For the first time, this year I also ranked my Top Five reissues numerically,
before reverting to my usual practice of listing all other Best Reissues
alphabetically. I did so because this
year five deluxe box sets reflected scales of scope and ambition (and corresponding
price tags) that seemed to separate them categorically from the many other
excellent reissues that also were released in 2015.
Finally, for the first time, this year I made a separate list of Great
Local Releases from Cincinnati, unranked and listed alphabetically. I had several reasons for doing so. First, mainly through hosting Trash Flow
Radio on WAIF 88.3 FM in Cincinnati, I have been exposed to a lot of local
music that my out-of-town friends who read this list would not likely discover
on their own. This list seems like a
good way to steer curious out-of-towners towards some of the good sounds being
made in Ohio’s Queen City. Second, on
my local release list, I have relaxed my persistent bias against non-physical
releases, which would otherwise have prevented me from acknowledging many of
the digital-only releases listed here.
Third, because I am personally acquainted with members of many of the excellent
bands on the local release list (and related at the first degree of
consanguinity to the leader of one of them), to avoid unnecessary friction I chose
not to rank any of them.
Top Twenty-Five Albums
of 2015 (ranked):
- Scharpling & Wurster – The
Best of the Best Show 16CD Box Set (Numero Group)
- Jeffrey Lewis & Les Bolts -
Manhattan LP/CD (Rough Trade)
- The Chills - Silver Bullets
LP/CD (Fire)
- Robert Forster – Songs To Play
LP/CD (Tapete)
- The Mountain Goats - Beat the
Champ 2LP/CD (Merge)
- Mecca Normal – Empathy For The
Evil LP/CD (M'Lady's)
- The Cairo Gang - Goes Missing
LP/CD (God?/Drag City)
- X____X - Albert Ayler's Ghosts
Live at the Yellow Ghetto LP (Smog Veil)
- Styrenes - CLE 76-79 Unreleased
3x7"EP (My Mind's Eye)
- TV Colours – Purple Skies,
Toxic River LP (Comedy Minus One)
- Twerps - Range Anxiety LP/CD
(Chapter Music/Merge)
- Joanna Newsom - Divers 2LP/CD
(Drag City)
- Sweet Talk - Double Perfect LP
(12XU)
- Neil Hamburger - Entertainment
OST LP (Numero Group)
- Spider & The Webs - Spider
Magic MP3-Album (Bumpidee)
- Kath Bloom - Pass Through Here
LP/CD (Chapter Music)
- Goddess - Paradise LP
(self-released)
- Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect
LP/CD (Hardly Art)
- Expert Alterations – You Can't
Always Be Liked LP/CD (Kanine)
- Dick Diver – Melbourne, Florida
LP/CD (Trouble In Mind)
- V/A - Fifty @50 LP (Old
3C)
- David Arvedon – The Best
Of Dave Arvedon Volume 2 LP (Mighty Mouth)
- Kurt Vile - B’lieve I'm Goin
Down 2LP/CD (Matador)
- Ultimate Painting – Green Lanes
LP/CD (Trouble In Mind)
- Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit (Deluxe Edition) 2LP/2CD (Mom + Pop)
Next-Best Albums of 2015 (alphabetical):
- Amen Dunes - Cowboy Worship
LP/CD (Sacred Bones)
- Lou Barlow - Brace The Wave
LP/CD (Joyful Noise)
- Blank Realm – Illegals In
Heaven LP/CD (Fire/Bedroom Suck)
- The Blue Jean Committee -
"Catalina Breeze" 12"EP (Drag City)
- Bully – Feels Like LP/CD
(Startime International)
- Bob Collins & The Full
Nelson – Telescopic Victory Kiss CD (Jigsaw)
- Eleventh Dream Day – Works For
Tomorrow LP/CD (Thrill Jockey)
- James Elkington & Nathan
Salsburg - Ambsace (Paradise of Bachelors)
- Jad Fair & Norman Blake -
Yes LP (Joyful Noise)
- Bill Fay – Who Is the Sender?
