Cultured Vultures’ Best Albums of 2015

Gabriel Ricard

 

Laura Marling – Short Movie

Laura Marling’s first album written on electric guitar is a strange short story collection. Short Movie represents a compelling collection of personal vignettes, short stories, and varied introspection. It would seem that Marling is far from running out of the material that taps into one or all of those things. Standing out from the crowd in the singer-songwriter crowd is easier said than done these days. Yet tracks such as “Warrior” and “Walk Alone” emphasize a considerable attention to details.

Marling never seems to settle for complacency, or for anything less than absolute sincerity. Those things do not necessarily mean a great album. However, Marling’s combination of singular musical style and intriguing songwriting substance establish her current album as quite possibly her best. It’s one thing to ask for an audience for the journey through the weird cities and troubling times of one’s life. It’s another thing entirely to keep that audience engaged. Short Movie doesn’t let up for a second.

 

Keith Richards – Crosseyed Heart

Let’s not sit here, and pretend that Keith Richards has an accomplished singing voice. However, let’s make the argument that Richards’ growl and constantly amused, perhaps pleased rasp is nonetheless a thing of weird beauty. Richards’ 2010 autobiography Life revealed a man who has accomplished everything twice, yet still possesses a potent, sincere enthusiasm for his craft and its history. All of that is put up for consideration on Crosseyed Heart, which is the solo album diehard Stones fans always believed Keith could write. Songs like “Trouble” and “Nothing on Me” emphasize a man who still has the chops, and is still more than capable of playing with energy that defies his age and reputation (after all, it’s not like he has anything to prove). The writing is surprisingly impressive, veering between slightly-above-serviceable, and something that is better than it has any right to be.

Ultimately, and perhaps amazingly, Richards remains an outlaw at heart. Crosseyed Heart evokes the best of Gram Parsons, and the long line of blues artists who have inspired Richards through the decades. At the same time, it’s an album that has the energy and creativity of youth behind it. This isn’t a paycheck-cashing record. It actually has something to say.

 

Sleater Kinney – No Cities to Love

Sleater Kinney has returned. The world is a better place for it. “Surface Envy” is a great example of a group that decided that they weren’t interested in riding a nostalgia wave. A number of female-fronted groups from the golden age of women kicking ass in music (the 90s, in case you’re wondering) are making comebacks these days. As wonderful as most of that has been, the more interesting story will be which groups put out albums, and which ones prove they can still stand with groups half their age. No Cities to Love stands at the top of the heap for that last part.

With tracks like “Price Tag” and “Hey, Darling” (easily, the best of the record), Sleater Kinney establishes an interesting crossroads for themselves. Obviously, we’ll know for certain, when they put out another album. For now, No Cities to Love offers up a band that pulls from the ideas and sounds that defined them as one of the best bands of the 1990s. At the same time, they are paying a ferocious degree of attention to redefining themselves. It’s an ongoing experiment that juggles the past, present, and future. It brings a number of complex ideas and ambitions to the forefront of a phenomenal album.

 

Kurt Vile – B’lieve I’m Goin Down

If you consider yourself to be a fan of Kurt Vile’s surreal lyrics, haunting voice, and love of all things reverb, B’lieve I’m Goin Down will please you. Over the course of some very good albums, there is no question that Vile has carved out a unique little corner of the sonic landscape for himself. He continues that trend on B’lieve I’m Goin Down, yet he still finds fascinating stories from the spiritual cities that live beneath the howls you might hear in the middle of the night. His arrangements are some of his best to date. From one waking fever dream to another, he shuffles through the delirium of a mind that connects blues, folk, pianos, banjos, new wave, and everything else you might expect.

Songs like “Can’t Find My Way Home” and “Pretty Pimpin” maintain the road Vile has been on for the past several years. There is still clearly an evolution going on here. This is his best album to date. At the same time, you leave the crumbling drive-in where you ran into Vile with a sense that he’ll top it later on.

 

Wilco – Star Wars

After 20 years, Wilco remains one of the most enjoyable, unpredictable bands going today. Star Wars is a great example of Wilco’s unique discography. One of the beautiful things about Jeff Tweedy and the gang is that you can discover their music through any one album. What you’ll get with their best releases is a constantly bizarre, endlessly moving cross-section of genres, images, and lines that stick in your head for days. Star Wars is along those lines. It stands alone, but it also continues to add shades and definition to a band that continues to be seemingly focused on things that are interesting to them first and foremost.

Given the wide variety of tastes and styles that make up this crowded room of songs, the harmony of the tracks is impressive. The art of the album is alive and well in Wilco. The songs connect to one another in a way that is likely to be different for each listener. For every listener, the end result will be a sense that following the band’s lead was the right call to make.

