A few weeks ago, I decided to compile a list of my favourite albums of 2015 so far. The post started unassumingly enough but became a full fledged listening project as I set out to listen to as many albums across as many genres as possible. I read in the park to the whiskey-soaked lyrics of Chris Stapleton, shopped for vegetables to the heavy metal of Brothers of the Sonic Cloth and ran in the morning to the sexy sounds of Miguel. I worked through Pitchfork’s top rated new albums, the 25 best albums of the year so far, selected by NPR and the 10 best albums of the year so far, selected by my former coworker Marshall on his blog Free City Sounds. In the end, my list doesn’t reflect this diversity so much as it does my taste because if you really wanted to know the best country album of the year, you would talk to someone who listens to country. This is a list of all the albums I have listened to so far. Without further ado, my favourite albums of 2015 so far.
Courtney Barnett, Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit
Standout track: Dead Fox
Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit is witty, articulate and relatable. Barnett, who is based out of Melbourne, Australia, has a remarkable talent for expressing quotidian hopes and fears in a way that’s fresh, funny and surprisingly poignant. Her conversational lyrics and delivery make the album feel personal and intimate. “Pedestrian at Best” describes the anxieties and insecurities that are inevitable in relationships best described by ‘It’s complicated.’ “Dead Fox” is the greatest song about grocery stores and road kill I have ever heard and is one of the catchiest songs on the album.
D’Angelo and the Vanguard, Black Messiah
Standout track: The Charade
Black Messiah is D’Angelo’s first album in fourteen years, released in mid December 2014. The lyrics are his most overtly political in an album that is as much about black struggle against white supremacy as it is about love and sex. D’Angelo said the album was inspired by the people around the world who rise up and decide to make change happen. Questlove, who is featured on “The Charade” and “Another Life,” said of the album, “It’s beautiful, it’s ugly, it’s truth, it’s lies. It’s everything.” In both its sound and emotion, the album is everything. D’Angelo mixes funk and soul with distorted guitar, heavy bass and smooth vocals. On “The Charade,” the sound is deep and the lyrics are at their most powerful.
Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment, Surf
Standout track: Miracle
Surf is pure joy. Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment offer a blend of jazz, soul and hip hop. The band is made up of Nico Segal, a trumpet player who performs under the alias Donnie Trumpet, Peter Cottontale, Nate Fox, Greg Landfair Jr. and Chance the Rapper. It has the energy and lyrical play of Chance the Rapper’s best works plus fantastic jazz instrumentation and incredible guests, including J.Cole, Erykah Badu and BJ the Chicago Kid. The opening track, “Miracle,” is my favourite for the way introduces The Social Experiment and sets the tone for the entire album.
Dr. Dre, Compton
Standout track: Deep Water (feat. Kendrick Lamar, Justus & Anderson .Paak)
On his first album in sixteen years, Dre proves that he can still produce compelling albums. Compton has an impressive roster of guest stars, including Kendrick Lamar, BJ the Chicago Kid, Eminem and Snoop Dogg. “Deep Water” combines some of the best verses on the album with bell tolls, jazz horns and distorted voices. The result is an emotionally charged track with an outro that evokes the death of Eric Garner.
Earl Sweatshirt, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside
Standout track: Grief
I have been an Earl Sweatshirt fan since he released his mixtape, EARL. On I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside, he maintains his dexterous lyricism while moving away from his Odd Future persona, proclivities and peers. His lyrics are articulate and honest. Earl continues the retreat into his psyche he began on Doris but with greater focus. (Gone are Taco Bell references and Tyler, the Creator skits.) On “Grief,” Earl is at his introspective best. As Rolling Stone‘s reviewer effectively said, “It’s amazing that music so claustrophobic can be this engrossing.”
Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
Standout track: Piss Crowns Are Trebled
Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress is a sonically rich album from Montreal post-rock band Godspeed You! Bllack Emperor. This album is best digested in one sitting – and I say digested because this album requires concentrated engagement – so you can appreciates the transitions as the band transforms senses into sounds. “Piss Crowns Are Trebled” is the standout track for me because when the drum began to pound after the transition from “Asunder, Sweet,” I knew I loved this album.
Ibeyi, Ibeyi
Standout track: Behind the Curtain
Ibeyi’s eponymous album is staggeringly beautiful. Ibeyi, which means ‘twins’ in Yoruba, consists of French-Cuban twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz. They sing harmonies in English and Yoruba and blend elements of jazz, soul and experimental electronic music with Yoruba, French and Afro-Cuban music. On “Behind the Curtain,” the blend of languages and sounds is magic.
