Five Criminally Under-Appreciated Albums of 2015

2015 was, if nothing else, yet another year in which music was released. There were some very good albums and some very, not so good albums. With the excellent Currents, Tame Impala ditched guitars for synthesisers and ensured that the not at all hyperbolic, slow death of rock music’ has now entered what must its fourth decade. Kendrick Lamar realised that, considering it’s been a whole five years since the release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, it’s about time we got another hip hop album of equal parts ludicrous ambition and quality. Justin Bieber even proved via two rather decent singles, that his antics and general dickheadery of recent years must have all just been a front to raise awareness for the importance of the separation of artists and their artistry.  Amidst all this music that was going on, there was evidently other music that whether critically or commercially, wasn’t getting the attention it deserved. This is a list of that said ‘other music’.

Torres

Sprinter 

[Partisan Records]

 

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The year also turned out to be quite a good one for offbeat, female solo artists. Joanna Newsom, Empress Of and Julia Holter all released some wonderfully idiosyncratic works. I suppose, in this welcomingly congested environment of womanly talent, there’s only so much room because Georgia native singer/songwriter Torres was relatively marginalised. It’s a shame really; because her sophomoric effort Sprinter is sultry and strange one that should have announced her to much wider audience (it doesn’t even have its own wiki page). At only 24 years young, she displays those bizarrely ambiguous yet still somehow affecting lyrical capabilities of a Stephen Malkmus and sings like a more fiery and raw Joni Mitchell. Aiming for an electro-rock vibe, it’s a more mature and atmospheric work than its predecessor. Songs like the title track and standout “Cowboy gulit” are showcases for her wistful croon while the lengthy closer “The exchange” is a heart-render that documents the emotional scars than can be left by adoption. Perhaps the issue is that google her moniker and you end up looking at results of a once talented Spanish striker which is extra unfair considering the songstress could probably score more than he did if she ever stinted with Chelsea.

Dan Deacon

Gliss Riffer

[Dom[Domino Records]>

 

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So it’s not going to win any awards for name of the year (Earl Sweatshirt’s most recent would get my vote) but Dan Deacon’s Gliss Riffer has aged well in its nine months of existence. Upon release, critics responded with an apathetic consensus of “well it certainly is an album, he’s not wrong there” and yet with the benefit of minor hindsight, it’s hard to think of a better art-pop record to have come out in 2015. Deacon’s own surreal brand of electronic music is at its tightest and most controlled yet still remains maniacally enjoyable. “Feel the lightning” is a, fuzzy hypnotic earworm  that will leave your head only when it decides the time is  right and “When I was done dying” is a tense, high energy number with lyrics that detail some sort of existential fever dream. If you’re like me, and in desperate need of your fix of wonderfully weird, Baltimore based, experimental pop while you wait for that new Animal Collective album, this should more than tide you over nicely.

Weskust 

Last Forever

[Run F[Run For Cover Records]

 

[youtu[youtube id=”fFBJu7bliZY” align=”center” autoplay=”no” maxwidth=”702"]p>Although it’s a genre that was originally, brutally side-lined by the arrival of grunge and brit-pop, It’s no secret that shoegaze has gone through a bit of a renaissance in the recent past.  Almost every prominent band that looked at their feet instead of the crowd (Ride, MBV, Slowdive) has remerged in one form or another in the 2010s and it seems everyone has mate in a band who thinks they’re the next Kevin shields because they can make their guitar sound like a wet, distorted fart. As pleasingly auditory as many of these groups are, they can all take themselves a bit too seriously so it’s refreshing to see a band like Westkust, who take the staples of the genre and have so much fun with them. Their debut, Last Forever, takes it ques from both the 90s wall of sound and the skinny jean, indie rock bands of the mid-2000s. This results in blissfully entertainingly, noise rock tracks like “Swirl”, “Weekend” and “Jonna”. So why have they hardly got a look-in this year? Perhaps they’re just too cheery for the pedal junkies but also show too much warped guitar work for those who want to naively believe Alex Turner is the kind of normal lad who can have a pint with anybody.

Tamaryn 

Cranekiss

[Mexican[Mexican Summer]> 

[youtube[youtube id=”Nu_rVSA4JlM” align=”center” autoplay=”no” maxwidth=”702"]Speaking of those more ‘earnest’ shoegazers, they too have found themselves a little unnoticed in 2015. Case in point: Tamaryn. This is someone who doesn’t just wear her influence on her sleeve, but rather smears it on it to the extent that they probably shouldn’t go out in that shirt. Hell, even the cover of the album looks like some dreamy lovechild of the covers of Loveless and [insert na[insert name of Cocteau twins album here]ough, even If she’s not really doing anything wholly original, she still does much it better than most. Her latest, Cranekiss, will wash over you like a nostalgic wave from the brief hazy period of the late 80s and early 90s. On the likes of “Hands all over me” or “Last”, Tamaryn Brown displays typical lush atmospherics of her sound as well as the airy, ethereal vocals that evoke Elizabeth Fraser at her incoherent best.

Young Thug

Barter VI

[300 Enter[300 Entertainment]�

[youtube i[youtube id=”utxOjjc7WvU” align=”center” autoplay=”no” maxwidth=”702"]is may seem like a strange addition, considering that Lamar Williams has realistically had his best year to date (attempted terrorism charges notwithstanding). No longer just a Lill Wayne protégé, he’s featured on number of high profile tracks including what should have been the best one on Jamie XX’s In Colour had the rest of that album not been to the same standard. But even if his name recognition has got a huge boost this year via involvement with everyone and their mums, not many people are aware how good his solo work can be. He’s also insanely prolific, having released two fairly hefty mixtapes as well as his proper debut Barter VI, which is the most accomplished of the three. His squall of a delivery may be off-putting to some, but Young Thug wears the mantle of “Rap’s Weirdo” quite well. So even if he lacks lyrical complexity, his beguiling bravado lights up tracks with surprisingly modest, subdued productions like “Check” and “Constantly hating”. It’s his peculiarities that not only set him apart, but also make Barter VI  a work that’s somehow both  conventionally old school and oddly contemporary at the same time.

 

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