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bluth | Best of 2015 FINISHED
Member Since: 1/1/2013
Posts: 13,978
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That 10-6 song streak >
Wesley's Theory is so overlooked! One of my faves.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 13,761
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2015 Best Albums
3 E•MO•TION
Carly Rae Jepsen
| This album is pure joy.
Carly seems to understand so many things about love and emotions that she leaves us scrambling to re-evaluate what we really mean by our feelings. The title, E-MO-TION, at first seemed like what could end up being an indulgent label, but it fits so wonderfully in this album's quest to redefine what we honestly mean in the most unpretentious and liberating way.
There are so many elements at work here: between the sheer euphoria of Run Away With Me, the force of Your Type, the bubbling underbelly of Warm Blood, Carly catalogues so many facets of both hers and what could be our own personalities, without every professing to understand what any of these things mean. E-MO-TION's nihilistic brand of 'love album'/'breakup album'/'feelings album' is what liberates it the most. It doesn't bog us down with contrived definitions and introspection, instead holds out a hand, gesturing for us to take this opportunity and tumble through a whirlwind, turning the world to gold as we fall. |
2 VEGA INTL. Night School
Neon Indian
| 2015 was a huge throwback year. Practically my entire top five albums could be described as such, of which VEGA INTL. Night School is a prime example. From start to finish, the album is glitzy, fun, a complete dancefloor filler. It takes throwback themes and sounds and articulates them through a really rich, fun modern dialect. It's a complete reinvigoration, a celebration of the night as the title suggests. It explores a fascination with the world once the sun sets and cities are flooded with the artifice of the night club lights. As he sings on the final track 'But I just can't wait for the light / And hear the news from the sun', by the end we feel like we've made it through a wild, wonderful night, now stepping outside to the sunrise.
At face-value, VEGA INTL. Night School is a joy to listen as a trip down 80's nostalgia, riddled with some pretty fun subversive elements along the way (perhaps even the 80's equivalent to Currents' 70's), but there's a really warming, human quality that drew me to this album. There's a sense of loss here, from Annie's desperate search to Slumlord's urban decay, it could signify the end to Alan's VEGA side project, but it also amplifies the feeling of nostalgia. It captures that wonderful essence that pervades the dancefloor and final song on the setlist, between the high and the come down, between the dusk and the dawn, because it understands that being caught between two places is when we feel the most alive. |
1 To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar
| I mean, who else?
This year was the year Hip Hop turned to dancing memes and huge pop crossovers, while the world's social discourse turned its consciousness even more to racial issues and #BlackLivesMatter hashtags. To Kendrick Lamar, the new didactic voice of rap, these were two things that urgently needed bringing together. When released in March, To Pimp A Butterfly felt so pertinent that it could have been conjured up in a single afternoon, and yet the music and the ideas therein felt so complex and mature that it felt like it had been gestating for decades.
The album showcases Lamar's incredible talent as a rapper, as he schizophrenically jumps between flows, characters and emotions, from the humour on For Free?, the paranoia on Wesley's Theory, the drunken slurs on u. He presents a world where personal narratives are so intrinsically woven into politics, to hilarious self-referencing 'I was gonna kill a couple rappers but they did it to themselves / Everybody's suicidal they don't even need my help', to the most effective use of self-expository contradictions since Yeezus, to the production which - throughout - is masterful.
We already knew of Kendrick's amazing potential on good kid, but on its sequel, Kendrick takes the smaller channel of light from Compton and refracts it in so many ways that we don't even know where to look. You could sift through this album for weeks and still never fully appreciate all its intricacies.
To Kendrick Lamar, real world politics and music are intrinsically linked. He knows how to articulate an elegant and intelligent message and yet still release incredible and enjoyable music behind that. On the final track, Kendrick says 'I'm no mortal man', a humbling connection to Tupac and Kendrick's own place within the Hip Hop narrative, but for an audience it couldn't feel more true. With To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar feels timeless.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 13,761
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2015 Best Songs
5 Slumlord
Neon Indian
| The brilliance of VEGA INTL. Night school is how it doesn't use nostalgia as an accessory, but instead it can capture a nostalgic feeling. It doesn't see retro music as something to be overly romanticised, but rather a world waiting to be explored.
