Top 100 Music Albums of 2015
by 
benpaco 
At this point I like every single album on here. All the bad stuff has been bumped off.
Number 2 album of the year isn't able to be put on the site because time/tracks but "Four Songs For Losing You" by flatsound should be there. Just FYI.
Important things I still have to listen to:
Have You in My Wilderness
Complicated Game
Compton
Simple Songs
High
Get To Heaven
Nymphs II
Hands. Cannot. Erase.
Fading Frontier
- Chart updated: 09/12/2017 03:45
- (Created: 01/03/2015 23:37).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 10 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Music Albums of 2015 has an average rating of 91 out of 100 (from 7 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
View the complete list of 57,000 charts on BestEverAlbums.com from The Charts page.
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This is what I submitted to the local music magazine:
mewithoutYou has returned to their religious roots, only to make their most vast, different album to date. The band formed 15 years ago as a Christian rock group, writing music much as La Dispute or Hotel Books function, the lyrics and music being entirely separate entities which only come together later. This allows singer Aaron Weiss' poetry to shine through, even if he has admitted that he's not a great singer in the past. Pale Horses shifts from the band's recent releases, both in topic and tone. Weiss discusses his lack of confidence in religion and God, as well as the various bastardizations of religion. Not only does Weiss have this lack of confidence in what is true spiritually, he has developed a lack of confidence in himself. In an interview with mySpace, when asked why he changed his vocal style and left his lyrics more ambiguous, he answered "I sort of questioned my ability to communicate anything worthwhile ... it came from me being less confident in my power to save anybody."
This shift in confidence, both in faith and self, is reflected in the musical tone, leading to an album which more closely resembles Interpol or The National than Circa Survive, with a rough baritone, somewhat monotone voice explaining apocalypse and darkness over driving yet softened guitars and drums The album opens with the eponymous track, something which gives the false impression of a slow introduction into a harsh album, most similar in sound to Brand New's "Tautou". The following track, "Watermelon Ascot", drives right into the heart of the album, not too angry, not too confident, but some blend of insecurity and noise. The whole of the song functions as a religiously tinged version of the R.E.M. classic "It's The End Of The World As We Know It", intentionally referencing the song throughout while also discussing everything from Lot to the Battle of Bighorn.
The album then really picks up in songs such as "D-Minor", which discusses the comic depicting Allah and following incidents of violence in Europe. Perhaps the doubt in faith is most present here in lines such as "This is not the first time capitalized three-letter sound has died". "Dorothy" discusses a variety of religions, talking first about the Hindu idea of reincarnation and then referencing "Elohai", the Hebrew word for "My god" shouted by Jesus as he himself questioned God. "Lilac Queen" discusses how Weiss felt about his wife's family and their insecurities about his religion, comparing himself to the "ISIS flag design". The album culminates in "Rainbow Signs", a song about nuclear apocalypse being a tool from God similar to Noah's flood, before offering a Jewish prayer and a Muslim prayer, both similarly translating to "He is our God, God is one". The song references "Dorothy" near its end, before the album closes on an inside joke never explained to the listener about the bible.
The ambiguity of this album, as well as its complex musical tones and styles, and the overall feeling of "unsureness" - about oneself, about the music, about God, about apocalypse - gives an eerie feeling to an overall thought intriguing and thought provoking project. [First added to this chart: 09/10/2015]
mewithoutYou has returned to their religious roots, only to make their most vast, different album to date. The band formed 15 years ago as a Christian rock group, writing music much as La Dispute or Hotel Books function, the lyrics and music being entirely separate entities which only come together later. This allows singer Aaron Weiss' poetry to shine through, even if he has admitted that he's not a great singer in the past. Pale Horses shifts from the band's recent releases, both in topic and tone. Weiss discusses his lack of confidence in religion and God, as well as the various bastardizations of religion. Not only does Weiss have this lack of confidence in what is true spiritually, he has developed a lack of confidence in himself. In an interview with mySpace, when asked why he changed his vocal style and left his lyrics more ambiguous, he answered "I sort of questioned my ability to communicate anything worthwhile ... it came from me being less confident in my power to save anybody."
