2015 has been a great year for music. So many good albums, songs and new bands. I am never good at setting up a "year end-list" of a select number of favourite releases, because when I start to work on them, the list always end up with a huge number of releases that have meant something special to me during the year. Rating music is not something I like to do either, so this year will be different – I will make month by month summaries of what made my heart beat faster in 2015.
Here are the things I loved from January's releases (the ones that means most to me are marked with a red ||).
A Spotify playlist with songs from these releases can be found below.
Happyness – Weird Little Birthday || It was like getting a new solid Pavement album. So many great songs on it!
Ghost Culture – Ghost Culture || A dark, melodic electronica album with very nice vocal melodies.
La Guerre – Sapphires || A beautiful folky album with some electronic pop additions. Beautiful vocals and melodies.
Man Without Country – Maximum Entropy || Sometimes close to dream pop, other times close to synth pop. Good songs through the whole album.
Menace Beach – Ratworld || Very nice album that sometimes reminds me of The Boo Radleys with a garage-touch, especially on "Fortune Teller".
Pinkshinyultrablast – Everything Else Matters || Lovely dreampop/shoegaze inspired album.
Twerps – Range Anxiety || Pure indiepop brilliance! I love love love this album.
Wildhoney – Sleep Through it || Shoegazy loveliness.
Oscar – Daffodil Days || Pure pop gold from start to finish. Sadly, his later releases never met my expectations.
Andy Shauf – You're Out Wasting || So beautiful, a bit sad and full of feelings inside. "But you're out wasting time with the right guy". Perfect. Unlike Oscar, Shauf definitely met my expectations later this year.
Astronauts – In My Direction || A bit of folk and a bit of electronica from the former Dark Captain-member. Warm, melancholic and beautiful.
Courtney Barnett – Pedestrian at best || This has definitely been Barnett's year, and this powerful single shows everything she's good at.
Crushed Beaks – Overgrown || The chorus of this power pop song is so good and with a catchy guitar in addition, this is addictive.
Death Cab for Cutie – Black Sun || As an old fan, I always look forward to a new DCFC release, and I loved the change in direction on this one. Great track.
The Echo Field – Watch Your Step || 60s inspired Swedish pop at its best. Great introduction to a wonderful new band.
Gengahr – She's a Witch || I like this a lot, and have a weak spot for everything this band has done this year. Not on the top of my list, but a very pleasant listen.
The Go! Team – The Scene Between || A name to count on, always, and they did it this time as well. Brilliant song.
Hooton Tennis Club – Jasper || A new discovery for me this year, and this song opened my eyes to this great band.
Life Sized Maps – Strange Obsessions || Catchy and upbeat, with a synth riff that sits in your brain after the song is finished.
Lusts – Temptation || A very strong post-punkish single from Lusts. Brilliant chorus!
Moon King – Roswell || Dreampop meets Kraut meets Synthpop.
Purity Ring – Begin again || It probably sounds like a lot of other bands these days, like Chvrhes, but I like this.
Razika – Faen ta deg || A girl group with a lot of attitude from Bergen, Norway singing in Norwegian. Perfect "f*** you!"-song.
SOAK – Sea Creatures || Great song. You have probably heard it on the radio, haven't you?
Trust Fund – Essay To Write || I love Trust Fund. Nothing more to say. Lo-Fi-Love.
Cabane ft Bonnie "Prince" Billy – Sangokaku/La Gomera || Stunning. I can't say anything more descriptive. Probably my favourite release this month. So good!
Kate Tempest – Bad Place for a Good Time || Rap is not my favourite genre, but I love good poetry, and Kate Tempest is a poet, – dark, sad poetry. I love her dark stories. Worth a listen even if you don't like hiphop.
La Bien Querida – Nocturnidad || I love the Spanish label Elefant Records, and this band is one of my favourites. This mini-album is brilliant, all the way through.
Paul Cook and The Cronicles – Night Fires EP || Not really easy to describe, other than that it's an EP full of good, beautiful songs and classic songwriting.