Here are the best fifty albums that I've danced to, pondered upon, been moved by, and unabashedly sung along with throughout the previous calendar year.
Pages: #50 - #41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - #21 | #20 - #11 | #10 - #01 | Full Results
#50: Kamasi Washington - The Epic
Released May 5, 2015
Brainfeeder
"Equally informed by his spiritual jazz predecessors and modern hip-hop, The Epic is a masterful blending of old and new to create a vibrant, engaging album that truly lives up to its name."
-- John Paul, Popmatters
The Rhythm Changes | Cherokee | Clair De Lune | Full Album | Spotify
#49: Fetty Wap - Fetty Wap
Released September 25, 2015
RGF, 300
"The most common complaint people have about Fetty Wap’s debut album is that every song sounds the same. Well you’re goddamn right they do, because what purpose would he have for messing with a formula that guarantees perfection?"
-- Slava Pastuk, Noisey
Trap Queen | 679 | My Way | Full Album | Spotify
#48: Ty Dolla $ign - Free TC
Released November 13, 2015
Taylor Gang, Pu$haz Ink, Atlantic
"Surprisingly musical with an air of real hip-hop is what makes this album a more than solid effort from the singer – particularly in a world that doesn’t value R&B as much as it should."
-- Stashed Staff, Stashed
Saved | Solid | Blasé | Full Album | Spotify
#47: JME - Integrity>
Released May 4, 2015
Boy Better Know
"Integrity> operates creatively within the parameters of the genre, featuring murky production, skittering beats, and Sega Megadrive samples that feel familiar but constantly push boundaries. Tracks rarely surpass the four minute mark, and each one is a fresh blast of energy for Jme to storm over, uppercutting anyone or anything that goes against his ethos in battle-rap bars and usually landing the final blow in the form of a playground insult ('Stop chatting shit, poo poo chewer') or the simile equivalent to the winking face emoji ('You're a useless piece of shit like when an iPhone is dead')."
-- Emma Garland, Noisey
96 Fuckries | Man Don't Care | Don't @ Me | Full Album | Spotify
#46: The Decemberists - What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World
Released January 20, 2015
Capitol (US), Rough Trade (Europe)
"On album No.7, we explore only more magnificent territory. It showcases all that's great about this band: never twee, but always using these idiosyncrasies as a vehicle for a universal truth."
-- Andrew Trendell, Gigwise
Cavalry Captain | The Wrong Year | Mistral | Full Album | Spotify
#45: The Mountain Goats - Beat The Champ
Released April 7, 2015
Merge
"As could be expected, he approaches the subject with uncommon sensitivity and insight, gifting some of his tenderest moments of recognition to the perpetual villains of the melodrama ('Throw my better self overboard / Shoot at him when he comes up for air')."
-- Michael Dunaway, Paste Magazine
The Legend Of Chavo Guerrero | Unmasked! | Hair Match | Full Album | Spotify
#44: Young Thug - Barter 6
Released April 16, 2015
300, Atlantic
"Barter 6 floated beside us, welcoming us with bombed-out bass and 300 reedy moans, reminding us how far one mind can stretch in order to express its unknowable depth."
-- MUKQS, Tiny Mix Tapes
Constantly Hating | Knocked Off | Check | Full Album | Spotify
#43: Kurt Vile - B'lieve I'm Goin Down...
Released September 25, 2015
Matador
"But for all his idiosyncrasy, Vile manages to maintain an admirable lack of control over his own art. With b’lieve i’m goin down…, he creates his own world and then wanders absentmindedly through it, like Walt Disney taking a pleasant stroll through the Magic Kingdom."
-- Christian Koons, Flood Magazine
Pretty Pimpin | Dust Bunnies | Wild Imagination | Full Album | Spotify
#42: Future - DS2
Released July 17, 2015
A1, Freebandz, Epic
"More often than not, when the curtain is pulled back, it’s frightful and unloving, much like Future’s third studio album, DS2. This is not turn-up music, though you can get turnt to it."
-- Damien Scott, Complex
Thought It Was A Drought | Rich $ex | The Percocet & Stripper Joint | Full Album | Spotify
#41: Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color
Released April 21, 2015
ATO (US), MapleMusic (Canada), Rough Trade (UK)
"There’s retro soul in its DNA, but Brittany Howard’s shape-shifting vocals and the band’s unexpected arrangements are alien enough to shake the revivalist tag."