J. Cole, 2014 Forest Hills Drive
Standout track: No Role Modelz
While this album was technically released in 2014 to correspond with the address of the home J. Cole grew up in, it was released late enough in the year to warrant inclusion on 2015 lists. 2014 Forest Hills Drive is one of the albums I have listened to the most this year. “Fire Squad” has some of Cole’s best verses on the album and “G.O.M.D.” has the best sound with its remarkable sampling of Branford Marsalis’ arrangement of “Berta, Berta.” However, “No Role Modelz” gets my vote for the best track on the album because it brings together all the best that Cole as to offer.
Jamie xx, In Colour
Standout track: Loud Places
The more I listen to In Colour, the more it resonates with me. This is a complex and emotive album in full sonic colour. Jamie xx uses sound as effectively as he uses silence and space. I love the strata of sound in “Hold Tight,” but “Loud Places” is my favourite for its swelling vocals and moments of quiet.
Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp a Butterfly
Standout track: Momma
To Pimp a Butterfly will likely be my favourite album of the year. It is lyrically complex, sonically dense and most remarkably, socially relevant. Where Good Kid M.A.A.D City is largely retrospective, To Pimp a Butterfly explores issues of racism, discrimination, self-loathing and the necessity of self-love in present day American society. “These Walls” makes beautiful use of metaphor and of Anna Wise and Bilal’s vocals. Few songs this year will be more important than “Complexion (A Zulu Love)” and “The Blacker the Berry.” My choice of best track on the album, however, is “Momma” because the verses that close the song are my favourite in Kendrick’s entire discography. Listen to the album start to finish then play it again and again until it really hits you.
Panda Bear, Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
Standout track: Mr Noah
Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper is an engaging mix of melody and dissonance from experimental artist Panda Bear. He layers his vocals with hypnotic loops of synth. What makes this album interesting is the variation between songs. He moves from heavy dissonance at the end of “Come To Your Senses” to quiet instrumentation on “Tropic of Cancer.” “Mr Noah” is a standout track for its mix of heavy bass, fluid vocals and noise. Also, this is my favourite album name of the year so far.
Sufjan Stevens, Carrie & Lowell
Standout track: Fourth of July
Carrie & Lowell is devastatingly beautiful. The album is named for Stevens’ mother and stepfather. The narrative of the album is based on Stevens’ relationship with Carrie, in his childhood, in adulthood and after her death in 2012. The only sounds are Stevens’ voice and guitar, which create a sparseness that allow his words to resonate. The effect is most devastating on “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross” when he says, “Fuck me, I’m falling apart.” My favourite on the album is “Fourth of July,” a heartbreakingly tender song in which he speaks to his mother just after her death.
Torres, Sprinter
Standout track: Sprinter
Sprinter is a heavy, painful album. The album’s opening track “Strange Hellos” starts quietly but hits with hard riffs and powerful vocals that continue to build. Torres explores identity, family relationships, religion and abuse with staggering honesty and haunting vocals. “Sprinter” is brilliant, evocative and the most difficult track to listen to on the album.
Viet Cong, Viet Cong
Standout track: March of Progress
Viet Cong is a Calgary, Alberta post-punk band. On their eponymous album, they mix garage rock guitars with sixties pop melodies, eighties synth and Bowie-esque layered vocals. Viet Cong plays with noise as much as they do instrumentation. Pitchfork‘s Ian Cohen writes that their opening track “Newspaper Spoons” “most closely resembles someone trying to punch their way out of a coffin.” (I knew I was going to love this album from the start.) Their eleven minute long closing track, “Death,” is just as forcefully percussive. Their standout track is “March of Progress,” which breaks unpredictable, masterful instrumentation with self-aware and surprising humorous lyrics.
Vince Staples, Summertime ’06
Standout track: Summertime
Summertime ’06 is an articulate, coherent album from an artist who keeps getting better. This is Vince Staples’ debut studio album after several years of releasing effective mixtape and LPs. His lyrics offer a complex narrative about his early adolescence and experiences of loss in Long Beach, California. The transitions from “Norf Norf” to “Birds & Bees” to “Loca” are sonically brilliant and “Might Be Wrong” is a remarkably effective representation of present day American society, but the combination of rhythm and introspection make “Summertime” my favourite on the album.
