Best of 2015/ Thoughts on 2015

thinking back to what i listened to and enjoyed most this year, only a few of them were actually released in 2016, most were either things i discovered from past years or reissues/compilations. and the few new things i did like were perhaps a little too uncool to admit to in our little music snob/hipster haven.

baby plus masters degree has left little time for keeping up this year. i've had the bjork album sitting on my hd since it came out and i still haven't got round to listening yet

the young thug mixtapes are all excellent of course. quite enjoyed the vince staples and kendrick albums, but not enough to keep going back to them much.

susanne sundfor's ten love songs is a very impressive abba-meets-italo disco scandipop album that i recommend highly.

probably my top pick is the miguel album, coffee in the morning is def one of the singles of the year. couple of weak tracks but i kept sticking it on again so its a winner

oh yeah, J Hus lean and bop and dem boy paigon are both essential. not following it as closely as before but afrobeats in general has had a good year again.

looking forward to shift k3ys album judging by his output this year.

DJ Q show on kiss...always gives me the impression that house and garage is thriving as strong as ever

got bored of deep tech ages ago, but the grime revival has been quite fun. lols at the blink-and-you'-miss-it funky revival though

i dont listen to rap but i heard kendrick lamar and future had a good year. adele sold a boatload of records when nobody else seems to be able to give away albums. vinyl market continues to get crazy with presses working round the clock to deliver beattles and oasis represses into the stores for christmas. kamasi washington had a good year too. the same reissue labels reissuing the same music like it ever went out of style.

sadmanbarty said:

Major Lazer's 'Lean On' and Jack U & Bieber's 'Where Are U Now' are definitely two of my faves this year. Not in an ironic way but in a genuine emotional way, so I'd be interested in hearing you're non-hipster certified picks.

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loved "lean on" too. that's in my boomkat top 10. also "cheerleader" in a non-hipster vein.

sadmanbarty said:

Major Lazer's 'Lean On' and Jack U & Bieber's 'Where Are U Now' are definitely two of my faves this year. Not in an ironic way but in a genuine emotional way, so I'd be interested in hearing you're non-hipster certified picks.

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Ha. Well, ok then...

My favorite one, pre-2015:
- Paranoid London s/t -- originally out as a 2x12" vinyl-only release at the end of 2014 and just released on CD/digital, really good dark and dirty acid/electro.

Other pre-2015 ones:
- Being a longtime Coil fan, I thought it was nice to finally get the official release of "Backwards" and there are some decent tracks among the eight reissues/collections recently released by Threshold Archive.

- And the moderately priced "Sources" series of 3cd 80s/90s dance music label comps on Harmless are great handy collections for seminal dance labels from the golden era of Chicago, particularly the ones for DJ International and sister label Underground Records.

The uncool ones:
- Bob Moses "Days Gone By" -- commercial indie-dance that's probably the audio equivalent of a "chick flick" but good songwriting.

- James Ferraro "Skid Row" -- yeah, those in the know feel he's been all downhill since the Skaters but I find myself going back to this on the iPhone when walking the city streets. I've spent little time in LA but this is how I imagine it sounds.

Major Lazer's 'Lean On' and Jack U & Bieber's 'Where Are U Now' are definitely two of my faves this year. Not in an ironic way but in a genuine emotional way, so I'd be interested in hearing you're non-hipster certified picks.

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Woebot said:

loved "lean on" too. that's in my boomkat top 10. also "cheerleader" in a non-hipster vein.

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Thats funny. Lean on was a low point for me. An absolute nadir. Would rather listen to Ke$ha.

But what do I know. My top ten is entirely drone.

Bieber & Skrillex def. had a a great year with "Where Are U Now" and then their collabs.

Grime "revival" was OK but raised more questions than anything? Glad to have a whole new wave of MCs coming into their own, all the different instrumental branches than before at the very least.

Def. cosign on the Susanne Sundfor album, so much good work there.

Rapwise it was all over... I def. think Road Rap has a lot going on that kind of goes nowhere and instead people are focused more on obvious crossovers mistaking it as quality. Odd Future are dead but Earl finally made a strong album and Tyler's last one was still good; and Vince by distant association as well made a decent LP. Atlanta has a ton of rising talent still, and even though I didn't feel particularly overwhelmed with glee with a lot of what people focused around (for example I hated most of the Future album???), there's a lot going on for people there.

