2015 Albums of the Year: Honourable Mentions

Well, folks, it's that time of year. It does fly as you get older. At least it seems that way. Here are some albums that dominated the stacks for vast periods of 2015. I contemplated making a top 50 this year, but it would probably be midway through the next before I could present it to you in the way I'd want. So, to appease my wife (who hates the term 'honourable mention' - she thinks it's too close to the much maligned 'also-ran'), these albums technically would make my top fifty. They are just not numbered. Cool? Okay, enjoy.
 

Artist: Ghostpoet

Album: Shedding Skin
Label: PIAS
Favourite Tracks: Off Peak Dreams, Sorry My Love, It's You Not Me (featuring Lucy Rose), Nothing in the Way.

Artist: Blank Realm
Album: Illegals in Heaven
Label: Bedroom Suck
Favourite Tracks: Cruel Night, Costume Drama, Flowers in Mind.

Artist: The Decemberists
Album: What A Terrible World, What A Wonderful World
Label: Capitol Records
Favourite Tracks: The Singer Addresses His Audience, Cavalry Captain, Make You Better.

Artist: John Grant
Album: Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
Label: Bella Union
Favourite Tracks: Grey Tickles, Black Pressure, Global Warming, No More Tangles.

Artist: Turnover
Album: Peripheral Vision

Label: Run For Cover
Favourite Tracks: Dizzy on the Comedown, Like Slow Disappearing, I Would Hate You if I Could.

Artist: Destroyer
Album: Poison Season

Label: Merge
Favourite Tracks: Dream Lover, Bangkok, Times Square, Poison Season Parts I, II, Times Square.

Artist: HEALTH
Album: Death Magic

Label: Loma Vista
Favourite Tracks: Stonefist, Flesh World (U.K.), Life.

Artist: Jason Isbell
Album: Something More Than Free

Label: Southeastern Records
Favourite Tracks: 24 Frames, Something More Than Free, Hudson Commodore.

Artist: Low
Album: Ones and Sixes

Label: Sub Pop
Favourite Tracks: Gentle, The Innocents, Landslide, DJ.

Artist: Refused
Album: Freedom

Label: Epitaph
Favourite Tracks: Destroy the Man, Elektra, 366.

Artist: David Gahan & Soulsavers
Album: Angles & Ghosts

Label: Columbia
Favourite Tracks: Shine, Don't Cry, Lately.

Artist: Sufjan Stevens
Album: Carrie & Lowell

Label: Asthmatic Kitty
Favourite Tracks: Drawn to the Blood, Fourth of July, Blue Bucket of Gold.

Artist: Kurt Vile
Album: B'lieve I'm Goin Down...
Label: Matador Records
Favourite Tracks: That's Life, Wheelhouse, All in a Daze Work, A Wild Imagination.

Artist: East India Youth
Album: Culture of Volume
Label: XL Recordings
Favourite Tracks: End Result, Hearts That Never, Carousel, Don't Look Backwards, Montage Resolution.

Artist: Bill Ryder-Jones
Album: West Kirby County Primary
Label: Domino
Favourite Tracks: Two to Birkenhead, Daniel, Wild Roses, Seabirds.

Artist: Goatsnake
Album: Black Age Blues
Label: Southern Lord Records
Favourite Tracks: Another River to Cross, Elevated Man, Jimi's Gone, Grandpa Jones.

Artist: Father John Misty
Album: I Love You Honeybear
Label: Sub Pop
Favourite Tracks: Chateau Lobby 4 (in C for Two Virgins), The Ideal Husband, Bored in the USA, I Went to the Store One Day.

Artist: Gaz Coombes
Album: Matador
Label: Hot Fruit Recordings/Caroline International
Favourite Tracks: Buffalo, 20/20, The Girl Who Fell to Earth, Matador.

Artist: Ancient Sky
Album: Mosaic
Label: Wharf Cat Records
Favourite Tracks: Sing Swing, Garbage Brain, Know, Induction.

Artist: Baroness
Album: Purple
Label: Abraxan
Favourite Tracks: Shock Me, Kerosene, Chlorine & Wine, If I Have to Wake Up (Would You Stop the Rain).










Top 30 to drop tomorrow, folks.

By Simon K.