Table of Contents:
Beach House – Depression Cherry
Beach House releases their first album of 2015.
Beach House was feeling very productive in the three years since Bloom and decided to release two albums in 2015. The first of which was Depression Cherry. The album starts off with the dizzying heights of Levitation, followed by lead single Sparks, with its blissful shoegaze. Space Song is a fitting title and sounds very much out of this world.
Depression Cherry is glossy and psychedelic, leaning heavily into shoegaze territory, and one of the band’s best albums so far.
8/10
Beach House – Thank Your Lucky Stars
Beach House releases their second album of 2015.
The second of two releases from the band in 2015, Thank Your Lucky Stars was explicitly stated as being its own album and not a b-sides or companion album. When Majorette kicks in, you do hear its own flavour separate from Depression Cherry, with Thank Your Lucky Stars having more of a raw, guitar-driven sound, evoking those summer beach vibes.
Another solid Beach House record.
7.5/10
Blur – The Magic Whip
Blur returns for the first time in 12 years.
Between the release of Think Tank and The Magic Whip, Damon Albarn had released three more Gorillaz records, and not only that, but Gorillaz had become even more popular than Blur had ever been (at least in North America). Despite the artistic direction that Albarn had spent the past decade pursuing, The Magic Whip sounds distinguished from Gorillaz, but without losing sight of the new influences that Albarn has accumulated in the years since Blur was last together either.
With The Magic Whip, Damon Albarn manages to blend the outdated conventions of britpop with the more modern sensibilities of Gorillaz, making for a great comeback record that doesn’t feel trapped in the past.
7.5/10
Death Grips – Fashion Week
Death Grips make an instrumental album.
While fans were eagerly anticipating Jenny Death (the second part of The Powers That B, following 2014’s Niggas on the Moon), Death Grips released Fashion Week in the interim — an album of instrumentals, devoid of any trace of MC Ride.
The Andy Morin production here is fine, but without the rapping of MC Ride on top of it, it all just feels empty. Fashion Week isn’t terrible, but its ultimately a superfluous entry in an otherwise strong discography.
7/10
Trivia: The first letters of all of the songs spell out JENNY DEATH WHEN.
Death Grips – Jenny Death
Death Grips release the second part of The Powers That B.
If Niggas on the Moon was too strange with its Björk vocal samples, then the rap metal of Jenny Death might be more easy to digest. While this is still Death Grips, it’s a somewhat easier pill to swallow, with guitar from Nick Reinhart on every track, which gives it more of a rock/punk/metal style to the music.
I Break Mirrors With My Face in the United States is fast-paced and manic, like something a crack head might sounds like as you pass by the nearest ATM. Inanimate Sensation is a wild ride, with vocal noises that sound like an engine shifting gears on the highway. Turned Off and Centuries of Damn both cast a sludgy doom. Why a Bitch Gotta Lie is like an android on virtual crack. Death Grips’ Pss Pss would definitely frighten cats away. The title track sounds like a No Love Deep Web era cut. Beyond Alive and On GP have plenty of killer guitar work. Death Grips 2.0 is a neurotic instrumental closer.
While Niggas on the Moon was an accomplished experiment, Jenny Death is even better in its execution.
10/10
Death Grips – The Powers That B
Death Grips release a double album.
Comprised of the previous year’s Niggas on the Moon and Jenny Death, The Powers That B is one of the greatest, most innovative double albums of the decade.
The first half of the album features some of Death Grips’ most experimental work yet, with songs primarily made out of chopped-up Björk samples, whereas the second half is guitar-centric, branching out into the worlds of rock, metal and hardcore punk.
Initially, these two halves of a whole may seem like they have nothing in common, but they fit together like a yin and a yang and make up a dynamic and thrilling double album that has both cohesion and variety..
10/10
Iron Maiden – The Book of Souls
Iron Maiden makes one of their most progressive albums yet.
Throughout their career, Iron Maiden has never shied away from lengthy compositions, such as on their classic 13 minute-long track, Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In the 2000s, the frequency of longer songs began to increase, which ultimately leads us to The Book of Souls, which contains the band’s longest song yet: the 18 minute-long Empire of the Clouds.
If Eternity Shall Fail is a fantastic opener, with a minute and a half intro that leads into the typical galloping rhythms of Iron Maiden. Bruce Dickinson still sounds incredible in his 60s. Speed of Light sounds rather bluesy for a Maiden song, more akin to something that Motörhead might have written, but that doesn’t suggest that it’s bad (Motörhead rules). The title track begins with some medieval-sounding acoustic guitar, before quickly-leading into one of their most exotic riffs yet. The riff in Shadows of the Valley is a little too close to the that of 1986’s Wasted Years.