-- Billboards
Don't Wanna Fight | Gimme All Your Love | Guess Who | Full Album | Spotify
#40: Panda Bear - Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper
Released January 9, 2015
Domino
"As Noah Lennox takes us along on deeper and increasingly fluid explorations into the vernacular of electronic music, he’s somewhat paradoxically revealed a tether to the monastic origins of his singular vocal style."
-- Flood Magazine
Crosswords | Come To Your Senses | Tropic Of Cancer | Full Album | Spotify
#39: Joanna Newsom - Divers
Released October 23, 2015
Drag City
"While it’s easy to get bogged down in the conceptual intricacies—to say nothing of her deft harp skills and knotty arrangements—Newsom’s keen melodic sense and artfully swooping vocals are the real stars, unfolding in ways that are both unexpected and comforting."
-- Andrew Frisicano, Time Out New York
Sapokanikan | Leaving The City | Time, As A Symptom
#38: Rae Sremmurd - SremmLife
Released January 6, 2015
EarDrummers, Interscope
"Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi got bars for days."
-- Angel Diaz, Complex
No Flex Zone | This Could Be Us | No Type | Full Album | Spotify
#37: Colleen Green - I Want To Grow Up
Released February 24, 2015
Hardly Art
"Colleen Green’s mind clicks at a hyperactive pace; whether she’s combing through knotty intimacy issues on 'Deeper Than Love' or celebrating the use of 'TV' as an emotional sedative, she’s funny and insecure and occasionally depressing, but always wholly understandable."
-- James, Stereogum
TV | Deeper Than Love | Some People | Full Album | Spotify
#36: Lower Dens - Escape From Evil
Released March 31, 2015
Ribbon Music
"Lower Dens' third record is like a heavy edit of what came before, rolling back the fog and letting the enviable hooks — and Jana Hunter's voice — shine through with pristine clarity."
-- Diffuser
Ondine | To Die In L.A. | Société Anonyme | Full Album | Spotify
#35: Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness
Released September 25, 2015
Domino
"It was musical impressionism: every sonic detail felt carefully placed, yet the closer you studied it, the more you tried to pick it apart, the less clear the picture became."
-- Tim Jonze, The Guardian
Feel You | Night Song | Have You In My Wilderness | Full Album | Spotify
#34: Young Galaxy - Falsework
Released October 30, 2015
Paper Bag Records
"Falsework boasts some of the best dance music of the year, thanks to McCandless' exact yet poignant vocal delivery, the band's proficiency at bending and layering synths and the sonic cohesion provided by long-time collaborator/producer Dan Lissvik."
-- Melody Lau, Exclaim
The Night Wants Us To Be Free | Ready To Shine | We're No Good | Full Album | Spotify
#33: Beach Slang - The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us
Released October 30, 2015
Polyvinyl Record Co.
"The group’s debut full-length, The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us, not only channels the gleeful abandon that made the ’90s pop-punk underground so vital, it stirs in an intoxicating dose of gruff, Replacements-esque songcraft."
-- AV Club
Bad Art & Weirdo Ideas | Too Late To Die Young | Porno Love | Full Album | Spotify
#32: Hop Along - Painted Shut
Released May 4, 2015
Saddle Creek
"Drawing inspiration from punk, freak-folk and emo, Painted Shut is reminiscent of iconic late ‘90s albums from bands like Built to Spill, Saves the Day and Sleater-Kinney."
-- Liz Galvao, Paste Magazine
The Knock | I Saw My Twin | Sister Cities | Full Album | Spotify
#31: Baroness - Purple
Released December 18, 2015
Abraxan Hymns
"These are some of the biggest, strongest songs Baroness have written; it's rock music that folds in their more metal leanings, along with something more delicate and spare. The choruses are their best—maybe because each and every one of them is life-affirming."
-- Pitchfork
Shock Me | Chlorine & Wine | Desperation Burns | Full Album | Spotify
#30: Torres - Sprinter
Released May 5, 2015
Partisan Records
"Torres singer/guitarist Mackenzie Scott writes the sort of whip smart, emotionally-taut guitar rock we thought had gone extinct a generation ago."
