date

agree with whoever above said critical enthusiasm feels short-lived on just about everything these days

disappointing

critical enthusiasm feels short-lived on just about everything these days

Not to defend critical enthusiasm, because it's a plague, but Miguel's album was boring.

how horrendous is this thread so far?

They have the same PR person as Millencolin, what the fuck are you two on about?

idk!

maybe they actually have horrendous pr

xxxp, most of the bobbin tracks from Matt's list are in the thread playlist
http://open.spotify.com/user/forksclovetofu/playlist/0lfp12dnn7niggU21T16Km

critical enthusiasm feels short-lived on just about everything these days

if this was true then would the 2 year-end list frontrunners that keep coming up in this thread have been released back in March?

'oh i guess i gotta list those'

some things stick, sure, but for the most part it feels like there's a handful of albums each month that critics / blogs / publications declare the greatest new thing and then they disappear. i'd cite some examples but my tater tots are ready.

this is probably a personal thing more than anything else but the CRJ and Miguel albums dropped around the same time and CRJ captivated me to such an extent that Miguel was constantly pushed to the background.

I do really like the Miguel record but it hasn't taken over my life the way Kaleidoscope Dream did back in 2012.

obviously there's a lot more stuff competing for everyone's attention now, but to say that a few things end up being remembered more than the rest seems like an inevitability that hasn't changed at all.

just had a good lol as a result of being reminded of millencolin. ahhh

actually, now that I think about it, it's probably not short-lived critical enthusiasm that i'm noticing, but manufactured critical enthusiasm to feed the hungry hype machine ...

or rather the understandable fade that happens after manufactured critical enthusiasm

which is not to say that critics don't like the records they're writing about, just that the current climate of music criticism has a tendency to escalate positive prose. it's only natural that after writing a breathlessly favorable review for a record that's *just* the best thing that came out that week, one might not find themselves talking/writing about it more in the next few weeks or months.

yeah there's that but also, if you really love an album and are part of the 24-hour breathless enthusiasm, if you still love it 6 months later it feels like there's less room to actually say it unless there's a peg like a new video or sth. so it might seem like the enthusiasm has faded but it's hard to tell in which cases the initial breathlessness was OTT and in which cases the enthusiasm is just there but less vocal

on ILX the 24 hour super enthusiastic breathlessness is difficult for me because I don't have generally have time to get and listen to an album in that initial period, so it's only music that continues to get attention after that period that I'll hear. case in point: the Jazmine Sullivan album that I just finally listened to and loved! this is why the EOL period is important to me: there's too many choices and hype of the moment is usually lost on me, so consensus amongst people I trust is crucial.

ESPN 30 for 30: The Week We Cared About Jason DeRulo

on ILX the 24 hour super enthusiastic breathlessness is difficult for me because I don't have generally have time to get and listen to an album in that initial period, so it's only music that continues to get attention after that period that I'll hear. case in point: the Jazmine Sullivan album that I just finally listened to and loved! this is why the EOL period is important to me: there's too many choices and hype of the moment is usually lost on me, so consensus amongst people I trust is crucial.

It helped that she dropped her album the first week of the year too.

my prediction for those coming to terms with 2015 is elephant9's silver mountain will be ignored by people who should know better
― reggie (qualmsley)

To be fair it is relatively obscure, and Rune Grammofon don't really distribute to North America too well. But I covered it!. With Dungen, The Amazing, Motorpsycho and Elephant9, Reine Fiske is the busiest psych prog guitarist around!

xp, That's what I like about year-end lists. It's an opportunity to officially document that the album I raved about back in February still measures up, and is noted in the year-end list.

If any oily doughy whiney men or anyone else want to take part please do

ILX EOY Metal Poll 2015 Nominations & Discussion Thread. ALL welcome to participate whether you are into metal or not!

erm that should have read WHITE men

Fopp's best albums of 2015
http://www.fopp.com/bestalbumsof2015/

^ worst record store list yet?

seems like a standard record store list tbh

seeing records i love on that is like watching my family drowning in a slurry pit

that list is utterly fucking atrocious yeah

they got #88 right though

http://www.louisepocock.com/images/phocagallery/thumbs/phoca_thumb_l_gaz_coombes_photographed_by_oxfordshire_and_london_based_photographer_andrew_ogilvy_55_a_sq.jpg

It's my 88th favourite of the year as well.

1 comment

No “Motorcade Amnesiacs”? Surprised!
Posted By derek miller 23rd November 2015 at 2:43 pm Reply

I'm not gonna front like I have real exotic or interesting tastes, but these lists seem like they are very heavily focused on kind of MOR, competently performed, but fairly bland music. Am I reading these correctly? Is this just what people really like right now? Or maybe some of these are more interesting than I'm giving them credit for?

It's just weird to me because I think this was a very good year for music overall, but so many of the albums I see pop up on list after list just don't grab me.

First appearance of Dr. Dre's shitty album. Talk about 24-hour enthusiasm.

I forgot about Dre.

Moodles - pop and rock has been like that the past decade so why not indie too. Its all very safe music now as labels scramble to sell in the post-napster & recession climate

I agree, but for some reason it strikes me as more glaring than ever right now. Like, are people really wowed by another dull Sufjan Stevens release?

This has been a fucking amazing year for music but it's the same shit in all the lists aye

holy shit, bicep ep is SLAMMIN

American Songwriter - Top 50 albums
http://americansongwriter.com/2015/11/american-songwriters-top-50-albums-2015-presented-daddario/

it feels like it every year moodles but i always thought it was me finally growing up but then i see everyone saying the same even if they're young.

neil k said something very good on fb last week about the lists i'll ask him if its ok to quote him here

I still love the Dr. Dre album. There probably isn't a better SOUNDING album this year, the rap performances are all blazingly top notch and technically advanced, it's conceptually sound, the beats are huge. There's a HUGE HUGE HUGE double standard in the way these lists give props to Eighties and Nineties dinosaurs like New Order and Sleater-Kinney and Wilco and Blur and Paul Weller and Yo La Tengo because old critics only treat white people like they can be relevant for 20+ years, and young critics want to only loudly perform their love for Young Thug and Future

These fucking lists are making me so goddamn angry.

I like the new Redman a lot better.

also if D'Angelo had been released 3 weeks later, he'd be in every top 10. i'll be very surprised if Black Messiah isn't nom'd for an AOTY grammy in a few weeks.

What Neil Kulkarni said

"Find it astonishing that two decades into the internet revolution not a single one of the charts I've seen features a single album that wasn't bought out by a traditional 'label'. Nothing from Bandcamp, very little that isn't from the big guys or their subsidiaries. Until magazine music journalism breaks that umbilicus, it's going to continue to feel slow and unresponsive and needy and like the cheerleading arm of the PR depts."

whiney very much otm itt no offense to oily doughboys

There's a HUGE HUGE HUGE double standard in the way these lists give props to Eighties and Nineties dinosaurs like New Order and Sleater-Kinney and Wilco and Blur and Paul Weller and Yo La Tengo because old critics only treat white people like they can be relevant for 20+ years

truth bomb

I always thought a doughboy was a US Soldier. Since that was the meaning in all those WW2 programs shown on uk tv growing up

http://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/b9/af/28/b9af282d8956f6b3dd2efb7967febc8c.jpg

gaz coombes

yeah, Whiney definitely has a good point there. I think this is exacerbated by the fact that these list makers are often predisposed to established critical darlings to the point where they give them bonus points just because they released something new.

I'll admit I have a lot of the same biases. Part of the reason I was so excited about music this year is because so many artists I already liked put out something new. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate between something that is actually good versus something that is comforting and familiar.

whiney's doughboy post otm, all metal is by and for privileged white men so any moaning about its absence from the crit discourse is basically oppression

how exactly are people going to rank the richard d. james soundcloud braindrain? if you wanna consider that one "album" (and i do) it would be hard not to include it in a top ten

as for his latest salvo well yeah the old masters of indie are always overrated but do you have anything besides dre to complete the point with

The general critical reception for the Dre album was much more positive than the ILX reception iirc. That's not to deny that the aforementioned double-standard exists.

imago, it goes deeper since most rappers from dr. dre's era aren't afforded a career this long to begin with

I still love the Dr. Dre album. There probably isn't a better SOUNDING album this year, the rap performances are all blazingly top notch and technically advanced, it's conceptually sound, the beats are huge. There's a HUGE HUGE HUGE double standard in the way these lists give props to Eighties and Nineties dinosaurs like New Order and Sleater-Kinney and Wilco and Blur and Paul Weller and Yo La Tengo because old critics only treat white people like they can be relevant for 20+ years, and young critics want to only loudly perform their love for Young Thug and Future

― bricc baby hitlo (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, November 23, 2015 11:30 AM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark

the dr. dre album was mastered for itunes and sounds like pure dogshit but ok

T.I.'s EP is a lot better than "Compton: A Soundtrack" and will be in none of these lists except maybe Complex and that's a strong maybe.

yeah, strange to zero in on that album's sound design when it is easily the worst *sounding* dr dre album by a mile

otm, as a huge fan of dre for years I was really sad to hear that. but there were stories back in the day about how loud he mixed. all-night mixing sessions just making those incredible records happen. that shit takes a toll on your ears and pretty much no-one's immune with the very rare exception, I would wager his hearing is pretty terrible like most people his age in the business

can't believe people aren't paying enough respect to this album overflowing with verses from king mez, justus and anderson paak

they're... good verses though

and it's not like people were exactly well-versed in Dat Nigga Daz, RBX and the Lady of Rage in 1992

xxp i could see da nic making a top ten for me but i don't get the sense that anyone besides me, whiney, ilx hip hop contingent even noticed it happened

Well yeah, I found out about it from you guys and it's great.

whiney creaming his pants over the "technically advanced" rapping of random MCs over a 50 year old's throwback beats is truly the perfect whiney opinion

Yeah, the bass in particular on the Dre record sounds like ass. It made me wonder if he was afraid of waking up the neighbors or something. The low end is so anemic and flat.