Slumlord captures something which is so euphoric and yet so distant. Its lyrics center around urban decay, analogous to the theme of growing up: 'nobody's kids anymore', 'we're 24 growing up'. In the same way we don't wish for euphoric moments in time to end, Slumlord is a song is something we wish to be endless. It's a song which makes you both happy and sad, that makes you dance and lament, caught in the space between the dancefloor and the knowledge that one day it will end.
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4 Run Away With Me
Carly Rae Jepsen
| Run Away With Me is a nothing less than a transcendent piece of music. A whirlwind of emotions, urges, horns and all-consuming choruses. It's a turbulent push that sends you diving into the night, a rush of nostalgia that allows you to see the world once more through innocent eyes.
The magic of Run Away With Me is that it doesn't acknowledge where we're running to. It doesn't indulge in hollow fantasies or endpoints, but rather it pushes us into uncertainty because it knows nothing is more exhilarating than the thrill of the chase, and that, once it's over, we can't wait to rewind back to the triumphant sounds of sax in the night and start it all over again. |
3 These Walls
Kendrick Lamar
| I had to make a three song exception for Kendrick.
To Pimp A Butterfly is such a gorgeous, textured album and nothing really captures that more than These Walls. First of all, the production is one of the sexiest things I've heard all year, it's like a microcosm of everything Miguel says in his album within one song here, but - as ever with Kendrick - there's a great story behind the music too.
The narrative slowly reveals itself like smoke unfurling from someone's lips, where we see Kendrick move from burning, sexual intimacy to political motivations that lie therein and the common theme of self-loathing in the album. These Walls shows TPAB at its most beautiful production-wise, and at its height as a compelling, multi-faceted piece of work. |
2 Holding On
Disclosure ft. Gregory Porter
| Caracal may have been a disappointment, but Holding On shows there's a spark left in Disclosure.
From 'latching onto you' to 'holding on', Holding On is another pretty gripping, irresistible song in the Disclosure canon. Gregory Porter's vocals work beautifully here, and the way the hook loops at the start and while it melts into the crescendoing instrumental, it feels like the song is reaching a true climax: rising like an August sun over the treetops.
What made Settle so charming was how it used a safe (but effective) formula to elicit something so deeply visceral within everyone, whether that was an urge to dance, an urge to chill or just an urge to turn up the radio. Holding On, armed with hooks and a deceptive subtlety, is safe but it's what Disclosure do best. It feels like a memory we've seen before, that August sunrise we've already felt on our skin, it leaves you holding on.
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I NEED TO TELL YOU SOMETHING
1 I Really Like You
Carly Rae Jepsen
| Did you think I'd only extend a three-song exception to Kendrick?
Honestly, what more can be said? The beauty of E-MO-TION is not so much in what it says, but more in what it doesn't say. Run Away With Me has us running for the thrill of it, Warm Blood lures us ominously into a cavern of secrets, but I Really Like You is the high-point of Carly's embargo on pop music fallacies. It understands that love is best alluded to rather than narrated, and it holds back the word until the floodgates are buckling from the pressure, bursting open and gushing with a cascade of sheer joy.
By crouching down and facing ideas with a childlike view, I Really Like You sees things for their true essence, and not an overly-derivative world with its banal mantras of 'love'. It understands that love isn't necessarily about 'being' in love, but rather it's about your heart beating aflutter like an 80's drum machine, the precious words dancing on the edge of your tongue - an irrepressible feeling waiting to break free. |
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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RAWM is nice I need to check out Kendrick's album! I feel so naïve and uneducated for not knowing it.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 39,618
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Yassss @ TPAB being 1. I actually just revelead it also as my number 1 album like an hour ago.