-- American Songwriter
New Skin | Cowboy Guilt | The Harshest Light | Full Album | Spotify
#29: Björk - Vulnicura
Released January 20, 2015
One Little Indian, Megaforce, Sony
"Its unique sorrow is the vertigo of total self-understanding, reflecting a life lived in constant proximity to the deepest truths of humanity, the kind most of us only comprehend at a loved one’s deathbed."
-- Jazz Monroe, Crack
Stonemilker | Lionsong | Black Lake | Full Album | Spotify
#28: Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
Released May 26, 2015
Jagjaguwar
"Multi-Love was born out of experiments...but frontman Ruban Nielsen never lost sight of the knack for rhythm that’s kept fans tuned into the Kiwi’s unique station."
-- Reverb
Multi-Love | Like Acid Rain | Can't Keep Checking My Phone | Full Album | Spotify
#27: SOPHIE - Product
Released November 27, 2015
Numbers
"The PC Music silent partner’s 25-minute debut/compilation/butt-plug companion takes the “product” thing seriously by pretending pleasure’s for sale throughout, with 'I can make you feel better' a good opening promise and 'It makes me feel like I don’t ever wanna say goodbye' an even better closing testimonial."
-- Dan Weiss, Spin
Bipp | Lemonade | Just Like We Never Said Goodbye | Full Album | Spotify
#26: Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment - Surf
Released May 28, 2015
[Self-Released]
"Swaying with an old-school rap bent from funk to gospel to jazz to psychedelia and beyond without ever breaking its humid atmosphere, no album (I heard) in 2015 was more eclectic than this one."
-- Nathan Wisnicki, Pretty Much Amazing
Slip Slide | Questions | Sunday Candy | Full Album | Spotify
#25: Floating Points - Elaenia
Released November 6, 2015
Luaka Bop (US), Pluto (UK)
"The qualities that at first made Floating Points' Elaenia slightly underwhelming are the same qualities that have eventually made it our album of the year."
-- Resident Advisor
Silhouettes (I, II, III) | For Marmish | Peroration Six | Full Album | Spotify
#24: Lana Del Rey - Honeymoon
Released September 18, 2015
Interscope, Polydor
"This is that rare body of work that demands patience. Honeymoon is an album that unfolds and intoxicates with each additional listen, which is a big ask for fans hungry for another 'Video Games' or 'Blue Jeans.' However, if you submit to Lana’s vintage soundscape, and let her gorgeous torch songs slowly work their magic, you’ll be rewarded with the songbird’s most complex and fully realized work to date."
-- Mike Wass, Idolator
High By The Beach | Freak | Art Deco | Full Album | Spotify
#23: The Weeknd - Beauty Behind The Madness
Released August 28, 2015
XO, Republic
"But his blissful talk of feelings easily masks out cocaine references, allowing this hidden gem to make an easy transition to a household name—at no better time."
-- Stashed
Tell Your Friends | Can't Feel My Face | Earned It | Full Album | Spotify
#22: Justin Bieber - Purpose
Released November 13, 2015
Def Jam, Schoolboy
"The road to redemption is often hard to find, but Justin Bieber is walking it on Purpose, and we are ready to forgive and forget."
-- Edwin Ortiz, Complex
I'll Show You | Sorry | Where Are Ü Now | Full Album | Spotify
#21: Tobias Jesso Jr. - Goon
Released March 17, 2015
True Panther Sounds
"A series of tragic circumstances – from a break-up to a sliced hand to his mum getting cancer – led Tobias Jesso Jr to the piano stool. And the freakishly tall Canadian battler is all the better for it. ."
-- Darren Levin, Fasterlouder
Can't Stop Thinking About You | How Could You Babe | Without You | Full Album | Spotify
#20: Grimes - Art Angels
Released November 6, 2015
4AD
"In that respect, Art Angels is very much a pop album. And it kinda sounds like pop music, too! But pop music doesn’t sound like this. Art Angels leaves me scrambling for comparisons, and returning not with E•MO•TION or 1989, but Yeezus and Nevermind."