It was mastered on a beats pill.

whiney creaming his pants over the "technically advanced" rapping of random MCs over a 50 year old's throwback beats is truly the perfect whiney opinion

― J0rdan S., Monday, November 23, 2015 12:28 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well, you calling the chorus from lifestyle "memorable" or whatever was the perfect J0rdan opinion so we're even

except one of those opinions is objectively verifiable

its funny that whiney said an album mastered on a tamagotchi sounds better than uh summertime 06

A lot of hip-hop artists may not be 'afforded' major-label careers but this doesn't always stop them making music - point taken about the critical discourse being central to their ostracism (o.s.t. racism? you can borrow that one free)

as it happens I'm off to see a 90s-originating hip-hop group in a couple hours - they didn't release a record this year but had they done so it'd have been critically shunned, not because it's hip-hop but because it's too intense for most ppl

summertime 06 is my rap dilettante jam of the year more than TPAB; the new Le1f too but that's not real hip-hop or w/e the going opinion holds

i guess if the public enemy album was making these lists then both whiney and kulks might be (marginally) happier

I only mentioned T.I. and Redman earlier because I think they're better examples of the double standard mentioned earlier, and I personally find them a lot more satisfying than whatever New Order and Blur have been up to. I don't think "Compton" is a great example of this because it's bound to appear in a lot of these lists.

i like this track
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtPKlBiD69E

here is the American Songwriter list

1. Chris Stapleton – Traveller
2. Torres – Sprinter
3. Jason Isbell – Something More Than Free
4. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
5. James McMurtry – Complicated Game
6. John Moreland – High on Tulsa Heat
7. Wilco – Star Wars
8. Craig Finn – Faith in the Future
9. Natalie Prass – Natalie Prass
10. Sufjan Steven – Carrie & Lowell
11. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
12. Chvrches – Every Open Eye
13. Houndmouth – Little Neon Limelight
14. Kurt Vile – b'lieve I'm goin down...
15. Rayland Baxter – Imaginary Man
16. Kacey Musgraves – Pageant Material
17. Dawes – All Your Favorite Bands
18. Ashley Monroe – The Blade
19. Patty Griffin – Servant of Love
20. Josh Ritter – Sermon on the Rocks
21. Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
22. Andrew Combs – All These Dreams
23. Dave Rawlings Machine – Nashville Obsolete
24. Titus Andronicus – The Most Lamentable Tragedy
25. Steve Earle & The Dukes – Terraplane
26. Drake – If You're Reading This, It's Too Late
27. The Deslondes – The Deslondes
28. Beach Slang – The Things We De To Find People Who Feel Like Us
29. Lucero – All A Man Should Do
30. Leon Bridges – Coming Home
31. Dwight Yoakam – Second Hand Heart
32. Florence + the Machine – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
33. Built to Spill – Untethered Moon
34. Deerhunter – Fading Frontier
35. Lana Del Rey – Honeymoon
36. Jessica Pratt – On Your Own Love Again
37. Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris – The Traveling Kind
38. My Morning Jacket – The Waterfall
39. Promised Land Sound – For Use And Delight
40. Bully – Feels Like
41. Aaron Lee Tasjan – In The Blazes
42. Adele – 25
43. GospelbeacH – Pacific Surf Line
44. Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear
45. Nora Jane Struthers & The Party Line – Wake
46. Punch Brothers – The Phosphorescent Blues
47. Iris Dement – The Trackless Woods
48. Glen Hansard – Didn't He Ramble
49. Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love
50. Kristin Diable – Create Your Own Mythology

god bless

the dr. dre album was mastered for itunes and sounds like pure dogshit but ok
― J0rdan S.

Maybe they're meant to sound good only on Beats by Dre headphones! - http://www.beatsbydre.com/

enjoy yr dalek lj, let me know how it is I'm going to see them later this week

check out sherlock holmes here

(they're whiney-approved, at least)

not because it's hip-hop but because it's too intense for most ppl

LOL lj getting those pats on his own back in early this year

most critically overlooked 2015 rapper is honey cocaine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ouv9HSSLbYE

as it happens I'm off to see a 90s-originating hip-hop group in a couple hours - they didn't release a record this year but had they done so it'd have been critically shunned

Every single Dalek album that has been reviewed on Pitchfork has been given a 7.5 or greater fwiw.

DJ Quik and E-40 have been making worthwhile music that's well regarded around here 20+ years into their careers, the new Scarface album is pretty good. Compton was an overhyped dud and the Public Enemy album was garbage.

my gf, on seeing that: "i think i really like lex pretend"

al ship' otm

There's a HUGE HUGE HUGE double standard in the way these lists give props to Eighties and Nineties dinosaurs like New Order and Sleater-Kinney and Wilco and Blur and Paul Weller and Yo La Tengo because old critics only treat white people like they can be relevant for 20+ years

This is a good argument made in service of the wrong album.

That Dam Funk / Snoop album should've gotten more shine

Whenever it came out anyway. They should do another 7 days of funk

Snoop's old man cookout album this year was fun. the new Puff Daddy record sounds fantastic.

Best Albums of 2015 - Sputnikmusic.com
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/best/albums/2015/

- top 200 albums ranked. Sputnikmusic.com is a music rating community website. Much like rateyourmusic many genres are represented and you will see many albums that will not feature on other lists.

The ranking is not sophisticated, there are no algorithms or statistical weighting depending on number of ratings.

Kendrick Lamar is currently Number 1.

Good to see George Clanton's - 100% Electronica album currently @ 4
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/68745/George-Clanton-100%25-Electronica/

Review Summary: A fantastic album showing all the glory of the 80's and 90's, this album is one of the best electronic albums of the year.

Bandcamp Album:
http://100pelectronica.bandcamp.com/album/100-electronica

"Clanton seems to have a similar uncanny knack as artists like John Maus and Ariel Pink for creating soaring, unabashedly dramatic classic pop, and it’s clear after one listen to legit anthems like “Bleed” and “It Makes the Babies Want To Cry” that ’80s MTV heroes like Tears For Fears and New Order are obvious reference points. But this is pop music refracted and warped through Clanton’s singular and unmistakably modern lens, as he manages to turn vaporwave, chillwave, and other assorted internet-genre-waves on their collective ear, ultimately transcending all of it in the name of undeniable, timeless jams that could only exist in 2015, songs that can be at once subversive, funny, dark, poignant, and deeply affecting." - Gorilla Vs Bear
http://www.gorillavsbear.net/album-premiere-george-clanton-100-electronica/

Spotify Album:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0usp3IeDhbEXgoCc3f6PzZ

impressive Genre Point Average on that list!

This is from some business news website:

Inc. - 10 Best Albums of 2015 to Play in the Office
Give your employees what they really want: Albums to help motivate them during the day

http://www.inc.com/john-brandon/10-best-albums-of-2015-to-play-in-the-office.html

good lord

"The song California is a perfect fit for any Silicon Valley startup."

City & Colour / Dallas Green is a pun that I had missed and possibly the first thing I've learned from any of these lists to date

Q Magazine - 50 Albums of the Year
http://www.qthemusic.com/12994/revealed-qs-top-50-albums-of-2015/

1. Tame Impala - Currents
2. Julia Holter - Have You in My Wilderness
3. Jamie xx - In Colour
4. Blur - The Magic Whip
5. New Order - Music Complete
6. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
7. Kurt Vile - B'lieve I'm Goin' Down
8. Laura Marling - Short Movie
9. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
10. Florence and the Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
11. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
12. Foals - What Went Down
13. Joanna Newsom - Divers
14. Sleaford Mods - Key Markets
15. Django Django - Born Under Saturn
16. Miguel - Wildheart
17. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Chasing Yesterday
18. Four Tet - Morning/Evening
19. Dr Dre - Compton
20. Everything Everything - Get to Heaven
21. The Fall - Sub-Lingual Tablet
22. Gaz Coombes - Matador
23. Lonelady - Hinterland
24. Sun Kil Moon - Universal Themes
25. Paul Weller - Saturns Pattern
26. The Chemical Brothers - Born in the Echoes
27. The Maccabees - Marks to Prove It
28. Chvrches - Every Open Eye
29. John Grant - Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
30. Ezra Furman - Perpetual Motion People
31. Wire - Wire
32. Muse - Drones
33. Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass
34. FFS - FFS
35. Sleater-Kinney - No Cities to Love
36. Jessica Pratt - On Your Own Love Again
37. Bill Ryder-Jones - West Kirby County Primary
38. Leon Bridges - Coming Home
39. Roisin Murphy - Hairless Toys
40. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie and Lowell
41. Wilco - Star Wars
42. Slaves - Are You Satisfied?
43. Years & Years - Communion
44. Wolf Alice - My Love is Cool
45. The Prodigy - The Day is My Enemy
46. Palma Violets - Danger in the Club
47. Gwenno - Y Dydd Olaf
48. Mbongwana Star - From Kinshasa
49. Hooton Tennis Club - Highest Point in Cliff Town
50. Mac DeMarco - Another One

Noelly G in with a bullet at #17 there

One place below Miguel!

good grief at that top 5

i still don't know the difference between everything everything and django django

but it is lovely to see that julia holter record so high on almost all these lists so far

I'm more keen on the Blur album than a lot of people, it seems, but putting it in the top 5 of any list is silly.

