End of the Year 2015

[RPS]

So guys, the end of 2015 is upon us and it is that time of the year where we talk about who had the best album, who had the best song, etc. In my opinion, 2015 was an exceptionally strong year, especially in contrast with 2014. I think it was the year of the 90s, as we had strong albums from bands who were big in the 1990s - Bjork, Blur, Sleater Kinney, Dr. Dre. It was also the year that Kendrick Lamar broke out, with a critically acclaimed LP and contributed to Compton. And Adele, who's LP is dropping this week, will probably in one week earn the title of the biggest selling album of the year. Which is insane. She is projected to beat N*Sync's record for the biggest sales in one week. 

But to me, the best LP of the year was Sufjan Steven's Carrie and Lowell. Recorded in honor of his mother and father-in-law, it centers around him dealing with the grief of losing his mother, a complicated figure who had mental health issues (she was schizophrenic) and substance abuse problems. As somebody who lost my father-in-law this year who had schizophrenia, it was an album that helped me cope and helped me process the grieving process. Some songs I have to skip when listening to the album, because  they are so heavy and personal. 

Probably my second favorite LP of the year was Shamir's Ratchet, which is the polar opposite. It doesn't tackle heavy subject matters, it is a record by a 19 year old that deals with the problems of a 19 year old in a funny, up beat and fun way. 

EWB, what are your  favorite albums and songs of the year?!

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

2015 has been a good year music-wise for me, found a lot of new favourites and found myself listening to a fair few old ones again.

Favourite albums: 
Threat to Survival by Shinedown. Really good rock album, there's some good variety between the songs and I get to kick 2016 off by seeing them live at the end of January!
Day of the Dead by Hollywood Undead. I started my musical education on rap-rock stuff like Linkin Park and have always held an appreciation for it. I completely lost track of them after their debut album about ten years ago, found this and just really enjoyed it. Will have to dip back into the albums in between.
American Beauty/American Psycho by Fall Out Boy. I fucking love Fall Out Boy. I thought Save Rock and Roll was good, but felt the guest artists and concept angle to it kinda made it too 'busy', if you know what I mean. AB/AP goes back to just big hitting songs that are infectious to listen to and it's wonderful.
 

Favourite new finds:
Set It Off. Really catchy band, their 2014 effort Duality has been probably my most listened to album of this year, and I only found them in June.
Marianas Trench. My girlfriend introduced these to me around a month ago, and again, catchy as hell.
Blackbeard's Tea Party. Fucking pirate folk music, easily my guilty pleasure.
Paddy and The Rats. See above, but with a Hungarian tweak. Tales from the Docks is a good, fun listen.
The Noses/The Bleeding Noses. They changed their name at some point and I can't remember which they are now. Lesser known South Wales band, but I saw them at a small local festival and they were excellent. Bought their CD and enjoy having it pop up every now and then.
Royal Republic. More of a re-discovery; I'd heard one or two songs a few years ago on a music channel, forgot all about them, and heard one of their songs again on the radio during the summer.
EDIT: JME. I'm not usually a grime fan, but his Integrity album is awesome.

 

My goal for the year is to try and go to a gig every month, if only to get out of my slump of having 2-3 in a month and then having none for the next six months. January and February are already lined up! Hoping to hit a festival next year as well, depending on how the line-ups shape up.

[Cymbols]

Few good albums come to mind-

Blurryface by Twenty One Pilots. Kinda obvious I'd say that huh  But seriously, it's a mix of a few styles, and I'm sure there's something for almost anyone on the album.

Inanimate Objects by Atlas Genius. Liked their song "Stockholm" on FIFA 16, checked out the album and it's good. Stockholm is probably the best song, but the rest of it is decent.

Singing for Strangers by Hudson Taylor. Just really chilled out, well worth a listen. One of the best songs is Holly, which is a bonus track which is a bit of a shame seeing how I've only got the standard edition :'(

The Way Back Up by Prides. Energetic Scottish indie pop, what's not to love?

Also, Saint Raymond and Pvris's debut albums are great, along with Chvrches' new stuff.

