The Kuhronic Top 50 Albums of 2015
Originally “published” December 31, 2015
Another year has gone by and for the first time ever I finished this list early, but held off releasing it just in case there were any year end surprises. A few highly anticipated albums never arrived, some surprising (Frank Ocean, Kanye), some not so surprising (Tool, Radiohead) but overall it was another strong year for music, if you knew where to look for it. The big story for me was the grudge match between two former champions; Tame Impala, who’s last album ‘Lonerism’ topped my list in 2012, and Foals, who secured the number one spot the following year with ‘Holy Fire’, would both be releasing follow up albums over the summer. Who will reclaim the title? Or will they both be defeated by a three hour jazz odyssey? Or perhaps some brit pop behemoths returning from the dead? Find out the answers to all these burning questions and more, below!
50. Luke Vibert — Bizarster
49. Yukon Blonde — On Blonde
48. Talib Kweli — Fuck the Money
47. Joss Stone — Water for the Soul
46. Deerhunter — Fading Frontier
45. Czarface — Every Hero Needs a Villain
44. Floating Points — Elaenia
43. Royal Headache — High
42. The Chemical Brothers — Born in the Echoes
41. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds — Chasing Yesterday
40. Titus Andronicus — The Most Lamentable Tragedy
39. Intervals — The Shape of Colour
38. Joanna Newsom — Divers
37. !!! — As If
36. Dr. Dre — Compton
35. Baroness — Purple
34. Vince Staples — Summertime ‘06
33. The Cribs — For All My Sisters
32. Beach House — Depression Cherry
31. The Prodigy — The Day is My Enemy
30. Speedy Ortiz — Foil Deer
29. Ought — Sun Coming Down
28. Roots Manuva — Bleeds
27. Protomartyr — The Agent Intellect
26. Refused — Freedom
25. Alabama Shakes — Sound and Color
24. Björk — Vulnicura
23. Miguel — Wildheart
22. Hot Chip — Why Make Sense?
21. Silversun Pickups — Better Nature
20. Destroyer — Poison Season
19. The Weeeknd — Beauty Behind the Madness
18. Battles — La Di Da Di
17. Viet Cong — Viet Cong
16. Jamie XX— In Colour
15. Iron Maiden — The Book of Souls
14. Blackalicious — Imani Vol.1
13. Courtney Barnett — Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
12. Godspeed You! Black Emperor — Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
11. City and Colour — If I Should Go Before You
10. Metz — Metz II
09. Kamasi Washington — The Epic
08. Sleater-Kinney — No Cities to Love
07. Kendrick Lamar — To Pimp a Butterfly
06. Faith No More — Sol Invictus
05. Grimes — Art Angels
04. Father John Misty — I Love You, Honeybear
03. Foals — What Went Down
02. Blur — The Magic Whip
01. Tame Impala — Currents
As usual I couldn’t keep it to 50 so here are another 20 records that ‘almost made it’
Arca — Mutant
Action Bronson — Mr. Wonderful
Badbadnotgood w/ Ghostface — Sour Soul
Baio — The Names
The Charlatans — Modern Nature
Chon — Grow
Gaz Coombes — Matador
Disappears — Irreal
DJ Vadim & Sena — Grow Slow
Django Django — Born Under Saturn
Holly Herndon — Platform
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion — Freedom Tower— No Wave Dance Party 2015
K-Os — Can’t Fly Without Gravity
Made in Heights — Without My Enemy What Would I Do?
Mikal Cronin — MCIII
Mini Mansions — The Great Pretenders
Muse — Drones
Squarepusher — Damogen Furies
Twin Shadow — Eclipse
Wolf Alice — My Love is Cool
And for the first time, I am adding a best live album category! Ideally I would prefer it to be a somewhat contemporary performance (as this year’s winner is) and not a reissued gig by a legendary act, stay tuned.
Best Live Album:
Johnny Marr — Adrenalin Baby
There were several releases that were disqualified for various reasons but there is one in particular that I would like to highlight
New Order — Music Complete: this album has a few good songs and a few terrible songs and a bunch of mediocre ones. But one thing it does not have is Peter Hook, and for that reason I do not consider it a proper New Order album and have eliminated it from contention.
See you in 2016, love,
Dave E. Kuhronic
