If It's Too Loud...

It was a solid year for music, and a lot of really great songs came from the madness. Below are my 40 favorite songs of 2015 (think of it as my own personal Discover Weekly Yearly), and, below that, my yearly playlist of every single song I loved. I hope you find something new to explore in the lean release weeks.

Overall, I thought this was a good year for music on a whole. I think the most interesting point, for me at least, was the lack of a truly transformative album that really got me super excited. There was a lot of great music, but nothing truly exceptional. Anyway, the rest of my favorites this year: 11) Gary Clark Jr - The Story of Sonny Boy Slim 12) Sarah Bethe Nelson - Fast Moving Clouds 13) All Dogs - Kicking Every Day 14) Alabama Shakes - Sound and Color 15) Mal Blum - You Look a Lot Like Me 16) Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit 17) Rhiannon Giddens - Tomorrow is My Turn 18) Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free 19) YACHT - I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler 20) Jamie xx - In Colour And the best of the rest: Hop Along - Painted Shut Frank Turner - Positive Songs for Negative People Colleen Green - I Want to Grow Up Drew Holcolmb and The Neighbors - Medicine Heather Maloney - Making Me Break Waxahatchee - Ivy Tripp ...

My favorite album this year as well as my #1 album is The Lonesome Trio's self-titled debut. It was easy for me to initially write this off. A project from Ed Helms ( The Office , The Hangover ), my first thought was Andy Dwyer playing the banjo. And Helms's voice is unmistakable, don't get me wrong, but the album, from the first minute, shows that this is a serious project with a lot going for it. What I love most about it, though, is how much of a throwback bluegrass album this is. It's a mix of storytelling and humor, of lightness and of some heavy themes. "Appalachia Apologia" feels new and fresh while keeping with tradition, and "Whiskey Drink" is a song that might be my favorite of the year. I still continue being shocked at just how good this is, and upon learning how long these three have been playing together, the only negative is that this is the only album we have to enjoy so far. Truly the best experience of the year musically ...

My #2 album this year is by The Decemberists, their latest, What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World . This might be a surprise, and I'll be honest, it surprised me too. I loved the album when it came out, it's one of my most listened-to albums of the year, and when I went back to the best albums, this one just ranked so highly. It's similar to Picaresque in many ways, and while they're not quite continuing the trajectory of their previous album, that's not necessarily a bad thing. The soul of The Decemberists is alive and well in this album, from the lighter "Philomena" "Make You Better" a modern take, "Anti-Summersong" feeling more classic. It's an album that works in an era where albums seem to have less and less meaning. I think that matters on a whole, and perhaps my response to this album is a response to that overall situation during this era. You can listen to the stream below, assuming you haven't already...

My #3 of the year is Hands Together by Spirit Family Reunion. Going into this album, my thought was that "this album has no right to be as good as it is." Seeing them open for David Wax Museum back in 2011, the band had a very raw but boisterous quality to them that I warmed to almost immediately, but I couldn't help but think that this was a band that might stick to the sort of lo-fi indie quality that was working so well for them. Instead, they improved markedly as performers, as musicians, and as songwriters, and came up with an album that retains the fun of their initial recordings while absolutely moving forward as an act. Songs like "Put Your Hands Together When You Spin the Wheel" make it impossible for you not to get a bit of a groove on, and "Skillet Good and Greasy" succeeds in making an old standard their own. It's largely what you want from an Americana act these days, when the genre is reaching a popularity of sorts that deman...

My #4 of this year is Rose Mountain by Screaming Females. I was surprised when I listened to this, not only because it was better than I anticipated, but also because it had a sense of polish and completeness that their previous albums lacked. This is a brash, confident album that really works on all levels as a cohesive whole. Even still, songs like "Wishing Well" or "Empty Head" successfully stand on their own as well, resulting in an album that just has a lot of solid pieces to go with its straightforward delivery. In terms of a basic rock album, it's the best one of the year and it's not even close for me. Nothing else from this genre impressed me as much as Rose Mountain did, and Marissa Paternoster's work on other albums (both from a production and songwriting standpoint) makes a strong case that she might be my favorite musician of the year. Regardless, listen to the album streaming below:

