Best 20 Albums of 2015

My personal favorite albums from this past year. As per usual, not intended to be in any kind of ranking order, although #1... well... :):):):)

1. Grimes - Art Angels

2. Jamie xx - In Colour

3. Björk - Vulnicura

4. Beach House - Depression Cherry

5. Chelsea Wolfe - Abyss

6.  Angel Haze - Back to the Woods

7.  Empress Of - Me

8. Lana Del Rey - Honeymoon

9. Anna von Hausswolff - The Miraculous

10.  Tamaryn - Cranekiss

11. Oneohtrix Point Never - Garden of Delete

12. Molly Nilsson - Zenith

13. Julia Holter - Have You In My Wilderness

14. Floating Points - Elaenia 

15. Colleen - Captain of None 

16. Tame Impala - Currents

17. Jonathan Johansson - Lebensraum!

18. Beach House - Thank You Lucky Stars

19. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell 

20. Small Black - Best Blues 

ABRA

Ryan Hemsworth

Postiljonen

Taken from their upcoming album Reverie, out February 19th.

Still Corners

Lovely.

Empress Of

Poliça

New album United Crushers expected to be out in April next year.

Chromatics

Sia

Check out this fierce video for Sia's "Alive". Her new album This is Acting is out January 29th.

Banks

Blood Orange

Memoryhouse

Keep Shelly in Athens

Grimes

FINALLY! Ugh, in love.

SBTRKT

Dream Suicides

Lovely, calming new song from Daniel Romero's Dream Suicides.

Zola Jesus

TĀLĀ + Banks

TĀLĀ and Banks join forces on this track from the former's EP MALIKA. Ughhhh. AMAZING.

Purity Ring + HEALTH

Molly Nilsson

Molly Nilsson's Zenith is out now.

Rosie Lowe

New single from Rosie Lowe!

Ryan Hemsworth and Lucas

Listen to Ryan Hemsworth and Seattle bedroom producer Lucas' amazing EP Taking Flight. Wowowow.

Chromatics

Keep an eye open for Chromatic's new album Dear Tommy, which has been delayed forever but will hopefully soon be released.

Empress Of

Empress Of's debut album Me is out now!

Small Black

Zola Jesus

How to Dress Well

My personal favorite from What Is This Heart?

Tei Shi

Cloud Ellyn

Wow. LOVELY. Cloud Ellyn's full-length Stillness Reigns is out next week.

Korallreven

Listen to this farewell-tune from Korallreven.



“It has been a trippie trip, sort of a dream come true, sort of a dream become shattered. Kinda incredible how Korallreven, with this weird name in Swedish snowballed from bedroom recordings in Stockholm into a headlining US tour, festivals around Europe, amazing collaborations and all this love we have felt from all around. It’s been magic, but there is a time for everything and an end to everything too, also with Korallreven. So, enjoy this single, as you would the last drop of fresh water in the jungle. It sort of underlines exactly everything we wanted to do from the beginning but never yet achieved. Lifelovingness, big words and melancholy in three and a half minutes, for the last time. Arrivederci, Daniel & Marcus”

Prince Innocence

Young Galaxy

Taken from Young Galaxy's new album Falsework, out October 30th.

Molly Nilsson

Listen to Molly Nilsson's ode to 1995 - "the year the future was to arrive" - taken from her upcoming LP Zenith.  Love this so much.

Tame Impala

From Tame Impala's latest album Currents.

CHVRCHES

Every Open Eye is out September 25th.

So Below

LOVE this ghostly track from New Zealand's So Below.

Lana Del Rey

Youth Lagoon

Youth Lagoon's new album Savage Hills Ballroom is out in September.

Cemeteries

Kiiara

Sports

Some breezy chillwave for you this Friday evening! Enjoy!
Sports' debut album Naked All The Time is out now.

Small Black

Small Black's third full-length Best Blues is out in October!

