It’s finally that time: Allston Pudding’s 25 favorite albums of 2015! As I’m sure you’ve all noticed, music fans were spoiled with new material over the past 365 days. With a host of marquee hip-hop releases, excellent entries in the fields of punk and electronica and nationally-lauded full lengths from some of Boston’s local heroes, a week didn’t go by without at least one more excellent new album to hold our attention. As you can imagine, narrowing everything we loved this year down to just 50 was tough.
Our final list is a collaborative product representing the opinions of our entire staff. After hours spent whittling down nearly 150 great LPs on a comically large white board, we took to voting, with everyone giving golf-scored values to their favorites. The order of our picks are not meant to single out any album as necessarily better than the one before it or worse than the one that follows, but rather show the music that most connected with our writers this year. We hope that you enjoy our analysis of these 25 great LPs and check out anything you might have (understandably) missed in 2015!
-George Greenstreet
Flip through numbers 50-26>>>>
*=Local
25. Viet Cong- (The band formerly known as) Viet Cong
After the disbanding of Women and the death of Chris Reimer, Matt Flegel and Mike Wallace did probably the only thing they know how to do—form a band and continue writing music. Really, really excellent music at that.
Viet Cong’s self-titled debut album was one of those releases that felt like the first breath after getting struck in the stomach. The darker aspects of the album seem to be there just to point out how welcoming a relief beauty can actually be. The cover itself, a heavy bandage being cut off a hand, seems to enforce this. Musically, they balance these two ideas well—psychedelic, hooky melodies are counteracted by warlike drums and intensely existential imagery.
Take their song “March of Progress” as an example. The album highlight starts out with enduring, pounding drums, followed by slow-peeling, This Heat-style guitars and lyrics dealing with severe alienation. But then it blooms. The song switches immediately into an up-tempo, dance-worthy contemplation of “the difference between love and hate.” The music is an assuring reminder that embodying these kinds of nihilistic ideas can, in fact, be beautiful. Viet Cong is one of those kinds of reminders that pain and resilience are the same thing. And that death makes for one hell of a punchline.
-Seth Garcia
24. Barf Radio- Stumpf*
Stumpf’s emergence on the local music roadmap is as exciting for what it has already delivered (an excellent debut record) as what it might deliver in the future. Barf Radio is a raw, concise and largely unfiltered effort that, while being a lo-fi gem in its own right, also hints at Stumpf’s nearly limitless potential. It may be a while before Donnie Blue and Aaron Landy decide which sonic direction they’ll take on LP #2, but that just means we have plenty of time to let the simple genius of a track like “Mad Trist” sink in while waiting for the day when we say we knew Stumpf before they were one of Boston’s biggest names.
-Mark Zurlo
23. I Love You, Honeybear – Father John Misty
Father John Misty has never come across as an especially friendly character, but I Love You, Honeybear finds singer-songwriter Joshua Tillman’s brash alter ego sharpening his barbs to harsh new proportions. The album is impressive on multiple fronts, from its nonstop wit to the way it makes ballad-like arrangements feel fresh, but no accomplishment is more notable than Tillman’s ability to craft a self-absorbed, snide persona that’s still so enjoyable. Maybe it’s his saving grace that the FJM facade is constantly cracking, leaking sincere-sounding thoughts on love and despair that become more regular but never any less jarring. Whatever it is, beneath all the detached observations, I Love You, Honeybear is an album about a man who’s disillusioned with the world, but deeply enamored with his wife. In a sea of depressed records, it gives existential woe a uniquely romantic spin: if we’re all doomed anyway, why not be head-over-heels in love?
-Karen Muller
22. Who Me?– Juan Waters
The chillest.
-Andrew Gibson
21. Full Circle- Dæphne*
Full Circle is an 8 song, 25 minute-long, kinda emo, kinda punk album that feels like an entire summer. Something you can both jam and cry to! Oddly well rounded, the steady, sludgy guitarwork perfectly balances singer Alexa Johnson’s floaty and confident vocals. The music is tight, and the lyrics are frank and familiar. And maybe it feels that way because three of the band members are locals; maybe it’s because angsty music about guilt, regret and self-worth is so relevant. Whatever the reason, Dæphne changed the bummer-rock game this fall with this full length.
-Jackie Swisshelm