2015 Review: Top 50 Singles of the Year

I hope you are all enjoying this holiday season and that you have overcome by now the Boxing Day blues! To send off 2015 on an upbeat note, we are presenting today the list of our favorite Tracks of the Year and in a few days we are going to welcome 2016 with the best albums we've listened to over the past 365 days.

The honorable distinction of "Single of the Year" for 2015 goes to Courtney Barnett's "Pedestrian At Best", a truly great rock track that impresses on first listen and never ceases to provide thrills every time you hear those runaway guitar riffs and Courtney's cheeky declaration "Give me all your money and I'll make some origami honey". 

Runner up is the first taster from Savages upcoming, sophomore album "Adore Life". If the explosive "The Answer" is any indication, Savages are going to take 2016 by storm. Tame Impala's epic "Let It Happen", which is accompanied by one of the best videos of the year, completes the Top 3 of 2015.

Check out below all 50 tracks we have selected as our favorite single releases of the year and keep in mind that we're only allowing one song per artist or band so that our list represents as many as possible from the numerous excellent releases we've enjoyed during 2015:

Top 50 Singles of 2015

1.  Pedestrian At Best - COURTNEY BARNETT

2.  The Answer - SAVAGES

3.  Let It Happen - TAME IMPALA 

4.  Lampshades On Fire - MODEST MOUSE 

5.  A New Wave - SLEATER-KINNEY

6.  Why Does It Shake? - PROTOMARTYR

7.  Snakeskin - DEERHUNTER

  

8.  Fool - NADINE SHAH

9.  False Hope - LAURA MARLING

10. Feel You - JULIA HOLTER

11. Interference - HOLLY HERNDON
12. A Beautiful Woman - DERADOORIAN
13. Raising The Skate - SPEEDY ORTIZ
14. Under A Rock - WAXAHATCHEE
15. Damn That Valley - U.S. GIRLS
16. Begin Again - PURITY RING
17. Go Out - BLUR
18. Go! - PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
19. Straight - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
20. Irony.Utility.Pretext. - ALGIERS
21. The Blacker the Berry - KENDRICK LAMAR
22. Bunkerpop - LONELADY
23. Return to the Moon (Political Song for Didi Bloome to Sing, with Crescendo) - EL VY
24. Living Zoo - BUILT TO SPILL
25. America Says Hello - THE CHILLS
26. Laughing In The Sugar Bowl - VERUCA SALT
27. Pay Attention - COLLEEN GREEN
28. To Die in L.A. - LOWER DENS
29. Forces From Above - DESTROYER
30. First Light - DJANGO DJANGO
31. Straight Lines - SHOPPING
32. Giant Peach - WOLF ALICE
33. Pears for Lunch - GIRL BAND
34. What Went Down - FOALS
35. Restless - NEW ORDER
36. Water Water - EMPRESS OF
37. Stonefist - HEALTH
38. Sparks - BEACH HOUSE
39. Cavalry Captain - THE DECEMBERISTS
40. Pretty Pimpin - KURT VILE
41. Random Name Generator - WILCO
42. What Part of Me - LOW
43. Should Have Known Better - SUFJAN STEVENS
44. I Don't Want To Let You Down - SHARON VAN ETTEN
45. Cumbia De Donde - CALEXICO
46. Black Sun - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
47. The Shade - METRIC
48. Flesh without Blood - GRIMES
49. What Kind of Man - FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE
50. Winter / Feeling Alright - DAUGHTER / WARPAINT

2015 Review: The Old School

Last week we presented our favorite Debuts of the Year. However, taking a look at the long list of albums under consideration for our Top 50 of the Year (almost ready, wait for it!), I find that a significant percentage comes from bands with a long history. Some of them have never stopped recording, others reappeared after a long absence, some have all or most of their original members and others have a rotating lineup that serves the vision of the band leader. All of them, though, have a history that goes back at least twenty years and in 2015 have produced great records that even if they don’t surpass their best work, they are certainly important additions in their remarkable discography.

Here are 2015’s Top 15 Albums from the Old School of Rock:

1.  Untethered Moon - BUILT TO SPILL
2.  No  Cities To Love - SLEATER-KINNEY
3.  The Magic Whip - BLUR
4.  Ones and Sixes - LOW
5.  "Freedom Tower" - No Wave Dance Party 2015 - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION
6.  Sub-lingual Tablet - THE FALL
7.  Silver Bullets - THE CHILLS
8.  Ghost Notes - VERUCA SALT
9.  Works for Tomorrow - ELEVENTH DREAM DAY
10. Heartbreak Pass - GIANT SAND
11. Wire - WIRE
12. Music Complete - NEW ORDER
13. Pylon - KILLING JOKE
14. Stuff like that there - YO LA TENGO
15. Whatever, My Love - THE JULIANA HATFIELD THREE

Built To Spill - Living Zoo

Coming up next week in our 2015 review: The Tracks of the Year.