Alex Mitchell-Fox

 

Lamb of God – VII Sturm Und Drang

VII Sturm Und Drang (Meaning ‘storm and stress’ in German) is the 7th album from metal titans Lamb Of God. The album itself is dripping with anger following vocalist Randy Blythe’s time in a Czech prison awaiting trial for a death at one of the bands shows. This experience comes out especially in lead track “Still Echoes” which draws inspiration from the history of Pankrác prison, where he was held, and “512” which was the number of the cell he was in. Vocally it’s one of the most diverse Lamb of God albums thus far, especially on the slow, brooding “Overlord” where Randy actually uses clean vocals, and unexpected guest vocals by Chino Moreno from Deftones, who adds his ethereal charm to “Embers” and Greg Puciato from Dillinger Escape Plan, who makes “Torches” sound a lot more ominous with his vocal effects. Elsewhere it’s business as usual for the band, their signature sound standing out on blistering highlights “Still Echoes” and “Footprints” and at only 10 songs long the album is a cohesive statement of intent and does not outstay it’s welcome. One of the best albums they have made and definitely one of the best metal albums this year.

 

Don Broco – Automatic

Don Broco’s second album “Automatic” continues to see them go in an increasing poppy direction, but without losing their signature style. Some fantastic bass-lines and funky grooves pepper the album, “Keep on Pushing” and “Superlove” especially, and the dual vocals work as well as ever, Rob Damiani’s crafty Essex geezer-esque voice blending expertly with drummer Matt Donnelly’s falsetto vocals throughout. There are many highlights on the album including the feel good summer vibes of “Automatic”, the catchy riff-led “I Got Sick” and the slower, brooding confessional “Nerve”. This is the album that could take the band to higher planes, possibly even arena shows, final track “Further” has the big sprawling strings and key-change which could translate to an epic show closer. The only gripe i really have about this album is that the excellent singles released previously in the build up, “Money, Power, Fame” and “You Wanna Know”, only made the bonus track release and not the album proper.

 

Iron Maiden – Book Of Souls

‘The Book Of Souls’ is an incredible album, delivering many personal records and nostalgic moments throughout it’s duration. It’s the longest Iron Maiden record and the first ever double album, it contains the longest song they’ve ever written (the 18 minute plus Dickinson-penned epic “The Empire of the Clouds”) and due to (bassist and founder) Steve Harris taking a step back, has more variety in songwriting (Adrian Smith and Bruce Dickinson writing together for the first time since 1999). The nostalgia comes in a few of the tracks hankering back to the classic Iron Maiden gallop, the excellent single “Speed of Light” and “Death or Glory” for example. Other highlights from the record include the one sole Harris track “The Red and the Black”, a sprawling 13 minute epic with some brilliant lead guitar work, “Tears of a Clown” written about the late Robin Williams and opening track “If Eternity Should Fail”. Bruce Dickinson sounds better than ever, the band sound more immediate and the variety shown here helps to make this set of songs stand out as one of the best that they have produced recently. Overall a definite return to form from the biggest band in the world.

 

Neck Deep – Life’s Not Out To Get You

Neck Deep became one of the pop-punk genre’s buzz bands with last years Warped Tour showing and their breakout release “Wishful Thinking”. This year they returned with a new record in tow, produced by the in-demand team of A Day to Remember frontman Jeremy McKinnon and Comeback Kid singer Andrew Neufeld. The combination has improved them dramatically as this album shows, right from the get go there is more oomph about them, more hunger, “Citizens of Earth” races out of the blocks with pounding riffs and raw vocals paving the way for one of the best album openings this year. “Threat Level Midnight” takes major hints from Blink 182, “Can’t Kick Up the Roots” is a highlight, with it’s lyrics about their hometown and insanely huge hooks. “Kali Ma” inspired by the Indiana Jones film series is another highlight, as is “Gold Steps” both of which feature small cameos from McKinnon. There is more to this album than just catchy uptempo pop-punk hooks though, acoustic number “December” is an ode to a former girlfriend, reminiscent more of Dashboard Confessional and shows maturity beyond their years. This is the album that will catapult Neck Deep towards the title of Pop-Punk heavyweights.

 

Frank Turner – Positive Songs For Negative People

After 2013’s more restrained “Tape Deck Heart”, Frank Turner’s latest effort “Positive Songs For Negative People” is more of an uplifting, inspirational effort. From the opening lyrics of “by the waters of the thames, i resolve to start again” and the subsequent double whammy of “Get Better” and “The Next Storm” it’s clear that this album is about recovering and about putting yourself in a positive mindset, whatever events occur in your life. For Frank Turner fans, it’s not necessarily just the music that raises the man to almost god level in their eyes, although it is exceptional, it’s the lyrics, the words that many supporters have adorned on their skin and this album is no exception when it comes to great lines. “Demons” for example, a sparkling highlight, ending with the empowering lyric “you won’t get everything you wanted, but you will never be defeated”, and “Song For Josh”, a track performed live, an incredibly moving ode to a friend who committed suicide. Highlights elsewhere include “Love Forty Down”, an uptempo track using tennis metaphors to describe escaping from your lowest ebb and “Out Of Breath” a very punk rock influenced track. This is Frank Turner at his eclectic best.