2015 Picks

So I finally got my sh*t together and finalized my 2015 list of favs with descriptions and everything

LOVE

Algiers – s/t: Debut album for this gospel/post-punk band. Sounds like a weird combination but it’s something you just have to hear for yourself. 

Sample: And When You Fall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6InBjc4r9-E

* The Dear Hunter – Act IV: Birth and Reprise: First entry to the acts series in 6 years.  After releasing his symphony this past year, Casey seems unafraid to embrace the full orchestral gambit.  Ambitious crossover prog / indie rock / chamber pop with early 20^th century vibes.

Sample: Sermon in the Silt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIBJ-RYSAhU

* Jaga Jazzist – Starfire: Vibrant and colorful electro-nu-jazz with a very urban/trippy sort of feel. 

Sample: Oban: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJPplqqZBqE

Son Lux – Bones: Experimental electronic / trip-hop accompanied by brittle vocals and swaths of synth-driven cacophony. Definitely brighter and more tooled for a live setting than previous albums, though not as strong as Lanterns or We are Rising.

Sample: Flight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LijzJEwA4uE

Spires that in the Sunset Rise – Beasts in the Garden:  the witches that brought us the Comus-esque Four Winds the Walker are back and this time they've gone for a completely new aesthetic, focusing solely on a dizzying whirlwind of flute and saxophone

Sample: Beasts In Garden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xg7rRGv-K48

* Turzi – C –krautrock / operatic vocals / twinges of Italian horror

Sample: Condor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55fM2sbC1qE

Viet Cong – s/t: Moody & somewhat noisy post-punk with heavy 80s aesthetic.  Very fun and powerful music that just makes you want to grab a guitar or pair of sticks and jam out.

Sample: Continental Shelf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSbYbFiLDtQ

 

GREAT

2814 -新しい日の誕生 – This is what I always wanted from vaporwave - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrRNj4tP4Sc

Alabama Shakes – Sound and Color - smooth and soulful blues rock - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faG8RiaANek

* Beardfish -- +4626-Comfortzone –Zappa/King Crimson inspired retro-prog with jam band elements, fortunately have brought some of the playfulness back from the early era - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBz8zBZpSZM

Carpenter Brut – Trilogy –Favorite synthwave/outrun effort this year.  Think 80’s action/horror movie chase music.  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhhQrFfzFM4

Chelsea Wolfe – Abyss –Crunchy, heavy, slow, and aptly abysmal darkwave - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46u_Ggsub1A

Christian Scott - Stretch Music - fusion / nu-jazz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1JnHCqqu64

* The Decemberists – What a Terrible World What a Beautiful World – folk-pop - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWpweCPUc-E

* Elephant9 – Silver Mountain - psych / prog/ fusion; my favorite elephant9 so far, wanders into a bit of ADII and pink TD territory on this release - https://open.spotify.com/track/5FK9JDmf1qZeQNiD80B4pd

* Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Asunder Sweet and Other Distress –Apocalyptic post-rock progenitors return, unfortunately nowhere near as good as their 2012 comeback release. Their first track is lumbering and reminiscent of Earth, but the central sound collage tracks fall flat. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__y0QPrXlbQ

* Guapo – Obscure Knowledge - Retro/modern avant-prog, Monstrous dense noisy 3-part track - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1h7io1fNmY

Kamasi Washington – The Epic – Spiritual Jazz / neo-soul, huge bombastic pieces - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtQRBzSN9Vw

Lilacs & Champagne – Midnight Features Vol 2 - nostalgia-tinged trip-hop with lots of Grails-inspired guitar leads - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmzyMBDm-7k

Natural Snow Buildings – Terror’s Horns –Somewhat creepy droney atmospheric avant-folk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76h_5ZpVBfw

Surfjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell – mellow and somber indie folk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJJT00wqlOo

* Tigran Hamasyan – Mockroot –Avant-garde Armenian folk jazz with heavy progressive tendencies - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8PlKXPunbU

* William D. Drake – Revere Reach –Ex-keyboardist from Cardiacs; jaunty whimsical pastoral prog - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWm2yHBRx44

* - probably included on this site... i dunno 

Notes:

Spotify playlist sampler: https://open.spotify.com/user/1211221845/playlist/3BcWY7pgFFhr5dgjTrjj0Q

Elephant9 could be a fav based on the strength of the last 2 tracks alone; simply didn’t have enough time with it to decide.