2015 Review: Top 10 Debut Albums of the Year

In the second half of December we are celebrating the best music that 2015 had to offer, which means you're going to see plenty of lists here for the next couple of weeks, as we do enjoy putting things in the "right" order. This order, of course, is changing almost daily, but we do feel that these lists are a fun and efficient way to capture the overall picture of the musical landscape we've been wandering in for the past twelve months.

So, let's get the ball rolling by reinstating the "Best Debuts of the Year" list. Last year we didn't feel like making one, perhaps for the first time since this blog started, as in our opinion 2014 was a rather unimpressive year for the rookies. Things did look up in 2015, although I still wouldn't call it a vintage year for debuts. However the following ten albums include one indisputable classic plus four or five more strong candidates for the year's Top 50. All of them deserve your attention if you're looking for promising new acts who inject fresh blood in guitar rock and pop music. 

Here's our Top 10 Debuts of 2015:

1. Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit - COURTNEY BARNETT

2. Viet Cong - VIET CONG

3. The Expanding Flower Planet - DERADOORIAN

4. Algiers - ALGIERS

5. My Love Is Cool - WOLF ALICE

6. Holding Hands With Jamie - GIRL BAND 

7. Me - EMPRESS OF

8. Hermits On Holiday - DRINKS

9. Feels Like - BULLY

10. Are You Satisfied? - SLAVES

Also recommended:

Before The World Was Big - GIRLPOOL

Switch Me On - THE FIREWORKS

New Releases: November - December 2015

And with this post we conclude our presentation of the most interesting albums, singles and EPs released in 2015. It is, of course, rather impossible to listen to everything we have included in these series of posts, but we did our best and you can find out what we have enjoyed the most so far by clicking here to revisit our Listening Habits posts of the year.

Time, then, to put on our thinking caps and start putting everything in order for our year-end lists, which are coming up in the second half of December. Watch this space...

Albums

GRIMES - Art Angels
JENNYLEE - Right On!
NOTS - We Are Nots
CAR SEAT HEADREST - Teens of Style
ROCKET FROM THE TOMBS - Black Record
BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE - Mini Album Thingy Wingy
ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF - The Miraculous
KELLEY STOLTZ - In Triangle Time
KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - Paper Mache Dream Balloon
MY DISCO - Severe
TRAAMS - Modern Dancing
CHORUSGIRL - Chorusgirl
RINGO DEATHSTARR - Pure Mood
BEACH SLANG - The Things We Do to Find People Who Feel Like Us
BILL RYDER JONES - West Kirby County Primary
JOE GIDEON - Versa Vice
THE NECKS - Vertigo
WIMPS - Suitcase
VIDEO - The Entertainers
FLOATING POINTS - Elaenia
ARCA - Mutant
VOID VISION - Sub Rosa
ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER - Garden of Delete
SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE - Hexadic II
THE CHAP - The Show Must Go
DARREN HAYMAN - Florence
TY SEGALL - Ty Rex
SMOKE FAIRIES - Wild Winter
CASSIE RAMONE - Christmas In Reno
KURT COBAIN - Montage of Heck - Home Recordings

Singles & EPs

PARQUET COURTS - Monastic Living EP
THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION - Human Obscene / Shake That Bat
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING - Sputnik / Korolev
THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART - Hell EP
NEW ORDER - Tutti Frutti
JLIN - Free Fall EP
LINTON AND STEWART / THE AISLERS SET - Split
NOTS - Reactor
SPRING KING - Who Are You?
FOO FIGHTERS - Saint Cecilia EP
MERCURY REV / LOST HORIZONS - Rainy Day Record / Life Inside A Paradox
THE BESNARD LAKES - The Golden Lion
THE LOVELY EGGS - Goofin Around (in Lancashire)
YAK - No EP
BOSS - I'm Down With That
BLACK LIPS / THE COATHANGERS - Freedom Fries / Watch Your Back
MERCHANDISE feat. DUM DUM GIRLS - Red Sun
SOLEDAD BROTHERS - Human Race Blues / Soledarity
THE WHARVES - Naz / My Will
DIET CIG - Sleep Talk / Dinner Date
BRUISING - Emo Friends / Honey
PUMAROSA - Priestess
NATALIE PRASS - Side by Side EP
BASIA BULAT - Infamous
BEAT MARK / PROPER ORNAMENTS - Flowers / Two Weeks
EVERYTHING EVERYTHING - No Reptiles
RICHARD HAWLEY - I Still Want You
PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED - The One
THE WOLFMANHATTAN PROJECT - Smells Like You / You Are My Glue
KID CONGO AND THE PINK MONKEY BIRDS - Bruce Juice / El Cucuy
RICKED WICKY - Poor Substitute
RICKED WICKY - Number I Can Trust
DRACULA LEGS - Bulldozer / Party at Ed's
LUCIE BARAT AND THE AU REVOIRS - Fallen
VANT - Parking Lot / The Answer
UMMAGMA - Frequency EP
HOT CHIP - Huarache Lights Remixes
NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS - The Dying of the Light
PAUL WELLER - Pick It Up
KURT COBAIN - And I Love Her / Sappy (Early Demo)

Grimes - Flesh without Blood/Life in the Vivid Dream