Scott Turner (Image: Heiko Ryll)
Scott Turner, host of Side by Side, dug through his personal album library to come up with his top five picks and, because he just couldn’t leave any out, his five honourable mentions.
Beach House
Depression Cherry
Arriving after a “longer-than-usual” break for the group, Depression Cherry hit the wrong notes with a lot of critics, with many claiming the record was just “another Beach House album”, but the argument to be made against that is this: this may be THE Beach House album. Compiling tone, texture, and flavour from across their four previous LP’s, this magnificent spacey trip is what dreams are made of, and the songs wrap themselves tighter and tighter around you with each listen.
Father John Misty
I Love You, Honeybear
In retrospect, this album’s trajectory to near-mainstream success seems impossible to derail. When an artist can drop an advance cut as strong as “Bored In The USA” and have faith that the rest of the record matches (or outdoes) that wonderful post-modern piece of romantic pop music… Well, Joshua Tillman laid it all out on the table (or wore it on his sleeve, pick your own metaphor) and almost a full year later, this record is still the essential dissection of a 21st century romance, with a dry, dark sense of humour.
Four Tet
Morning/Evening
Electronic musicians can struggle to represent the human element in their work, and the music feels dull and disconnected. Leave it to Kieran Hebden to design a two-track, forty minute electronic LP that feels more alive than almost any record released in 2015 (the singular exception is found on this list). Both Morning Side and Evening Side have their strengths and differences, but together, they are enchanting, ethereal, and radiant. There is never a bad time of day, or night, to put on this record.
To Pimp A Butterfly album cover (Image: courtesy kendricklamar.com)
Kendrick Lamar
To Pimp A Butterfly
“Important” records don’t come along like they used to, it seems. Maybe decades removed, albums will feel more indicative of the times, the way that, say, records by Gil Scott-Heron or Sly & The Family Stone chronicled social injustices or cultural uprisings. But for the first time in a long time, a true artist retreated inward, looked at the world and America around him, and produced a genre-bending, fiery, fierce and funky album that will be dissected and talked about long after the dust settles. The primal scream of Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly” is the voice of an entire generation that needs to be heard.
Jamie xx
In Color
Six years in the making, sampling dusty disco jams to Caribbean steel drums, featuring live vocals from his bandmates in The xx, guitar work from Four Tet; even with all those elements in place, Jamie xx’s In Colour did not need to be THIS good. It seems sort of benign to compare the sounds on record to the rainbow kaleidoscope that is the album’s artwork, but it really is a perfect metaphor. This record is a sonic rainbow, assembled piece by piece like a tile mosaic, with the majestic grand picture not coming in to frame until the listener drops the needle (or pushes play, I like vinyl, can you tell?) and the incredible tones begin. Like Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue is “the jazz album” that every record collection should have, regardless of jazz enthusiasm, this is “the electronic album” that every record collection needs.
Honourable Mentions:
The Chemical Brothers
Born In The Echoes
The boys are back with a collection of short, festival-ready bangers to remind America that they didn’t invent electronic dance music, and that nobody does it better than The Chemical Brothers.
Courtney Barnett
Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit
If there was any artist that Courtney Barnett could truly be compared to, she wouldn’t be so fiercely revered. However, Barnett is truly a unique voice and talent, and will undoubtedly spawn many imitators, who will pale in comparison to this Aussie genius.
Tobias Jesso, Jr.
Goon
From humble bedroom recordings to a record deal to a co-write with his favorite superstar (Adele), all within a year? It’s because Tobias Jesso Jr. knows how to write a collection of gorgeous McCartney-level pop.
Viet Cong
Viet Cong
Name controversy be damned, this (Canadian!!!) post punk outfit deserve all the praise they earned in 2015 for their fearsome live set and a record filled with songs that take sharp and unexpected turns every step of the way. Play this one LOUD.
Tame Impala
Currents
The funk is alive with Kevin Parker. Embracing his want to write lasting pop songs, but unable to ignore his mastery of druggy psychedelia, this is a trippy waltz through the radio dial of the 70’s and 80’s, with a heavy lean in to modern production.
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