best of 2015: albums

By Ryan Byrd

music you should know, popular culture, culture, music, lists, reviews, favorites, mixtape, recommendations
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a couple days ago, i kicked off a week’s worth of my best-of-2015 lists. so far, people have responded well and even tipped me off to some songs and artists that i missed this past year. here’s the lineup for the week:

monday: new music discoveries
monday: cover songs
yesterday: songs
today: albums
(thursday: the year’s final two in review)

albums is always my favorite list. i’m a little old school in that i’d still rather sit down and listen to an entire album that just a single here or there. i think the long form tells me much more about an artist and their story than any individual track. so to me, a best albums list gives insight into the most talented and fully-realized artists.

2015 was a particularly strong year for music, but interestingly, there wasn’t a single or couple albums that rose up far above other albums like it’s usually happened in the past. last year, for example, st. vincent’s album was far-and-away the best album of the year. this year, though, i’d say the top 5 or so are right there with each other. they could be interchanged pretty easily. maybe that’s what makes it such a strong list.

without further ado, here’s my top 40 albums of 2015:

40. alabama shakes: sound & color

39. david bazan: bazan monthly vol. 2

38. chvrches: every open eye

37. josh garrels: home

36. jon foreman: the wonderlands

35. autre ne veut: age of transparency

34. veruca salt: ghost notes

33. the lone bellow: then came the morning

32. brandon flowers: the desired effect

31. ryan adams: 1989

30. ezra furman: perpetual motion people