25 albums you may have missed but shouldn’t have in 2015
Every year around this time, media the world over produce best-of music lists. Rather than add another voice to the choir trumpeting almost all the same titles, I prefer spotlighting 25 albums less celebrated in 2015. In alphabetical order:
1. Anthony de Mare: Liaisons: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano (ECM)
Concert pianist Anthony de Mare commissioned 36 contemporary composers to write solo piano charts of Sondheim’s work.
2. Ata Kat: Obaa Sima (Awesome Tapes From Africa)
I love awesometapes.com. The rare 1994 cassette from Ghanaian hip-life rapper Ata Kat is crazy.
3. The Battles: La Di Da Di (Warp)
Polyrhythmic calculus cacophony that adds up.
4. Black Yo)))ga: Asanas Ritual, Vol. 1 (Screaming Crow Records)
Musical accompaniment to this Vinyasa-style yoga practice designed by Pennsylvania-based instructor Kimee Massie. A mix of “drone, noise, stoner metal, ambient, industrial, space doom and other traditional meditation music” for practice.
5. Carl Barat & the Jackals: Let It Reign (Cooking Vinyl)
The debut album from Barat’s new solo group arrived with a killer single (Glory Days) and trounced the Libertines’ comeback.
6. The Chills: Silver Bullets (Fire Records)
Seminal Kiwi shimmer pop act returns after 19 years conjuring dreamscapes, such as Underwater Wasteland with ease. 7. Chris Lightcap & Bigmouth: Epicenter (Clean Feed)
This project by bassist Lightcap takes its name from the front grill of a mid-1950s Oldsmobile convertible. Great jazz to drive to.
8. Circuit des Yeux: In Plain Speech (Thrill Jockey Records)
Experimental indie folky Haley Fohr’s latest is more lush and orchestral than previous work, even venturing into American minimalism.
9. FFS: FFS (Domino)
Franz Ferdinand and seminal Los Angeles oddballs Sparks unite as FFS. Pop perfection.
10. Georgia: Georgia (Domino)
Georgia Barnes is the daughter of Leftfield’s Neil Barnes. Her selftitled debut introduced her mix of grime, EDM, punk and aggression.
11. Ghostpoet: Shedding Skin (PIAS)
The third album from Bristolbased MC Obaro Ejimiwe adds live backing to his hypnotic, melancholic flow. This guy should be a megastar.
12. Ghost Train Orchestra: Hot Town (Accurate Records)
Trumpeter Brian Carpenter’s zany group of monster players from Brooklyn get their vaudeville vibe on with another album of reworked swingles from the ’20s/’30s.
13. Hieroglyphic Being: The Acid Documents (Soul Jazz Records)
A Mac Classic and a hot new Fablet get it on.
14. Holly Herndon: Platform (4AD)
Constructed of blended samples of every imaginable daily digital doing with Herndon’s breathy vocals. A musical meditation on human relations in the laptop age.
15. John Grant: Grey Tickles, Black Pressure (Bella Union)
A mid-life crisis album with funny songs about male incontinence pad advertisements and sexy sleaze.
16. Lizzy Mercier Descloux: Press Colour (Light In The Attic)
The music of this pioneering Parisian punk/disco, no wave composer, author and painter is largely a historical footnote. It shouldn’t be.
17. Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear: Skeleton Crew (Glassnote)
The Independence, Mo., mother-and-son duo of Ruth and Madisen Ward plays old-time folk with
modern verve.
18. Nicole Mitchell/Tomeka Reid/Mike Reed: Artifacts (482 Music)
Three younger members of the Association for Advancement of Creative Music — flutist Mitchell, cellist Reid and drummer Reed — delve into past compositions from AACM members, such as Muhal Richard Abrams or Fred Anderson, with joyous abandon.
19. Owingy Sigoma Band: Nyanza (Brownswood)
Five young Londoners and two Kenyan maestros. Really raw grooves.
20. Punch Brothers: The Phosphorescent Blues (Nonesuch)
MacArthur Genius Grant recipient mandolinist Chris Thile’s alternative bluegrass crew’s latest didn’t generate the buzz it deserved. Killer songwriting.
21. Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen: Hold My Beer, Vol 1 (randyandwade.com)
There is a strong argument for this Austin, Texas, duo’s single Standards as the C&W single of 2015. Same for the album.
22. Savant: Invasion (iTunes)
The 13th album since 2009 from L.A.-based producer Aleksander Vinter — who takes his moniker from his diagnosed Asperger’s and savant syndrome — continues his output of killer material, venturing into neo-jive (Basement), space dub (Pizza Power Alien) and more.
23. Shankar Tucker: Filament (Shrutibox Music)
American clarinetist/composer Tucker’s fusion of jazz and Indian traditional music is spectacular. Chal Chal Sakhi (feat. Ankita Joshi) sound like venerated classics.
24. Various artists: Root Hog Or Die: 100 Songs, 100 Years — An Alan Lomax Centennial Tribute (Mississippi Records)
A compilation of folklorist/ethnomusicologist Lomax’s field recordings, including luminaries such as Jelly Roll Morton alongside prisoner chants, Romanian fiddlers and enough shanties to empty the ocean.
25. Waxwing: A Bowl of Sixty Taxidermists (Songlines.com)
Vancouver cellist Peggy Lee, guitarist Tony Wilson and saxophonist John Bentley’s trio craft trance-inducing, atmospheric experiments.