My favourite albums of 2015

Here's my favourite of the new albums I've listened to this year. I do like a list. I've done a Spotify playlist as well. Here goes, if you have any recommendations for me please let me know. 

1	Nadine Shah	Fast Food
2	The Drink	Capital
3	Bop English	Constant Bop
4	The Staves	If I Was
5	Julia Holter	Have You In My Wilderness
6	Sufjan Stevens	Carrie & Lowell
7	Leaf Library	Daylight Versions
8	John Grant	Grey Tickles, Black Pressure
9	This is the Kit	Bashed Out
10	Villagers	Darling Arithmetic
11	Marika Hackman	We Slept At Last
12	Benjamin Clementine	At Least For Now
13	Ezra Furman	Perpetual Motion People
14	Tame Impala	Currents
15	Eska	Eska
16	Lucy Rose	Work It Out
17	Courtney Barnett	Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
18	Ghost Poet	Shedding Skin
19	Richard Hawley	Hollow Meadows
20	The Charlatans	Modern Nature
21	Gaz Coombes	Matador
22	Soak	Before We Forgot How To Dream
23	Kendrick Lamar	To Pimp a Butterfly
24	Blur	The Magic Whip
25	Kurt Vile	B'lieve I'm Goin Down

It has been a very good year for music but there were only two records in it this year: I couldn’t split the top 2 but because I am close friends with two thirds of the Drink but not two thirds of Nadine Shah ‘Fast Food’ is my number one. Shah’s beautifully distinctive voice and captivating songs should have won her far more plaudits than she received. I love it and when me and Anthony J Brown agree on music we are definitely right. The Drink’s record should have got more love and attention as well, it builds on the first album with a more varied sound and a collection of brilliant songs. ‘You Won’t Come Back at All’ was probably my favourite track of the year showing off Dearbhla Minogue’s tremendous voice and a poppier side to The Drink’s music: all bands would do well to be a little influenced by Abba.

The last thing I want is to be accused of favouritism so I will also admit I also know roughly 20% of the band at number 7 - Leaf Library - although not terribly well. This is an inventive and engaging record which gets better every play and manages to be pretty whilst retaining an edge.

The rest of the top 5 includes Julia Holter’s record which rightly has been high in end of year lists, Bop English, who is in one of my favourite bands White Denim, with an album of enjoyable rock and roll, and The Staves whose gentle and compelling folkish songs I returned to over and over again this year.

A number of old favourites returned this year, most successfully was Sufjan Stevens whose record I wasn’t sure about initially but rewarded repeated listens. John Grant’s release wasn’t as warm as his previous two and I didn’t enjoy it as much. It does, however, have the advantage over most others of being a John Grant record. Gaz Coombes and The Charlatans came back with their best albums for years. Richard Hawley’s Hollow Meadows is very good but I was hoping he would have more of the psychedelic edge which made his last record, Standing at the Skies Edge, such a triumph. Blur’s comeback was fun with some good songs but you get the feeling it could have been better if the whole band had spent more time on it.

I listened to all the Mercury Prize nominees this year and attempted an FA Cup knock out thing  which fizzled out due to not getting much response and me not finding the time (or being arsed) to do it. It was a pretty good year though and there are a few nominations in my list, including the winner Benjamin Clementine, which was my favourite. I’m not sure why Nadine Shah wasn’t nominated though, but let’s hope The Drink will be next year.