Best albums of 2015

[meahtenoha]

We've wrapped up the Albums of 2014 thread with the full 2014 playlist here.

Now you can start sharing the albums you recommend from 2015 with the Spotify Community below. We recommend posting a Spotify Play Button following these steps:

1. Right click on the desired song/ playlist. 

2. Click 'Copy Spotify URI'.

2. Go to your Community post. 

3. Click 'Insert/edit link button'

4. Paste URI.

5. Click Post. 

And remember to give kudos to the albums you also agree belong on the "best of 2015" list. 

I'll get us started with my current favorite for 2015: Panda Bear's new album "Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper".

Want to share your favorite songs of 2015? Join this thread here. 

[user-removed]

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Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly ( 2015 )

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987), better known as Kendrick Lamar, is an American hip hop recording artist from Compton, California. In 2004, Lamar signed to Carson-based independent record label, Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). Lamar would later secure a recording contract with a major-label in 2012, when he signed with Aftermath and Interscope Records. Apart from his solo career, Lamar is also known as a member of Black Hippy, a supergroup of West Coast hip hop artists, alongside his TDE label-mates and fellow South Los Angeles-based rappers Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock, and Ab-Soul.

To Pimp a Butterfly is the third studio album by rapper . It was released on March 16, 2015, by Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment, and distributed by Interscope Records

( Wikipedia )

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[user-removed]

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Elephant Micah - Where In Our Woods ( 2015 )

Elephant Micah is a musical band or stage name of southern Indiana songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joseph O'Connell. Recording mostly at home, O’Connell has produced an eclectic body of work since beginning the project in 2000. Elephant Micah’s inconsistently available music has become a cult favorite among some lo-fi/indie and folk rock audiences. ( Wikipedia )

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[user-removed]

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Royal Thunder - Crooked Doors ( Deluxe Version - 2015 )

 Atlanta, GA's Royal Thunder (Mlny Parsonz – bass / vocals, Josh Weaver – guitar, Josh Coleman - Rhythm Guitar, Lee Smith • Drums) is a haunting blues-infused rock band that lures listeners in with their dark rhythms and soulful vocals. The band formed in 2007 and self-recorded and released a seven song EP in late 2009 before signing with renowned independent label, Relapse Records, who re-issued the EP in 2010. The band has been described as "Led Zeppelin astride a psychedelic unicorn.” by NPR.org and "Black Math Horseman or Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde fronting Black Sabbath.” by BrooklynVegan. ( http://www.discogs.com )

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[user-removed]

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Waxahatchee - Ivy Tripp  ( 2015 )

Waxahatchee is an indie music project, formed in 2010 by American singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield. The band is named after Waxahatchee Creek, in Alabama.Crutchfield was born and raised in Birmingham, AL. 

Crutchfield released her first music as Waxahatchee as a split cassette with Chris Clavin on Plan-It-X Records. Her bedroom-recorded debut album, American Weekend, was released on Don Giovanni Records in 2012. Crutchfield wrote and recorded the album in one week while at her family home in Birmingham, Alabama. In the lyrics, she focuses in on personal relationships, exploring feelings of devastation and longing. Shortly after the release, she moved to Brooklyn, NY.

The album garnered positive reviews. On June 11, 2012 "Be Good" was the song of the day on National Public Radio as well as one of the best 50 songs of 2012. Her debut album, American Weekend, was named a top album of 2012 by Dusted magazine.

In 2015 she offers us : Ivy Tripp

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[user-removed]

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This Is The Kit - Bashed Out  ( 2015 )

 Bashed Out "little folk marvel with an incredible feeling will give you a taste for simple things and get back in touch with nature, we know that you have great need. Music for vegetarians but certainly excellent music for vegetarians.

( http://www.lemellotron.com )

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[user-removed]

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Broken Water - Wrought  ( 2015 )

Possessed of a languid, ethereal murkiness, Olympia, Washington's Broken Water evoke some of the heaviest hitters the '90s had to offer while combining their familiar sounds to create something that is all their own. Made up of drummer Kanako Pooknyw and guitarist Jon Hanna, who met while in the band Sisters, as well as bassist Abigail Ingram, the trio has a sonic lineage that can be traced back to bands like Unwound, Sonic Youth, and My Bloody Valentine. This mélange of influences results in a droning, beautifully messy sound that hides layers of melody within its muddy depths that listeners can delve into and explore. ( http://www.allmusic.com )

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[user-removed]

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Seryn - Shadow Shows  ( 2015 )

