Merry Christmas Eve! Or whatever holiday you like most at this time of year, there are quite a few of them. Personally I think that Christmas has so little to do with religion anymore that it could and should be open to all faiths. But thats not for me to decide! All I can decide on is which albums of 2015 were the very best. And even that was difficult. My usual agnostic self couldn't decide on another cut, so this top 35 has become a top 36! Flame on!
Forgive me if my embeds don't work as I really have no way of knowing lol.
37. High by Royal Headache
Best Song - "High"
Also mention worthy - "Carolina" and "My Own Fantasy"
-Prevew Post indicates that the link worked! Kind of a pain to set up on an iphone but probably worth it. So what is so special about Royal Headache that they just haaaddd to make the list even with missing the top 35? Well I admit I had forgotten until I had finally relistened to it yesterday. But their sound is really quite something. You think its just another garage band at first, which would have been fine on its own but the Royal have some other tricks too. The lyrics are of the singer/songwriter genres quality while there's also a smidge of 90s alternative. Being anti establishment is sooo in right now, so to truly be punk in todays world you gotta do more work. Looking at their wiki, as I always do for artists new to the list, it seems like I was wrong about them being British. They're actually from down under mate! Rawkstrailia strikes! There is literally no other info about them on wiki so I'm guessing they haven't gotten that far north yet lol.
36. Mr. Misunderstood by Eric Church
Best Song - "Mistress Named Music"
Also - "Knives of New Orleans" , "Mr. Misunderstood"
-Well I never though it would be Eric Church that had the most relevant surprise release of the year. I'ma let you have your time, but Beyonce had one of the best albums I never heard! Anyways, Mr. Church managed to break through my bias against country music last year with his prog rocky hybrid "The Outsiders", which was no easy task. So I was a little bit disappointed that he went back to a more traditional country sound. Luckily, my enjoyment of Eric's music trumped my dislike of his genre once again. Dude is just too good to disrespect. "Knives of New Orleans" is the most similar to "The Outsiders" but I had to give "Mistress" the nod for song of the album. The solo in the climax was what pushed Eric from the close calls into the main event and that just can't be ignored! So if you like "Knives" then check that out, and if you like that too then grats, you've been officially converted to the Church of Church. 8-)
Slight pause here to acknowledge that The Beatles have made it onto Apple Music! Great Christmas present. Thanks, Ghost of Steve Jobs.
35. Chaos and the Calm by James Bay
Best Song - "The Craving"
Also - "Let It Go" , "Hold Back The River" , "Best Fake Smile"
-Since the Kings of Weenie Roast, Saint Motel, didn't release a full album, James Bay gets the honor of being the highest ranked Kroq discovery. Its kinda funny how, despite listening to absolute zero local radio, a radio station from Los Angeles is still affecting me all the way in Ohio in 2015. Anyways, a certain Space Bear recoined the term "vh1 rock" to describe Leyton Meester last year and I can't think of anything better fitting for Mr. Bay. "Hold Back The River" would have been competing with Five For Fighting and Michelle Branch every Saturday. At the same time he also kind of doubles as a Jack White type for the second generation of milennials. Can we call then Mitennials? There's an angst in his sound that I think high school kids would appreciate. So vh1, angsty, but still poppy enough to be almost-mainstream. Not easy to appeal to so many groups without being accused of ripping off the original Star Wars. But yeah, for my rock fans check out "The Craving". For my pop fans check out one of the alsos. For my hip-hop fans .. I got nothing for you until next update.
And there we go, update one done. Not sure when I'll do another, but I've enjoyed writing this today so it might be quite soon!
Lol sunderland, I was wondering what the heck you were talking about with Natalie. Obiously when I decided to move it into the next set I didnt properly embed the replacement video hahah. Sorry Royal Headache! Everyone go back and listen to that lol
Two updates, two big mistakes so far. Can we make it a perfect 3? Well its Christmas, but Im not doing anything till later so lets try our very best.
34. Twelve Spells by The Stone Foxes
Best Song - "Greasing The Doorman"
Also - "Locomotion" , "Eye For Love" , "Cold Like A Killer"
-Well it took multiple youtube searches to find a song from this album. Maybe its just because of their name, but I thought this band was a bit more popular. Like one of those artists people are always talking about that don't even sound real till you hear them yourself. I was just looking through the new rock playlist and stumbled upon this. It's nice to just have a good rock album to throw on every now and then. This one has a nice balance of classic sounds, along with modern Black Keys bluesy and garage punkish songs to keep things fresh. So lets check wiki to find out just who these fellas are. They're from San Francisco, which is turning into one of the best modern rock towns. Their lead singers name is Shannon, how about you get a boys name chump? *flexes* Oh wow they opened for Cage and Black Keys a few years ago. No wonder the name was so familar hahaha. Well mystery solved. Rell done Raggy!
