Albums of 2015

Writing an end-of-year semi-summary-semi-navelgaze is harder than I thought it'd be. Unlike an actual website or a magazine or whatever, I haven't been able to pay someone to find and dissect hyped tunes for me all year. Plus totally new music is probably only 22% of the music I discover in the year or something. Still, it's been a pretty sick twelve months for music, all things considered, which is at least something good to come out of this otherwise miserable, soul-crushing year. Here's a quick and crude rundown of the stuff I've been totally into:

GOTH ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss

If you don't know who Chelsea Wolfe is and you were disappointed by the second series of True Detective this year, she's basically got the exact sound of the singer in that dive bar that's in nearly every episode; you know, the one with the mutilated waitress. She's the real deal, however, and is a talented conjurer of moody, folky, gritty Americana, with a heavy soaking of asphyxiating goth. Apokalypsis was muddy and lo-fi, then Pain is Beauty added a (little) bit of electronic drum machine. Abyss is heavier, bleaker (if that was possible), but otherwise retains the same gorgeous sound that wipes thick, black tar across your whimpering little heart. It might be the best thing she's done yet, I'm not sure, but if you're into devastating gothy shit, you'll probably sink your teeth clean into this.

[Listen to 'Iron Moon']

GENERAL GUITAR MUSIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit

How often do you actually hear an Australian accent in music these days? I never do, at least, and that's probably about 37% of Courtney Barnett's appeal - her realness. Her lackadaisically earnest and world-weary delivery is, conversely, so packed with personality that it's practically impossible not to appreciate her company throughout the eleven songs on her debut. Her lyrics are sardonic, ironic and pessimistic, but always engaging and filled with little details that draw you into her world. She presents her life experiences so down-to-earthly and with such perfect musical foundation that the scenes, stories and feelings all spring into your mind as you listen. It's fucking excellent, probably one of the best albums on this list. Definitely the album with the best lyrics, except the hip-hop, obviously. Maybe.

[Listen to 'Depreston']

POP ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion

A lot of people have been rating Justin Bieber's 'return' as the worthy standard bearer of actually tolerable pop music this year. I heard a bit, and sure, it was okay, I guess. But really, the best bona fide pop album of 2015 has to be this thumper from the girl who brought you 2011's get-out-of-my-head mindvirus Call Me Maybe. While CRJ hasn't seemed to grab the same 3/4-billion-view blockbuster with any of these far, far superior tracks, this still has to be the quintessential pop effort of the year just because the standard of quality is so high. It's a killer piece of work, loaded with 'oh shit what a hook' 80s-style pieces of sentimental beauty. Even Dev Hynes, the embodiment of the coolserious/popstream crossover himself, makes an appearance. Fucking check it out, I mean it's a bit long, but that only increases the chances of finding a track that touches your heart!

[Listen to 'Run Away With Me']

METAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Grime - Circle of Molesters

I haven't actually listened to a lot of new metal this year, , which probably explains this being a bit of a random choice, but I couldn't do a music list without mentioning something huge and nasty. This sludgy-wudgy mouthful of soil is a monstrous and pulverising river of sweet-tasting demon shit. The guitar tones are just magic, the riffs are simple but solid, lurching and swaggering like a big, sweaty beast. The stop-starts and switch-ups keep the momentum up and stop the whole thing from ossifying. The vocals are... almost nonexistent, lost in the maelstrom, but then I guess that only makes the maelstrom even huger. Decay in Hades, particularly, is like a spinning, maddening descent into the gaping maw of hell. If you like sludge, then it's good sludge. Maybe doesn't encapsulate the entirety of metal's output over this year, but it's definitely worth a listen.

[Listen to 'Decay in Hades']

WEEPY ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Nicole Dollanganger - Natural Born Losers

Nicole Dollanganger, if you don't know, is a protegé/mate/favourite artist of Grimes, so much so that the only reason I and probably anyone have heard of her is because Grimes fell so in love with her music that she championed it voraciously, declaring that "it's a crime against humanity for this music not to be heard", and she could be right. The general vibe of Dollanganger is small-town, nostalgic American misery (she's Canadian) by way of her angelic, elegiac singing voice and visceral lyrics. Her voice is clearly the main event, gossamer and innocent and vulnerable, which goes directly to the centre of your heart and gently strips it to pieces, and it's a force to be reckoned with, especially with songs that are this defeatist, frightened and damaged. It's like listening to the diary of a young girl as she cuts herself, misses her indifferent lover, and watches the occasional atrocity occurring in her neighbourhood. Love it. Sure to pull a tearstream from your eyes.

