ACTION BRONSON- MR. WONDERFUL
Long waited major label debut after a slew of successful mixed tapes is an eclectic hit or miss, but the highs are very strong and Bronson never kowtows toward commercialism.
Buy Mr. Wonderful [Explicit]
Buy Easy Rider [Explicit]
ADELE- 25
Most commercially successful album in a longtime by the biggest and most likable musical star on the planet is mostly successful if a bit middle of the road and boring at times. World conquering lead single “Hello” and Tobias Jesso Jr. collab “When We Were Young” are the highlights.
Buy 25
Buy Hello
ARCA- MUTANT
2nd full length all instrumental album by esoteric super producer that sounds like Earth is battling the robots and the robots are winning.
Buy Mutant
Buy Anger
BEACH HOUSE- THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS
2nd full length release in 2015 by admirably consistent Baltimore dream-pop duo.
Buy Thank Your Lucky Stars
Buy Elegy to the Void
LEON BRIDGES- COMING HOME
Old sixties soul throwback has a real deal voice and half an album full of great tunes.
Buy Coming Home
Buy Flowers
BUILT TO SPILL- UNTETHERED MOON
Long running Idaho indie outfit led by singer/guitar God Doug Martsch is a low key return to form in “Untethered Moon”. It’s great to see a band approach middle age and still have this much fire.
Buy Untethered Moon
Buy Never Be The Same
GARY CLARK JR.- THE STORY OF SONNY BOY SLIM
Austin, Tx Blues guitar-phenom follows his muse and releases album influenced by R&B, Soul, Gospel, Funk & Hip Hop.
Buy The Story of Sonny Boy Slim
Buy Hold On
MIKAL CRONIN- MCIII
Under-appreciated follow-up to the pretty great “MCII”, Cronin continues to deliver enjoyable, driving melodic power-pop.
Buy MCIII
Buy ii) Gold
LANA DEL REY- HONEYMOON
Lana at her least commercial and accessible, but her most cinematic & ethereal. Contains the great “High Be The Beach” which wins the award for the most Lana Del Ray song ever written.
Buy Honeymoon [Explicit]
Buy High By The Beach [Explicit]
DESAPARECIDOS- PAYOLA
Conor Oberst’s (aka Bright Eyes) only actual band is him at his most political and angriest. A welcome return from this thoughtful punk act after a thirteen year gap between albums.
Buy Payola
Buy City on the Hill
FETTY WAP- FETTY WAP
Debut album by Patterson, NJ raised rap flavor of 2015 plays as a collection of singles and is mostly successful. Features huge radio hits “670”, “My Way”, “Jugg” and of course the monumentally successful “Trap Queen” which started it all.
Buy Fetty Wap (Deluxe) [Explicit]
Buy Trap Queen [Explicit]
COLLEEN GREEN- I WANT TO GROW UP
Three chord, hook-filled grunge-pop debut influenced by Ramones as well as nineties female fronted groups like Veruca Salt, the Breeders and Belly.
Buy I Want to Grow Up
Buy Wild One
GLEN HANSARD- DIDN’T HE RAMBLE
Enjoyable roots album from this passionate Irish mensch, heavily indebted to Van Morrison. Go see him live!
Buy Didn’t He Ramble
Buy Her Mercy
HOP ALONG- PAINTED SHUT
Passionately sung female fronted nineties influenced Philadelphia indie rock band makes good on second album. Both thought provoking and consistently rocking’.
Buy Painted Shut
Buy Horseshoe Crabs
MAC MCCAUGHAN- NON-BELIEVERS
Longtime frontman of Superchunk and Merge Records label head takes off his punk clothes to deliver very enjoyable power pop set.
Buy Non-Believers
Buy Your Hologram
JOANNA NEWSOM- DIVERS
Intricate and sophisticated album by hyper-literate singer, songwriter and harpist. Can be impenetrable at times but begins to reward after multiple listens.
Buy Divers
Buy Leaving The City
PROTOMARTYR- AGE OF INTELLECT
Tense and gloomy third album release from Detroit post-punk rockers. Driving, wiry guitar lines with catchy choruses and controlled but venomous vocals.
Buy The Agent Intellect
Buy Dope Cloud
SPEEDY ORTIZ- FOIL DEER
Female led, critically acclaimed Western Mass outfit is a throwback to nineties indie-rock and riot grrrl. Sophomore album is an improvement over the group’s solid debut.
Buy Foil Deer
Buy Raising the Skate
THEESATISFACTION- EARTHEE
Rewarding second album by underappreciated hip hop/funk/New Age spiritual Seattle group who is also very interconnected with the great Shabazz Palaces.
Buy EarthEE
Buy EarthEE
TORRES- SPRINTER
Spare and biting second album by female Nashville PJ Harvey influenced singer songwriter.
Buy Sprinter
Buy Sprinter
DONNIE TRUMPET & THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT- SURF
22 year Chance The Rapper’s touring band releases eclectic free digital download album influenced by hip hop, indie-rock, funk, jazz & old school New Orleans style R&B, proving that you’ll never know where Chance will go next.
*Best track Wanna Be Cool
TY DOLLA $IGN- FREE TC
Epic, long awaited full-length debut from singer/rapper/super-producer Ty Dolla $ign that’s stylistically diverse and a bit over the top with a few big highlights like “Solid”, “Blasé”, “Saved” and “LA”.
Buy Free TC [Explicit]
Buy Blasé (feat. Future & Rae Sremmurd) [Explicit]
WAXAHATCHEE- IVY TRIPP
Second album by Philadelphia indie folk-punk trip featuring the great “Under a Rock”.
Buy Ivy Tripp
Buy Under a Rock
WILCO- STAR WARS
Best and loosest Wilco album in years was first released as a free download in July.
Buy Star Wars
Buy More…
YOUNG THUG- BARTER 6
One of most prolific and successful artists of rap’s past few years releases retail mixed tape to much acclaim. Thug manages to be mysterious and esoteric while delivering myriad hooks and doing much to define rap’s current sound.
BuyBarter 6 [Explicit]
BuyCan’t Tell (feat. T.I. and Boosie BadAzz) [Explicit]