22. Gaz Coombes - Matador

how big, how bland, how boring

good lord

"The song California is a perfect fit for any Silicon Valley startup."

― ogmor, Tuesday, November 24, 2015 10:12 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

feel like i don't even have to be annoyed about grimes any more, this drag makes me feel light-headed and serene

Only one mention of The Heart is a Monster on here so far and it's lumped in with a bunch of metal bands? Weird.

"The song California is a perfect fit for any Silicon Valley startup."

It will also go down a storm at any overcrowded correctional facility or isolationist religious cult in the state.

There must be some good lists coming soon. Norman Records (tomorrow I think), Quietus, MusicOMH, Louder Than War, Crack.

It's crazy how well Julia Holter is doing - crazy good of course but I guess I didn't notice everyone starting to pay attention to her?

Still prefer her early stuff obv.

but it is lovely to see that julia holter record so high on almost all these lists so far

Hell yeah

ctrl-f "Marriages" 0 hits

come on, listmakers

Blur in this year's Q top 5, Damon in last year's Q top 5. has he got dirt on the publisher or sumthing.

That Inc. piece is hilarious. "I don't normally like grunge-goth rock, but this one is special."

Looking forward to a list that includes some "the classical music you buy from Boomkat".

Blur in this year's Q top 5, Damon in last year's Q top 5. has he got dirt on the publisher or sumthing.

― piscesx, Tuesday, November 24, 2015 5:13 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

surely such relentlessly on-brand choices don't require a conspiracy theory

Damon:Q::Mick:RS

"The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com." So there.

How come there's quote marks in

Grimes is a "synthpop" artist

but none in "this band is a loungey alt-rock band with mellow lyrics and vocals"? (A sentence requiring at least three sets of scare quotes)

Still, if a slightly clueless guy in an office can write an EOY list that seems a lot less disingenous than Q magazine's, then that proves... uh... something?

inc list seems way more interesting than most lists here

think the write ups are kinda cute

yeah it's more interesting cuz it's clearly just one guy's personal faves & reasons which is always going to be more interesting than yr enervating consensus picks, it's just hilarious & awful bc he's a ludicrous business person

waxahatchee:
No one in the office will mind, especially since the music is sometimes sparse and sometimes incredibly motivational.

d'angelo:
The musicianship is astounding, especially if you know anything about bass and guitar.

motivational office music that no-one minds is the new dinner party music

Norman Records list: https://www.normanrecords.com/features/top-fifty-2015

No Gaz Coombes.

that could be quite a useful list tbf

Norman Records (as linked above):

1. Colin Stetson And Sarah Neufeld - Never Were The Way She Was
2. Drape - Relax / Relapse
3. Ian William Craig - Cradle for the Wanting
4. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
5. Steve Hauschildt - Where All Is Fled
6. Viet Cong - Viet Cong
7. Shit & Shine - 54 Synth-Brass, 38 Metal Guitar, 65 Cathedral
8. Ought - Sun Coming Down
9. Helen - The Original Faces
10. Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness
11. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
12. The Declining Winter - Home For Lost Souls
13. Ryley Walker - Primrose Green
14. Manyfingers - The Spectacular Nowhere
15. Joanna Newsom - Divers
16. Death And Vanilla - To Where the Wild Things Are
17. Helena Hauff - Discreet Desires
18. Jenny Hval - Apocalypse, Girl
19. Yair Elazar Glotman - Études
20. Rival Consoles - Howl
21. Sleaford Mods - Key Markets
22. Pinkshinyultrablast - Everything Else Matters
23. Kamasi Washington - The Epic
24. Low - Ones and Sixes
25. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress
26. Bjork - Vulnicura
27. Natural Snow Buildings - Terror's Horns
28. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
29. Coil - Backwards
30. C Duncan - Architect
31. Phantom Horse - Different Forces
32. Triptides - Azur
33. Prurient - Frozen Niagara Falls
34. Helm - Olympic Mess
35. Mika Vainio & Franck Vigroux - Peau Froide, Léger Soleil
36. Minami Deutsch - S/T
37. C418 - Minecraft Volume Alpha
38. Ghostpoet - Shedding Skin
39. Vision Fortune - Country Music
40. Girlpool - Before The World Was Big
41. Thomas Brinkmann - What You Hear (Is What You Hear)
42. Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - A Year With 13 Moons
43. Lakker - Tundra
44. Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete
45. Sightings - Amusers and Puzzlers
46. The Apartments - No Song No Spell No Madrigal
47. Loop - Array 1
48. FIS - The Blue Quicksand is Going Now
49. Anna Caragnano & Donato Dozzy - Sintetizzatrice
50. Michael Chapman - Fish

49. Anna Caragnano & Donato Dozzy - Sintetizzatrice

sweet

yeh it's got some good stuff in it, will deff check out the stuff i haven't heard
really love that anna caragnano/donato dozzy record at 49

norman records seems like such a cool store, wish I knew half of their picks, not sure what media loop they're into but it's v unlike mine

yep, anna & donato is great. pretty good list imo, i really rate the Helm and the Lakker records if anyone's looking for some interesting electronic stuff

also pinkshinyultrablast is <3<3<3

I really like The Apartments' album, so I'm happy to see that in there at 46.

Oh hey I didnt realize there was a new Vision Fortune album

haven't got round to listening to it yet, but saw them live earlier in the year and they've gone in more of an electronic noise rock direction - a bit like liars or someone?

Norman Records' Near Misses list is not bad, either:

Lumisokea - Mnemosyne
Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee
Beach House - Depression Cherry
Hidden Rivers - Where Moss Grows
Christina Vantzou - No. 3
Anna von Hausswolff - The Miraculous
H Hawkline - In The Pink Of Condition
J Dilla - Dillatronic
Helvetia - Dromomania
Blanck Mass - Dumb Flesh
Shopping - Why Choose
Teeth of The Sea - Highly Deadly Black Tarantula
Regis - Manbait
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
Dutch Uncles - O Shudder
Ekoplekz - Reflekzionz
Gold Celeste - The Glow
Gnoomes - Ngan!
Girls Pissing on Girls Pissing - Scrying in Infirmary Architecture
Colleen - Captain Of None
The Fear Ratio - Refuge of a Twisted Soul
Sleater-Kinney - No Cities To Love
Grooms - Comb The Feelings Through Your Hair
Nosaj Thing - Fated

Colleen - Captain Of None

^ love this beautiful thing so much. seemingly quite a delicate and minimal folky record, but one where sinewy rhythm and sonic detail is just as important as voice and atmosphere. kind of reminiscent of those great spectral lau nau and islaja records from a few years back, but the viola de gamba also makes me think of stuff like arthur russell's cello or even toumani diabeté's kora

diabaté even

am i the only one who, besides discovering old stuff and dj mixes, and with the occasional exception in my tiny area of expertise, uses these threads to basically catch up on anything new/interesting from the previous year, and that's enough until the next year?

Yeah more posts like Nick's would be appreciated - I want to know what the hidden gems are in these lists.

One record I'm surprised hasn't showed up yet is Meg Baird's 'Don't Weight Down The Light' which is genuinely beautiful and would, you think, be right up the street of a lot of these publications.

yeah that one will be a rich vein for me.

assume you all heard the colin stetson/sarah neufeld at #1 - really great record

xpost

fwiw I love that Natural Snow Buildings album, it is epic folky/drone/soundtracks type gear.

not sure anyone would be interested in recommendations from me because I seem to be pigeonholed as only a metal dude but the Natural Snow Buildings, GYBE, Teeth of the Sea, OPN, Kamasi Washington, Colin Stetson and Chelsea Wolfe albums are excellent.

Must check out the meg baird album thanks matt dc

interested to hear colleen and donato dozzy

lex have you heard the Kamasi Washington?

assume you all heard the colin stetson/sarah neufeld at #1 - really great record

I need to finish listening to this, actually; I loved it while I was listening to it and then work picked up and I got distracted and never went back to it.

I agree that what I heard was incredible.

haven't heard kamasi washington yet, no

Would be interested in hearing what you thought of it if you ever get round to it

Crave - 20 Best Albums of 2015:
http://www.craveonline.co.uk/music/926983-20-best-albums-2015#/

20. Sleaford Mods - Key Markets
19. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
18. CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
17. Lamb of God - VII: Sturm und Drang
16. Songhoy Blues - Music In Exile
15. Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free
14. Eagles of Death Metal - Zipper Down
13. Pokey Lafarge - Something In The Water
12. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
11. Jamie xx - In Colour
10. D'Angelo - Black Messiah
9. Kamasi Washington - The Epic
8. Dr. Dre - Compton
7. Puscifer - Money Shot
6. The Dead Weather - Dodge and Burn
5. Action Bronson - Mr. Wonderful
4. Doomtree - All Hands
3. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
2. Clutch - Psychic Warfare
1. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly

Eagles finally show up, thank god.

