End of Year List Zeus' Best of 2015

[Zeus 7997]

Best of 2015

I tried.

Crippling depression, chronic sickness, and a disinterest in almost everything coming out had me thinking twice about releasing a list this year. You guys motivated me to get off my ass and finish this, so this post is for you. I can say that most releases I was looking forward to from the beginning of the year either never came out or disappointed me. I also came across a lot of music that was "great" but not necessarily something I would enjoy sharing on this list. I waffled between adding one or two more albums but decided at the last minute to exclude them. This is by far my shortest list ever with only 13 entries but I kind of like it that way.

BLU-SWING - FLASH

Japanese Latin-influenced jazz hop is unusual to say the least, but BLU-SWING knocks it out of the park with FLASH. I've been on the prowl for a band to replace the hole Tokyo Jihen left behind for quite some time and BLU-SWING comes the closest. They may not fill that jazz pop niche exactly, but their sound is compelling enough in its own right. The way the band mixes in pop, swing, and lounge are impressive and make for an album that will keep you on your toes. The thick double bass and the trumpets will battle for your attention, but it is ultimately Yu-ri Tanaka who captivates me most. Her sultry vocals have a presence which cannot be denied and this is one of the rare cases where her English is on par with her Japanese! On the rare occasions where she is not present, the band is more than capable of weaving enchanting jazz melodies sure to create relax and chill vibes. Jazz fans will find plenty to sink their teeth into with FLASH, but I'm of the opinion that this is a sleeper album that's not to be missed by anyone!

Songs: FLASH and 満ちていく体温

Charisma.com - OLest

Flaws aside, OLest bangs hard. "やれよ。" (Yare yo.) and "ダリぃだらりん" (Darii Dararin) should come with a doctor's warning about how infectious it is. I can't forget to mention the poisonous lyrics, furious flows, and banging beats that lace this album from beginning to end. So while you're trying to convince yourself "超絶に胸が痛んでいるあなたの上司" (Chouzetsu ni Mune ga Itandeiru Anata no Joushi) doesn't sound vaguely like disco, you're still wrapping your head around what "お局ロック" (Otsubone Rock) was. Charisma's biggest problem is that OLest will always be compared to DIStopping, and it doesn't quite reach the bar their debut album set. Over time, I've come to appreciate how much more mature and refined OLest is, managing to be both shorter and more diverse at the same time. Give it a spin if you're in a mood for some pop music.

Songs: お局ロック and こんがらガール

COHOL - 裏現

If one desires a panoramic view of what black metal has to offer today, look no further than COHOL. 裏現 is 39 minutes of the rawest - and surprisingly well produced - black metal Japan's produced all year. It's difficult to appreciate the beauty at first; tremolo picking, blast beats, and screeching vocals are not my first idea of "beautiful". In addition, the five years since their widely acclaimed 2010 album 空洞 has seen the band shave away their influences, making 裏現 a less approachable album from the start. But within the depressive madness there are fleeting moments of tranquility, sadness, lament, and all sorts of negative emotions which paint a panorama of modern suffering. When remarking on how many things are done right, one realizes how much of a rarity it is to get such a no-frills, straightforward black metal release. This album's so good, I think we may be referencing it as a staple of the genre sooner than we think.

Songs: Depressive and Arche Pathogen

Earl Sweatshirt - I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside

This album can also be called "Memoirs of a Depressed Semi-Famous Rapper Trying To Sort His Life Out", but it doesn't fly off the tongue as well. Everything from the title to the dark, bass-heavy beats to the lyrical content reinforces this belief. But sometimes genius sprouts from the darkest of depressions, and Earl is an up and coming rapper I've had my eye on for quite some time. Not to say that this album is without it flaws but when Earl Sweatshirt is on fire he kills it. His flow has also improved since Doris, sounding more alive and forceful (despite the irony that he's more troubled than ever). The depressing atmosphere engages the listener and really becomes part of the music instead of becoming overbearing. Surprisingly, the best track he released this year - "Solace" - isn't featured on this album but I think you should check it out anyway.