LP/CD (Dead Oceans)
- Freakwater – Scheherazade CD
(Bloodshot)
- The Gizmos – Gizmos World Tour
2014 CD (Gulcher)
- Colleen Green - I Want To Grow
Up LP/CD (Hardly Art)
- Steve Gunn/Kurt Vile - Parallelogram
LP (Three Lobed)
- Half Japanese - Bingo Ringo
12"EP (Joyful Noise)
- Roscoe Holcomb - San Diego
State Folk Festival 1972 LP (Tompkins Square)
- Home Blitz – Foremost &
Fair LP (Richie)
- Susan Howe & David Grubbs -
WOODSLIPPERCOUNTERCLATTER CD (Drag City)
- Joanna Gruesome – Peanut
Butter LP/CD (Slumberland)
- Tommy Keene – Laugh In The
Dark LP (Second Motion)
- Laurice - Best Of Laurice Vols.
1 & 2 LP/CS/CD (Mighty Mouth)
- Alan Licht – Currents LP (Vin
Du Select Qualitite)
- Longmont Potion Castle - 12 MP3-Album (D.U.)
- Glenn Mercer - Incidental Hum LP/CD (Bar/None)
- Motel Beds - Mind Glitter LP
(Anyway)
- Parquet Courts – Monastic
Living 12"EP (Rough Trade)
- Tom Phillips – Mr. Superlove LP/CD (Western Famine)
- Royal Headache – High LP/CD (What’s Your Rupture?)
- Rozi Plain - Friend LP/CD (Lost
Map)
- Ravi Shavi – Ravi Shavi
LP/CS/CD (Almost Ready)
- Shilpa Ray – Is Last Year’s
Savage LP/CD (Northern Spy)
- Rocket From The Tombs - Black
Record LP/CD (Fire)
- Joan Shelley – Over & Even
LP/CD (No Quarter)
- The Silence – The Silence
LP/CD (Drag City)
- Sleaford Mods – Key Markets
LP/CD (Harbinger Sound)
- Sleater-Kinney - No Cities to
Love LP/CD/CS (Sub Pop)
- Speedy Ortiz – Foil Deer
LP/CS/CD (Carpark)
- St. Lenox - Ten Songs About
Memory And Hope LP (Anyway)
- The Treasures of Mexico -
Holding Pattern CD (Shelflife)
- Vacation - Non-Person LP (Don
Giovanni)
- Neil Young + Promise Of The
Real - The Monsanto Years 2LP/CD
(Reprise)
- Yo La Tengo - Stuff Like That
There LP/CD (Matador)
- V/A - Different Drum OST CD (Gulcher)
Top Fifteen Singles of 2015 (ranked):
- Protomartyr / R. Ring - A Half
Of Seven Split-7"45 (Hardly Art)
- Woollen Kits – "Girl With
Heart" b/w "In The Black" 7"45 (R.I.P Society)
- Terry - Talk About Terry
7"45 (Upset! The Rhythm)
- The Pagans – “NoWhere Girl”
MP3-Single (Ruin Discos)
- Bummers Eve - Fly On The Wall
7"45 (Almost Ready)
- Jonathan Richman –
"Keith" b/w "They Showed Me The Door To Bohemia"
7"33 (Blue Arrow)
- The Rutabega - Shiny
Destination 7"45 (Triple Eye)
- Radiator Hospital/Martha
Split-7"EP (Specialist Subject)
- Wussy – Public Domain, Volume
I CDEP (Shake It)
- Hinds/The Parrots – Hinds ♡
Parrots Split-7"45 (Burger/Lucky Number)
- The Pop Group - “Nations” b/w Sleaford
Mods - “Face To Faces” Split-7"45 (Freaks R Us/Harbinger Sound)
