The 100 Best Songs of 2015

Generally speaking, when putting this particular list together, I look for well crafted songs, and I try to sequence them in a manner that ranks them based on how much I like them, as well as how well them flow into each other. Usually the average song length is about three minutes. Except in years like this of course, where David Bowie decides to release a ten minute masterpiece, which now requires a home somewhere in the list.

The other thing I have always done over many years of making this list, is only allowing one song per artist, with a mind to capturing more cool songs by more cool artists. This year though, I decided to allow multiple songs per artist. The result is probably a more solid and accurate list of 100 songs. Usually I second guess these things before even hitting post, but this really feels like 100 songs I thought were most of the best ones I heard this year. Colour me momentarily happy about all my hard work.

With the pending demise of Rdio, I have made the reluctant switch to Spotify, but I have compiled and and made these fabulous songs available in both streaming services.

Spotify playlist

Rdio playlist

As an aside, this was my 50 Best Albums of 2015 blog post from last week.

	Song	Artist
100	Bassem Sabry	Of Montreal
99	Johnny Delusional	FFS
98	Oh Donna	Library Voices
97	The Shade	Metric
96	Leave A Trace	Chvrches
95	Killer	New Division
94	Eternal (On & On)	Grave Babies
93	Running Wild	Drenge
92	Museum of Broken Relationships	Veruca Salt
91	Burning For No One	The Cribs
90	The Light	EZTV
89	I Can't Explain	Surfer Blood
88	We Lost Everything	The Dears
87	Trouble	Citizens!
86	Disappointing	John Grant
85	In A Future World	Telekinesis
84	Giudeca	Ghost Culture
83	Are You Ready?	Mercury Rev
82	To Die In L.A.	Lower Dens
81	Reality In Motion	Tame Impala
80	Heart Of Oak	Richard Hawley
79	Compound Fracture	My Morning Jacket
78	So Oh	The Charlatans
77	Minimal Affection	The Vaccines
76	A New Wave	Sleater-Kinney
75	Where You At?	The Bohicas
74	Pontiac 87	Protomartyr
73	English Subtitles	Swervedriver
72	Lost On Me	Peace
71	Boys Latin	Panda Bear
70	Decided Knowledge	Dutch Uncles
69	First Light	Django Django
68	Lonesome Street	Blur
67	Detroit	Gaz Coombes
66	Turn Around	Mikal Cronin
65	At 45 rpm	Brideshead
64	Ready To Shine	Young Galaxy
63	Fade Away	Susanne Sundfor
62	Classic Man	Jidenna
61	The Right Time	Tuxedo
60	Tell Me	Humans
59	Too Much Space Man	Diane Coffee
58	Emoticons	The Wombats
57	Superheated	New Order
56	repetiton	Purity Ring
55	Slow Rotor	Errors
54	Dark Night	Hot Chip
53	Delirious	Susanne Sundfor
52	Bleeder	Ceremony
51	Spit You Out	Metz
50	Foolin Around	Crocodiles
49	Wildflower	Beach House
48	Life Like This	Kurt Vile
47	What Part Of me	Low
46	Pieces	Tanlines
45	Flesh Without Blood	Grimes
44	Need You Now	Hot Chip
43	Bros	Wolf Alice
42	Pretty Torn Up	EZTV
41	Different Angle	The Cribs
40	Reapers	Muse
39	Bunker Buster	Viet Cong
38	Living Zoo	Built To Spill
37	Mansplainer	Local H
36	I'm A Girl	Peace
35	Made My Mind Up	Mikal Cronin
34	Young Girls	PINS
33	The Pattern	Ceremony
32	Quo Vadis	Lower Dens
31	Get To Heaven	Everything Everything
30	When The Lights Turn Out	Twin Shadow
29	Real Girl	Little Boots
28	Saturday Night	Yukon Blonde
27	The Noisy Days Are Over	Field Music
26	Go Out	Blur
25	Restless	New Order
24	Over It	Junior Boys
23	Let It Happen	Tame Impala
22	No Reptiles	Everything Everything
21	Black Star	David Bowie
20	Courtesy Phone	Telekinesis
19	A Hunger Artist	Girls Names
18	Silhouettes	Viet Cong
17	For A Day Like Tomorrow	Swervedriver
16	Eyes On You	Veruca Salt
15	Crybaby Demon	Crocodiles
14	Pretty Pimpin	Kurt Vile
13	Heart Of The Matter	The Libertines
12	In n Out	Dutch Uncles
11	Birch Tree	Foals
10	Mr. Noah	Panda Bear
9	Freazy	Wolf Alice
8	Huarache Lights	Hot Chip
7	Kathleen Sat On The Arm of Her Favourite Chair	Hooton Tennis Club
6	Dust In The Sky	EZTV
5	Feel Like	Mikal Cronin
4	Ondine	Lower Dens
3	The Less I Know The Better	Tame Impala
2	The Separation	Ceremony
1	Distant Past	Everything Everything