The Book of Souls may be a bit predictable, which is fair considering the age of the band and you might hear some riffs that sound a little too familiar at times, but it’s truly astonishing that a band can still sound this good and this hungry, 35 years after their debut, continuously pushing themselves to write and record such epic metal songs.
7.5/10
JPEGMAFIA – Communist Slow Jams
Devon Hendryx becomes JPEGMAFIA.
After releasing music in Japan as Devon Hendryx, Barrington DeVaughn Hendricks is back in the U.S.A. under the moniker JPEGMAFIA, with his debut mixtape Communist Slow Jams.
As the title suggests, the music on Communist Slow Jams is quite chilled-out, with subdued production that provides a spaced-out backdrop for JPEGMAFIA’s fury and ire. JPEGMAFIA is absolutely angry, with lots to say, criticizing people like Eric Clapton, Roman Polanski and Tina Fey, to trust-fund kids, culture vultures and hipsters.
In the grand scheme of things, Communist Slow Jams being a mixtape results in it feeling more like a prelude than a major artistic statement, but it’s still a strong starting point for JPEGMAFIA and showcases his talents as a rapper, lyricist and producer.
8/10
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar synthesizes half a century’s worth of African-American music into one of the greatest, most artistic and ambitious rap albums of all time.
Kendrick Lamar had just made arguably the greatest west coast rap album of all time with good kid, m.A.A.d city three years prior. He had gone from a promising rapper to one of the best of his generation, fusing together gritty lyricism that detailed what life was like growing up in Compton, with theatrical production and voice recordings, which gave the album a cinematic quality.
Instead of coasting on his success or following it up with a victory lap, he doubled down and made an album that’s arguably more ambitious and grand in scale. This time, instead of focusing on the problems he faced growing up at the city level, he looks at the past and current problems that black Americans have faced throughout history in the United States.
The first track, Wesley’s Theory, features the one and only George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic fame; many early Hip Hop records sampled P-Funk and so Clinton’s presence on here is almost a requirement. For Free? has a spoken word segment that goes into some chaotic jazz. The Roots-referencing King Kunta is a crossover hit and one of the funkiest songs of the millennium — it’s a great gateway into Kendrick Lamar’s music for those who may not typically listen to hip-hop.
Institutionalized features Long Beach legend Snoop Dogg, in a rare sincere and genuine performance, compared to many of his phoned-in features for other artists. These Walls is a deep piece of R&B. U sounds like somebody having a fight with themselves. Alright is another signature song — an anthem for black Americans rising above discrimination. The back half of the album certainly doesn’t drag either, as you have stellar songs like Hood Politics, the jazzy How Much a Dollar Cost? and the juicy The Blacker the Berry.
To Pimp a Butterfly is an easy contender for the single most important rap album of all time, as well as one of the greatest pieces of music in modern history.
10/10
Trivia: To Pimp a Butterfly won Best Rap Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Quarters!
Album #6: Jam Band / Jazz Rock
With King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s fifth studio album, Quarters!, the gimmick this time is that there are four songs all running at exactly 10 minutes and 10 seconds each, with every song taking up a quarter of the album’s runtime. — as for the music itself, the flavour of this album seems to be Grateful Dead-like jam band rock.
The jazzy opener, The River, is probably the most quintessential KGATLW song here, though Infinite Rise, God Is in the Rhythm and Lonely Steel Sheet Flyer are all excellent as well, Some of the songs may feel a bit stretched out to reach the 10 minute mark, but these lengthier compositions show that the band is capable of jamming out for long periods of time, displaying stellar musicianship and chemistry between the band.
Quarters! isn’t quite as good as Float Along – Fill Your Lungs or I’m in Your Mind Fuzz, but it’s certainly one of the band’s best albums as of its release.
8/10
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Paper Mâché Dream Balloon
Album #7: Psychedelic Pop / Folk Rock
On Paper Mâché Dream Balloon, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard venture into psychedelic folk pop, an album full of acoustic guitars, flutes and hippie whimsy.
Sense is a jazzy lounge song that contains some of Stu Mackenzie’s more poignant lyrics so far. The music to Bones has that hippie naivety and optimism, despite the macabre lyrics. Trapdoor is one of the darker songs here, with an underlying sense of dread. It’s Ambrose Kenny-Smith and his harmonica’s time to shine on The Bitter Boogie. The title track is the band at their most cheerful.
Paper Mâché Dream Balloon is another solid KGATLW album with some of the band’s most pleasant compositions yet, on par with Quarters from earlier in the year.