Probably my favorite of the decade.
These Walls is also a masterpiece, it was my favorite when the album dropped.
I'm just getting into Run Away With Me and I love it.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/2/2011
Posts: 21,728
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What a surprise top 2! I really loved 5-3 though, really strong picks from each album, and good representations of the best of 2015. I love your writeup for IRLY and it has me convinced to listen again, to see what i can pick up on. It's a cool pick for your #1, and you definitely made the case for it.
Great album choices too, Kendrick was such a definite #1 moment this year, and I liked both of the other albums as well. Overall such an awesome list, I enjoyed your descriptions so much.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 13,761
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anywayyyy, that's 2015 packed up with a pretty little bow. thanks a bundle to everyone who commented, have wonderful christmases and lettuce hope 2016 is as good a year for music as this year!
thanks again!
Quote:
Originally posted by Rider
The High slays too
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n, right? am glad you're enjoying her!
Quote:
Originally posted by alexanderao
RAWM is nice I need to check out Kendrick's album! I feel so naïve and uneducated for not knowing it.
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no need to feel bad! but it's a great album, must-listen
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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I'd also like to say that I loved your blurbs. You discuss some very fascinating concepts relating to pop music that I would have a difficult time summarizing without sounding nonsensical.
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Member Since: 8/6/2015
Posts: 5,766
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Omg, the write-ups for Emotion and TPAB That's, like, totally what I think of them but could've never written it in such a beautiful way
Holding On really grew on me in the context of the album, These Walls and RAWM are definitely perfect songs, and IRLY @ #1 surprised me but I kind of see why you love it so much.
Great job on the best of, it was really entertaining to read and obviously your picks were amazing!
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Member Since: 8/27/2010
Posts: 3,636
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To Pimp a Butterfly
Nice surprise to see Holding On in #2
These Walls
WOW 2 songs of Carly on top 5
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Member Since: 4/7/2009
Posts: 34,961
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Your taste and commentary is always appreciated. Great countdown
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Member Since: 10/3/2009
Posts: 35,844
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All that love for Carly overwhelms me.
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Member Since: 12/25/2008
Posts: 14,110
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Run Away With Me is an amazing song
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 4/3/2014
Posts: 34,134
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E•MO•TIONsus
Although Run Away With God >. IRLY
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Member Since: 5/23/2007
Posts: 65,087
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Carly Rae slaying E•MO•TION is a good album! and I Really Like You the #1! Well deserved
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 12,760
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IRLY isn't my favourite on Emotion but it's nice to see it as your #1 because people always seem to compare it unfavorably against RAWM when it's still an excellent song.
TPAB is also a deserving #1, great write-up too. Your commentary is definitely some of the best on atrl.
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Member Since: 11/20/2010
Posts: 29,258
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That #1 >>
Gonna have to listen to Night School because I love all your other album entries so I'll probably like that one too
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Member Since: 2/17/2012
Posts: 33,611
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I'm so proud of me for getting you into my boyfriend Great top 3 albums! Slumlord is def the best on INTL Vega as well even though Annie slays mercilessly.
I Really really really really really really like IRLY. Like, omg, I might or might not agree that it's better than RAWM.I agree with your top Kendrick pick too, sis. Such a great list
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Member Since: 2/5/2014
Posts: 29,111
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It's done
Kendrick and Carly more or less won the year so it's cool to see them each topping a chart here.
I Really Like Carly is a very deserving number one on the song chart too.It is definitely hard to capture sheer joy on record, but Carly did it.
Also, somebody else that recognizes the distilled awesomeness of Holding On.
It's been great following along and reading your commentary. I feel like it's helped me put a lot of music into perspective this year. Great job! Thank you!
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 27,248
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EMOTION TPAB isn't quite my thing, but it's well deserved.
How is I Really Like You higher than Run Away WIth Me?
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