The 50 Best Albums of 2015

Man...I don't know. This was a strange year. It feels like there were a whole lot of "good" to "very good" albums released, but very few "great" to "amazing" ones. The bands or artists who had good momentum leading into their third or fourth albums, seemed to rise to the challenge to make some great records. Some elders showed they could still hold their own, making better than expected records. Then there were some new kids who made some positive noise, and it will be interesting over the next couple years to see what they do with it.

For my part, I started the year once again hoping to focus my listening, by not throwing the net so wide. I listen to less music than some people, but more music than most people. I have become increasingly adept at hearing something quickly and knowing if it is going to work out for me, and moving along. That is not to say some albums don't grow on me in due course, but more than in previous years, there were so many albums this year that my ears thought were cool for a good time...just not a long time. Hence why this fun little project sees us back at a Top 50 this year versus a Top 100. 

Generally speaking, I feel comfortable that my sequencing and ranking methodology up to 50 with any pop culture list, works well and mostly without too much bias or outside influence. After 50, it can get a bit dodgy. So the fact that I really only truly liked about 70 albums this year, made it tricky to get down to 50, but pretty easy to stay inside 100. 

As always, melody, harmony, song craft, attention to detail and listenability generally make these albums winners for me. I could have thrown in a few metal and hip-hop albums I liked in 2015 I suppose, but it would have been disingenuous and only served the purpose of optically balancing the list. Plain and simple, I like well put together songs. They can be guitar songs or synth songs. They can be fuzzy, heavy, or jangly. They can be dreamy, gothy, mathy, quirky or bouncy. 

All I really ever want to hear from an album, are a bunch songs where somewhere cared, someone was honest, and someone gave something a try.

	Artist	Title
50	Ghost Culture	Ghost Culture
49	Metz	II
48	Protomartyr	The Agent Intellect
47	Local H	Hey Killer
46	The Cribs	For All My Sisters
45	Mercury Rev	The Light In You
44	Gaz Coombes	Matador
43	Dave Gahan & Soulsavers	Angels and Ghosts
42	Grimes	Art Angels
41	The Charlatans	Modern Nature
40	New Order	Music Complete
39	PINS	Wild Nights
38	Battles	La Di Da Di
37	Sleater-Kinney	No Cities To Love
36	Godspeed You! Black Emperor	Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress
35	Susanne Sundfor	Ten Love Songs
34	Built To Spill	Untethered Moon
33	Peace	Happy People
32	Low	Ones and Sixes
31	Swervedriver	I Wasn't Born to Love You
30	Veruca Salt	Ghost Notes
29	Tuxedo	Tuxedo
28	Little Boots	Working Girl
27	Blur	The Magic Whip
26	Young Galaxy	Falsework
25	Beach House	Depression Cherry
24	Surfer Blood	1000 Palms
23	Beach House	Thank Your Lucky Stars
22	Yukon Blonde	On Blonde
21	The Libertines	Anthems For Doomed...
20	Wolf Alice	My Love Is Cool
19	Errors	Lease Of Life
18	Kurt Vile	b'lieve i'm goin down...
17	Telekinesis	Ad infinitum
16	Dan Deacon	Gliss Riffer
15	Foals	What Went Down
14	Viet Cong	Viet Cong
13	The Dears	Times Infinity - Volume One
12	Crocodiles	Boys
11	Girls Names	Arms Around A Vision
10	Bjork	Vulnicura
9	Panda Bear	Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper
8	Dutch Uncles	O Shudder
7	Tame Impala	Currents
6	Hot Chip	Why Make Sense?
5	Ceremony	The L-Shaped Man
4	EZTV	Calling Out
3	Lower Dens	Escape From Evil
2	Everything Everything	Get To Heaven
1	Mikal Cronin	MCIII