This shift in confidence, both in faith and self, is reflected in the musical tone, leading to an album which more closely resembles Interpol or The National than Circa Survive, with a rough baritone, somewhat monotone voice explaining apocalypse and darkness over driving yet softened guitars and drums The album opens with the eponymous track, something which gives the false impression of a slow introduction into a harsh album, most similar in sound to Brand New's "Tautou". The following track, "Watermelon Ascot", drives right into the heart of the album, not too angry, not too confident, but some blend of insecurity and noise. The whole of the song functions as a religiously tinged version of the R.E.M. classic "It's The End Of The World As We Know It", intentionally referencing the song throughout while also discussing everything from Lot to the Battle of Bighorn.
The album then really picks up in songs such as "D-Minor", which discusses the comic depicting Allah and following incidents of violence in Europe. Perhaps the doubt in faith is most present here in lines such as "This is not the first time capitalized three-letter sound has died". "Dorothy" discusses a variety of religions, talking first about the Hindu idea of reincarnation and then referencing "Elohai", the Hebrew word for "My god" shouted by Jesus as he himself questioned God. "Lilac Queen" discusses how Weiss felt about his wife's family and their insecurities about his religion, comparing himself to the "ISIS flag design". The album culminates in "Rainbow Signs", a song about nuclear apocalypse being a tool from God similar to Noah's flood, before offering a Jewish prayer and a Muslim prayer, both similarly translating to "He is our God, God is one". The song references "Dorothy" near its end, before the album closes on an inside joke never explained to the listener about the bible.
The ambiguity of this album, as well as its complex musical tones and styles, and the overall feeling of "unsureness" - about oneself, about the music, about God, about apocalypse - gives an eerie feeling to an overall thought intriguing and thought provoking project. [First added to this chart: 09/10/2015]
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This may well stay the album of the year for some time and maybe even make overall chart. It's really, really good, and really, really unexpected. All I'd heard of Fiasco's was Lazers, which was horrible. Like really, really bad. This is awesome. This is an album that went "hey radio? I don't even care anymore". The best tracks on here are both over 8:30, which is insane coming from someone who I knew as a bit of a poppy sellout. Hell, the shortest song on here that isn't an orchestral transition piece (yeah, it's that kind of thing, and they're good, too, remind me of Karlsson) is still almost 4 minutes long, which, while playable on the radio, is still on the longer side. These tracks are epics, not just little things. Like "Prisoners" said, it's a conversation that's starting. It's not just a statement, it's a conversation. This is awesome.
[First added to this chart: 01/22/2015]
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That's right, not even the best hip-hop of the year. That said, top 10 or 15 hip-hop albums of all time. Incredibly weak opener compared to the rest of the album, only song below an 85 on there IMO except Hood Politics (both got 75s). An album very worth the hype, very unique, and save for those two burps, it'd be number one on here, however, those burps must be taken into account. Tetuso's not perfect either, but there's not a purely bad or average track on it, whereas those two just bug me on here.
That said, this is hugely high praise, will be going on my overall on next update, and I didn't even really like GKMC that much. [First added to this chart: 04/03/2015]
That said, this is hugely high praise, will be going on my overall on next update, and I didn't even really like GKMC that much. [First added to this chart: 04/03/2015]
Year of Release:
2015
Appears in:
Rank Score:
31,451
Rank in 2015:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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After Hayden told me L'Orange's other stuff is better than The Night Took Us In, I was really interested. After this, I've been binging. Never thought the one with Jeremiah Jae wouldn't even be his best of the year. Once I found out it was with Kool Keith, I was just confused, but this works incredibly well. Still hugely heavy on old dialogue samples, and other interesting things (I'm somewhat sure that Upwards. To Space! actually samples Vitas, which is a little too perfect for me), while being both a catchier and somewhat more intelligent release from L'Orange. Kool Keith is near his sanest here, refraining from some of his gimmickier stuff. It's just great. Also MC Paul Barman is one of the weirdest things I've ever heard but I really like his song, and having checked out some of his solo stuff, I think I like him a lot.
