John Bemis
Web Producer
@bemiscourant
2015 was another crazy year for musical releases. Across the genre spectrum we saw innovation; expectations were defied, audiences were floored, styles were pioneered, decade-long album sale records were broken, previous albums were lived up to, not lived up to and bested.
Of them all, here are my top ten.
10. Thee Oh Sees – Mutilator, Defeated at Last
It’s become difficult for fuzzed-out garage bands like Thee Oh Sees to escape making virtually the same album over and over again. Band leader John Dwyer had fallen into the trap, sacrificing the one-two-punch of the band’s early records for the latest effects pedals. After a two year hiatus, though, Thee Oh Sees have returned with a spanking new lineup to provide us with a reminder of a lost psychedelic fantasy; reptilian vocals, burning guitars and churning bass, wrapped up in songs that actually rock without losing detail in the density.
9. NAO – February 15 EP
The style of synthed-out R&B that’s grown in the past few years has left a lot wanting in terms of poignancy. Out of virtually nowhere, British singer-songwriter NAO has managed to capture those emotional highs within a vein all her own. The production, deftly drawn from the best of recent deep house and dubstep releases, flecks so much sass and self-assurance upon these five tracks that her lyrics don’t have to; she can tackle romantic cliches with earth-shaking confidence, casting off pains of loss elevating from them.
8. Cuushe – Night Lines
If you’re new to the genre known as bedroom pop, start with Cuushe’s last LP, Butterfly Case. It’s a paragon of what you’d expect it to sound like, with lush synths accompanying wispy vocal deliveries, all textured to perfection. What’s changed on Night Lines is her sense of build-up and mood; she can use her delivery to hypnotize, deftly wielding the pathos that was once only implied. It’s her shift from a dewy morning to a cold, cloudless night, and the result is lonely and enchanting
7. Lightning Bolt – Fantasy Empire
The Brian’s Chippendale and Gibson have always worked through a narrow palate with fairly consistent goals. Still, their arted-out blitzkrieg of frenetic drumming, lo-fi vocals and noise-blasted bass that they work with (at ridiculous volume) has benefitted from the band’s first true studio experience. They’ve retracted from their playfulness and tapped into something darker. It’s a return to the ruthless, dense pummelling of their early work, reminiscent of Boredom’s palpable rage while unafraid of their originally developed silliness. Fantasy Empire remains a zany, hodge-podge listen, but they’re still the masters of their disorder.
6. Wand – Golem
Psychedelic rock has reached a point of obligatory imagery; tie-died, Joshua-Light-Show, rainbow petri-dish earthiness has permeated the style to nauseating extent since the remembrance of acts like the 13th-Floor Elevators. It’s so much more powerful, then, that Wand have decided to place their latest work within a barren landscape. There’s a cosmic, spaced out energy that’s more reminiscent of pitch-black actual space than an acid flashback; it’s a truly powerful listen while still retaining a timeless narcotic effect.
5. Christian Scott – Stretch Music
“When one defines something, they are forcing it to exist within the confines of its explanation” writes Christian Scott on his website, detailing the concept of this year’s masterful ‘Stretch Music’; “just because it can be said that my work is inherently Jazz does not mean that it is exclusively Jazz”. With that in mind, the success of the album is obvious. Seamlessly, Scott can fuse new age, latin, funk, hard rock and even some trap into his Jazz blend, forgoing a consistent trumpet sound to capture a spectrum of moods. The washed-out bliss of “Sunrise in Beijing” or “Tantric” is counteracted with the flare of tracks like “Twin” and “West of the West”, proving Scott to be a composer whose sense of tension comes from a meditative space.
4. Viet Cong – Viet Cong
What a shame that Calgary post-punkers Women led such a short career, what with such a fresh quixotic sense of noise and space. Luckily, the debut album from ex-members Matt Flegel and Mike Wallace proves that those elements have been built upon, finally worked into expertly crafted songs. Their ice-cold yet cavernous guitar work provides an appropriately industrial backdrop to their alienated, existential lyrics; the whole thing feels so dystopian, yet concerns itself with nihilism and detachment from their bleak outlook . While capturing a cerebral rebellion lost since Pere Ubu and the Mekons, songs like “March of Progress’ and “Continental Shelf” show an attention to texture completely their own.
3. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
The sophomore has famously been the artistic make-or-break point in popular music; Kendrick Lamar could have come back from Good Kid M.A.A.D City with an album packed full of bangers like “Swimming Pools”, or another brilliantly cinematic concept record. Following the past several year’s record of racial turbulence, the emergence of activism in the face of police shootings, and a new national focus on social justice in black communities, it feels as though Kendrick tread where he felt was most responsible. Infusing soul, jazz, and old-school hip-hop stylings among his conscious bars, variety is unified by his tactical rebellion; whether against police brutality, personal strifes or gentrification, he’s perfectly captured a colorful, relevant narrative with an element of pride, fun, and integrity.
2. Death Grips – Jenny Death
What was assumed to be a capstone to the most confounding circumstance of fame in recent memory, the second half of Death Grips’ double-album, The Powers That B, had expectations to satisfy. From the forced avant-garde to the overall mess that was the album’s first half, there was an aggressive silver-tongued-ness lost since near perfect albums such as The Money Store. If there was ever a triumphant return, it is Jenny Death. Explosive and unabashed, it’s the trio returning again to some primal shock and awe. It’s another hurricane, without the explicit world-building of previous masterworks, but stand-alone in assault. MC Ride’s relentless vocals, Zach Hill’s hailstorm drumming and Flatlander’s explosive electronics are all once more recognizable, melding into one more lasting record from the most fearless minds in hip-hop.
1. Kamasi Washington – The Epic
As arranger and performer on Kendrick Lamar’s TPAB, Saxophonist Kamasi Washington wouldn’t really pass the smell test for an artist that would release a triple album like The Epic. Several hours long, spanning across three discs and decades of jazz history, it’s simply a masterwork. While several have critiqued the additional string section and accompanying choir, I must ask, what barriers are left to be broken? Loudness, speed, solo ferocity have all been tackled years ago; Kamasi is playing with grandiosity while tapping into the same spiritual energy that inspired Coltrane and Ayler. He’s set the bar for new extremes without becoming exhaustive, and even through over three hours worth of music retains not just interest but awe. In my opinion, it’s our generation’s A Love Supreme, set to inspire the next wave of Jazz musicians that will rise to the brilliant occasion that Kamasi has set the stage for.