8/10
Mac DeMarco – Another One
Mac DeMarco makes another one.
On the heels of Salad Days, which saw a drastic rise in Mac DeMarco’s popularity, largely due to hit songs like Passing Out Pieces and Chamber of Reflection, Another One finds Mac striking while the iron is hot, with a mini album offering of more of his superlative bedroom indie rock.
The Way You’d Love Her, No Other Heart, Just to Put Me Down and I’ve Been Waiting for Her are upbeat, romantic rockers, similar to what was found on 2 and Salad Days, but other songs like the title track, A Heart Like Hers and Without Me are more subdued and melancholic.
While Another One may not be a full release, it still offers enough to stand on its own as an essential piece of Mac DeMarco’s discography.
8/10
Muse – Drones
Muse at their most political yet.
With its title and the extremely on-the-nose album artwork which lacks any subtlety, Drones is Muse at its most-political, with an anti-war sentiment and criticism of the powers that be.
Dead Inside continues Muse’s streak of fantastic openers, something they’ve never missed a beat at doing well. [Drill Sergeant] leads into the bluesy Psycho, one of the best tracks on the album and a live staple since its introduction. The piano-laced Mercy is one of the poppier songs here, with an empowering chorus where Matt Bellamy begs for mercy from the powers that be. Reapers evokes the spirit of glam metal and has a killer outro. The Handler should satisfy those looking for the sound of early 2000s Muse. Defector sounds like a hybrid of the hard rock of early Queen and the anthemic side of said band’s later material. Aftermath is another track with Queen-like sensibilities. The Globalist is a 10 minute epic that has the band indulging in its bombastic side, with the title track acting as a vocal harmony outro.
Drones falls shy of greatness, though it is in many ways an improvement over The 2nd Law, with a more consistent tracklist and some solid riffs and ideas throughout. Sometimes the political theme of the album can come off a bit hackneyed, but I admire Muse for being a band that can kickstart that rebellious spark inside of its fans, helping to bring awareness of the corruption of politics and the injustices of the world to millions. Some people complain that famous bands don’t do enough with the platform they stand on, but the same can’t be said about Muse.
7/10
Trivia: Drones won Best Rock Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.
Pusha T – King Push – Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude
Pusha T releases his sophomore solo album.
Pusha T’s debut album, My Name Is My Name, had proved that he could survive without Clipse, or at least without a reliance on The Neptunes or Kanye West (despite some production from the latter). On his sophomore album, Pusha T continues to prove himself as a solo act, though the album is quite slight at only 33 minutes.
Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude may not be an instant classic like the first two Clipse albums, nor is it even as good as My Name Is My Name, but it’s still a decent outing for the Virginia rapper.
7/10
Slayer – Repentless
Slayer marches on without Jeff Hanneman for their final album.
On Slayer’s first album since the untimely passing of its founding member and co-lead guitarist, Jeff Hanneman, the late axeman is replaced by ex-Exodus guitarist, Gary Holt and Dave Lombardo has once again left, with Paul Bostaph (who played with the band from 1994’s Divine Intervention to 2001’s God Hates Us All) returning.
Repentless has everything you’ve come to expect from Slayer, from punishing speed to hellish soundscapes and hopefully it would have made Hanneman proud. It’s hard to replicate the success of once novel albums, like Reign in Blood and Seasons in the Abyss, but for a 2015 Slayer album with only two of the original members, you couldn’t really ask for more.
6.5/10
Steven Wilson – Hand. Cannot. Erase.
Steven Wilson makes a concept album about the true story of a woman who died in her apartment and wasn’t discovered for years.
Continuing on from the progressive rock direction of The Raven That Refused to Sing (and Other Songs), while adding some pop-influenced elements. Hand. Cannot. Erase. is a successful example of Steven Wilson achieving balance between pop and prog. The story of the album revolves around an article that Steven Wilson read, about a woman who died in her apartment and went undiscovered for two years.
An intro track leads into the 10 minute-long, 3 Years Older, which showcases an 1980s Rush-style sound. The title track is one of Wilson’s best pop songs, along with his earlier song Postcard and the Porcupine Tree cascading piano ballad, Lazarus. Perfect Life features a spoken word segment and percussion that wouldn’t feel out of place on a hip-hop song. Home Invasion is both the heaviest and funkiest song here. Regret #9 is an instrumental that sounds like what Genesis would have sounded like, had Phil Collins never led them into the pop charts. Transience is a delicate, finger-picked acoustic track. Ancestral is a 13 minute-long epic, which features vocals from Ninet Tayeb.
One of Steven Wilson’s best works in his entire discography, with a well-executed concept and a successful blend of modern sensibilities and a 70s prog influence.