- The Pizza Underground - PU
Demos 7" (Jett Plastic Recordings/GranDetroit Records)
- The Crabs - Sleep MP3-Single
(Bandcamp)
- Alex Chilton - Jesus Christ
7"EP (Munster Records)
- Laura Cantrell & The Charlatans – “Emanuel” b/w Sinkane & The Charlatans – “Emilie” Split-7"45 (O Genesis)
Next-Best Singles of 2015 (alphabetical):
- Courtney Barnett –
"Boxing Day Blues (Revisited)" b/w "Shivers" 7"45
(Third Man)
- Bonnie 'Prince' Billy –
"On Raglan Road" b/w "Go 'Way From My Window"
7"45 (Palace)
- The Crabs – 5 More Steps CDEP
(Jigsaw)
- Destiny 3000 – Destiny
3000 7"EP (R.I.P Society)
- Feedtime - Flatiron 7"45
(Sub Pop)
- Girl Band – The Early Years
12"EP (Rough Trade)
- The Gories – "Be
Nice" b/w "On The Run" 7"45 (Third Man)
- Hinds – Very Best Of Hinds So
Far 10"EP (Mom + Pop)
- Robyn Hitchcock & Emma
Swift – “Follow Your Money” b/w “Motion Pictures” 7"45 (Yep Roc)
- King Kong – “Pawnshopolis”
Video-Single (Youtube)
- Dan Melchior – For Letha
7"EP (Vin Du Select Qualitite)
- Mint Mile – In Season &
Ripe 12"EP (Comedy Minus One)
- The Nots – “Virgin Mary” b/w “Shelf
Life” 7"45 (Goner)
- Sleaford Mods – "A Little
Ditty" b/w "I'm Shit At It" 7"45 (Emotional Response)
- Slum of Legs - Doll Like
7"45 (Tuff Enuff)
- Sophie's Dream - "Michael"
b/w "Independence" MP3-Single
- Tuff Love / Lazy Day – “Groucho”
b/w “Portrait” Split-7"45 (Lost Map)
- V/A - 7 Inches in Heaven 7”EP (RSD
2015) (Bubbles In The Think Tank)
Top Five Reissues of
2015:
- Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series
Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966 Collector’s Edition 18CD + 10
MP3-Album Box Set (Columbia) (1965–66)
- V/A - Ork Records
16x7"45/4LP/2CD Box Set (Numero Group) (1975-79)
- Velvet Underground – The
Complete Matrix Tapes 4CD (Universal) (1969)
- V/A – When I Reach That
Heavenly Shore (Unearthly Black Gospel 1926-1936) 3LP/2CD (Tompkins
Square) (1926-1936)
- The Go-Betweens – G Stands For
Go-Betweens: The Go-Betweens Anthology Volume 1 4LP+4CD (Domino) (1978-84)
Next-Best Reissues of 2015 (alphabetical):
- Beat Happening – Look Around
2LP/CD (Domino) (1984-2000)
- Bikini Kill - Revolution Girl
Style Now LP/CS/CD (Bikini Kill) (1991)
- Shayne Carter & Peter
Jefferies – “Randolph's Going Home” b/w “Hooked, Lined And Sunken”
7"45 (Captured Tracks) (1986)
- Alex Chilton - Ocean Club '77
2LP/CD (Norton) (1977)
- The Clitboys – We Dont Play
The Game 7"EP (Beer City) (1983)
- Crime – Crime 7x7"45 + CD
Box Set (Munster) (1977-79)
- The Dictators – Go Girl Crazy!