Songs: Solace and Off Top

Kamasi Washington - The Epic

This was one of my more accidental happy discoveries this year. "The Epic" is amazing debut album by Kamasi Washington, which I checked out on a whim due to rave reviews by several other people. This turned out to be the jazziest rabbit hole I've ever had the pleasure of tripping into. Soon after, I discovered that Washington was a member of the studio wrecking crew that brought Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly" to life, which only piqued my interest more. The second was that he toured with Snoop Dogg and released this album on the Brainfeeder label - both circumstances that don't often cross paths with jazz. I enjoy jazz but I am not the biggest expert on it, but I can say that it's fallen to the side in recent decades for other, more immediately engaging musical styles. "The Epic" feels like Washington's attempt to assert that jazz can be as invigorating and exciting as the musician wants it to be. For an album that spans over two hours, it does a very good job at gently introducing a new listener to the world of instrumental free form jazz while also hitting with enough substance to ensnare veterans too! If you enjoy jazz in any form, whether straightforward or cut with other genres, you owe it to yourself to check this out.

Songs: Re Run Home and Change of the Guard

KEEL - Cthulhu & R'yleh

They are the Nagoya-kei super band that visual kei deserves, and also the band it needs right now. KEEL are also that band that we never knew we needed. "the god and death stars" are off trudging along in their corner, "HOLLOWGRAM" couldn't fill the void that 9GOATS left behind, and the inclusion of girugamesh's bassist Shuu was an interesting, but surprising choice that's paid dividends for them. However, nagoya kei hasn't been able to pull it together in some time and present a band with some real promise. So when they released Cthulhu and R'lyeh earlier this year we listened. I don't know about you, but between both albums I heard everything I was missing and more. The melancholic bass and wistful atmosphere are mainstays of the type of sound this band is going for, but more importantly than that there is a polish over all twelve songs, as if every member took lessons learned from their own bands and put their all towards this one. The result is nothing less than the top release(s) of the year. They are not just our heroes. They are our silent musicians, our watchful composers, our winners of 2015's top album of the year. Be sure to check out Cthulhu - the companion mini album to this one released earlier in the year - as well! I basically see them as one album anyway...

Songs: deep sleep and fanfale

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly

"To Pimp A Butterfly" is already a classic and it hasn't been but a year since this album dropped. It's equal parts lyrical skill, amazing guest features, good concept, stellar production, and great timing. "To Pimp A Butterfly" dropped in a year where racial tensions in America are at an all time high. There are no shortage of complaints and issues that plague the African American community today and Kendrick tackles most - if not all of them - on this record. TPAB flies in the face of the general image of the rap community, which prizes braggadocio, flashy, high-class lifestyles, and the street life over relatability. This alone is a refreshing change that isn't found often in mainstream hip hop. What makes this a success is that he doesn't let get all preachy and let his message get in the way of his music. A lot of the album is focused around the use of "I" instead of "U" (a song so emotionally destructive anyone who has lost a friend to street violence can shed a tear), and at points Kendrick becomes so emotional it's as if he's a friend pouring his heart out to you drunk. He took pain and turned it into art. Hell, if even Obama named "How Much A Dollar Cost?" (which criticizes his policies) as his favorite track of the year you know what's up.

Songs: u and How Much A Dollar Cost?

lynch. - D.A.R.K. - in the name of evil -

I wasn't too fond of the direction lynch. took after I BELIEVE IN ME. As they became more insistent than ever at playing the most core of metal, the pop hooks and musical variety which formed the core of their sound started becoming more uncommon. GALLOWS was a complete departure from everything I liked about the band and I thought they lost their spark for good. Thankfully, D.A.R.K. -in the name of evil- marks the return of old lynch. with a roaring vengeance. They finally got a handle on the metalcore sound they've been flirting with for the last few years, and the pop hooks that formed the backbone of SHADOWS and I BELIEVE IN ME make a triumphant return. "EVOKE", "FALLEN", and "INVADER" show three distinct sides of lynch, which range from alternative metal headbangers to those touching ballads we all love. There are even the visceral bangers still exist such as "BEAST" and even the jazz-inspired "GHOST" offers up a side lynch. I haven't heard in years. This is the perfect fusion of old lynch. and new lynch. and it's not hard to fathom why it's one of the best albums released this year.

Songs: EVOKE and BEAST

THE NOVEMBERS - Elegance

A more polished alternative to last year's "Rhapsody in Beauty", "Elegance" hits you like a blunt weapon; you'll feel the impact the first time but it needs some time to feel the full effect. It's not uncommon for the vocal melodies or the dreamy, hypnotic guitars to echo in your mind long hours after listening to their music. It's short length makes it feel like a teaser, but at the same time it feels like the perfect length for the mood it sets out to accomplish. THE NOVEMBERS may not be the easiest band in the world to get into, but what they provide is a complex style and musicianship that has so far been unmatched by their contemporaries in the scene.