[First added to this chart: 09/10/2015]
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Feels wrong to list this here, and not as a top album of 2006, but I'm just glad that we actually have remastered versions now. Apparently one of the songs (Nobody Moves) had the wrong remastered version on the download card, so I need to wait until I get my physical cassette (what year is it?) to hear that, but really everything here is great. It's not as mature as TDAG but more lyrically complex than Deja and obviously leaps and bounds more mature than YFW. No need to mention Daisy.
[First added to this chart: 12/21/2015]
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Overhyped, but probably my favorite of his, great vibe, great music, interesting lyrics, but to compare it to For Emma Forever Ago is a bit much.
[First added to this chart: 05/24/2015]
Year of Release:
2015
Appears in:
Rank Score:
16,242
Rank in 2015:
Rank in 2010s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Really this wasn't on the site yet? 121 RYM ratings, Pitchfork coverage, etc? Huh.
Whatever. The point is that this album kicks ass. Follows the trend of emo/post-hardcore albums switching over to a chill post-punk sound. It's not quite as catchy as Title Fight, nor did it surprise me as much, but it was really incredible. "Cutting My Fingers Off" is a top 5 song of the year for me. [First added to this chart: 07/31/2015]
Whatever. The point is that this album kicks ass. Follows the trend of emo/post-hardcore albums switching over to a chill post-punk sound. It's not quite as catchy as Title Fight, nor did it surprise me as much, but it was really incredible. "Cutting My Fingers Off" is a top 5 song of the year for me. [First added to this chart: 07/31/2015]
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Oh wow. I had no idea what to expect going into this, one of a batch of "this was on a lot of end of the year lists" albums, but holy god. It's like nothing I've ever heard before, incredibly erratic, avant-garde electronic music with everything from R&B moments to Latin moments to club friendly moments to just "wow this sounds like anxiety" moments, it's incredibly bizarre in such a brilliant way. Go listen, it's easier experienced than described.
[First added to this chart: 12/21/2015]
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This holds mostly below average ratings on here. God knows why, this is a really great album. Reminds me a bit of Low's debut remade by a punk band - there's still some slowcore elements here, especially in that first track, and a lot of more floating, Marr-esque guitar, while also holding some of the intensity from their older releases. Maybe I'm only briefly mentioning Smiths when it should be a bit more emphasised, frankly - Mrahc and Trace Me Onto You both could pass for Smiths covers, really. This is a great release and I'm not understanding why it's not getting more hype, but I'm really loving it.
[First added to this chart: 02/12/2015]
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This was one that didn't really click right away for me. The Albatross is such an incredibly good, loud, heartbreaking album, and this, while more cohesive and musically impressive, isn't as intimate. Reminds me a lot of Bon Iver's transition from For Emma to Bon Iver. But much like that, it took some getting used to, and now I love both albums differently.
[First added to this chart: 12/21/2015]
Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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Top 100 Music Albums of 2015 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Petite Noir | 2 | 2% | |
| Monarchy | 2 | 2% | |
| Open Mike Eagle | 1 | 1% | |
| N.O.M.A.D | 1 | 1% | |
| Mercy (FR) | 1 | 1% | |
| mewithoutYou | 1 | 1% | |
| Jenny Hval | 1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| |
58 | 58% | |
 |
17 | 17% | |
 |
6 | 6% | |
 |
6 | 6% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Music Albums of 2015 chart changes
| Biggest climbers |
|---|
| Up 10 from 16th to 6th Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens |
| Up 2 from 7th to 5th Leaked Demos 2006 by Brand New |
| Biggest fallers |
|---|
| Down 2 from 5th to 7th Peripheral Vision by Turnover |
| Down 2 from 6th to 8th No Now by Clarence Clarity |
| Down 1 from 8th to 9th Hyperview by Title Fight |
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benpaco has created 71 other 2015 year charts - click here to explore them all.
