Favourites of 2015 — Music

I tried Google Play but found it’s library very lacking and the ability to upload my existing library impractical.

I tried Apple Music on launch but the separation between my own music and stuff I wanted to stream was inexplicably difficult to control through the interface. Plus my existing library was too large to be matched through the cloud service.

Spotify mostly works. The album and playlist organization is primitive and I’ve practically outgrown it, but the Library is expansive despite incomplete discographies even for new-ish artists. It plays on my desktop and on my phone and it all syncs up together. That’s good enough for now.

A playlist of tracks that I enjoyed: on YouTube and on Spotify

A collection of 10 favourite albums in no particular order:

Everything Everything — Get to Heaven
Like their name says, they throw everything at you. The information overload might be the point though as the noisy pop sound and fluffly hooks are also hiding in plain sight the politics of now.

Wolf Alice — My Love Is Cool
The grungy 90’s are meeting the 20-teens and without call-backs or nostalgia trips; this is just their sound.

CHVRCHES — Every Open Eye
Sounds like a crisp and clean future with robots and bright lights but still filled with these things called human emotions.

Purity Ring — another eternity
Like any sequel there are more explosions and more close ups. Taken back to back with the Shrines this album shows how much things have changed between discs.

Jamie xx— In Colour
This was not the XX b-sides album I was expecting. Like the cover art for this album there is a rainbow of sounds and styles to move through, not pushing you through but guiding you around.

SOAK — Before We Forgot How To Dream
We like to think the kids have it easier now than then, but growing up is still hard.

Tame Impala — Currents
It’s a psychedelic future. Listen to it ten times and you’ll realize this is actually an R&B album.

Courtney Barnett — Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit
Stories of the mundane.

Father John Misty — I Love You, Honeybear
Some people wear there heart on their sleeve or are an open book, then there’s this guy. If it wasn’t for the sarcasm and humour the intimacy of these songs would be kinda awkward.

Young Fathers — White Men Are Black Men Too
Genres are a social construct to keep people in their categories and create an us vs them mentality.