AllMusic 2015 Year In Review
AllMusic Best of 2015 -
This year brought long-awaited returns, introduced incredible new talent, and allowed veterans to justify their longevity. Over the next three weeks, we'll be bringing you the highlights of the year in music, beginning with our editors' overall list of the best albums of 2015.
The Spanish singer and songwriter pushes many musical boundaries in a provocative, breathtaking new collection.
On her sterling second album, Ashley Monroe broadens her view and sharpens her skills, resulting in an exquisite, alluring listen.
The soul dynamo's most stimulating work yet, produced entirely by psychedelic soul specialist Adrian Younge.
The "Call Me Maybe" singer/songwriter returns with heartfelt, stylish songs that prove there's more to her music than her smash hit.
Second album from this Seattle group that blends beguiling, mysterious guitar songs with sharply funny lyrical themes.
Drawing from influences as wide-ranging as dub and '50s pop, the artist's fifth album is some of her boldest, most eclectic music yet.
Ren Schofield's third full-length as Container is his most concentrated burst of industrial-strength noise-techno yet.
Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit.
Invigorating, compelling debut from the wry and furious Australian singer/songwriter.
Salvant dazzles your ears while breaking your heart on this romantic, virtuosic follow-up to WomanChild.
Recorded in the wake of an accident that hospitalized Bradford Cox, the band's meditations on seizing the moment are some of their finest music yet.
A cohesive, intensely wistful, strings- and horns-washed epic exploration of New York city life from the bewildering Dan Bejar.
Sax-enriched punk rock band cooks with righteous rage and inspiring joy on their first full album.
After 16 years the veteran producer returns with an excellent album that was inspired by the N.W.A biopic Straight Outta Compton.
Shorn of excess, this surprise album from Eric Church is a muscular, moving record.
Full of breezily bittersweet power pop, the Brooklyn trio's debut feels like a long-lost classic.
Caustic retro-pop confectioner Josh Tilmann finds true love on his second outing under the Father John Misty moniker.
Sam Shepherd and supporting players' exacting yet free-flowing cross between modern creative jazz and ambient techno.
Eclectic and intelligent solo effort from the Saturday Looks Good to Me founder, embracing the personal as well as the global.
The great songwriter and accordionist greatly ups his own creative ante with this excellent 26-track album.
Using just electric guitar and bass, Cleo Tucker and Harmony Tividad deliver an appealingly direct and wonderfully human debut.
The veteran underground MC teams with Australian producer Katalyst for his most varied effort to date.
A double dose of dizzying brilliance from Erykah Badu's and Prince's favorite Australian avant-R&B band.
The North Carolina blues/folk singer's wonderfully understated debut is full of personality and charm.
The producer's debut album expands on his nostalgic yet forward-looking updates on classic U.K. dance music.
A wholly pleasing, relatively contemporary set from one of the planet's greatest multidimensional R&B talents.
A massive step forward for this abstract sound artist, incorporating minimal rhythms into his textural shoegaze pieces.
The singer/songwriter's third album is some of his angriest, saddest, funniest, and most adventurous music.
A more intimate work, the singer/composer's fourth album is the most approachable example of her brilliance yet.
A massive, accessible, revelatory debut by the veteran L.A. saxophonist, his large band (with Thundercat), strings, and a choir.
Not the sophomore slump, but another LP of elevated excellence, the Compton rapper offers a dark and deep journey on this epic release.
The singer/songwriter trades electric guitars for acoustics, banjos, and pianos, whittling away excess while retaining eccentricity.
The one they call Young Sinatra returns with an excellent sophomore LP that doubles as a sci-fi concept album.
Low Cut Connie's second album is a rowdy revival tent that preaches the gospel of rock & roll sleaze.
Smart and sentimental, bright and lively, the debut from Maddie & Tae is a fresh, dynamic debut that captures the sound of modern country in 2015.
A second album of unfailingly beautiful, relentlessly longing, sparse electronic song from the Montreal duo.
Chicago-based experimental musician Whitney Johnson expands her otherworldly, hypnotic sound on her second LP as Matchess.
A gorgeous fusion of Laurel Canyon singer/songwriter folk and Southern soul on this impressive debut from the former Jenny Lewis sidewoman.
Okko Kamu / Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Sibelius' complete symphonies are presented in an exceptionally clear and coherent survey by Okku Kamu and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
Impressive, accomplished debut from a U.K. singer and songwriter equally comfortable with traditional and original material.
A dense, dizzying masterwork that imbues the producer's flair for nostalgia with powerful emotions.
The producer's debut addresses corruption and violation in violent, haunting tracks that shatter grime's boundaries.
The composer and pianist returns with 11 outstanding new pieces that honor the joys and terrors of the world outside.
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: Rosary Sonatas
For this double SACD, Rachel Podger plays the Rosary Sonatas of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber in authentic Baroque style.
The former Moloko frontwoman's first album in eight years takes a tender, personal approach that's all the more powerful for its subtlety.
Shamir Bailey / Shamir / Nick Sylvester
The Las Vegas-based artist's debut album expands on the vibrant, genre-defying charm of his early singles.
Super-hooky scruff pop from Seattle delivered with tuneful swagger and introspection, like a leather-clad Beach Boys or a sweater-wearing JAMC.
Simone Young / Philharmoniker Hamburg
Simone Young's recording of Bruckner's Fifth brings to a close her live audiophile cycle of the symphonies on Oehms Classics.
The acclaimed singer/songwriter confronts the death of his mother with this powerful song cycle of memory and loss.
One of 2015's best noncommercial (and band-oriented) R&B albums, a broad mix of romantic emotions conveyed in succinct, understated style.
The manic Pacific Northwest garage band returns to the studio and delivers an album that lives up to their furious legend.
With Clams Casino and No ID, the West Coast rapper makes his official debut an excellent double LP.
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe (Complete Ballet); Pavane
Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra perform Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé in a superb multichannel recording.