DON: Well, yeah.

action bronsosnfqfeaffzfazfzfsdfsdqclcdmbjazjf fn;az

Oh hey I didnt realize there was a new Vision Fortune album

― i live sweat but i dream light-years (Drugs A. Money), Wednesday, November 25, 2015 12:42 PM (4 hours ago)

haven't got round to listening to it yet, but saw them live earlier in the year and they've gone in more of an electronic noise rock direction - a bit like liars or someone?

― she used alt+3 like an ascii heart (NickB), Wednesday, November 25, 2015 12:47 PM (4 hours ago)

I thought this gig was utterly abysmal, fwiw. And I have really enjoyed them previously.

sad nods

Gnoomes - Ngan!

is this a gaz coombes side project?

f "matador" imo he should have called it "el gaz"

i have no idea who norman records are but them repping for minecraft alpha is fantastic.

first video game soundtrack to make a year end list ever/anywhere?

Courtesy Stewart O on Facebook, Sister Ray Records:
1. Follakzoid - III
2. Four Tet - Morning/Evening
3. Hills - Frid
4. Thee Oh Sees - Mutilator Defeated At Last
5. Helen - The Original Faces
6. Weird Owl - Interstellar Skeletal
7. Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band – Pat Thomas & Kwashibu Area Band
8. Shopping - Why Choose
9. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit
10. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi Love
11. Fuzz - II
12. The Charlatans – Modern Nature
13. Mumdance & Logos - Proto
14. Panda Bear - Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
15. Pond - Man It Feels Like Space Again
16. Deerhunter – Fading Frontier
17. Tame Impala - Currents
18. Laura Marling – Short Movie
19. Best Coast - California Nights
20. Viet Cong – Viet Cong
21. Paul Weller – Saturns Pattern
22. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Quarters
23. The Maccabees – Marks To Prove It
24. Pinkshinyultrablast - Everything Else Matters
25. Ty Segall - Manipulator
26. Lapalux - Lustmore
27. Gaz Coombes - Matador
28. Ghostface Killah - Twelve Reasons To Die II
29. Ryley Walker - Primrose Green
30. Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear
31. Floating Points - Elaenia
32. Foals – What Went Down
33. East India Youth - Culture of Volume
34. Kode 9 - Nothing
35. Micachu and The Shapes - Good Sad Happy Bad
36. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
37. Teeth Of The Sea - Highly Deadly Black Tarantula
38. Joanna Newsom - Divers
39. Killing Joke - Pylon
40. Moon Duo – Shadow Of The Sun
41. FFS – FFS
42. Nils Frahm - Solo
43. Wand – 1000 Days
44. Django Django - Born Under Saturn
45. Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness
46. Mac DeMarco - Another One
47. Richard Hawley - Hollow Meadows
48. The Staves - If I Was
49. Gwenno - Y Dydd Olaf
50. Tobias Jesso Jr - Goon

Julia Holter may be on literally all of these lists but i find her music almost limitlessly dull, she must be music critic catnip

Correction: she's not on the one EODM are on

a psych top 50 that doesn't include the Eternal Tapestry or Herbcraft records is not a top 50 worth paying attention to

if there were any justice revos work on 'bravely default' wouldve gotten some acclaim last year in wider music crit circles but im glad to see autismwave making some headway even if its amongst yuppie britmo vinyl enthusiasts

lol @ anyone who likes those plaid shirt bros in viet cong btw

ahem, The artists formerly known as Viet Cong

re: Viet Cong - I was promised This Heat, got Interpol instead. (Unless I'm think of another useless retrograde post-punk band, HA)

The only act to be on literally all these lists (except the metal one) is Courtney Barnett. Sufjan Stevens was on the same number, until Sister Ray snubbed him. Julia Holter and Kendrick Lamar are just behind.

the Viet Cong record suprised me by not being terrible. it's def not in my top 50 though.

Captain of None by Colleen is very good

Surprised it hasn't been in more of these lists

There is only room for 1 great 2015 album by a Colleen and it's Colleen Green's I Want To Grow Up.

A big yes to Colleen Green from me as well! Speedy Ortiz almost totally forgotten in all this so far....

Gnoomes - Ngan!

That isn't how you spell Gaz Coombes. Mods plz correct

Hey this Colleen record is cool; thanks for the rec

Hey this Colleen Green record is cool; thanks for the rec

Hey this Gaz Combes record is cool

thanks for the rec!

dope!

Hey this Jaz Coombes record is cool: http://youtu.be/A4wdbibV3IM

one family
one whiskey
many opinions

When it comes to name bands not talking controversial reality, not one fuck is given by Killing Joke.

surprised it hasn't made more of these lists!

i fucking love 'i am the virus' fwiw

every jazz record I've checked out this year other than Kamasi Washington (only a handful tbh) has been better than the Kamasi Washington

(especially Sons of Kemet, that might be in my top 5)

would love a list of rev-jazz

ctrl-f "Marriages" 0 hits

come on, listmakers

― I Am Curious (Dolezal) (DJP), Tuesday, 24 November 2015 21:52 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah this seems a real oversight. The Emma Ruth Rundle solo album from last year has really snuck up on me as a favourite since I heard it at the end of last year too.

Anna Caragnano & Donato Dozzy - Sintetizzatrice

really like this a lot - obviously reminds me of Julianna Barwick but this is a lot darker and intense

Colleen - Captain Of None

don't think there's much I can add to this from what NickB said but it's gonna be near the top for me. There's something about the way this album sounds that makes me think of being underwater, its a very hermetic-sounding record

Chelsea Wolfe - The Abyss

this is brilliant, reminds me of Stina Nordenstam in places but the guitars are very much fully plugged in

Dan, Marriages are on the Sputnikmusic list that i previously linked to
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/best/albums/2015/

Marriages - Salome
http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/66672/Marriages-Salome/

the track: Skin was the standout track on the album, unfortunately the album as a whole didn't resonate me.

I tried a Colleen album a couple of years ago and thought it was pretty boring - is the newest one better?

in a word, Yeah!

Colleen album is her best yet I think - definitely grabbed me much more than her previous ones. Maybe there's a clearer rhythmic purpose to the songs? The one that really snagged me was I'm Kin:

http://youtu.be/qW2OfU4zbwY

huh I kinda thought lj would like julia holter

would love a list of rev-jazz

― Tim F, Wednesday, November 25, 2015 4:17 PM (1 hour ago)

Seconding this.

I like one song on each Julia Holter album, I think. Maxim's I last time and Silhouette on this. Just not for me otherwise

At the very least it's amusing that the one time the rest of the world embraces imago's yen for explicitly cerebral art-pop he is all underwhelmed about it.

Not that anyone asked, but my favourite discovery from these lists so far has been the Anna von Hauswolff album, which is gloriously potty and portentous theatrical gloom rock, but it also sounds both sumptuous and world-gobblingly vast

2. Four Tet - Morning/Evening
nice!

listening to the colleen album, it's lovely - did she sing on her records before? i've only heard les ondes silencieuses

Just on the previous one I think

This thread got really useful in the last day or so - helps that the lists have become a bit more interesting but when you're confronted with an undifferentiated mass of names it's difficult to give a fuck.

33. East India Youth - Culture of Volume

This is surprisingly good by the way, it's a bit Sunday Supplement obviously but there's a nice PSB-as-remixed-by-Carl-Craig vibe to some of it.

22. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Quarters

I haven't heard a note of this but surely it's the worst record ever made.

garage psych rock which is alright, I suppose, if you like that kind of thing. They are Australian.

they slavishly and somewhat successfully attempt to entirely recreate 60s/70s psych - like a cute little time capsule

I loved I'm In Your Mind Fuzz from last year, but the two albums they've put out this year haven't grabbed me so much.

Working my way downwards through that Norman Records list, my favourites are Ian William Craig - Cradle For The Wanting (as good as his last album, as discovered via last year's Norman list) and Manyfingers - The Spectacular Nowhere. Soundclips via both links.

i'd also like a list of rev-jazz recommendations but in the meantime

(especially Sons of Kemet, that might be in my top 5)

― The Reverend, Wednesday, November 25, 2015 9:50 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is SUPER-FUN. drums! (and very immediate for a jazz novice, too)

meanwhile i'm going to make a renewed attempt to get past julia holter's voice because i will not end up with only lj for company in the "not getting her" camp

lj does so much good work moving the dialectic forward on this board, even if some of it might be unwitting

The Sons of Kemet is about my favourite thing this year; saw them live a week ago in a weird cafe in Barnstaple, and it was fabulous.

i wanted to catch them in Bristol but it was sold out :-(

saw them in Istanbul, very good energy

Mouthy, I think you would also like Girls In Airports. Their album Kaikoura from a while ago has been on rotation in my house this year.

girls in airports released a real gem of an album this year too

Intriguing.,

Girls Pissing on Girls Pissing - Scrying in Infirmary Architecture

Cool to see this turn up on a non-NZ list. One for Whiney tbh, woozy Xpressway/Skeptics psych/sludge with occasional dreamy horns.

There is only room for 1 great 2015 album by a Colleen and it's Colleen Green's I Want To Grow Up.

― kornrulez6969

Aww, there's room for both! Former seems to be picking up the Grouper/Holter buzz, latter fits in with the 90s alt revivalism of Speedy Ortiz/Torres/&c.

you know who has won without looking...he plays the saxophone

JAZZWISE ALBUMS OF THE YEAR POLL WINNERS ANNOUNCED
http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com/breaking-news/13968-jazzwise-albums-of-the-year-poll-winners-announced

You need to buy the mag, to see the full Top 20 of both New Albums and Reissue/Archive Releases, plus each writer’s personal Top 10s

John Mulvey, editor of the retro rock rag Uncut delivers his top 140 albums of the year. As usual with Mulvey it's a mixed bag.

http://www.uncut.co.uk/uncut-editors-diary/my-favourite-albums-of-2015-71856

OK so I’ve decided I can’t wait any longer to let this go; here are my 140 favourite albums of 2015, more or less ranked.

