5. To Pimp A Butterfly- Kendrick Lamar

No amount of hubris in the world should lead a young rapper to call themselves equals with Tupac.

Up until March, such a thought didn’t need to be spoken, never mind critically analyzed. The final minutes of To Pimp A Butterfly’s “Mortal Man” not only find Kendrick Lamar toying with a slight tear in that rule, but in the fabrics of time itself as he conducts a mock interview with Shakur two years previous to the icon’s death. Lamar’s questions are convincingly wide-eyed despite the reality that their “conversation” is a sonic equivalent to the Coachella hologram, but it’s Tupac’s eerily relevant (but entirely pre-recorded) answers to fame, politics, and social unrest that not only solidify the interview’s place, but Butterfly’s vitality in 2015.

The melting pot of spoken word, free jazz, and g-funk alongside Kendrick’s established love of ornate production deserves praise here. The star-making turns (see: Rapsody, Bilal, and Kamasi Washington) as well as iconic guests (see: Ronald Isley and George Clinton) deserve praise here. Kendrick’s ever-growing fearlessness as an MC and creative force deserves arguably the most praise here, but the “instant classic” title placed on Butterfly can almost solely be attributed to what it caused in its wake. Movements joined in exhausted, but impassioned protest for societal change with the hook of “Alright” as its rallying cry. High school classrooms began giving up the ghost against treating rap as critical text, championing Butterfly as an essential study. Moreover, the presence of Butterfly lingered above every police-led murder, race-influenced piece of news coverage, and pain of existing in 2015 as the challenging-but-determined voice of reason.
Of course, hip-hop heads and critics alike can dissect the nuances and trajectory that led Kendrick to putting himself in the same room as Tupac for the rest of time. At the crux of it though, if there’s one mainstream voice deserving of such a conversation in 2015, I have no doubt in my mind that the right artist took the risk.

-Tim Gagnon

4. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit- Courtney Barnett

“I’m thinking of you, too,” Courtney Barnett croons in “An Illustration of Loneliness (Sleepless in New York)”. Over the course of her aptly named Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, she parses out a lot of her musings for us, hitting everything from getting older and adjusting to dispiriting environments to pitfalls in humanity’s pattern of consumption. It’s an album that straddles the line between the banal and the lofty, with one side often suddenly caving into the other as small observations lend their way to much larger conclusions. Her rock’n’roll often falls on the “no-frills” side, as the music serves as more of a vehicle for these observation webs, but the songs shine in moments when she lets her chops loose; it’s the sound of a train picking up steam with sun-dappled hooks.

-Andrew Stanko

3. Art Angels– Grimes

Art Angels sounds like nothing else that’s come out this year, but more than that Art Angels sounds like nothing that Claire Boucher, the production genius behind Grimes, has ever released before. Clocking in at just under an hour, the record winds through places both dark and euphoric, mysterious and vulnerable, all with a seamless polish and pop sheen. It’s pop music that has the rare ring of authenticity, of an artist’s determination to not simply be the face of a production, but the driving force behind it. Art Angels is the record that Claire Boucher was always meant to make. It’s the record that singularly defines what it means to be an artist in 2015 who, once pushed to the margins of her industry, is now at its center, burning it all to the ground to build something better.

-Sydney Moyer

2. Painted Shut- Hop Along

Loyalty comes when comfort is offered in the grit. Although people give you the back pat and tell you, “it’s going to be ok,” healing and trust come after honesty. The dog friend that had to be put down, the panic derived from a familiar face and the realization of surrounding doubt all lead to something beautiful, but the courage to acknowledge all of its depth means everything.
This world can be just awful, but if you’re willing to stake a fiery gut over the awing howl of frontwoman Frances Quinlan, you might be able to see a bigger world.  All the storytelling and infectious guitar riffs amount to a feeling similar to the release after a solid talk with your mom, and I can’t think of many things more satisfying than that.

-Lauren Moquin

1. A Distant Fist Unclenching– Krill*

It’s true that Krill is the band that Boston loves to love, but it is merit, not nepotism that places them at number one in this years album list. A Distant Fist Unclenching is not only a collection of solid songs but also an artfully formed cohesive piece. The album as a whole moves through quiet moments in songs like “Fly” and then soars to reach almost anthemic heights on tracks like “Brain Problem”.  Distant Fist shows a mature side of Krill- it flexes, it is self critical like the Krill we know from earlier releases but somehow more forgiving. This record is less about feeling like a loser and more about recognizing our place as a small piece of something bigger. Its about searching for a way to define our relationships with each other, with the world, and with ourselves.

A Distant Fist Unclenching has reoccurring themes and symbols peppered throughout , like the fly and the squirrel, that guide us and change with the progression of the record. We learn about them in questions, and if we listen closely those questions are answered in later songs. Lyrics shift constantly from hyper-personal to philosophical, exercising an ever-changing scope that zooms in on the individual and then back again at the people and ecosystem that surrounds it. A Distant Fist Unclenching feels like a full, finished work that is not only beautiful but also challenges the listener to consider their perception of themselves in relationship to the larger world around them. Krill may have broken up a few months after its release, but A Distant Fist Unclenching comes to life with every listen.

-Sami Martasian