8.5/10
Steven Wilson – Transience
Steven Wilson releases his first solo compilation.
Primarily featuring singles, like Harmony Korine and Postcard, deep cuts, like Index, and his more accessible songs, like Hand Cannot Erase (and a re-recording of the Porcupine Tree song, Lazarus), Transience is aimed at attracting the more casual listener, instead of providing a more comprehensive snapshot of his entire body of work.
And so, this compilation may be missing some key tracks, like Raider II, Luminol and 3 Years Older, but those lengthier recordings would not work in the context of such a collection, nor would they fit on a single disc. Otherwise, Transience includes most of the definitive songs from Wilson’s solo career thus far and is a fairly successful attempt at what this disc is aiming to do.
8/10
Tame Impala – Currents
Kevin Parker leaves acid-soaked, neo-psychedelic rock behind for shiny, sleek R&B-flavoured synthpop.
With Innerspeaker and Lonerism, Kevin Parker had become a torchbearer for modern rock, with his blending of modern production married to a retro sound and aesthetic. People who had just nearly lost faith in modern rock music still had Kevin Parker in the indie realm. So, Currents and its left turn into synthpop initially felt like a selling out or betrayal to many. Gone were the fuzzy guitars, in were shiny synths and retro 1980s vibes. But it all worked so immensely well.
Let It Happen seems like a mission statement for the album and could be aimed towards himself and his audience alike. Let this change happen, and embrace it. This is where life is taking Kevin and so this is the music he must make, and us as listeners must trust him and let him do what he needs to do — it’s about discovery. The Moment is a powerhouse of a dance track, along with The Less I Know the Better, which is probably the most iconic Tame Impala song yet, even going as far as surpassing Elephant. Yes I’m Changing has Kevin confronting change, and that as he grows and changes, the music he makes must too. Eventually is one of his most hard-hitting songs, tugging on your emotions with it’s big, powerful chorus. Disciples makes you wish it was longer than two minutes, but sometimes less is more.
On Past Life, Kevin Parker uses a deep robotic voice in lieu of conventional vocals, but still makes room for some of his regular vocals in it’s refrain. ‘Cause I’m a Man resulted in accusations of misogyny, but if you actually listen to the lyrics, it’s Kevin talking about how men are often oblivious and unaware of the things they do, and how women are at times stronger than us men. Love/Paranoia and Reality In Motion may be tucked in at the end of the album, but are as catchy and memorable as the rest of the album. The final song, New Person, Same Old Mistakes, is something I think we can all relate to; no matter how much you change, you’re still you at the core, for better or worse. We can try our best to grow, but sometimes we may still act on the same instincts and impulses as we once did.
Lonerism showed an increased reliance on synthesizers, so while this album’s direction may have been surprising and jarring to some, it’s not too hard to understand either, especially on a song like the Lonerism b-side Beverly Laurel, which would have suggested this was the direction Parker was heading in. Ultimately, Currents is a brilliant reinvention and successful creative and commercial left-turn for Kevin Parker, and is the album that’s turned him into one of the most in-demand producers working today and an artist that millions of people now adore. Not bad for a loner.
10/10
Travis Scott – Rodeo
Travis Scott sets the template for late 2010s trap.
After several singles, mixtapes and even contributing production on Kanye West’s 2013 masterpiece Yeezus, Travis Scott was on the path to becoming a major player in rap, as well as becoming a figurehead of the trap subgenre.
A mysterious and ominous opener, Pornography, starts with a spoken word introduction from Scott, establishing the dark but sensual tone of the album. Oh My Dis Side, 3500 and 90210 are all certified bangers worthy of blasting out the windows of one’s car. Kanye West appears on the devilishly-titled Piss on Your Grave (a song intended for a scrapped Yeezus sequel). Pray 4 Love is a ballad featuring The Weeknd, providing a change of pace from the more hardcore songs here. Wasted uses flute samples, which have become synonymous with trap.
Like Kanye West, Travis Scott can take an artist that I would never listen to with my own free will (Justin Bieber in this case) and make them enjoyable for a verse, such as on the drunken ramblings of Maria I’m Drunk. Flying High is one of the more carefree and fun songs here, evoking the playful spirit of Parliament-Funkadelic. Apple Pie concludes the album with piano chords and a spoken-word section that provides a thematic bookend to Rodeo.
Rodeo is a dark, southern-fried masterpiece and one of the best debuts in recent years, with Travis Scott sounding so assured of his musical vision. Scott’s Kanye West influences are apparent, but he still distinguishes himself from his mentor.
9/10
FIN
Brett Nippard