As ever, a few caveats. The ranking is predictably pretty arbitrary beyond the top 20 or so;

140 Natural Snow Buildings – Terror’s Horns (Ba Da Bing)

139 !!! – As If (Warp)

138 Saun & Starr – Look Closer (Daptone)

137 Patrick Higgins – Bachanalia (Telegraph Harp)

136 Alif – Aynama-Rtama (Nawa Recordings)

135 Cat’s Eyes – The Duke Of Burgundy: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Caroline)

134 The Unthanks – Mount The Air (Rabble Rouser)

133 Beirut – No No No (4AD)

132 Samba Toure – Gandadiko (Glitterbeat)

131 Pops Staples – Don’t Lose This (Anti-)

130 The Dead Weather – Dodge And Burn (Third Man)

129 Cannibal Ox – Blade Of The Ronin (iHiphop)

128 Lubomyr Melnyk – Rivers and Streams (Erased Tapes)

127 Blond-ish – Welcome To The Present (Kompakt)

126 Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe & Ariel Kalma – FRKWYS Vol. 12: We Know Each Other Somehow (RVNG INTL)

125 Peacers – Peacers (Drag City)

124 Panda Bear – Panda Bear Vs The Grim Reaper (Domino)

123 Wand – 1000 Days (Drag City)

122 Marry Waterson And David A. Jaycock – Two Wolves (One Little Indian)

121 M Dwinell – Golden Ratio (Amish)

120 Follakzoid – III (Sacred Bones)
119 Duke Garwood – Heavy Love (Heavenly)

118 Dungen – Allas Sak (Smalltown Supersound)

117 Aye Aye – Aye Aye (Richie/Testoster Tunes)

116 Tom Carter – Long Time Underground (Three Lobed Recordings)

115 Chris Connolly – Alameda (Caldo Verde)

114 Wand – Golem (In The Red)

113 Master Musicians Of Bukkake – Further West Quad Cult (Important)

112 Robert Glasper – Covered (Blue Note)

111 Trembling Bells – The Sovereign Self (Tin Angel)

110 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Loin Des Hommes: Original Motion Picture (Goliath Entertainment)

109 Elephant Micah – Where In Our Woods (Western Vinyl)

108 Matt Valentine – Midden Mound (Child Of Microtones)

107 Leon Bridges – Coming Home (Columbia)

106 Fraser A Gorman – Slow Gum (Milk!/Marathon Artists)

105 Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood And The Rajasthan Express – Junun (Nonesuch)

104 Darts & Arrows – Altamira.(ears&eyes)

103 The Arcs – Yours, Dreamily (Nonesuch)

102 Alasdair Roberts – Alastair Roberts (Drag City)

101 Moon Duo – Shadow Of The Sun (Sacred Bones)

100 Howlin Rain – Mansion Songs (Easy Sound Recording Co)

99 Alela Diane & Ryan Francesconi – The Sun Today (Believe Recordings)

98 Mbongwana Star – Malukayi (World Circuit)
97 The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Freedom Tower – No Wave Dance Party (Bronzerat)

96 Omar Souleyman – Bahdeni Nami (Monkeytown)

95 Promised Land Sound – For Use And Delight (Paradise Of Bachelors)

94 Thunderbitch – Thunderbitch (Blackfootwhitefoot)

93 King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Paper Mâché Dream Balloon (Heavenly)

92 Gospelbeach – Pacific Surf Line! (Alive Naturalsound)

91 Simon Scott – Insomni (Ash International)

90 King Midas Sound/Fennesz – Editions 1 (Ninja Tune)

89 Michael Chapman – Fish (Tompkins Square)

88 Deradoorian – The Expanding Flower Planet (Anticon)

87 Yo La Tengo – Stuff Like That There (Matador)

86 Cath & Phil Tyler – The Song-Crowned King (Ferric Mordant)

85 Arthur’s Landing – Second Thoughts (Buddhist Army)

84 Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba – Ba Power (Glitterbeat)

83 Rachel Grimes – The Clearing (Temporary Residence)

82 Sonny Vincent And Rocket From The Crypt – Vintage Piss (Swami)

81 Chilly Gonzales – Chambers (Gentle Threat)

80 Crying Lion – The Golden Boat (Honest Jon’s)

79 Todd Rundgren/ Emil Nikolaisen/Hans-Peter Lindstrøm – Runddans (Smalltown Supersound)

78 Laurie Anderson – Heart Of A Dog (Nonesuch)

77 Laura Marling – Short Movie (Virgin)

76 The Cairo Gang – Goes Missing (God?)

75 Hot Chip – Why Make Sense? (Domino)

74 Colleen – Captain Of None (Thrill Jockey)

73 Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Just Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit (Anxiety/Marathon)

72 Byron Westbrook – Precipice (Root Strata)

71 Circles Around The Sun – Interludes For The Dead (Rhino

70 Laura Cannell – Beneath Swooping Talons (Front And Follow)

69 Blanck Mass- Dumb Flesh (Sacred Bones)

68 United Bible Studies – The Ale’s What Cures Ye (MIE Music)

67 Goran Kajfeš Subtropic Arkestra – The Reason Why Vol 2 (Headspin)

66 Rhiannon Giddens – Tomorrow Is My Turn (Nonesuch)

65 Liam Hayes – Slurrup (Fat Possum)

64 Steve Hauschildt – Where All Is Fled (Kranky)

63 Lou Barlow – Brace The Wave (Domino)

62 Chris Forsyth & Koen Holtkamp – The Island (Trouble In Mind)

61 William Basinski – Cascade (2062/Temporary Residence)

60 Martin Courtney – Many Moons (Domino)

59 Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal – Musique De Nuit (No Format)

58 James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg – Ambsace (Paradise Of Bachelors)

57 Richard Thompson – Still (Proper)

56 Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love (Sub Pop)

55 Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker – Land Of Plenty (Whistler)

54 Áine O’Dwyer – Music For Church Cleaners Vol. I & II (MIE)

53 Wolfgang Voigt – Rückverzauberung 10 (Kompakt)

52 Daniel Bachman – River (Three-Lobed)

51 Kurt Vile – B’lieve I’m Goin Down (Matador)

50 Sun Kil Moon – Universal Themes (Rough Trade)

49 Dave Heumann – Here In The Deep (Thrill Jockey)

48 Peaches – Rub (I U She Music)

47 Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell (Asthmatic Kitty)

46 Eleventh Dream Day – Works For Tomorrow (Thrill Jockey)

45 Bop English – Constant Bop (Blood And Biscuits)

44 Joan Shelley – Over And Even (No Quarter)

43 Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Multi-Love (Jagjaguwar)

42 Low – Ones And Sixes (Sub Pop)

41 Kamasi Washington – The Epic (Brainfeeder)

40 Rob St John – Surface Tension (Surface Tension)

39 Necks – Vertigo (RER Megacorps/Northern Spy)

38 Jessica Pratt – On Your Own Love Again (Drag City)

37 Neil Young & The Promise Of The Real – The Monsanto Years (Reprise)

36 Meg Baird – Don’t Weigh Down The Light (Wichita/Drag City)

35 Dean McPhee – Fatima’s Hand (Hood Faire)

34 Thee Oh Sees – Mutilator Defeated At Last (Castle Face)

33 Houndstooth – No News From Home (No Quarter)0

32 Holly Herndon – Platform (4AD)

31 Badbadnotgood & Ghostface Killah – Sour Soul (Lex)

30 Dave Rawlings Machine – Nashville Obsolete (Acony)

29 Kelley Stoltz – In Triangle Time (Castle Face)

28 Bitchin Bajas – Transporteur (Hands In The Dark)

27 Bjork – Vulnicura (One Little Indian)

26 Sir Richard Bishop – Tangier Sessions (Drag City)

25 Bilal – Another Life (BBE)

24 Nadia Reid – Listen To Formation, Look For The Signs (Scissor Tail/Spunk)

23 Soldiers Of Fortune – Early Risers (Mexican Summer)

22 Steve Gunn & The Black Twig Pickers – Seasonal Hire (Thrill Jockey)

21 Sam Lee & Friends – The Fade In Time (Nest Collective)

20 Matthew E White – Fresh Blood (Spacebomb/Domino)

19 Jamie xx – In Colour (Young Turks)

18 Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Peasantry Or ‘Light! Inside Of Light!’ (Constellation)

17 Floating Points – Elaenia (Pluto)

16 Jim O’Rourke – Simple Songs (Drag City)

15 Wilco – Star Wars (dBpm)

14 Israel Nash – Israel Nash’s Silver Season (Loose/Thirty Tigers)

13 Robert Forster – Songs To Play (Tapete)

12 Julia Holter – Have You in My Wilderness (Domino)

11 Four Tet – Morning/Evening (Text)

10 Alabama Shakes – Sound &; Color (Rough Trade)

9 Ryley Walker – Primrose Green (Dead Oceans)

8 Duane Pitre – Bayou Electric (Important)

7 Phil Cook – Southland Mission (Thirty Tigers)

6 The Deslondes – The Deslondes (New West)

5 Natalie Prass – Natalie Prass (Spacebomb)

4 Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas – Autoimaginary (Drag City)

3 The Weather Station – Loyalty (Paradise Of Bachelors)

2 Joanna Newsom – Divers (Drag City)

1 Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly (To

Lots of stuff I like on that list. I guess there's just a lot of stuff on that list.