[Listen to 'Poacher's Pride']

WEIRD EXPERIMENTAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Letha Rodman-Melchior - Shimmering Ghost

When trying to find out more about this disturbing and fascinating album, which I picked up mainly because I coudn't break the stare of its cover art, I was broken to discover that Letha Rodman Melchior died September last year. She left the material world with this, a collage of samples, synths, effervescent mists of sound and strange, half-natural, half-synthetic 'presences' (one of the album's most arresting spoken concepts). Like some of my favourite albums, it's a synesthetic movie that plays before your eyes, a reel of damaged film, showing god knows what. Like the VHS of The Ring, the whole broken landscape feels strangely haunted; that beneath the touches of distant humanity lies some other unearthly movement. There's a variety of beautiful moods, and the whole thing is strangely touching, though since it's an experimental album I'm struggling to tell you why. Just listen to it and be quietly mesmerised.

[Listen to 'Edymion/MWCIE']

HIP-HOP ALBUM OF THE YEAR THAT WASN'T KENDRICK LAMAR: Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside

I Don't Like Shit isn't a long album, but it's packed with that Sweatshirt character that none of us can resist - all that smoked-out, angry, disappointed-with-the-world emotion and dark, broken, only semi-likeable personas. The lyricism, as ever, is unbelievably good, and it's delivered with such a capable punch that I spent the whole half hour completely rapt, hanging on his every patterned word. It was fucking brilliant. The rapping swims in a unique and thickly atmospheric production, mostly handled by Earl himself, I believe. Grown Ups, in particular, spent several replays shuddering down my earholes this year. Earl's negative energy is powerful, and it's authentic. It's animated, it's excited, but it's also beaten down at times, like Earl is rapping in a dark, empty room, directing his anger at something huge and oppressive up in the shadows. If you, like me, enjoy fucking-dark shit and an endless ream of sick, sick bars, then dive to the very blackest bottom of this beautiful black pit.

[Listen to 'Grown Ups']

GRIMES ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Grimes - Art Angels

After waiting semi-patiently for three-and-a-half years for a follow up to the inimitable Visions, the Saviour finally delivered. The immediate question is: is it as good as Visions? No, mainly because Visions was 100% eccentric perfection, even if Grimes herself believes it 'unfinished', plus, in all honesty, it came out during an intensely significant period of my existence. But comparisons like that become pointless given that this is a completely different piece of work. The sound's more polished pop and less murky woodland; you can actually make out what she's saying, for instance. But it's still quintessentially the creation of Grimes' mind, what with all the fidgety drums and the soaring, melodic madfeels, only this time in a totally different set and setting. Plus there's all the crazy new ideas going on like, y'know, the rapping. I'll probably do a proper write-up about it in the near future, like, to really get it all out. But to summarise, this is a bold, vibrant, batshit crazy, infinitely more confident album that's less introspective and more outward-looking. Also contains tonnes of megahits.

[Listen to 'Flesh Without Blood']

INDISPUTABLE ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly

2015 was actually a pretty great year for hip-hop. I mean, Dre released a new album, for fuck's sake. And it was actually good. But the undisputed mega-masterpiece of this year, hip-hop or otherwise, has to be To Pimp a Butterfly. I mean, what more is there to say about it? Pretty much every end-of-year-list on the Internet has given it the number one spot, and for once there seems to be a general consensus amongst everyone that no-one can feasibly say otherwise. It's phenomenal. It's a shamelessly theatrical presentation of Kendrick's mind in the years leading to its creation; it covers all aspects, from the arrogance to the self-loathing to the fury to the optimism, plus timely and unremitting social commentary. It's a journey of the soul, a story of self-discovery that you become engrossed in as Kendrick takes you through track after track of mad, gorgeously produced setpieces, telling his story with unbelievable, semi-deific rapping ability. It pushes the boundaries of how deep hip-hop can go in regards to artistry and narrative. The whole thing is brimming with brilliant and effective creativity, and after one big, long listen, leaves you with the same emotional exhaustion you feel after a play, or a film. Catharsis. It's definitely the best album of 2015, a more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts opus. I'll be surprised if there's any way Kendrick will be able to top this, but then again, that's what I said about his last album. For the love of god, listen if you haven't already.

[Listen to 'Alright'] (No YouTube link for 'Blacker the Berry' - check that shit out instead if you can, because fuck me.