33. Mr. Wonderful by Action Bronson
Best song - "City Boy Blues"
Also - "Actin Crazy" , "Baby Blue" , "Brand New Car" , "Only In America"
- Action Bronson is a white rapper who sounds like Ghostface and looks like Duck Dynasty. If you clicked on the video you'd probably think this was another weird rock act. But nope! Action mixes more traditional hip hop songs in the first half with some legit Blues songs in the second half. It makes for quite a fascinating listen. I kinda want to switch the video to something that represents both sides, like "Baby Blue", but I'm lazy and don't think anyone really cares anyways. That song is actually produced by Mark Ronson too. I never realized it, but listening to the horns at the end of the song its pretty obvious now lol. So there's no slouching around on Mr. Wonderful. Every one is G A M E.
32. Natalie Prass by Natalie Prass
Best Song - "Bird Of Prey"
Also - "My Baby Don't Understand Me" , "Your Fool"
- Well this was teased by a embedding mistake in the last update lol. That came out about due to it being a very hard album to rank. This is the annual Party Crasher of the year, meaning that I didn't hear it until very very late in the year when my rankings were mostly set already. Royal Blood and War on Drugs were the winners of this last year. So I was considering leaving it off entirely, but just couldn't do it. Anyways, Natalie is another random find thanks to whover makes playlists on Apple Music. Or maybe it was in the Best New Artists list on metacritic. I can't even remember, but I do remember immediately falling for "My Baby Don't Understand Me". Still, I was skeptical. What if Nat was just another great singer who had nothing to support her but bee-boo-beep hipster indie beats to support her? My fears were partially waranted, as that is the base to all her songs. However, she also has a full band and orchestra to add depth and make this an abo****ely fascinating listen. Just from a musical standpoint its one of the most creative of the year for me. I'm sure the lyrics are great too, but I just can't focus on them with dat violin soothing me into utter harmony. And OH My freaking Gawd shes from CLEVELAND. I am officially in love and already regret putting this so low. Yet I'd have to undue this paragraph to change it .. So oh well. Just know in your hearts that Natalie Prass is in mine.
Top 30 starts tomorrow .. Perhaps? Merry christmas everyone! Or whatever else you might be celebrating.
Happy Festivus, O! Or you could just insert an *N SYNC reference here. Either way.
I'm only somewhat familiar with James Bay and Eric Church so far, and only Bay as far as their newest albums are concerned. Your blurb game is strong, though, so all of these will be added to THE BACKLOG.
I wanted to avoid this, but a December released album was too good to just ignore and has made this into a top 37. I'll talk about that one later. Now we need to get moving after Boxing Day laziness.
31. No Cities To Love by Sleater-Kinney
Best Song - "No Cities To Love"
Also - "Price Tag" , "Bury Your Friends"
-Sleater-Gator was the #1 ranked album of 2015 at this point last year, but then 2015 actually happened and thirty albums passed it. Still, an impressive feat to survive for so long and still place. These are some groovy punk girls. A veteran act who I hadn't got into much in the past, and who actually broke up in 2006. How close I was to never listening to them at all! Two of the three formed the excellent Wild Flag a few years ago, but I guess the call to get the whole gang back together was too much. I'm sure glad they did! They never announced the reason for breaking up in the first place, nor for getting back together and I'm sure not interpreting anything in the lyrics. That's fine, keep me out, keep your secrets, just keep making great punk rawk. Girl power \m/
30. Kicker by Zella Day
Best Song - "Hypnotic"
Also - "Jerome" , "East of Eden" , "High"
-You know, I really don't like to play the "I don't understand why this wasn't more popular game" anymore, I've long since accepted that my taste isn't exactly the same as the mainstreams. This is fine. But someone, anyone tell me that "Hypnotic" isn't an effing hit. So much so that I wonder if it will come back around eventually. Kinda like how "Ghost" by Ella Henderson took several months to make it to the US and then several months after that to become a hit. Or Trapt's "Headstrong" if you're as old as me. Sorry to focus on only one song, as there plenty else to like. The kickoff track "Jerome" in particular is nearly as good as "Hypnotic". I just probably won't do an individual song blurb for it so I had to get all that out somewhere lol. Looking at her wiki, it surprises me that her name is actually Zella Day Kerr. Always seemed like a made up stage name to me haha. And Kerr? Hmmmm. Is Zella's voice the secret to the Warriors sustained good health? Cheaters!!!!