D'angelo album was cool, Carly Rae Jepsen album was sweet, lot of good K-Pop stuff *hipster vox*

It was alriiiight man.

Oh and that Pastorious doc finally came out so I'm hoping it gets a theater release by me.

Luke Bryan and the rise of Bro Country?

Ive admired the FKA Twigs EP & the Arca/Oneohtrix albums. Not really engaged by them. Thought the floating points was a real disappointment.

Liked that Elf Kid thing. Queen's speech 4 was the best not-grime-grime Ive heard in years. JME pokemon thing was a laugh.

Really glad to see Phineus 2 finally get some stuff onto vinyl. Green Bay Wax really getting their shit together still need to kick the amen addiction though:

i felt like i didnt have time to really keep up this year.

albums i liked/loved - dangelo, rustie, miaow the jewels, kendrick was obv good but i dont really care to keep going back to it, i liked the future album more than honest (though ive always been suspicious of all the crit-love he get and how so many music writers seem to like him just cos he sounds like hes crying into his beer), the logan sama fabric mix was an achievement but again i dont really care to listen to it much, which is how i feel about a lot of nu grime (does anyone really like little simz?), jmes album was good but more for a few amazing singles it had, and a lot of the instrumental stuff just seems boring, IDM-ish, or reheated. tame impalas album might be my favourite. i liked young fathers though only cos i miss what tv on the radio used to sound like. jlin made the best footwork album. i thought the kode 9 album was the best album hes made to date. the reissue of lone's lemurian is amazing (i never heard it the first time round), and if anyone likes BOC and dilla, you need to hear it. i sort of came round to the first arca album. not heard the new one.

singles wise, i think i liked pretty much all the bieber singles, lean on, rap stuff like hit the quan, hotline bling (my song of the year, no question), the weeknd's 50 shades of grey song and i cant feel my face, DRAM's stuff, king (i think i liked more R&B than rap this year, even though a lot of the hip-hop-infected lyrics are a bit crass... i still keep up to date with rap but am feeling like a lot of it leaves a sour taste in my mouth - might just be age), but kanye's all day, all fetty wap's stuff, kelelas EP, rich homie quan's flex, rae sremmurd, migos, krept n konan's freak of the week (though they are basically surplus to an amazing hook), jidena'a classic man, truffle butter, the new tempa allstars surprised me for how much i liked it.

i hated jamie xx this year.

i think i might have listened to more radio documentaries than albums in 2015.

all these end of years lists have made me realise how much i missed, and also how much more i want to hear (was so much easier when all you had were a few mags' best of lists!)

spaceghostpurp prob has a lot to do with all that

The Jeremih album feels like the thing I've been searching for all year, it's beautiful, sad it seems destined to fail.

droid said:

Thought the floating points was a real disappointment.

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could not believe that was being hyped. what a load of rubbish. fills me with the same kind of exasperation and fury as that st vincent bullshit does. FFS this is not even tolerably musical. not even anti-musical.

droid said:

Thats funny. Lean on was a low point for me.

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i loved it. my daughter played it to me. certainly not hip music. she's kinda delightful in the video - you might need to check that

ekoplekz: reflekionz

that's a great record. definitely in my list. only got it a couple of days ago - but really brilliant.

Woebot said:

i loved it. my daughter played it to me. certainly not hip music. she's kinda delightful in the video - you might need to check that

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Heh, I was just about to say that its marginally more tolerable WITHOUT the video. (just found this comment which elicited a chuckle "lmao she really moves like an old white lady in a zumba class" http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/94831802.html#ixzz3u1bOscWm)

Cant stand it. Diplo must die. He's one of the worst things to ever happen to dancehall.

could not believe that was being hyped. what a load of rubbish. fills me with the same kind of exasperation and fury as that st vincent bullshit does. FFS this is not even tolerably musical. not even anti-musical.

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Think that might be going a touch too far. Reminded me a bit of coffee table 90s house without the beats. Not offensive, just bland, oh - and very, very, sincere.