-- Michael, Stereogum
Flesh Without Blood | Kill V. Maim | Realiti | Full Album | Spotify
#19: Vince Staples - Summertime '06
Released June 30, 2015
Def Jam, ARTium, Blacksmith
"Jay Z famously said, 'Y’all respect the one who got shot, I respect the shooter.' Vince Staples lets you understand both perspectives better than anyone else currently rapping. You sense the powerlessness that leads someone to pull the trigger, their rage at having their story dismissed, the corrosive socioeconomic conditions that end in pine boxes, wilting roses, and another set seeking retribution."
-- Jeff Weiss, Pitchfork
Norf Norf | Señorita | Summertime | Full Album | Spotify
#18: Drake And Future - What A Time To Be Alive
Released September 20, 2015
A1, Cash Money, Epic, OVO Sound, Freebandz, Republic, Young Money
"What happens when you take two artists at the top of their respective games and lock them in a studio for marathon studio sessions? What A Time To Be Alive happens. While there was no possible way that the two generation-defining artists could live up to the hyperbole of their surprise album, What A Time serves as a fun listen for those just looking for the next turn up."
-- Stashed
Change Locations | Jumpman | 30 For 30 Freestyle | Full Album | Spotify
#17: Abra - Rose
Released June 6, 2015
Awful Records
"The album follows a relationship from infatuation to devotion to heartbreak to rebirth, with Abra — who self-produced this collection of drum-machine electro-R&B — proving that 'Darkwave Duchess' is more than a cute nickname."
-- Fact Magazine
Roses | Atoms | Human | Spotify
#16: Chvrches - Every Open Eye
Released September 25, 2015
Virgin EMI, Goodbye
"Every Open Eye is another album you can throw on at a party to get everyone dancing just as easily as you could pensively listen to it alone in your bedroom. They translate so well because they know what they want to say, and one can only hope they keep saying it for some time."
-- Mack Hayden, Paste
Never Ending Circles | Leave A Trace | Clearest Blue | Full Album | Spotify
#15: Tame Impala - Currents
Released July 17, 2015
Modular (Australia), Universal (Australia), Fiction (UK/Europe), Interscope (US)
"Oh, you were getting used to Kevin Parker as a contemporary guitar hero? Too bad, because he's apparently been listening to a lot of Air and DeBarge, on headphones, in his bedroom, with his axe tucked away in its case."
-- Douglas Wolk, Pitchfork
Let It Happen | Yes I'm Changing | The Less I Know The Better | Full Album | Spotify
#14: Jeremih - Late Nights: The Album
Released December 4, 2015
Mick Schultz Productions, Def Jam
"Every song finds Jeremih exploring how much room he can chisel between the air in the beats."
-- Matthew Ramirez, Pitchfork
Pass Dat | Impatient | Remember Me | Full Album | Spotify
#13: Beach House - Depression Cherry
Released August 28, 2015
Sub Pop
"The songs are still plenty lush, wrapping Legrand’s sleepy voice in gauzy synthesizer drifts adorned here and there with languorous stabs of guitar."
-- Eric R. Danton, Paste Magazine
Levitation | Space Song | PPP | Full Album | Spotify
#12: Deerhunter - Fading Frontier
Released October 16, 2015
4AD
"No one can shuffle, rebuild, and refocus the myth like Deerhunter, who have very successfully been making twisted Southern Gothic records since 2005."
-- Genevieve Oliver, Pretty Much Amazing
Breaker | Duplex Planet | Carrion | Full Album | Spotify
#11: Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass
Released January 27, 2015
Spacebomb, Startime International, Caroline International
"With an undeniable charm and an inclination towards storytelling that can soothe the most broken heart, the singer/songwriter’s self-titled album, released this past January via Spacebomb, is a striking, smart showcase of Prass’ talent—so much so that it’s almost hard to believe it’s her debut."
-- Brittany Joyce, Paste Magazine
Bird Of Prey | Violently | It Is You | Full Album | Spotify
#10: Kehlani - You Should Be Here
Released April 28, 2015
[Self-Released]
"Kehlani’s down-to-earth personality shines through the album’s themes, and her vulnerability is clear through her lyrics. But it’s the marriage of jazz, R&B, pop ballads, and bare-boned confessionals, thanks in part to her right-hand producer Jahaan Sweet, that carries the project. "
-- Lauren Nostro, Complex
You Should Be Here | How That Taste | Be Alright | Full Album | Spotify
#09: Jazmine Sullivan - Reality Show
Released January 13, 2015
RCA
"Reality Show is Sullivan watching the TV series that represents her recent past and asking herself if she was ever the one to blame. In the end, her questioning, alongside production by Key Wane, Salaam Remi, Da Internz, and others, results in a kind of strength and self-appreciation that one can only truly feel after realizing that enough is enough and moving on."