SOLID / or not enough time to conclude

All included – Satan in plain clothes, Battles, Big Blood – Double Days II, Brainticket – Past, Present, Future, CFCF – the colors of life, Corpo-mente, Disasterpeace, Gazpacho – molok, Ghost Rhythms, Hiatus Kayote – Choose Your Weapon, Kendrick Lamar, Komara, Majeure, Marriages, Mobwanga Star, NYM, Odawas – Black Harmony,  Ott, Ozric Tentacles – Technicians of the Sacred, Pond – Man It Feels Like Space Again, Pyramids, Reve General, Royal Thunder, Sannhet – Revisionist, Squarepusher, Steve Hauschlidt, Sexwitch, Stern – Bone Turqouise, Soft Moon, Thundercat – The Beyond / Where Giants Roam, Tame Impala, Timbre – Sun and Moon, Toundra – IV, Umberto – Law Unit, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Zombi

Edited by bloodnarfer - February 04 2016 at 14:23

2015 has been an awesome year!!! Glad to join your form Dave! Better late than never. ;)
Also, Audun shaved his beard? Boy? I guess what ever he shaved off was put on my face! I'm as wooly as ever and I've come prepared to give out my mean, slightly heavier list this year. ;)

Arena-- The Unquiet Sky. ( this album is my baby and my review for it will prove nothing less. No complaints. )
Iron Maiden-- The Book of Souls. ( I was shocked by how good this album was!)
Goblin-- RE-Birth ( PIgnatelli lead Goblin is unbelievable. )
Symphony X-- Underworld ( beautiful chorus after chorus)
Zombi-- Shape Shift ( their best effort of their career I feel. The bass is just booming. )
Vanden Plas-- chronicles of the Netherworld: Path 2 ( sophistication and might come together to make this album a sheer masterpiece. Vanden Plas nail it here. )
Swallow The Sun-- Songs of the North. ( progressive funeral doom metal at
its absolute best. This album even slays anything My Dying Bride have done. It's that good. )
Royal Hunt-- The Devils Dozen ( the Danish Prog Metallers release their best album since moving target. It's a beaut. ;)
Leprous-- The Congregation. ( I didn't think they could surpass Coal, but they did. )
Powerhouse-- In An Ambient Way. ( best Jazz album I've heard in a very long time and it's a binaural recording to boot!)

Non Prog and there are some good ones here.

Fear factory-- Genexus ( if you want industrial metal with melody this is it. Great record. )
Disturbed-- immortalized ( no quit in these guys. They still got it. )
Trivium-- Silence in the snow ( this album is better than most critics lead on in my opinion. Lots of great choruses and hooks. )

Best live album.
Threshold-- European Journey

And lastly.
Best Re-Release.
Fates Warning: APSOG ( expanded 3cd set. )

Well, I think I'm pretty firm with my list but I will say this has been a great year. 2015 is one of the best for me.

:)

Top albums 2015:

1-Steven Wilson: Hand. Cannot Erase.
2-Gazpacho: Molok
3-Riverside: Love, Fear And The Time Machine
4-Caligula's Horse: Bloom
5-Bruce Soord: s/t
6-Nordic Giants: A Séance Of Dark Delusions
7-Quantum Fantay: Dancing In Limbo
8-Ossicles: Music For Wastelands
9-Leprous: The Congregation
10-Seven Reizh: La Barque Ailée
11-Sanguine Hum: Now We Have Light
12-Tim Bowness: Stupid Things That Mean The World
13-Anekdoten: Until All The Ghosts Are Gone
14-Seven Steps To The Green Door: Fetish
15-The Last Embrace: The Winding Path.

Guldbamsen wrote: Mascodagama wrote: Guldbamsen wrote: So has anyone else picked up Akinéton Retard's newest offering 'Azufre'? I am very pleased with what I'm hearing. Psychedelic and groovy fusion with mad saxophones to boot. - yet still manages to sound like a proper chill out album. In some ways it reminds me of a more structured take on what Fire! Orchestra is doing... be that with a South American twang to it that I really dig.   I only have their first one - a wild and in places quite angry-sounding record! Seems like they have mellowed a bit since then...?   Been meaning to get more anyway, so putting Azufre on my list to hear.   Mjeaaah mellow and mellow - I'm not sure I'd call them mellow with that saxomophone, but there's a very fluid feel to the music this time around.  Btw I hit you back in the recent purchases thread One word: Igor

Audun, you're The Shaved Bard now?


I'm still buying a lot of classic Prog albums, so most of what I bought from this year, was in concerts:

Oh and for those of you who seek high and low for the next best thing to a Crimson fix - look no further. This is Pat Mastelotto's newest thang:

Mascodagama wrote: Guldbamsen wrote: So has anyone else picked up Akinéton Retard's newest offering 'Azufre'? I am very pleased with what I'm hearing. Psychedelic and groovy fusion with mad saxophones to boot. - yet still manages to sound like a proper chill out album. In some ways it reminds me of a more structured take on what Fire! Orchestra is doing... be that with a South American twang to it that I really dig.   I only have their first one - a wild and in places quite angry-sounding record! Seems like they have mellowed a bit since then...?   Been meaning to get more anyway, so putting Azufre on my list to hear.

Oh Reve General is pure joy. Definitely one of the best this year!