Låpsley

Ryan Hemsworth

Active Child

Summer Camp

Lower Dens

Lower Dens' album Escape from Evil is out!

CHVRCHES

Chvrches' new album Every Open Eye is out September 25th.

Cyril Hahn + Yumi Zouma

Taken from Cyril's EP Begin, out July 24th.

Tamaryn

Cemeteries

Portland-based dream-pop artist Cemeteries' first single from their upcoming second album Barrow.

MS MR

Julia Holter

Taken from her upcoming LP Have You in my Wilderness, out in September.

Beach House

"Sparks" is the first single from Beach House's upcoming album Depression Cherry, out August 28th. In case it wasn't obvious to you already - this is a fucking brilliant track! I am beyond thrilled about the album.

Tamaryn

Taken from Tamaryn's upcoming album Cranekiss, out August 28th.

Chelsea Wolfe

M83 + Jean-Michel Jarre

The Radio Dept.

SO F-IN HAPPY!!! Will always love The Radio Dept.

Jessy Lanza

Jessy Lanza's EP You Never Show Your Love is out on July 24th.

Dream Suicides

Empress Of

Keep Shelly in Athens

Keep Shelly in Athens explore their darker sides in their haunting new single "Benighted". Yay!

CFCF

Lovely new music from CFCF! The new LP Radiance and Submission is out next month.

Holly Herndon

Metric

In September, Metric will release their follow-up to 2012's Synthetica. The album is called Pagans in Vegas and this is the video to the first single, "Cascades".

Shura

Ambassadeurs

I FUCKING LOVE THIS.

GRRL PAL

Postiljonen

Here, have some new super-summery electropop.

Grace Lightman

Porcelain Raft

Gah. I LOVE this <3 <3 <3 Porcelain Raft's new EP Half Awake is out June 2nd.

Bo Rocha

Lovely.

Wet

Wet's debut LP Don't You is out this fall.

Tei Shi + Blue Hawaii

Noah

Enjoy this wonderful, dreamy new single from Japanese producer Noah. The single is taken from her upcoming full-length Sivutie, out June 22 via Flau. Note that date down!

Sóley

White Poppy

Vancouver-band White Poppy is completely new to me, but WOW, this song is great! Just the right kind of noise. <3 Someone made the comparison to a mix of Panda Bear and Cocteau Twins, which I thought was spot on. Looking forward to hearing more from them.

Cuushe

Well, by now, you should all know that I'm a bit obsessed with Cuushe.
Here's the video to "Tie".

Teen Flirt

Perfect track for this mellow Friday. Enjoy! <3

Tamaryn

Taken from Tamaryn's new LP Cranekiss, out August 28th.

Nina K

Yumi Zouma

TOPS

Peter Broderick

Wild Beasts

Janelle Monáe

Lydia Ainsworth

Enjoy the video to this magical, almost otherworldly track from Lydia's debut album Right from Real.
And as always, listen with headphones on, ffs!

Empress Of

"Water Water" is taken from Empress Of upcoming full-length debut, due out this summer.

The National

Here's a newly unveiled track from The National! The song, featuring backing vocals from Sharon Van Etten, is an outtake from Trouble Will Find Me that didn't quite make the cut.

MS MR

Active Child

Active Child's second single off his upcoming second album Mercy.

Izzy Bizu

Memory Tapes

Jamie xx

Tei Shi

Tei Shi drops yet another lovely track from her soon-to-be-released EP Verde.

Twin Caverns

Cuushe

Gaaah. Japan's Cuushe reveal another amazing track, off the upcoming EP Night Lines, out April 7th. Listen with headphones, please.

Allie X

FKA Twigs

Dream Lake

Pastel Ghost

Gahhh. This fantastic, hypnotic track from Oakland's Pastel Ghost can be found on their album Abyss.

Tinashe

Enjoy Tinashe's mixtape Amethyst!

