Ten (Eleven) Favorite Records of 2015 So Far

Maybe it’s something in the water, but 2015 has been a great year for music so far. Up top we got great new albums from Sleater-Kinney, Drake, Braids, Sufjan Stevens, Best Coast, and Mikal Cronin to name a few. We still have new Beach House, Julia Holter, Lana Del Rey, Emily Reo, Grimes, Kanye West, and M.I.A records to look forward to along with Carly Rae Jepsen’s E•MO•TION (and if I continue to pray maybe a new Joanna Newsom record), but I wanted to share my favorite records of 2015 so far. Dive in and hold on for dear life.

Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit

Mom + Pop Music / Via sometimesisit.momandpopmusic.com

Within the first few weeks of 2015, Australian rocker Courtney Barnett blew me away with “Pedestrian At Best,” a blistering piece of blues that can only be played loudly and proudly. The rest of Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit shows off the full range of Barnett’s talents. It’s already a classic.

Essential Tracks: “Pedestrian At Best” “Depreston” “Debbie Downer”

Death Cab For Cutie - Kintsugi

Atlantic Records / Via deathcabforcutie.com

Losing producer and lead guitarist Chris Walla halfway through the making of Death Cab For Cutie’s eighth record, Kintsugi may have been the shot in the arm the band needed. Oh and lead songwriter and resident fuckboy Ben Gibbard got divorced from Manic Pixie Dream Queen Zooey Deschanel. It’s certainly the most aggressively passive-aggressive record I’ve heard in forever. And it’s great.

Essential Tracks: “No Room In Frame” “The Ghosts Of Beverly Drive” “El Dorado”

Elvis Depressedly - New Alhambra

Elvis Depressedly / Via elvisdepressedly.bandcamp.com

Elvis Depressedly is for the folks who think Tame Impala is too uptight. This psych-folk project, lead by Mat Cothran, will bend your brain and your heart with their new record New Alhambra, an ode to trying to feel good again. It’s like chillwave with acoustic guitars and a dose of wellbutrin. Bliss with a twist.

Essential Tracks: “N.M.S.S.” “New Heaven, New Earth” “Wastes Of Time”

Mitski - Bury Me At Makeout Creek

Don Giovanni Records / Via dongiovannirecords.com

Mitski’s Bury Me At Makeout Creek is a rich world all its own. An elegant opera in the key of Lo-Fi, Mitski tells tales of anguish, beauty, and the tiny cracks in the sidewalk. Drunk sing-alongs and stumbling bruisers, Bury Me At Makeout Creek is the soundtrack to the coming-of-age film we all carry within ourselves.

Essential Tracks: “Townie” “First Love/Late Spring” “Carry Me Out”

The Mountain Goats - Beat The Champ

Merge Records / Via mergerecords.com

Beat The Champ is a record filled with tales of brittle mortality, and they are challenging you put up your dukes and fight. The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle turns the world of wrestling into a fascinating mythology that may or may not intertwine with his own sordid youth. Dreams, failed or not, linger on the flesh. The melodies in these songs feel like old friends, loyal and true.

Essential Tracks: “The Legend Of Chavo Guerrero” “Animal Mask” “Heel Turn 2”

My Morning Jacket - The Waterfall

ATO Records / Via atorecords.com

My Morning Jacket continue to forge their own path and on The Waterfall, Jim James and company continue to refine their sound. There’s a certainly pre-dawn gloriousness to these tunes, and I can’t help but feel a bit renewed when soaking in this cosmic mix of weird-blues, folk, country, and gospel rock ’n’ roll. Absolution in a bottle.

Essential Tracks: “Believe (Nobody Knows)” “In Its Infancy (The Waterfall)” “Big Decisions”

Natalia Lafourcade - Hasta La Raíz

RCA Records / Via lafourcade.com.mx

Mexican singer-songwriter and producer Natalia Lafourcade has been constructing her gleefully powerful brand of pop-rock for years incorporating bits of new wave, jazz and more for her new record, Hasta La Raíz. My own Spanish-speaking skills are pretty weak, but you’ll definitely feel what Lafourcade is saying and playing. These are some of the most infectious tunes you’ll hear all year and then some.

Essential Tracks: “Mi Lugar Favorito” “Para Que Sufrir” “Estoy Lista”

Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass

Spacebomb Records / Via spacebombrecords.com

This year’s indie darling, Natalie Prass, lives up to the hype with her earth-shattering self-titled debut. Equal parts folky bombast, hipster jazz, and smokey blues, Prass has a powerful set of pipes to match Matthew E. White’s hefty production. And the songs! Prass writes songs that already sound instant classics. All hail the queen.

Essential Tracks: “My Baby Don’t Understand Me” “Your Fool” “It Is You”

Olivia Chaney - The Longest River

Nonesuch Records / Via nonesuch.com

If I could live in the world of Olivia Chaney’s folk masterpiece, The Longest River, I would in a heartbeat. For Joanna Newsom fans looking to get their fix, Chaney is an accomplished singer-songwriter and arranger of equal merit. Stately but full of warmth, Chaney’s voice melts like ice cream on a summer day out in some European countryside. There’s no cellphones, maybe no television even. There’s only Chaney’s music and a kernel of rebelliousness that makes you feel alive.

Essential Tracks: “Waxwing” “Swimming In The Longest River” “Holiday”

The Tallest Man On Earth - Dark Bird Is Home

Dead Oceans / Via deadoceans.com

Swedish folkie Kristian Matsson has been constructing beautiful tunes in the tradition of early Dylan as The Tallest Man On Earth for years, and his new record Dark Bird Is Home continues to barrel forward with the same grace and heart. Touches of horns and strings adorn many of these tracks, but ultimately they are here to bolster Matsson’s rich but unfussy guitar playing and romantic imagery of rolling hills, lost highways, and long walks. It already feels timeless.

Essential Tracks: “Singers” “Sangres” “Timothy”

Waxahatchee - Ivy Tripp

Merge Records / Via mergerecords.com

Out of any artist on this list that I was already familiar with, Waxahatchee’s new record, Ivy Tripp, has surprised me the most. Hailed as part of the new indie emo movement, singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield wrote unhurried heart-wrenching tunes that would fit right at home on Saddle Creek in 2005. That all changes with Ivy Tripp. It’s absolutely gorgeous, filled with striking blues, rock, and folk arrangements that show off even more sides to Crutchfield’s already powerful persona.

Essential Tracks: “La Loose” “Dirt” “Summer Of Love”