Glad to see this on a list, it is quite special.

Áine O’Dwyer – Music For Church Cleaners Vol. I & II (MIE)

Experimental / electronic music website: Textura

Textura
http://www.textura.org/reviews/2015top10s.htm

TOP 20 ALBUMS • 20 HONOURABLE MENTIONS •

plenty of obscure selections

TOP 20 ALBUMS

01. Anneli Drecker: Rocks & Straws (Rune Grammofon)
02. Roomful of Teeth: Render (New Amsterdam Records)
03. PRISM Quartet: Heritage/Evolution, Volume 1 (Innova Records)
04. Anne Garner: Be Life (Slowcraft Records / Unperceived Records)
05. Maria Schneider: The Thompson Fields (ArtistShare)
06. Sarah Kirkland Snider: Unremembered (New Amsterdam Records)
07. The Balustrade Ensemble: Renewed Brilliance (Serein)
08. Lara Downes: A Billie Holiday Songbook (Steinway & Sons Records)
09. Tania Giannouli Ensemble: Transcendence (Rattle)
10. Chantal Acda: The Sparkle In Our Flaws (Glitterhouse)
11. Missy Mazzoli: Vespers for a New Dark Age (New Amsterdam Records)
12. Peter Gregson: Touch (Sono Luminus)
13. John Luther Adams: The Wind in High Places (Cold Blue)
14. Heather Woods Broderick: Glider (Western Vinyl)
15. Lubomyr Melnyk: Rivers and Streams (Erased Tapes)
16. Michael Robinson: The Spirit Pool (Azure Miles Records)
17. Kit Wilmans Fegradoe: Issa (Important Records)
18. Haruka Nakamura: Ongaku no Aru Fuukei (Kitchen. Label)
19. The Lickets: Dolls In Color (International Corporation)
20. Kamasi Washington: The Epic (Brainfeeder)

20 HONOURABLE MENTIONS

21. The Foreign Exchange: Tales From the Land of Milk and Honey (+FE Music)
22. Cara Stacey: Things That Grow (Kit Recs)
23. Forrest Fang: Letters to the Farthest Star (Projekt Records)
24. James Blackshaw: Summoning Suns (Important Records)
25. Frode Haltli: Vagabonde Blu (Hubro)
26. Roger O'Donnel with Julia Kent: Love and Other Tragedies (99X/100)
27. Deadbeat: Walls and Dimensions (BLKRTZ)
28. Nadia Shpachenko: Woman At The New Piano (Reference Recordings)
29. Mark Wingfield: Proof of Light (MoonJune Records)
30. Smile Down Upon Us: Smile Down Upon Us (wiaiwya)
31. 36: Void Dance (3six Recordings)
32. Slow Meadow: Slow Meadow (Hammock Music)
33. Ian William Craig: Cradle for the Wanting (Recital)
34. Deborah Martin: Eye of the Wizard (Spotted Peccary Music)
35. Northumbria: Helluland (Cryo Chamber)
36. Zen Land: Zen Land (Warped Music)
37. Paul Ellis: Moth in Flames (Spotted Peccary Music)
38. (MIIIIM): (MIIIIM) (Sparkwood Records)
39. Chronotype Project: Dawn Treader (Spotted Peccary Music)
40. Goldmund: Sometimes (Western Vinyl)

see website for 10 COMPILATIONS / MIXES / REISSUES • 10 EPS / SINGLES • THANK YOU • RIP

both Siegbran & Tim F will be pleased to see this at numero uno

01. Anneli Drecker: Rocks & Straws (Rune Grammofon)

Kamasi tokenism is starting to piss me off now.

It's funny; it's actually having the opposite effect on me, just because I know it's not the result of work by an ultra-tuned-in publicist, at least in the US. Washington hired DL Media, an old-school jazz PR outfit that I wouldn't have thought had ever even heard of Pitchfork; they usually don't get their clients covered anywhere besides the Big Three (Down Beat, Jazz Times and Jazziz), AllAboutJazz.com, and whatever other small sites exist. So while yes, a lot of these critics and outlets are jumping on board the hype train, it's amazing that the hype train ever got rolling at all. The DL Media guys are gonna be able to dine out on this for years.

Plus, you know, the album's really good and Washington's live show is fantastic.

Kamasi Washington in that Textura list of classical and jazz records doesn't feel that much like tokenism, really. If anything, that's the kind of specialist niche where the record was most likely to end up if it hadn't blown up.

I understand the "tokenism"comment in regard to Kamasi, but fuck it, surely having a three-hour long jazz epic in the upper echelons of year end lists is something to celebrate?

Classic Rock Magazine
http://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-11-27/50-best-albums-of-2015-31

1. Iron Maiden – The Book Of Souls
2. Faith No More - Sol Invictus
3. Clutch - Psychic Warfare
4. The Darkness - Last Of Our Kind
5. Def Leppard – Def Leppard
6. Killing Joke – Pylon
7. Steven Wilson - Hand. Cannot. Erase.
8. Blackberry Smoke - Holding All The Roses
9. Halestorm - Into The Wild Life
10.Biters - Electric Blood
11. Thunder – Wonder Days
12. Keith Richards - Crosseyed Heart
13. Ghost - Meliora
14. Motörhead - Bad Magic
15. Alabama Shakes - Sound & Colour
16. Von Hertzen Brothers - New Day Rising
17. We Are Harlot - We Are Harlot
18. Jeff Lynne’s ELO - Alone In The Universe
19. Vintage Trouble - 1 Hopeful Rd.
20. The Sonics - This Is The Sonics
21. UFO - A Conspiracy Of Stars
22. Black Star Riders - The Killer Instinct
23. Tame Impala - Currents
24. 24. Toto - XIV
25. FFS - FFS
26. Steve Hackett - Wolflight
27. Nightwish - Endless Forms Most Beautiful
28. Saxon - Battering Ram
29. Public Image Limited. - What The World Needs Now
30. Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
31. W.A.S.P. – Golgotha

Not sure what happens after #31, I couldn't find the rest on their website. Maybe they ran out of rock music?

#PrayForGaz

Oh wait, 50-32 are here but hey these guys are worse than WASP - no way I'm paying to read that:

http://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-11-27/50-best-albums-of-2015-50-32

50. Vennart

The Demon Joke (Medium Format)

Mike Vennart made a welcome reappearance with this darkly autobiographical debut solo album on which his honeyed croon is married to crunchy electronica and twisted metallic riffs for an atmospheric rebirth.

49. Joe Satriani

Shockwave Supernova (Sony)

The virtuoso guitarist sharpened his melodic album run of the past few years with Shockwave Supernova, his love of Albert King and Jimi Hendrix shining through its bluesy tracks.

48. Blitzen Trapper

All Across This Land (Vagrant)

Past masters at making antique Americana sound fresh and timeless, Blitzen Trapper’s sixth album was a musical road movie blending folk and funk, country and alt.rock with freewheeling ease.

47. Michael Monroe

Blackout States (Spinefarm)

Blackout States continues the singer’s purple patch, tapping into his days in London with Hanoi Rocks. Blessed with contagious choruses and foot-stomping beats, Old Kings Road and Dead Hearts On Denmark Street pay tribute to those spiky-topped days.

46. King King

Reaching For The Light (Manhaton)

Gradually, modern bluesers King King’s sound has absorbed more of a hard rock edge. Third album Reaching For The Light saw this rocky side emerge more strongly.

45. Nordic Giants

A Seance Of Dark Delusions (Kscope)

Nordic Giants made a powerful statement with their first full-length release, a rich, steaming cauldron of proggy post-rock, electronic and experimental elements.

44. Northcote

Hope Is Made of Steel (Xtra Mile)

Crammed with anthems of hard-won hope, wounded pride and widescreen romance, Canadian folk-rock troubadour Matthew Goud’s third solo album virtually had its own beard and lumberjack shirt.

43. Marilyn Manson

The Pale Emperor (Hell, etc/Cooking Vinyl)

Manson’s ninth album had a spacey, percussive, new wave feel, nodding to vintage Bauhaus and Iggy Pop with its zombie vocals, ravaged power ballads and aura of wasted decadence.

42. FM

Heroes And Villains (Frontiers)

With Heroes And Villains the veteran British rockers continued in their long-established style, but a contemporary sound mix gave the album a telling cutting edge.

41. Dan Patlansky

Dear Silence Thieves (Self-released)

Back in January the South African bluesman was a domestic-market minnow. With its thumping, funk-inflected songs that flicked the finger at twelve-bar dogma, seventh album Dear Silence Thieves changed everything. If anything happens to Gary Clark Jr, we’ve got a backup Saviour Of Blues.

40. Pond

Man It Feels Like Space Again (Caroline)

On their sixth album, Pond hit a freaky, funkadelic seam similar to that mined by Perth neighbours Tame Impala on Currents. Tracks range from the psych sparkle of 90s Flaming Lips to glam swagger, cosmic slop and, in the shape of the title track, eight minutes of acid delirium and fuzzed-out space rock.

39. Walter Trout

Battle Scars (Provogue/Mascot)

With great songs that deviated from the blues-rock template, and his Strat set to ‘stun’, Battle Scars consolidated Trout’s comeback after defeating the Grim Reaper, and might just win him a new fan base.