[METALMAN]

Huh. Down to Believing by Allison Moorer was really good. That's my old fogey country choice.

Sufjan Stevens and Ken. Lamar were good, yeah.

Alabama Shakes did a really cool one. I can't even remember caring about their first one, but this new one has some good grooves.

I liked that Father John Misty one and the Jamie Xx one too.

The new Cribs album was really good. Not amazing, but solid.

I really liked Lana Del Rey. Sorry! But it was good.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

The Do's "Shake Shook Shaken" is kinda 2015 (France, Benelux etc was 2014 but rest of the world 2015). That's a really good album.

 

Other than that I haven't really listened much to music from 2015 unless its bands we've gigged with. I tend to catch up on music years later, much like drama series.

[LittleDaniel]

My top three of the year have been Carrie and Lowell by Sufjan Stevens, To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar, and, of course, the Mountain Goat's wrestling album.  It's not the best Mountain Goats album, its not even their best of the past few years, but I did love it so.

I also enjoyed Heem's Eat Pray Thug.

[Benjamin]

On 11/21/2015, 11:26:54, RPS said:

So guys, the end of 2015 is upon us and it is that time of the year where we talk about who had the best album, who had the best song, etc. In my opinion, 2015 was an exceptionally strong year, especially in contrast with 2014. I think it was the year of the 90s, as we had strong albums from bands who were big in the 1990s - Bjork, Blur, Sleater Kinney, Dr. Dre. It was also the year that Kendrick Lamar broke out, with a critically acclaimed LP and contributed to Compton. And Adele, who's LP is dropping this week, will probably in one week earn the title of the biggest selling album of the year. Which is insane. She is projected to beat N*Sync's record for the biggest sales in one week. 

But to me, the best LP of the year was Sufjan Steven's Carrie and Lowell. Recorded in honor of his mother and father-in-law, it centers around him dealing with the grief of losing his mother, a complicated figure who had mental health issues (she was schizophrenic) and substance abuse problems. As somebody who lost my father-in-law this year who had schizophrenia, it was an album that helped me cope and helped me process the grieving process. Some songs I have to skip when listening to the album, because  they are so heavy and personal. 

Probably my second favorite LP of the year was Shamir's Ratchet, which is the polar opposite. It doesn't tackle heavy subject matters, it is a record by a 19 year old that deals with the problems of a 19 year old in a funny, up beat and fun way. 

EWB, what are your  favorite albums and songs of the year?!

 

On 11/22/2015, 2:48:35, metalman said:

Huh. Down to Believing by Allison Moorer was really good. That's my old fogey country choice.

Sufjan Stevens and Ken. Lamar were good, yeah.

Alabama Shakes did a really cool one. I can't even remember caring about their first one, but this new one has some good grooves.

I liked that Father John Misty one and the Jamie Xx one too.

The new Cribs album was really good. Not amazing, but solid.

I really liked Lana Del Rey. Sorry! But it was good.

 

On 11/22/2015, 11:19:15, El-D said:

My top three of the year have been Carrie and Lowell by Sufjan Stevens, To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar, and, of course, the Mountain Goat's wrestling album.  It's not the best Mountain Goats album, its not even their best of the past few years, but I did love it so.

I also enjoyed Heem's Eat Pray Thug.

Okay, then maybe one of you guys can help me understand what's the meaning behind Sufjan Stevens' "All of Me Wants All of You", because for the life of me, I can't figure out what the hell he's on about.

[RPS]

To me, I think it is about grappling with intimacy and relationships while grieving. There is these sort of detached descriptions of sexual relationships interspersed with descriptions of him grappling with understanding his relationship with the person, all in the context of the album about his mother dying. Also, as further context, I believe that Sufjan is bi/gay, so there is this struggle within the song grappling with his religion and his sexuality. 

[Nerf]

"Tales From Wyoming" by Teenage Bottlerocket
"Peace In Our Time" by Good Riddance
"True Brew" by Millencolin
"The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us" by Beach Slang

They're my favourite albums of 2015 off the top of my head. There's probably more that I'm forgetting.