29. Peace Is The Mission by Major Lazer
Best Song - "Lean On"
Also- "Too Original" , "Powerful"
-I can't even tell you the amount of times I heard "Leon On" without even knowing who it was. I assumed DJ Snake had just revived another old pop song like he did with "You Know You Like It". So I was pretty happy to find out the Majes had finally hit it big! I go way back with them. And I'm they got paid well for letting Beyonce use their song "Pon de Floor" for her smash hit "Girls Run The World", but I was still a little upset they never got their proper due hit. No worries about that anymore! The album itself has a pretty lame title, and is only 9 songs, but they make every song matter. Notable features are Ellie Goulding, Ariana Grande, Pusha T and 2 Chainz. It's definitely worth a listen. I've fallen a little bit out of touch with electronica this year, this is the only representative of the genre. Even poor Bassnectar couldn't make the cut. But Major Lazer did something special and I have noticed and responded appropriately. /danceparty
Yay I was worried I wouldn't get through it all. Hopefully more tomorrow!
I also collected all my past album lists that are still available. I could post them in order but thats no fun. So here's 2012! Rememebr how people thought the world was gonna end LOL. Also Remember that this is what I thought then, not now. Though I wouldn't change that much.
40. King Animal by Soundgaren
39. Living Things by Linkin Park
38. Vitamin D by Datsik
37. Fragrant World by Yeasayer
36. Leaving Atlanta by Gentleman Jesse
35. A Thing Called Divine Fits by Divine Fits
34. Dead Sara by Dead Sara
33. The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends by The Flaming Lips
32. Anxiety by Ladyhawke
31. Shakedown by Hacienda
30. Local Business by Titus Andronicus
29. Researching the Blues by Red Kross
28. Slaughterhouse by Ty Segall Band
27. Silver Age by Bob Mould
26. Apocryphon by The Sword
25. Twins by Ty Segall
24. Shrines by Purity Ring
23. VaVa Voom by Bassnectar
22. Good Kid, m.A.A.d. City by Kendrick Lamar
21. Zoo by Ceremony
20. On the Impossible Past by The Menzingers
19. I Bet on Sky by Dinosaur Jr.
18. The Idler Wheel... by Fiona Apple
17. The 2nd Law by Muse
16. Blunderbuss by Jack White
15. Neck of the Woods by Silversun Pickups
14. Attack on Memory by Cloud Nothings
13. Ugly by Screaming Females
12. Wrecking Ball by Bruce Springsteen
11. Locked Down by Dr. John
10. Not Your Kind of People by Garbage
9. The Sheepdogs by The Sheepdogs
8. ¡Uno! by Green Day
7. Master of My Make-Believe by Santigold
6. Sounds From Nowheresville by The Ting Tings
5. Synthetica by Metric
4. Celebration Rock by Japandroids
3. Blak and Blu by Gary Clark Jr.
2. Red by Taylor Swift
1. Be The Void by Dr. Dog
The D-Dog! As much as I love Red theres no way I'd change that. "Be The Void" is brilliant and holds up just as well today.
Peace Is The Mission is a great album! Never been a big fan of Diplo's music but I loved that album! Lean On is a masterpiece but "Too Original" is great too! Should be as big as Lean On
I like that Royal Headache song you linked to! And cool that they are from Australia, if NXT ever decides to do an Aussie Takeover (and with the influx of amazing Aussie talent like Peyton Royce and Billie Kay, they def could!), they should do the song for it! Sneaking in wrestling talk wherever I can! ERIC CHURCH! **** yeah! You know how I feel about him already, so no need to go on. i do appreciate you expanding your boundaries, and with the amount of country stuff you have liked this year maybe you need to stop thinking of yourself as someone, as you say, "dislikes the genre" haha. Who knows what 2016 might bring! I appreciate the shout-out in the James Bay write-up. I can def see the VH1 rock comparison from the song linked. Also very good! Love Action Bronson!! Stone Foxes sound really cool, and I loved your Natalie Prass write-up. In general I love your stream-of-conciousness write-ups, so you finding out she’s from your city was a great twist! Had more surprises than The Force Awakens! (I actually like the movie, I just needed an easy thing to goof on. I guess this is how Gawker writers come to be, what have i done *holds head in shame*). Sleater-Kinney **** yeah!!! Agree with you on Zella Day, should have def been a hit!
14. Attack on Memory by Cloud Nothings
10. Not Your Kind of People by Garbage
5. Synthetica by Metric
4. Celebration Rock by Japandroids (Saw them live. Best day ever)