38. Graveyard

Innocence And Decadence (Nuclear Blast)

On third album Innocence And Decadence the Swedes finally forged their own sound, lashing together blues-rock heaviosity, vintage soul and nosebleed metal into a thrilling, coherent whole.

37. The Pretty Things

The Sweet Pretty Things (Are In Bed Now, Of Course…) (Repertoire)

Clocking in at just 37 minutes the first studio album from the Pretty Things in seven years might have been short on playing time, but the stoically timeless nature of the music reminded us why those who created it have outlived genre after genre for more than five decades.

36. Europe

War Of Kings (UDR)

Frontman Joey Tempest made no attempt to hide the fact that Europe had attempted to channel the spirits of Led Zeppelin, Rainbow and Deep Purple with their tenth album. However, attempting to do so would have been futile. Produced with crystal clarity, its sleek purposefulness saw the band continue to bury their spandex and hair-metal heritage.

35. Radkey

Dark Black Makeup (Little Man)

Three brothers from Missouri, one killer heavy rock debut laced with Misfits-style guts and Motörhead-esque oomph. The three of them are barely old enough to drink and drive back home (the youngest actually isn’t) but with Dark Black Makeup they came up with a tight, fearsome racket. Punked-up rock hadn’t sounded this hard, or groovy, in a long time.

34. Scorpions

Return To Forever (Sony/UME)

The Scorpions harked back to the glory of the 80s here, with vital freshness; this never sounds like a veteran band hovering in a self-imposed cul-de-sac. The band know what brings out the best in them, and Return To Forever fizzed with anthemic passion.

33. Wilson

Right To Rise (Razor And Tie)

Detroit party-metallers Wilson’s second album was a something of a revelation. Gone was the puerile, frat-boy schtick with which they made their name. Instead, Right To Rise was a heartfelt tribute to the rebirth of their home town, set to a backdrop that bridged Black Flag, Motörhead and AC/DC.

32. David Gilmour

Rattle That Lock (Columbia)

David Gilmour might have put Pink Floyd to rest with The Endless River, but on his first new solo album since 2006, there are heavy echoes of the past: ambient rock textures; the voice of the late Richard Wright; and throughout, the expressive guitar playing that was so integral to Floyd. A subtle, beautifully crafted record.

aha - thanks!

you can tell the pretty things are clearly a class apart due to their horribly formed album title there

Well I didn't know there was a new Pretty Things album till now, so there's that

That's extraordinary.

I love how Toto and PiL now fall under the "classic rock" umbrella. Time is indeed a great equalizer.

That blurb also makes me want to check out that Pond album now.
I'm gonna be disappointed right?

I prefer the Pond album to the Tame Impala album, FWIW.

I somehow missed that there was a new Sonics album. It's sounding pretty great.

I love how Toto and PiL now fall under the "classic rock" umbrella. Time is indeed a great equalizer.
And Marily Manson too! Too early for Limp Bizkit?

Halestorm and ELO made really good albums, nice to see them on any list even if it's the Classic Rock Magazine list

Classic Rock list is a bit too edgy this year, very disappointing. At least The Darkness are in there.

Classic Rock's list is particularly good if you're juvenile enough to play the facebook game of replacing the last word of an album with 'fart' or 'farts'

Bleep's year end lists are starting to go up:

https://bleep.com/albums-of-the-year-2015
https://bleep.com/eps-of-the-year-2015

Here are the top ten albums:

Flako - Natureboy
Holly Herndon – Platform
Oneohtrix Point Never – Garden of Delete
Bjork – Vulnicura
Kode9 – Nothing
Floating Points – Elaenia
Romare – Projections
Kerrier District (Luke Vibert) – 4
Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness
Kelpe – The Curved Line

Quite a few people have recommended that Floating Points album to me before

it's pretty but very underwhelming compared to his singles imo

surprised the romare album is that high up, it was one of my early-year favourites but never felt all that momentous, just quite pleasant

top 10 is missing HELENA HAUFF imo

just downloaded Flako - Natureboy
here's hoping it's a good album

98 Mbongwana Star – Malukayi (World Circuit)

One of the token African picks for this year. Tokenism is better than not at all. Afropop dance music probably won't show up as its not marketed to western critics and seems more singles oriented than album focused.

I really enjoyed the ELO album, though I don't think it would make my top 50. If you grew up listening to 'em, it hits lots of pleasure buttons. I was actually looking forward to the Def Leppard, ha ha. I should have known better, it's garbage. And that's the fourth, not third Graveyard album, dickheads -- and while I love it, it's not an all any sort breakthrough in "forging" their own sound. They had their own sound since the beginning.

Ooh, I'd missed that there was finally a Radkey LP. Listening now...pretty coo.

9 - Tess Parks & Anton Newcombe - I Declare Nothing

Listened to this today and pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. He does what he does for The Brian Jonestown Massacre and she does her best Hope Sandoval impression and it works well together.

I liked Tess Parks's album from a couple years ago (well, some of it), so this might be interesting. The production sounds a little demo-ish, though (and not in a cool lo-fi way).

The production sounds a little demo-ish, though (and not in a cool lo-fi way).

Just a problem with the opening track, I guess. Everything else is sounding decent.

Holy Krampus on a crutch, I copied over the Uncut list then accidentally hit a left arrow that made it all go away. So not worth it -- that list is what one would predict, but so bad that it's starting to prejudice me against the few that I do like (Holter, S-K, FFS, Algiers, Fuzz, Bop English, Pond). Keith Richards?

http://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/434-uncuts-top-75-albums-of-2015/

Here's a handy tally of the major lists including Norman and Piccadilly: http://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/summary/2015/

Norwegian newspaper, Dagbladet provide a diverse representative overview of contemporary music released in 2015.

Dagbladet - 100 best tracks of the year
http://www.dagbladet.no/2015/11/27/kultur/musikk/topp_100/42142029/

Dagbladet spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/dbmusikk/playlist/5KJo0lh9kCooUaWcQtYhE5

A diverse multi-genre mixture including rock, pop, metal, jazz, folk, country, hip-hop, R'N'B, electronic and tropical house. International and Norwegian artists are represented.

including dynamic Norwegian jazz-rock band: Møster
http://www.grappa.no/en/hubro/moster-when-you-cut-into-the-present2/

i listened to the kamasi washington and enjoyed it as background kitchen music while my bf made xmas cakes but just way less striking than the sons of kemet, which i got bang into p much immediately

i don't know anything about how to listen to jazz though

Just listen to anything as far as your enjoyment takes you, but to quote Duke Ellington again ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDQpZT3GhDg

you dont need to "know" anything. You enjoy it or you dont

x-post---That Sons of Kemet video has some impressive dancing in it

http://www.okayafrica.com/news/pantsula-dance-video-sons-of-kemet-in-the-castle-of-my-skin-lebogang-rasethaba/

"i don't know anything about how to listen to jazz though"

Facing north, wearing a beret, eating stilton.

i'd also like a list of rev-jazz recommendations but in the meantime

(especially Sons of Kemet, that might be in my top 5)

― The Reverend, Wednesday, November 25, 2015 9:50 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is SUPER-FUN. drums! (and very immediate for a jazz novice, too)

― lex pretend, Thursday, November 26, 2015 4:02 AM Bookmark

Tbh mostly this is just stuff I gleaned from the Kamasi thread as people were offering up alternatives.

Yeah, Sons of Kemet are a sax/tuba (playing fat funky basslines)/drums/drums combo from London. Their album Lest We Forget What We Came Here To Do has a stripped-down, live feel that's really rhythmic and banging but also very melodically catchy. There's a lot of New Orleans and Lagos (and Port of Spain?) in the rhythms and Shabaka Hutchings' sax draws from slinky Ethio-jazz melodies and NYC skronk, but these disparate influences never seem at odds with each other. Like Lex said, very immediate, and very danceable too. Just a great, great record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmN3vFIukk4

Polar Bear - Same As You: Another London combo (who share a drummer with SoK). Their album is similarly based on tight 4/4 rhythms and riffing sax, but more laid back and drawn out, dubby and atmospheric at times. (But you can skip the silly spoken word intro.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMV9ylDAYIk

Troyka - Ornithophobia: More Londoners (pattern emerging here) but they have a very different sound from Polar Bear and SoK, with a lot of fractured (post-?) rock rhythms, Dilla/FlyLo offbeat drums, and weird electronic sounds, sometimes sampled and edited together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPKicuslfWc

Makaya McCraven - In The Moment: McCraven is a Chicago drummer who recorded hours and hours of live performances and Teo Macero-ed them into an album. I guess other than Troyka these all have common thread of being very drums-first, although McCraven's drumming style has a more traditional swing to it but also much more of a hiphop feel too. A lot of this is stripped down to a sometimes-looped drums/bass/vibes rhythm section, while the featured soloists, who come and go, feel a bit secondary. The last track (posted below) even settles on a relaxed four-bar breakbeat loop with a chopped-off sax riff for most of its length, before gloriously emerging into a very wild, free solo at the other end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4UZMozYoJo

Also been listening to 2013/2014 stuff from Melt Yourself Down (another London band in the same vein as Sons of Kemet and Polar Bear - I kind of get Pigbag vibes from them), Throttle Elevator Music (scuzzy rock with the boy Kamasi throwing skronk all over it, I like it way than the record he's getting attention for but oh well), Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpeter from the TPAB crew - the most trad record on this list, but his small band format allows him and the other players to shine - he's a very good balladeer), the first Sons of Kemet album (not quite as good as the new one but certainly worth your time), and some brass band stuff.

