My favourite music of 2015

I engaged with music in 2015 in a way that I hadn’t in years. As well as attending a wonderful number of gigs, I feel as though I managed to keep an ear to the ground in terms of new releases. This meant that my interests were able to develop independently of the stuff I was exposed via radio for the first time in a long time.

2015 also saw me write about music in a more full-on manner than I had previously. In addition to a couple of album reviews I posted on this blog, I also began to contribute articles to a music blog, And Antarctica.

Consequently, I feel as though I am in a strong position to write about my favourite music of 2015 and will thus go into more detail than I am accustomed in my personal round-ups of the year. What follows will be my tracks of the year, albums of the year, gigs of the year and briefly what albums I listened to most in general.

TOP 20 TRACKS OF THE YEAR

20. Belle & Sebastian - Nobody’s Empire

19. White - Future Pleasures

18. Blur - Ong Ong

17. Wolf Alice - Giant Peach

16. Modest Mouse - Lampshades on Fire

15. Jason DeRulo - Want You To Want Me

14. Dick Valentine - Saddam Hussein (link is for another song on his album)

13. Electric Six - Big Red Arthur (link is for another song on their album)

12. Susanne Sundfør - Fade Away

11. John Grant - Disappointing

- - - - -

10. Slug - Eggs and Eyes

A joyfully disjointed song that manages to be tuneful and disturbing in equal parts.

9. Børns - Electric Love

I have no idea who this artist is, but hearing this pop song come on the radio was always a softly affirmational occasion.

8. Courtney Barnett - Pedestrian at Best

Strong wordplay backed with grungy chords made for a fun and catchy package.

7. Young Fathers - Shame

A song that showcases the band at their urgent best, a scuzzy little dancer that ticks multiple boxes

6. Will Butler - What I Want

On his debut, Butler’s music often came across as what the Arcade Fire would produce if Win Butler loosened up, chilled out and decided to play around a bit. This was the strongest example.

5. Muse - Dead Inside

Every new Muse release sees me build up hope that my former favourite band have some managed to turn their ship around and return to being the band that wrote baroque RATM-inspired masterpieces. Every release invariably results in disappointment. The same happened this past year with their album Drones, but this track was their first in seven years or so that I actually found exciting to listen to. Here, they manage to harness the angst of their past to tense and taut rock that build a narrative and just about manages to keep everything on deck.

4. Public Service Broadcasting: Go!

This track managed to capture the energy and anticipation of a mission control room and release in the form of dancefloor banger. What impressed me the most was PSB’s use of dialogue samples; where in the past these had merely been embellishments or a narrative device, on this track they managed to craft a catchy chorus. So far the first and only singalong moment in their set.

3. Ezra Furman - Lousy Conection

A real change of pace from Furman’s usual songs, and one that gives plenty of space for his lyrics - his greatest strength - to do their thing. Engrossing imagery, delicious couplets, original at every step. All this and spearheaded with a war cry of a chorus, a statement of intent more self-reflective and introverted than his previous album’s ‘Tell ‘em All To Go To Hell’ but just as strident.

2. FFS - Johnny Delusional

Of all the songs I heard in 2015, this is one that I would love to be more popular. Quirky art-pop perfection from Franz Ferdinand and Sparks that should be soundtracking fist-pumping singalongs on dance floors and sweaty karaoke booths alike. Awkwardly jerky but confidently passionate, a perfect encapsulation of this fun and inventive collaboration.

1. Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta

A potently literate power play that not only showcased Lamar’s verbal prowess but managed to mould the groundbreaking sounds of To Pimp A Butterfly into a track that also worked as a smooth party jam without losing any of its artful potency. As it progresses, the music builds up to an almost dizzying high, dropping in and out and jerking the listener about until they cannot help but be in thrall to artistry of King K-Dot.

FAVOURITE ALBUMS:

1. Public Service Broadcasting - The Race For Space
2. Ezra Furman - Perpetual Motion People
3. Susanne Sundfør - Ten Love Songs

4. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly
5. Slug - Ripe

FAVOURITE GIGS:

1. Ezra Furman at the Lexington (support from Du Blonde)

2. Slug at the Hope and Ruin

3. Public Service Broadcasting at the Brighton Dome (support from Smoke Fairies)

4. Jeffrey Lewis at the Hope and Ruin (support from Pog)

5. White at Brighthelm (The Great Escape 2015)

In addition to new music coming out of 2015, I also seemed to listen to two older albums more than any others. These were Boys And Girls In America by The Hold Steady and Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos; two incredible albums that are now among my very favourites and that I would recommend to anyone.

I go into a bit more detail about my favourite albums and gigs in a feature for And Antarctica about 2015 in general. Check it out! I also write a wee bit about what I'm looking forward to in the next few months. Overall, 2015 felt like a good year for music. 2016 has got a lot to live up to.

Photo credit: Mike Chouinard