Loud and Quiet's Top 40 Albums of 2015

Loud and Quiet's Top 40 Albums of 2015

Original Source →

40.

January 27, 2015
Critic Score
83
24 reviews

39.

March 16, 2015
Critic Score
69
6 reviews

38.

Novella - Land
May 12, 2015
Critic Score
76
5 reviews

37.

March 24, 2015
Critic Score
82
24 reviews
Album number seven ... sees the twosome decamp to a professional studio but somehow still do a stellar job of boosting fidelity without dialling down their energy or idiosyncrasies.

36.

April 14, 2015
Critic Score
71
16 reviews

34.

June 9, 2015
Critic Score
79
27 reviews
It is, in plain terms, a simply stunning collection of work that’s by turns charming, alluring, and deeply unsettling. It demands attention, and careful scrutiny reveals subtle details and hidden meanings in her fragile, dream-like world.

31.

February 23, 2015
Critic Score
75
9 reviews

29.

October 30, 2015
Critic Score
80
22 reviews
As the beam of his creative torch falls, in turn, upon hip hop, grime, house and funk, he demonstrates a sonic sleight of hand that is unparalleled in modern UK music as a whole, never mind the narrow confines of hip hop.

28.

September 18, 2015
Critic Score
75
38 reviews

27.

January 20, 2015
Critic Score
80
30 reviews

As a band that seems so down on life, Viet Cong’s debut album could easily be a dragging bore, but it’s not.

26.

October 9, 2015
Critic Score
80
21 reviews
If thematically some tracks are smaller-scale, musically things have been blown up.

25.

August 26, 2015
Critic Score
75
12 reviews

24.

July 10, 2015
Critic Score
81
23 reviews

Even if ‘Perpetual Motion People’ runs a tad long, it’s very much a record to get lost in, with new complexities thrown up on every listen.

23.

November 13, 2015
Critic Score
78
32 reviews
‘Garden of Delete’ is a terrific example of a meaty, complex electronic album that employs just enough stylistic quirks to remind you that it’s made by man rather than machine.

22.

May 26, 2015
Critic Score
79
30 reviews
‘Multi-Love’ shuns themes of misery and isolation in favour of the bittersweet nature of togetherness, while embracing the rich strain of funk and R&B that has always simmered beneath UMO’s work.

21.

September 11, 2015
Critic Score
65
24 reviews

20.

May 19, 2015
Critic Score
79
29 reviews
‘Platform’ feels simultaneously fresh and yet part of a classic electronic lineage that also includes, amongst others, μ-Ziq, múm, Björk and, more recently, Balam Acab and The Knife.

19.

September 25, 2015
Critic Score
75
17 reviews

It’s indicative of how diverse and accomplished the album is that the four best tracks are of completely different genres and seem anything but forced.

18.

May 19, 2015
Critic Score
87
14 reviews

17.

May 12, 2015
Critic Score
78
18 reviews
‘Dumb Flesh’ is the borderline masterpiece that finally brings Power’s genuine definition as a solo artist.

16.

March 23, 2015
Critic Score
81
14 reviews
‘Hinterland’ brings a new richness to its arrangements that allows its songs to develop from spiky bursts into longer, more addictive grooves.

15.

October 23, 2015
Critic Score
89
43 reviews

For all its bewitching scholarly accomplishment, this is a wonderfully natural-feeling album, whose heart has even more to offer than its thrillingly skilful head. 

14.

June 1, 2015
Critic Score
83
45 reviews
Assured, polished, and precise, if we’ve learned anything over the last few years it’s that a little patience has only ever heightened Jamie xx’s brilliant understatement.

13.

September 18, 2015
Critic Score
79
21 reviews

Confident enough to bury their influences – David Byrne, Talking Heads, Modern Lovers et al. – a little deeper this time, Ought seem unencumbered by history and intent on carving out their own legacy; they look defiantly forward, not back.

12.

November 6, 2015
Critic Score
83
25 reviews
What makes ‘Elaenia’ so moreish is the atmosphere Shepherd evokes: effortlessly groove-laden live drums, hazy not-quite-melodies and a seamless flow across its 43 minutes makes for rather hypnotic listening.

11.

Grimm Grimm - Hazy Eyes Maybe
June 30, 2015
Critic Score
70
7 reviews

10.

January 20, 2015
Critic Score
89
46 reviews

9.

Wand - 1000 Days
September 25, 2015
Critic Score
74
16 reviews

7.

March 31, 2015
Critic Score
91
47 reviews

For the first time in his career, Stevens has removed all the artifice and high-concept safety curtains from around his work and dealt, straight, with his own life in all its unflinching ugliness. That he’s managed to do it with such poise, hope, quiet power and affecting grace is a musical and emotionally cathartic triumph.

6.

September 25, 2015
Critic Score
80
28 reviews
Nothing – or nobody – else sounds like Girl Band at the moment and they seem to relish in their own demented yet deeply exhilarating creations.

5.

March 17, 2015
Critic Score
79
26 reviews

Don’t approach this record with a jaded mindset which rejects its unoriginal theme and unchallenging style – instead, stomp down those weary-minded objections and soak in the genuinely engaging strength of the songwriting and its skilful, less-is-more delivery.

4.

September 25, 2015
Critic Score
88
37 reviews

Rather than nodding respectfully at the artists of the past, Holter now fixes her stare inward, shining a torch on what makes her tick as a human being. The result is a much more honest and more personal collection.

2.

July 24, 2015
Critic Score
76
17 reviews
If the themes – and language – are subversively impenetrable, the tunes throughout are unambiguously gorgeous.

1.

February 10, 2015
Critic Score
87
42 reviews

Perhaps it’s Father John Misty as an antidote to the American dream that makes ‘I Love You, Honeybear’ such a compelling and addictive listen. That underneath this beautiful sounding record things are pointed toward a seedier truth.

Original Source: http://www.loudandquiet.com/2015/12/top-40-albums-of-2015/
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