2CD (Real Gone Music) (1975)
- Bob Dylan - The Basement Tapes
LP (Other Peoples Music) (1967)
- Dredd Foole – In Quest Of Tense
LP (Feeding Tube) (1994)
- Kim Fowley - "The
Trip" b/w "The Underground Lady" 7"45 (Norton) (1965)
- The Girls - Punk-Dada
Pulchritude LP (Feeding Tube) (1977-79)
- Fannie Lou Hamer - Songs My
Mother Taught Me CD (Folkways) (1963)
- Inflatable Boy Clams –
Inflatable Boy Clams 2x7"EP (Superior Viaduct) (1981)
- Chris Knox – Seizure LP
(Captured Tracks) (1989)
- Lead Belly - The Smithsonian
Folkways Collection 5CD Box Set (Smithsonian Folkways) (1933-49)
- Owen Maercks – Teenage Sex Therapist LP (Feeding
Tube) (1978)
- Momus - Circus Maximus CD
(Manufactured Recordings) (1986)
- David Peel & Death - King
of Punk LP (HoZac) (1978)
- Pere Ubu – Elitism For The
People 1975-1978 2LP+2MP3 (Fire) (1975-78)
- Sand In The Face – Music Made
To Riot: New Jersey Hardcore 1982-1983 LP (Mad At The World) (1982-82)
- The Scientists - The Scientists
LP (Numero Group) (1981)
- Tall Dwarfs - Weeville LP
(Captured Tracks) (1990)
- Teenage Jesus And The Jerks –
Live 1977-1979 LP/CD (Other People) (1977-79)
- Thomas Jefferson Slave
Apartments – Straight To Video LP (Straight To Video) (1997)
- Vulgar Boatmen - You and Your
Sister CD (Time Change) (1989)
- V/A – Back From The Grave Vols 9 & 10 2LP/CD (Crypt) (1965-69)
- V/A – Creation Artifact: The Dawn Of Creation Records 1983-1985 10x7"EP/5CD Box Set (Cherry Red) (1983-85)
- V/A – Early Indiana Punk And
New Wave: The Crazy Al's Year(s) 1976-1983 2CD (Time Change) (1976-83)
- V/A – Punk 45: Burn Rubber
City Burn! Akron, Ohio : Punk And The Decline Of The Mid West 1975-80 CD
(Soul Jazz) (1975-80)
- V/A – Punk 45: Extermination
Nights In The Sixth City! Cleveland, Ohio : Punk And The Decline Of The
Mid West 1975-82 CD (Soul Jazz) (1975-82)
- V/A – Souvenirs Of The Soul
Clap Vols. 3 & 4 - Jonathan Toubin's New York Night Train LPs (Norton)
(1963-72)
Great
Cincinnati Local Releases of 2015 (alphabetical):
- Birdie Hearse –s/t MP3-EP
(Bandcamp)
- Black Planet – Mild Discomfort
MP3-EP (Bandcamp)
- Bummers Eve - Fly On The Wall
7"45 (Almost Ready)
- Cincinnati Royals - First Four
CDR (self-released)
- Dinosaurs and Thunder - Worry
Wart MP3-EP (Lo Fi City)
- Leggy - Nice Try MP3-EP
(Bandcamp)
- Little Trees – Feel Factory MP3-EP
(Lo Fi City)
- Mardou – “Rimbaud” b/w “Bounty
Hunter” 7"45 (Torn Light)
- The Night Divided - Disruptor
LP (Requisite)
- Old City - The Sun Is My Light CS-EP
(self-released)
- The Ophelias – Creature Native MP3-Album
(Bandcamp)
- Plastic Ants – “Tintype” &
“Imperial Phase” MP3-Singles (Requisite/Bandcamp)
- Sleepy Drums - Lucy MP3-EP (Lo
Fi City)
- Sophie's Dream -
"Michael" b/w "Independence" MP3-Single (Ouroboros/Bandcamp)
- Swim Team - Swim Team CDR
(self-released)
- Vacation - Non-Person LP (Don
Giovanni)
- The Wonderful Sadists – “Alive
In America” & “Knever” MP3-EPs (Male Fraud/Bandcamp)
- Wussy – Public Domain, Volume
I CDEP (Shake It)
- Alex York – “1” & “Implicit
Memory“ MP3-EPs (Bandcamp)
- V/A - CinCinCrimCram Holiday
Sampler 2015 CD (Art Damage)