AllMusic 2015 Year in Review
Favorite Rock Albums
Despite the proclamations and obituaries, rock still isn't dead in 2015, with strong albums from Kurt Vile, Blur, Best Coast, Alabama Shakes, the Dead Weather and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds leading the charge.
The new Southern quartet gets suitably weird on this vivid, adventurous sophomore set.
The band aims for the back of arenas with its slick and unabashedly '90s alt rock-influenced third album.
With producer Brendan O'Brien, these Southern rockers deliver an album of great songs fueled by killer riffs and hooks.
A wide-open, old-fashioned rock record alternating between lumbering riff-rockers and burnished folk-rock.
A rich, meditative comeback that sees the kings of Brit-pop reclaiming their status as an art-pop band.
The power pop legend touches upon all the music he's ever played or loved on this vibrant, vital album.
Literate, impeccably produced rumination on love, memory, and the music that moves our hearts.
Canadian band's 2015 debut sounds like the great lost alt-rock noise pop album of 1992. (That's a compliment.)
American Beauty/American Psycho
Perhaps the best fusion yet of Patrick Stump's love of soul and Pete Wentz's rock & roll savior aspirations.
A moody yet comforting record that plays like a decade-delayed sequel to Supergrass' Road to Rouen.
Graham Parker / Graham Parker & the Rumour
Former Angry Young Man becomes the Larry David of pub rock, and it suits him perfectly on this sharp but laid-back set.
The Oklahoma rock & roller's sophomore album of literate, rootsy, old-school R&B.
The gifted pop songwriter hops from New York and New Orleans to Amsterdam and Berlin on his first studio set since 2008.
Juliana Hatfield / Juliana Hatfield Three
The Juliana Hatfield Three reunite for the first time in 22 years, delivering a record that's tougher, flintier, and better than their 1993 alt-rock classic.
The singer/songwriter trades electric guitars for acoustics, banjos, and pianos, whittling away excess while retaining eccentricity.
11 tough songs of rage and disappointment in a decaying culture from America's favorite two-man post-grunge juggernaut.
Low Cut Connie's second album is a rowdy revival tent that preaches the gospel of rock & roll sleaze.
Adding some dramatic scope to his sound (with strings, horns, and a side-long concept), the singer/songwriter goes big without going flat.
Noel Gallagher / Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Second time around, the Oasis leader sharpens his focus and expands his palette, winding up with a better version of the High Flying Birds' debut.
The latest edition of David Thomas' proto-punk band delivers his hardest, most rocking album in decades.
A dense, bright, furious, and joyful reunion from the trail-blazing punk trio.
Difford and Tilbrook reunite for Squeeze's first album in 17 years and it's a lively, wry delight.
On its first album since 1998, this cult shoegaze band sounds as exciting and as dreamy as decades prior.
Atmospheric, soulful debut from Black Keys leader Dan Auerbach's side project the Arcs.
Easygoing but committed set from these alt-country survivors shows they write about working-class life better than nearly anyone.
The band collaborates with producer Ric Ocasek on some of its poppiest misfit anthems yet.
The Darkness / The Last of Our Kind Choir
A relentlessly likeable smorgasbord of hard rock posturing that manages to touch on nearly every iteration of the genre.
After a five-year hiatus, the supergroup delivers its most compelling, exciting album yet.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015
More fractured, electrified, postmodern gutbucket from the band that defined the form; their toughest, most grooving set since 1996.
The manic Pacific Northwest garage band returns to the studio and delivers an album that lives up to their furious legend.
After getting in touch with their softer side on Drop, the gnarly, noisy guitars are back on the band's sixth album in five years.
Wild and trashy rock & roll side project by Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes.
Intelligent, original indie punks create their most ambitious album to date, a guided tour through one man's damaged psyche.
A warm, sunny, and rhythmic album that easily conjures memories of mid-'70s Dead.
Seventeen years after their last album together, the band's original lineup reunites for a consistently enjoyable set of songs about falling apart.
After a detour into murky overproduction, the band returns with their most straightforward, hookiest, and brightest-sounding album yet.
On its debut album, the Kentucky garage punk band has hooks to spare, energy to burn, and a batch of knockout songs.
Jeff Tweedy and his bandmates roll tape, turn up their amps, and create their most playful and spontaneous work in years.
The great British eccentric moves to the United States and writes about the things he sees, from diner food to failing boy bands.