Daughn Gibson

Active Child

"1999" will appear on Active Child's upcoming full-length Mercy, out in June.

Björk

Shlohmo

Astronomyy + Denai Moore

Lower Dens

Shura

Grimes

Grimes just released the video to "Realiti" on her tumblr, apparently a song that was supposed to be on her upcoming album but now won't be. Anyway. She added the below text to go with it. I don't know about the rest of you but I find this to be about the opposite of a mess. Will be listening to it on repeat for a long time now, for sure.

since this is no longer gonna be on the album, I’m releasing it as a special thank you to everyone in Singapore, KL, Manila, Jakarta, HK, Shanghai, Beijing, Taipei, Seoul, Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo who came out to the shows!  It was an honor to play with a bunch of amazing bands and travel to places I would never otherwise be able to go  <3  - Its the 2 year anniversary of that tour, so seems appropriate 2 put this out

This song was never finished. its a demo from ~ the lost album ~, recorded early 2013.  i lost the ableton file, so its not mixed or mastered. i tried to doctor the mp3 into a listenable state, but it was poorly recorded in the first place and never meant to be heard by anyone, so its a bit of a mess haha.  

Grimes

Braids

"Taste" is the second single from Braids' forthcoming album, Deep in the Iris. Here's the first single in case you missed it!

Jenny Hval

The intriguing track "The Battle is Over" can be found on Jenny Hval's upcoming album Apocalypse, girl.

Chromatics

Hey! I suggest you start off this Friday evening with "I Can Never Be Myself When You're Around", another great track off Chromatics' upcoming full-length Dear Tommy.

Purity Ring

Purity Ring's new album Another Eternity is officially out March 3rd. Listen to the album in its entirety here.

Cuushe

Listen to this lovely new track from Tokyo's Cuushe, which will be found on her upcoming EP Night Lines, out April 7th. If her new EP is anything as dream-like as last year's Butterfly Case, it's bound to be brilliant!

Blush Beat Red

Two years ago, Blush Beat Red came out with their debut EP and then we haven't heard anything from then 'til this newly released track "Falling Apart". Ugh, what's not to love? Pure, fantastic electro-pop!

Parks, Squares and Alleys

It's Friday! I suggest you start off the weekend with a dose of synth-pop/dream-pop in the form of this infectious track straight from Russia!

Le Volume Courbe + Kevin Shields

London psych pop group Le Volume Courbe collaborate with freakin' My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields on this little gem. Enjoy!

Bo Rocha

Listen to new London artist Bo Rocha's debut single "Tangerine Flake".

Passion Pit

Taken from Passion Pit's new album Kindred.

Hot Chip

Tei Shi + HONNE

Lower Dens

Lower Dens' Escape from Evil is out March 31st.
Love the 80s/90s-romanticizing going on in this video!

Yumi Zouma

Here's a new swoony track from Yumi Zouma, available on their upcoming EP II, out March 10th.

Jessie Ware

Tei Shi

Tei Shi's EP Verde is out April 14th.

Laura Groves

Yumi Zouma

Yumi Zouma's EP II is out!

Tove Styrke

I have to admit, I'd never heard of Tove Styrke (apparently a Swedish Idol contestant who already has an EP out) until I heard this track just now. Also have to admit it's the first genuinely pop-y song I've enjoyed in a long time. Why do I like this? I ask myself. And the answer to that question is always: great beats. So that's all there is to that. Enjoy!

Morly

Dan Lissvik

From Lissvik's new 12" Shuvit, out February 9th.

Vuurwerk

"Wakening" is the first proper single from one of Belgium's currently most-talked-about experimental/electronic acts Vuurwerk. The fact that Vuurwerk is dutch for fireworks and that their influences include Burial and Clams Casino should be enough for you to keep them in mind.

Burial

A brand new Burial!

Purity Ring

"Begin again" is a new track from Purity Ring, from their upcoming album Another Eternity, out March 3rd.