Song: きれいな海へ

the piqnic - ZyouK

Being a Japanese post-rock band is hard. When you're not drawing comparisons to the instrumental giants like Mono or sgt., you have to deal with competition from other, well-established bands. Stray too close to the textures and moods conjured by, say, downy, and you're automatically marked for more critical inspection. It takes a good band to trace in another band's footsteps. It takes an amazing band to take an established sound and run with it. That's why it's a shame that such a great album was limited to 300 copies, because the piqnic did just this with ZyouK. They've only been a band for two years, but they play a very dark, brooding, hypnotic shoegaze that pulls in influences from many scenes. "hinata" and "si" are noteworthy for their minimalistic ambiance which helps to break up the more intense offerings such as noise-laden "ZyouK" , the energetic "krs", or the surprisingly bright and hopeful "O". Fans of shoegaze or post-rock that don't mind messy production will adore this.

Song: krs

Sigh - Graveward

"Graveward" is the product of a band that's scraped every corner of their black metal musical melting pot for over fifteen years. The compositions are as well-thought out and intriguing as ever, reflecting the two and a half years it took to compose and record, and they improve with each listen. The production is crisp, clean, and devoid of quirks, which is a first! The balance between the metal antics of the band and the epic aspirations of the orchestra is nothing less than stupendous. Featuring guest performances from Trivium's Matthew Heafy, DragonForce's Fred Leclercq, Shining Sweden's Niklas Kvarforth, Rotting Christ's Sakis Tolis, and The Meads of Asphodel's Metatron should let you know this is big. Most bands would crumble performing music this complex but Sigh makes it seem effortless. It's easy to overlook just how good this album is. At its core, "Graveward" is very much a black metal record. But with so many elements, twists, turns, and strokes of genius, this album surpasses any type of simple classification. Its chaotic nature may come off as a gimmick to some, but even if it is, it's one that requires incredible amounts of musicianship to achieve. Those very same qualities make this album so much fun to listen to and leave me in awe at how creative one band can be. Due to how the voting panned out, "Graveward" didn't feature on our Top 25 (it was #27 for those interested) but it has solidified itself as one of the best metal albums of 2015. Period.

Songs: A Messenger From Tomorrow and The Tombfiller

sukekiyo - VITIUM

Last year, I said that IMMORTALIS "left me somewhere in the middle". It was too long and I always believed it would have been better as an album and a mini. VITIUM is proof of that. Smaller releases mesh with sukekiyo's sound much better and while I expected it to be good, I didn't expect it to be this good. For starters, the atmosphere just pours out of every note on each song, backed by Kyo's colorful vocals, creating an overwhelming suffocating experience that almost makes you forget this is a mini-album. We all know by now that avant-garde rock with some progressive and folk elements wrapped around haunting, unsettling Oriental melodies is sukekiyo's bread and butter. The music is as dense as ever, requiring several listens to appreciate the more subtle elements and transitions, but there are still plenty of refreshing moments to engage any listener. The rolling bass that kicks off "leather fields" and the solo in "celeste" are two of my personal favorite moments, and they're of the more immediate, jaw-dropping kind. Go on, give it a try or five.

Songs: leather fields and celeste

和楽器バンド - 八奏絵巻

I hope that out of the eight of them, one of them realizes how much of a fanatic I am. I write about them every chance we get to the point that it's a core part of my online persona to some degree. Oh well, there are far worse bands to stan.   This time last year, they were a fringe curiosity from the vocaloid scene that showed some promise. One year, three anime themes, and a handful of singles later and we're already talking about being signed to a major label deal and releasing their first original album. That's huge. 八奏絵巻 (Yasou Emaki) pulls no punches and misses no opportunities. The anime themes "戦-ikusa-", "反撃の刃", and "なでしこ桜" all make an appearance, as well as their infamous cover of "千本桜" and their newest PV single "暁ノ糸", which flexes their musician skills and record company's budget equally. The biggest surprise of all is how diverse they can be without breaking their theme. There's the slow, melancholy ballads, rock anthems fit for closing out King Crimson concerts, and everything in between. I think they're at their best when they're dark, mystical, and push the rock side of their sound to the max. There's something here for anyone remotely interested in what they offer, and this is an album I see myself revisiting for many years to come.

Songs: 暁ノ糸 (Akatsuki no Ito) and Perfect Blue

Thanks for reading (or skimming)! Leave me some comments below.

[yakihiko 1480]

Nice picks for 和楽器バンド, THE NOVEMBERS and KEEL!

deep sleep is my favorite from them too

my wish was to use those colorful bars in the first place too, but didn't know how to make