Top 100 Music Albums of 2015 ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
N.B. The average rating for this chart will not be reliable as it has been rated very few times.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 7 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 03/03/2019 04:54 |  Purplepash | 1,690 | 88/100 |
| ! | 09/29/2018 15:50 | panapsal | 232 | 93/100 |
| ! | 05/17/2018 18:40 |  desh79 | 1,278 | 93/100 |
| ! | 10/02/2017 00:54 |  bobbyb5 | 725 | 90/100 |
| ! | 01/02/2016 23:29 |  Juiceman96 | 7 | 76/100 |
Top 100 Music Albums of 2015 favourites
Showing all 4 members who have added this chart as a favourite
Top 100 Music Albums of 2015 comments
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From bobbyb5 10/02/2017 00:54 | #198982
bobbyb5 10/02/2017 00:54 | #198982
I'm trying something different. I checked to see who had Moonbuilding in their chart, and decided whoever had it I was going to give a rating of 100. So there ya go.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Juiceman96 01/05/2016 05:21 | #155831
Juiceman96 01/05/2016 05:21 | #155831
Where's Kid Cudi's Speeding Bullet to Heaven? :P
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Juiceman96 01/05/2016 05:19 | #155830
Juiceman96 01/05/2016 05:19 | #155830
Ben finish the list
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Juiceman96 01/05/2016 05:19 | #155829
Juiceman96 01/05/2016 05:19 | #155829
No TSSF? Cmonnnn
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From Juiceman96 01/04/2016 21:13 | #155771
Juiceman96 01/04/2016 21:13 | #155771
Help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Antonio-Pedro 12/27/2015 20:35 | #155220
Antonio-Pedro 12/27/2015 20:35 | #155220
Thoughts on the new oberhofer album (chronovision), Ben? Now that's some smooth rec for who hasn't listened yet, hehe.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Graeme2 10/05/2015 09:58 | #150986
Graeme2 10/05/2015 09:58 | #150986
Respect for the work you put in with the notes. It helps a lot for getting recs. of which I already have obtained a few. Got Fiasco on now. Cheers
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Skinny 08/27/2015 18:06 | #148692
Skinny 08/27/2015 18:06 | #148692
Something tells me you'd really like N.O.M.A.D's new album (((( Yawning )))), which is a lo-fi, jazzy, experimental take on contemporary R'n'B, but with a defiantly hip-hop edge. It's a light, breezy listen, but is imbued with an undeniable vulnerability that may be right up your street. (I think I described him on the forums as "the artist Ghostpoet wishes he could be", and since you have Ghostpoet here I thought you should check it out.)
Anyway, cool chart, really like the notes. If there's anything you think I'd really enjoy, don't hesitate to drop me recs. Peace.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 
Patman360 06/18/2015 23:57 | #144158
Patman360 06/18/2015 23:57 | #144158
You and I have very different tastes, that's a good thing though so I can steal a ton of recs from here, I imagine there's about 50 I haven't heard, plus I loved seeing ASIWYFA in the top 10, not sure if you've heard any of their first few albums but they're all very good, especially their incredible debut!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From benpaco 01/12/2015 04:51 | #131321
benpaco 01/12/2015 04:51 | #131321
Thank you JMan, I think it just became available on vinyl this year or something. Whoops. Will remove at next edit (which is soon)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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| Best Ever Artists | |
|---|---|
| 1. The Beatles | |
| 2. Radiohead | |
| 3. Pink Floyd | |
| 4. David Bowie | |
| 5. Bob Dylan | |
| 6. Led Zeppelin | |
| 7. The Rolling Stones | |
| 8. Arcade Fire | |
| 9. Nirvana | |
| 10. Neil Young | |
| 11. The Velvet Underground | |
| 12. Kendrick Lamar | |
| 13. Miles Davis | |
| 14. The Smiths | |
| 15. The Beach Boys | |
| 16. R.E.M. | |
| 17. Kanye West | |
| 18. Pixies | |
| 19. Bruce Springsteen | |
| 20. Jimi Hendrix |