I still need to check out Matana Roberts.

As far as the Kamasi record itself, I guess the scope is admirable, but it just kind of strikes me as a decent post-bop record with a bunch of added bells and whistles that distract from the playing. I found myself wishing the choirs and strings (and vocalists tbh) would go away the whole time. I was was sold on it expecting something that sounded fresh and new, but at it's core it's very retro and I don't feel like it overcomes its influences, YMMV.

matana roberts is the real fuckin deal, although i've felt more like listening to her solo record this year than Part III of her thing

jazz albums i like from this year

charles lloyd - wild man dance
http://www.discogs.com/Charles-Lloyd-Wild-Man-Dance/master/839518
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7Ei_m8JAus

william parker / raining on the moon - great spirit
http://www.discogs.com/William-Parker-Raining-On-The-Moon-Great-Spirit/release/7622000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dYiiCFR4Ak

charenee wade - offering (the music of gil scott heron and brian jackson)
http://www.discogs.com/Charenee-Wade-Offering-The-Music-Of-Gil-Scott-Heron-And-Brian-Jackson/master/918297
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOqHi7W2Tk4

Just as a complete digression, if anyone's a fan of the whole Sons Of Kemet/ Polar Bear/ Melt Yourself Down skronk axis, they should check out the Comet Is Coming, which is a similar punky jazz/ blurt vibe with added pop and Krautrock vibes thrown in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh7HtH3cm-M

nb the charles lloyd and william parker were recorded before 2015.

this is my fav jazz record of the year

http://tumrecords.com/uploadkuvat/040/TUM040-cover-72dpi.jpg

https://soundcloud.com/bk-music-pr/eternal-signs-milford-graves-bill-laswell

I'll bet any money Bill Laswell was wearing a beret and facing North when he recorded his part on this.

yay, I haven't heard any of these other suggestions. more stuff to check out.

Consequence of Sound - Top 50 Songs of 2015
http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/11/top-50-songs-of-2015/

Treble - Top 10 Electronic Albums of 2015
http://www.treblezine.com/26642-top-10-electronic-albums-2015/
by Jeff Terich and Adam Blyweiss

Melt Yourself Down are a lot of fun so if a couple of Rev's recommendations are in that vein them I'm down.

Other drummer from Sons of Kemet is in Melt Yourself Down (as is Shabaka, who leads Kemet). Same drummer (Tom Skinner) plays on the Floating Points album.

GoGo Penguin make a neo-jazz noise in the vein of Sons of Kemet I think? I haven't bothered to fully check out their album yet though.

Much critical love for Domenique Dumont?

The album is short and incredibly sweet. Listen to this all the way through, the way the melody comes in about half way through oh man...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlQtwotiPvs

GoGo Penguin are piano/bass/drums. Not much like Kemet tonally, although both clearly influenced by electronic / dance music.

Yeah listened to Kemet through this tread's rec and wasn't impressed, seemed flat, reminded me of the Bunk Johnson sides.

I try to keep up but the only jazz album that's blown me away the past couple years (apart from Rollins Road Shows) was Yosvany Terry's New Throned King, 2014.

the domenique dumont record is a lovely little caprice imo

That Consequence Of Sound list is the most obnoxiously patronising and boring 2015 songs list imaginable. Those write-ups, fuck me. Beyond banal

Kris Davis Infrasound - Save Your Breath
Myra Elford - Snowy Egret
Matana Roberts - Always
Dave Burrell, Garrison Fewell - New Earth
Barry Altschul's 3dom Factor - Tales Of The Unforeseen
Nicole Mitchell, Tomeka Reid, Mike Reed - Artifacts

These are some of my fave 2015 jazz albums, there are loads of others I have missed but some stuff I love is probably not for many ears.

The Troyka and Throttle Elevator are on my list of things to hear.

you dont need to "know" anything. You enjoy it or you dont

disagree strongly fwiw, knowing about music and its aesthetics and what the people who make it are driving at and what its partisans are listening for enriches the experience of listening immeasurably

i had a mate once who said you couldnt truly appreciate jazz , classical or blues music unless you could actually play music. I thought he was a dick.

sometimes it takes a while to work a piece of music out and get it to blossom

yr mate could be right and a dick

Matthew Shipp Trio's The Conduct of Jazz is a good jazz album from this year. If you like jazz that sounds like Matthew Shipp.

Yeah, that is a good one. Newman Taylor Baker (new drummer) is an excellent addition to the group.

You don't need to be able to play the music, but there's definitely something to be said for knowing perhaps a little bit about the ideas and historical context behind key jazz recordings and the players behind them. For a lot of appreciators, that's a big part of it - the various developments that took place over the decades; the historical context of the music; the different styles of playing that reveal different players' characters; maybe a tiny bit about the theoretical side - there's no denying that none of these factors have much of an impact on first listen, and it's only after having spent a bit of time with a few different jazz recordings that you start to notice those nuances.

Not that one couldn't possibly appreciate jazz without said prior knowledge, but saying 'you either like it or you don't' is pretty guileless, seeing as jazz - especially a lot of modern jazz - is often seen as an acquired taste. I wouldn't play a non-jazz listener a Wadada Leo Smith album and then tell them 'jazz is obviously not for you' when they say they're not into it.

that goes for most genres, i think. even pop, which by definition is supposed to be popular, isn't appreciable by everyone until maybe they get to grips with a bit of context and backstory.

dog latin & jclc very much otm

it's not really about effort or doing something because you should. music is unfathomably big and we wander around and come to things when we come to them. anything other than that won't be organic and won't work, ime. like "trying to get into" genres.

This is why I always say you should never tell someone "You should listen to jazz" - you should tell them, "You should listen to [ALBUM] by [ARTIST]," and if they like it, recommend more stuff. But there's no homework required to step through the door.

i often appreciate hearing something new w/o any awareness of its context or whatever but if i am going to really get into something i need to learn a little about what's happening\

this is different from "trying to get into" something, the learning happens organically -- when i first "got into" jazz it was something that i felt strongly pulled towards and learning about players, aesthetics, movements, history, a little theory increased my enjoyment of the music significantly, and yea this is true for any genre imo

I think the idea behind "either you like it or you don't" is more just the idea that you don't need to know about it to enjoy it. Like just enjoy it or not, don't frety about whether or not you're enjoying it the "right" way. If you like a jazz album but it turns out that consensus among jazz-dudes is that it sucks, don't worry about it.

yes

If it was an exercise in "eating your greens" I probably would have got bored by now, like ogmor says sometimes there is a wonderful blossoming after you spend some time with something - but it shouldn't be like work imo.

yeah there is no right way. personally i haven't got a clue about the history or context, i first bought jazz in my teens cos it was recommended in magazines i read, and i thought "kind of blue" was cool but didn't really get it or love it - years later bit by bit as i drifted a bit away from electronic music, i started listening to film soundtracks and instrumental things and more introspective music generally, and i got a lot of the miles davis electric albums. i had read a lot about the "magic" of kind of blue in my teens and i feel that now when i listen to it, like just that buzz in the first bassline and the beauty of it all, but that didn't matter until such time as i was already a little more immersed in the music.

xpost otm - it never feels like "eating the greens" - in recent years i found myself playing more classical and opera, reading a little, listening to radio shows, and playing more. i never decided to do it, it just happened. though i also find the older i get the more i feel confident about being able to get into stuff p easily. like maybe it's easier to accept what a thing is about rather than project my need onto it or demand for it to suit what i like. that kind of listening sort of killed the critic in me.

sorry, into tldr here...

The Quietus' 20 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2015 (according to the guy who writes their monthly mixtape column)

20 Dr. Dre - Compton
19 Iglooghost & Mr. Yote - Milk Empire
18 Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
17 Rich Homie Quan - If You Ever Think I Will Stop Goin' In Ask Royal Rich
16 Father - Who's Gonna Get Fucked First
15 Lucki Ecks - X
14 Quelle Chris - Innocent Country
13 White Boiz - Neighborhood Wonderful
12 Future Brown - Future Brown
11 DT Blanco - Vanity
10 Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late
9 Sicko Mobb - Super Saiyan 2
8 Oddisee - The Good Fight
7 Heems - Eat Pray Thug
6 Future - DS2
5 Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside
4 Le1f - Riot Boi
3 Knxwledge - Hud Dreems
2 Milo - So The Flies Don't Come
1 Dr. Yen Lo - Days With Dr. Yen Lo

This doesn't apply to everyone, but I think this time of year, many people get list fatigue and grow bored with both what is popular in the lists, and also what they themselves normally listen to. So an interesting album from a genre one normally doesn't listen to seems especially new and shiny. I find myself getting super excited myself, and am sometimes tempted to rank it super high in my year-end list. I try to resist that, because usually I end up rarely listening to that album more more than once or twice in the following years, and go back to not closely following the genre.

Absolutely nothing wrong with getting into what I consider a palate cleanser. I'd say my second favorite thing about this thread is finding out which albums jump out to people in this way. But my favorite is still those deep into specific genres who recommend one or more things that might have been overlooked otherwise.

That said, I'll recommend these overlooked heavy rock albums:

Golden Void - Berkana (Thrill Jockey)
http://fastnbulbous.com/golden-void-berkana/
https://goldenvoidtj.bandcamp.com/