The biggest song from Seryn’s 2011’s breakthrough album was a jaunty, jangly tune called “We Will All Be Changed.” In it, all six members of the folk-pop band sang the chorus as loud as they could, elevating and uniting themselves to choir-like levels. Since This Is Where We Are came out four years ago, though, that theme that all will change has resonated particularly truly and ironically. Now, Seryn has two new band members and different management, and the sextet released its second record Shadow Shows independently. Plus, the band recently relocated from their hometown of Denton, Texas to restart their musical careers in Nashville. With all of these different personalities, locales and processes, it seems like only change remains the constant on Shadow Shows.( http://www.pastemagazine.com )

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[user-removed]

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Rah Rah -  Vessels ( 2015 )

Rah Rah is an indie rock musical group from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. They have toured extensively across North America and in Europe. The band has released three full length albums.The group formed as a three piece in 2005 made up of Erin Passmore (drums/vocals), Kyrie Kristmanson (trumpet/guitar/vocals) and Marshall Burns (guitar/vocals). In 2006 they released the Songs for Pasquala EP independently. The band performed at the Regina Folk Festival as well as Pop Montreal.
In 2012 the group signed with Montreal's Hidden Pony Records. The band released their third LP, The Poet's Dead, in 2012 on Hidden Pony. In June 2013, the album was longlisted for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize.
The band has performed with such notable acts as Wintersleep, Mother Mother, Plants and Animals, Said the Whale, Bedouin Soundclash, Library Voices, Minus The Bear and DD/MM/YYYY.  ( Wikipedia )

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[user-removed]

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Young Fathers - White Men Are Black Men ( 2015 )

They manage the rare feat of melding pop and politics into a potent mix, and continue a tradition--begun by the likes of Smith & Mighty, Tricky and Massive Attack--of reinterpreting pop, hip-hop and soul through the filter of black British life.
( The Guardian - Apr 2, 2015 )

Great album !!

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[user-removed]

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The Mountain Goats - Beat The Champ ( 2015 )

The Mountain Goats  are an American indie folk rock band formed in Claremont, California by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina.
For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle despite the plural moniker. Although he remains the core member of the band, he has gradually worked with a variety of collaborators who have included bassist Peter Hughes, drummer Jon Wurster, singer-songwriter Franklin Bruno, bassist and vocalist Rachel Ware, singer-songwriter/producer John Vanderslice, guitarist Kaki King and Annie Clark.
Throughout the 1990s, the Mountain Goats were known for producing low-fidelity home recordings (most famously, on a boom box) and releasing recordings in cassette or vinyl 7" formats. Since 2002, the Mountain Goats have adopted a more polished approach, recording studio albums with a full band. Beat the Champ is the 15th studio album by the Mountain Goats, released on April 7th, 2015, by Merge Records. The album's focus is on professional wrestling, though band member John Darnielle has stated that several of its songs are "really more about death and difficult-to-navigate interior spaces than wrestling."( Wikipedia )

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[user-removed]

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The Very best - Makes A King ( 2015 )

The Very Best has always been defined by geography. Vocalist Esau Mwamwaya hails from Lilongwe, Malawi, and bandmate Johan Hugo is a Swedish producer. They earned early attention with joyous samples and alterations of Western pop, transforming them into international super-jams. On their latest, Makes a King, they’re aided by guests who come with places to attach to their names: Senegalese vocalist Baaba Maal, London singer-songwriter Seye, and Chris Baio of the oh-so-New York City Vampire Weekend. Yet rather than pick up more detail in its sound, more vocabulary from more languages, Makes a King distills itself into a blurry amalgam without many specifics. ( http://consequenceofsound.net )

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[user-removed]

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The Airborne Toxic Event - Dope Machines ( 2015 )

The Airborne Toxic Event is an American indie rock band from Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California. It consists of Mikel Jollett (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Steven Chen (guitar, keyboards), Adrián Rodríguez (electric bass, backing vocals), Daren Taylor (drums) and Anna Bulbrook (viola, keyboard, tambourine, backing vocals). The band released its debut self-titled album in 2008 and released its follow-up album, All at Once, on April 26, 2011

Named after a section in Don DeLillo's novel White Noise, the group is known for its blend of rock music and orchestral arrangements, having performed frequently with the Calder Quartet, a string quartet based in Los Angeles. The group has also played concerts with the Louisville Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.. ( Wikipedia )

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[user-removed]

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The Honeydrips -  In The City ( 2015 )

