FasterLouder's Best Albums of 2015 (So Far)

FasterLouder's Best Albums of 2015 (So Far)

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Action Bronson - Mr. Wonderful
March 24, 2015
Critic Score
71
18 reviews

The record is disjointed, uniformly shambolic and irritating in its inconsistencies.

Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color
April 21, 2015
Critic Score
79
35 reviews
This is an album that proves that there is far more to this band than meets the eye.

BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah - Sour Soul
February 17, 2015
Critic Score
75
25 reviews
The unmistakable, ever-reliable vocals of Ghostface provide a gritty realism to the dark subject matter, contrasting nicely with the smooth, layered atmosphere laid down by BBNG.

Best Coast - California Nights
May 5, 2015
Critic Score
68
31 reviews

The album title may be as clichéd as it comes, but California Nights is the sound of the band developing a full comprehension of exactly what Best Coast can be.

Björk - Vulnicura
January 20, 2015
Critic Score
85
41 reviews

Blur - The Magic Whip
April 27, 2015
Critic Score
79
45 reviews

It’s up there with Blur’s best albums, and a reminder of just how well the band reconcile their divergent ideas.

Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
March 24, 2015
Critic Score
84
44 reviews
Barnett’s songs hold such sway because she’s voicing her entire range of emotions: alternately scared shitless, achingly sad, and (rightly) proud of herself. Being so in touch with her scattershot feelings, her pen should never run dry.

Dick Diver - Melbourne, Florida
March 10, 2015
Critic Score
78
9 reviews

Melbourne, Florida is a mature, confident record, taking the band out of the old neighbourhood and into the world.

Django Django - Born Under Saturn
May 5, 2015
Critic Score
73
27 reviews

It can at times be a head-swirling, disorientating listening experience but ultimately it’s a kaleidoscopic trip through psychedelic musical pop art.

Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside
March 23, 2015
Critic Score
76
28 reviews

_ I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside_ doesn’t stand out for advancement for Sweatshirt or the rap genre, but offers something the other releases lacked – a human relatability.

Faith No More - Sol Invictus
May 19, 2015
Critic Score
77
38 reviews

The expectation was there for a good return to form from a band that always followed their muse no matter how much it threatened to derail their commercial potential. The reality is they’ve far exceeded that with Sol Invictus, an album that in its finest moments matches the best of their golden years.

Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
February 10, 2015
Critic Score
87
42 reviews

An intimately close-to-the-bone emotional exploration that not only fulfills his potential that was glimpsed three years ago, but trumps the folk masterpieces of his old outfit through sheer conviction.

Hiatus Kaiyote - Choose Your Weapon
May 4, 2015
Critic Score
79
9 reviews
Hiatus have loaded up as many genres as they could fit in this psychedelic jigsaw of a record.

Hot Chip - Why Make Sense?
May 18, 2015
Critic Score
77
36 reviews

It might not succeed as well as select predecessors; but, as an album, Why Make Sense? allows for the band to be interesting, to be relevant and – perhaps the most important of them all – to be them.

Jamie xx - In Colour
June 1, 2015
Critic Score
83
45 reviews
Jamie xx makes dance music to move you emotionally as much as physically

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
March 15, 2015
Critic Score
95
45 reviews

To Pimp A Butterfly is like a modernist novel, one that rewards re-reading, comes with unreliable narrators, has lengthy interior monologues, and embraces a grand narrative.

Laura Marling - Short Movie
March 23, 2015
Critic Score
81
34 reviews

Short Movie plays very much like an album of seeking rather than settling down, of picking away curiously at life choices rather than committing to one.

Mark Ronson - Uptown Special
January 13, 2015
Critic Score
71
30 reviews
A strictly-limited guestlist in comparison to the exhaustive list of featured artists on previous LPs allows for Ronson to hone in specifically on the strengths of his artists.

Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass
January 27, 2015
Critic Score
83
24 reviews

Prass’s winsome coo is a beautiful instrument, and the way her melodies dance and soar can be sublime, but the lyrics fall just a little short of the level that everything else on the record achieves effortlessly.

Sleater-Kinney - No Cities to Love
January 20, 2015
Critic Score
89
46 reviews

There’s so much of the band’s past in here, from their spikiest hostility to their sleekest accessibility, but they also seem to be rewriting the rules as they go, which makes this album just fine for newcomers too.

Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell
March 31, 2015
Critic Score
91
47 reviews

You won’t walk away humming the tunes, but Carrie and Lowell will stay with you. Sufjan has prettier albums, and sweeter albums, but none has the impact of Carrie and Lowell.

Tobias Jesso Jr. - Goon
March 17, 2015
Critic Score
79
26 reviews

Twerps - Range Anxiety
January 27, 2015
Critic Score
71
18 reviews

If you need something to keep you company while you lick your wounds, Range Anxiety will do very nicely indeed.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
May 26, 2015
Critic Score
79
30 reviews

We have arrived at a notable highpoint for both Nielson and the rest of the Orchestra. Multi-Love marks their best LP yet.

Young Fathers - White Men Are Black Men Too
April 7, 2015
Critic Score
83
30 reviews
The band’s mutated genre-morphing incorporates hip-hop, late-period IDM, R&B in its traditional sense and primitive street-drumming – and even that description doesn’t quite do justice to what it is they are doing here.
Original Source: http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/features/43033/Best-albums-of-2015-so-far
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