My #5 album is from an artist that has been slowly morphing her sound and getting better for it every album, Nora Jane Struthers. Wake is her latest, and it is both her most accessible and perhaps best listen so far. Back when Turntable.FM was a thing, I spent a lot of time in the bluegrass channels, and one artist that popped up was Nora Jane Struthers and her song " Mocking Bird ," which just absolutely blew my mind in a way I didn't expect. Her albums since then have veered away from the bluegrass and toward a more accessible country, but that's not a bad thing at all, as Wake shows. It's more mature songwriting, it's more complicated melodies and lyrics, and it's just a better outcome. Typically, as bands become more mainstream, we don't entirely expect the results to be solid, but, so far, Struthers is bucking that trend. Definitely one of the best roots-based records of the year, and one everyone who reads this and likes the Americana s...

It's no secret that we love ourselves some Laura Stevenson at the blog. Cocksure is her best album to date, and it's only a testament to the rest of the releases this year that it's only my #6. Cocksure ups the ante in a lot of ways. The songwriting is tighter, the lyrics more direct, the potty mouth intact. It feels as much like a culmination of years of efforts as it does a fresh album, and, while the song that made us fall in love with her, "Master of Art," feels light years away in comparison to something like "Torch Song" or "Jellyfish," being able to balance the folkish aspects of Stevenson's songwriting with the punk background and obvious desire to crank things up a bit, the overall piece still feels extremely familiar. I feel like I'm always looking for "The Next Kathleen Edwards," but it's almost as if Laura Stevenson is filling that gap for me at present. For now, I'm enjoying what we're gettin...

Pale Honey is an album I came to late this year, and I'm glad I tracked it down before it was too late. It's got a lot of what I want in indie rock right now - a good balance of interesting songwriting, a blast of sound, and a unique sound that still feels familiar along the same lines. I compared it in my initial review to Mynabirds, but it also does a lot of interesting alt-rock things along the way. I think it's definitely one of the more interesting listens of the year, for sure, and you should really give this a listen via the stream below:

My #8 album is Grimes's Art Angels . If I ever revisit my lists in the future, this might be one I ranked too low. Or maybe too high. That's the magic of Art Angels . Grimes is the true anti-pop pop star, constantly reworking and reinventing herself along the way, doing it largely on her own, and not being tied down nor allowing the trends to define her sound or aesthetic. When " Go ," her Blood Diamonds collaboration, came out last year, I was interested in seeing where this was heading. Then Grimes went, scrapped the whole thing, and went in the direction that resulted in Art Angels . It's kind of a crazed masterpiece, with songs like "Kill V. Maim" sounding mainstream while also being completely ridiculous, "Flesh Without Blood" being a really angry, sassy punch while sounding like it would fit in next to Katy Perry. I have listened to this quite a bit since its release, and I don't even think I've started to figure it out,...

My #9 album this year is Wolf Alice, an album I loved when I first heard it and really couldn't let go of at all. If this didn't come out the same week as Bully's Feels Like , it was very very close, and I think the two bands will forever be aligned in my brain because of how they filled the same sort of throwback alt-rock aesthetic, but in very different ways. The Bully album did not make my top 10, but was a contender for a time, and Wolf Alice ultimately came out ahead because there are just so many interesting things going on. You have more straightforward stuff like "Moaning Lisa Smile," you have a great alt-rock groove in "Freazy," and album opener "Turn to Dust" sets the table for one of the better audio rides of the year for me. Overall, this was a must listen months ago when it came out, and it's a must listen now. Absolutely one of my favorites of the year, as well as one of the best musical albums, and it's streaming ...

It's that time of year again where we look at the best of the year. Kicking off my Best of 2015 list? Langhorne Slim and The Law's The Spirit Moves . Langhorne Slim has been an artist I've followed since I saw him open for Clem Snide many, many years ago. There's a punkish aesthetic of sorts to his brand of folk music, and his evolution from a solo artist to more of a band element has been a net positive. You may have recalled his song "Worries" from a few years back, and I really feel like The Spirit Moves is a natural evolution of his overall sound. This album goes in a few different places, and so many of the songs just keep getting stuck in my head long, long after I've listened. Honestly, if you haven't sought this one out yet, you really should, especially if you're one for good, offbeat folk sounds. This might be Langhorne Slim's best album yet, and it speaks to the strength and consistency of his songwriting that I keep goin...