The Honeydrips is Mikael Carlsson’s (former lead singer for Dorotea) electronic pop music solo project.
The electropop band is under the Swedish label Sincerely Yours, run by The Tough Alliance. Here Comes the Future came out in 2007 and received an 8.4 on Pitchfork Media. Also released are the singles "I Wouldn’t Know What To Do" and "(Lack of) Love Will Tear Us Apart".
The track "Fall From A Height" from Here Comes The Future samples quotes from Annie Hall, when the little Woody Allen talks about the expansion of the universe, and Rebel Without a Cause.[
On June 30, 2010, Mikael Carlsson announced the end of The Honeydrips, releasing one final song – "Höstvisa". He continue to make music in the band WÆEall along the years.
Against all odds, The Honeydrips came back on october 2014 and released a new single "Oh Stampe, Oh Stella" on swedish label Luxury. In January 2015, Mikael Carlsson announced a new album entitled "In The City".( Wikipedia )

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[user-removed]

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Vinny Peculiar -  Down The Bright Stream ( 2015 )

 Singer-songwriter Vinny Peculiar (aka Alan Wilkes) doesn’t really fit in anywhere: he’s too old for the cool kids, too odd for the mainstream, too quintessentially English for his music to travel.
And yet he manages (just about) to release an album every few years for a small but appreciative audience who recognise his awkward kind of brilliance.
Blending sensible levels of nostalgia and sentiment (English Village, Catalogue Trousers, I Only Stole What I Needed, The Doo Kum Inn) with resignation (Girl at the Bar) and wit (The King of Pop, Antony Gormley), Down the Bright Stream succeeds so well because the veracity of the largely autobiographical lyrics makes it intact and invulnerable.

( http://www.irishtimes.com )

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[user-removed]

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Drug Cabin - Wiggle Room ( 2015 )

                     Yard Work  ( 2015 )

Ambulance LTD is an indie rock group formed in Spanish Harlem, New York in 2000. The band was founded by Michael Di Liberto and David Longstreth from Cleveland OH. Marcus Congleton joined about a year later and continued on with their name and ideas with other members.
The band mixes the genres of dream pop, indie rock and the British shoegazing movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Marcus Congleton now has a new band, Drug Cabin, with Nathan Thelen ex of Pretty Girls Make Graves and Moonrats. Drug Cabin have only released one EP but released two albums early this year on 401K Music In

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[user-removed]

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Villagers - Darling Arithmetic ( 2015 )

Villagers are an Irish indie folk band from Dublin, formed in 2008. The band consists of Conor O'Brien, Tommy McLaughlin, Danny Snow, James Byrne and Cormac Curran.
The band came to prominence in 2010 with the release of their debut album, Becoming a Jackal. Released to critical acclaim, the album was shortlisted for the 2010 Mercury Prize and the Choice Music Prize. The band's second studio album, {Awayland} was released in 2013, and was also shortlisted for the 2013 Mercury Prize.
Villagers have performed at several music festivals and toured with Grizzly Bear, Tracy Chapman, Bell X1, Tindersticks and Elbow.
The new album was written, recorded, produced and mixed by Conor at his own home, with him playing all instruments on the record, similar to 'Becoming A Jackal'. ( Wikipedia )

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[user-removed]

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Husky - Ruckers Hill  ( 2015 )

Husky is an indie folk band from Melbourne, Australia.
Husky won the Triple J Unearthed contest to play the Push Over Festival. They have opened for bands such as Devendra Banhart, Gotye, Noah and the Whale, The Shins, City & Colour, Neil Young and Crazy Horse.
In 2011, they became the first Australian band to be signed to Sub Pop records.[Husky Gawenda appeared on RocKwiz on 14 July 2012.
On March 25, 2013, Husky Gawenda won the bi-annual APRA award ( wikipedia )

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[Westerleb]

I think this is gonna be HUGE in 2015! 😄

https://play.spotify.com/album/1JhBZ6kS7A66vrqcwj5Gdi

[user-removed]

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John Andrews & The Yawns - Bit By The fang ( 2015 )

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Stornoway - Bonxie  ( 2015 )

Stornoway is a British alternative indie folk band from the Cowley area of Oxford. It consists of singer, lyricist, and guitarist Brian Briggs; keyboard player Jon Ouin, bassist Oli Steadman and his brother Rob on drums. Their sound incorporates an ever-changing selection of stringed instruments and keyboards, supported by a typical pop backline of guitar, drums, and bass guitar.

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