After tackling the Top Ten Songs and Top Ten TV Shows of this, the year of our lord 2015, I have now turned my attention to the best albums released in the last 12 months.
10. Will Butler – Policy
Will Butler took a break from his day job of playing a thousand instruments in Arcade Fire to produce this gem of a solo album. Butler maintains the eccentric style of Arcade Fire but with a much more upbeat rocky sound to wonderful effect.
Best Track: What I Want
For Fans Of: Arcade Fire, Virgins, Hockey
9. Tame Impala – Currents
You get the feeling that Tame Impala are one massive single away from being the next alternative band to make the crossover to the mainstream but instead of chasing the dollar, Tame Impala have stuck to their guns and produced perhaps their best album yet in Currents.
Best Track: Let It Happen
For Fans Of: Radiohead, Ty Segall, Daft Punk
8. The Maccabees – Marks To Prove It
Loads of people loved the third Maccabees album Given to the Wild, I found it to be wishy washy and forgettable. With their fourth effort however The Maccabees have combined the melodic energy of their first album with the darker sound of second album Wall of Arms, to form an album that is arguably as good as either.
Best Track: Spit It Out
For Fans Of: The Futureheads, Future of the Left, Foals
7. The Wonder Years – No Closer To Heaven
More than perhaps any other band on this list The Wonder Years mean something to their small but devoted scores of listeners. A new Wonder Years album is more than an album, it’s a call to arms and an arm round your shoulder. Whilst they were never going to top The Greatest Generation, The Wonder Years have moved their sound forward and remain far and away the most vital band in the emo punk genre.
Best Track: A Song For Ernest Hemmingway
For Fans Of: Jimmy Eat World, Alkaline Trio, NOFX
6. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
Along with Wolf Alice and Father John Misty, Australia’s Courtney Barnett has been one of the most successful new artists to hit in 2015. Sometimes I Sit and Think…follows a series of critically acclaimed EP’s and lead single Pedestrian at Best was everywhere in 2015.
Best Track: Pedestrian at Best
For Fans Of: St. Vincent, Dan Bern, Frank Turner
5. Frank Turner – Positive Songs For Negative People
Frank Turner is perhaps one of the most unlikely chart heroes of the last decade which shows that despite his niche folk/punk style it is his personality that grants Turner universal appeal. Positive Songs For Negative People was the second consecutive Frank Turner album to reach number 2 in the UK album charts. Don’t be surprised if the next one is number 1.
Best Track: Get Better or The Last Storm
For Fans Of: Levellers, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg
4. Spector – Mothboys
It was a risky move for Spector to spend three years following up début album Enjoy It While It Lasts but it has helped them develop a more sprawling and expansive sound culminating in masterful single All The Sad Young Men as well as maudlin sing alongs Bad Boyfriend and Decade of Decay.
Best Track: All The Sad Young Men
For Fans Of: Maximo Park, Lightspeed Champion, Wombats
3. Circa Waves – Young Chasers
What happens when you cross the Arctic Monkeys with The Strokes? Liverpool’s Circa Waves are the answer. Merging The Strokes sunny sound with the Arctic’s lovelorn lyrics, Young Chasers is the most underrated album of the year and also the best released by a British Band. Not weird enough for the Mercurys, Young Chasers is, at it’s core, just a fucking brilliant pop album.
Best Track: Lost It
For Fans Of: Strokes, Razorlight, Arctic Monkeys
2. Modest Mouse – Strangers To Ourselves
Finally on their sixth album Modest Mouse have produced an album that isn’t just five great tracks and a lot of filler. Strangers To Ourselves is tight, funky and focused with Ansel, Lampshades on Fire and The Ground Walks, With Time in a Box among some of their best work.
Best Track: The Ground Walks, With Time in a Box
For Fans Of: The Hold Steady, Talking Heads, Black Keys
1. Gaz Coombes – Matador
Whilst 2012’s Here Come The Bombs was a solid if forgettable album, Matador is cinematic, eclectic and on a much grander scale to anything else in Coombes’ back catalogue. Deservedly nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, hopefully the attention garnered by Matador will turn a new generation of fans on to the wonderful Supergrass.
Best Track: The Girl Who Fell To Earth
For Fans Of: Radiohead, John Grant, Everything Everything
And in no particular order, the best of the rest:
20. Noel Gallagher – Chasing Yesterday
19. Blur – The Magic Whip
18. Wolf Alice – My Love is Cool
17. Reverend & The Makers – Mirrors
16. Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear
15. Cribs – For All My Sisters
14. Menace Beach – Ratworld
13. Vaccines – English Graffiti
12. Foals – What Went Down
11. New Order – Music Complete