-- Cedar Pasori, Complex
Brand New | Let It Burn | Forever Don't Last | Full Album | Spotify
#08: Drake - If You Are Reading This It's Too Late
Released February 17, 2015
Cash Money, Young Money, OVO Sound, Republic
"On If You’re Reading This, the goal is forward motion, and allowing the past to remain rather than endlessly mining previous sorrows."
-- David Turner, Pitchfork
Know Yourself | 6 Man | 6pm In New York | Full Album
#07: Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit
Released March 15, 2015
Marathon Artists, House Anxiety, Milk! Records, Mom + Pop Music
"She’s a coffeehouse storyteller with an impish streak of dark wit fronting an honest-to-God rock ‘n’ roll band, begging you to both dig into her lyrics and get up and dance."
-- Josh Jackson, Paste
An Illustration Of Loneliness (Sleepless In New York) | Depreston | Dead Fox | Full Album | Spotify
#06: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
Released March 15, 2015
Top Dawg, Aftermath, Interscope
"To Pimp a Butterfly was an opus, a statement, a feat. It felt weighty, labored, accomplished. One hour and 20 minutes of big ideas handled with complexity, it was a dextrous addition to the canon of art expressing disenchantment with fame and success."
-- kris ex, Pitchfork
Alright | How Much A Dollar Cost | The Blacker The Berry | Full Album | Spotify
#05: Jamie xx - In Colour
Released May 25, 2015
Young Turks
"Their main gripe is that this isn’t as gritty as the dance records it’s influenced by, but that’s because this isn’t really a dance record at all—it’s a record about dance music. It’s indebted to the history of the British underground, with clips of old rave documentaries and 5 AM Amen Breaks, but it’s not part of that lineage. Instead it’s a rich, drunk stumble through smoking areas and fire escapes, a lovingly produced, often rose-tinted tribute to the best years of your life."
-- Sam Wolfson, Noisey
Sleep Sound | SeeSaw | I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times) | Full Album | Spotify
#04: Miguel - Wildheart
Released June 29, 2015
ByStorm, RCA
"Hopscotching from cooing love ballads and tormented identity anthems to salacious hook-up fantasies and grimy hate-sex confrontations, Wildheart seems for most of its length like a breakup album, a wide-spanning post-mortem on one relationship's intense highs and lows."
-- Jesse Cataldo, Slant Magazine
A Beautiful Exit | Coffee | Waves | Full Album | Spotify
#03: Carly Rae Jepsen - E•MO•TION
Released June 24, 2015
604, School Boy, Interscope
"With one song after another for 15 tracks (including three indispensable B-sides), yoking deftly articulated emotional nuance to funky, thumping synthpop, this is one of the most consistent albums of the year."
-- Michael Opal, Popmatters
E•mo•tion | Boy Problems | Making The Most Of The Night | Full Album | Spotify
#02: Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
Released March 31, 2015
Asthmatic Kitty
"Yeah, it’s about as sad as it sounds on paper, but that’s only a small sliver of what makes Carrie & Lowell great. Stevens doesn’t disguise the lyrical narrative, but still interjects poetry and mythology into songs like “No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross” and “The Only Thing”, finding beauty not in the act of loss and depression that he encounters, but in the survival of it."
-- Philip Cosores, Consequence Of Sound
Death With Dignity | Should Have Known Better | No Shade In The Shadow Of The Cross | Full Album | Spotify
#01: Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
Released February 10, 2015
Bella Union (UK/Europe), Sub Pop (US)
"Sonically, Honeybear finds Tillman in a ruminative mood, favoring lavish strings, sweeping layers of voices and acoustic guitars. But he still has a knack for unexpected flourishes, like the psychedelic guitar solo on “Strange Encounter.”"
-- Ryan Reed, Paste Magazine
Chateau Lobby #4 (In C For Two Virgins) | Strange Encounter | Bored In The USA | Full Album | Spotify
Pages: #50 - #41 | #40 - 31 | #30 - #21 | #20 - #11 | #10 - #01 | Full Results
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