[Rich]

The Teenage Bottlerocket and the Beach Slang records are top

So glad I got to see TB just before their drummer passed away.

I will add Foxings "Dealer" and The World is a Beautiful Place and I am no Longer Afraid to Die's "Harmlessness" as top albums for me in 2015

[LittleDaniel]

I'm not super into Beach Slang, but their bassist Ed is a good guy.  Met him on another forum and ended up at his house in West Chester,PA for a show and he was very nice.

And Ben, I think the song is intentionally vague so that it could either be about a lover or his mom.  Neither relationship was great, but that doesn't mean he doesn't still want them in his life.

[Rich]

1 hour ago, El-D said:

I'm not super into Beach Slang, but their bassist Ed is a good guy.  Met him on another forum and ended up at his house in West Chester,PA for a show and he was very nice.

 

That sounds awesome!

[Quom]

9 hours ago, Benkid Nada said:

Okay, then maybe one of you guys can help me understand what's the meaning behind Sufjan Stevens' "All of Me Wants All of You", because for the life of me, I can't figure out what the hell he's on about.

This seems like a pretty good theory, although if it is purely about his mum it makes the wanking whilst she checks her texts weird. It's entirely possible that it's about how he feels about all love relationships primarily because of the issues he encountered with his mother.

[RPS]

I had read that theory before, but I I just thought it was dismissive of the notion that Sufjan is talking about a male lover, when Sufjan has far more explicitly written about romantic desires with men in several other songs. I mean, given the site is a Christian site, I think they have a desire to read the song one way, but I don't really know how you can read those two lines as being directly related to him grieving his mother, as one is very explicitly talking about masturbating while somebody else is checking their phone. 

[Quom]

Someone on Reddit posted a theory that it was because he was on tour when she was dying and it could be that the tour was masturbatory and instead of being with her he was sending texts. But she died quite quickly from stomach cancer so I'm not sure that it fits.

Although given that he's somewhat successful and might have been able to organise care for her before she was sick it could still make sense of the first verse; he's finally able to help her the way she never helped him, she isn't interested in even that, he goes on with his life doing things that should be less important than caring for her and keeps limited contact and feels robbed for a second time.

Spencer's Butte is in Oregon where she lived (and he says three summers he spent with his mum and step-dad there are his only real childhood memories of her and he went to Oregon to grieve).

It could totally be about romantic love/trysts/relationships in the light of his upbringing and mother's death. But I definitely can see the song being just about her as well.

[RPS]

I completely disagree that the masturbatory line could be construed to be on tour, because he clearly isn't using it as a metaphor, because he is situating it in the context of somebody checking their text messages. He uses other metaphors in the song and makes them explicit and clear, so why would he make this clumsy and bizarre lyric at the beginning of the song where he says that while somebody is checking their phone while he is masturbating aka being on tour aka away from his mother while she is dying. 

[Quom]

If the masturbation metaphor is too clunky then what the fuck are they beating in the first line "Shall we beat this or celebrate it"? I mean that would be a super clumsy and bizarre lyric if it's about a relationship/romance/anything that can't be fought. Especially since there is no call back to it later and the rest of the song is one of resignation.

[RPS]

I think that line is probably about a relationship, yeah. As I said, I read the song as dealing with the complexities of intimacy and a relationship in the context of grieving/dealing with his mother's health. I think even the phrasing "shall we beat this or celebrate it" is supposed to draw parallels between Sufjan and Carrie's situations. 

[LittleDaniel]

I think the "shall we beat this or celebrate it" is about when his mother first got cancer: Should we try to beat the disease or should we celebrate the life/celebrate the end of life for someone who is suffering.

And I've always taken the masturbation line to be a metaphor for the disconnect between him and the lover/mother. 

[LittleDaniel]

8 hours ago, Rich said:

That sounds awesome!

Do you know Spraynard?  It was one of their shows, in their hometown, so everyone in the crowd was friends and knew all the words and they had a cookout afterwards.  Great fucking show.  One of my favorite memories of being in some random's basement.