2015 was an incredible year. There were so many great albums released in all genres. Too many for me to be able to digest. As with most years, I am sure I will continue discovering new favorites from 2015 in the years to come. There were also a ton of really great shows that I was lucky enough to attend. In addition to things that happened in the music world, I had a lot of personal changes that made 2015 unique. The biggest one being my daughter being born. She was born in March of 2015 and obviously this changes the amount of free time and disposable income that are available to me.
One thing that I decided to do was discontinue my own music blog (grisl.org) as I just couldn’t keep it up and make it worth looking at. Thankfully this wonderful site was willing to have me hop on and contribute posts about albums that I love. I appreciate the Bearded Gentlemen Community so much and am excited to continue doing this in 2016. One of my favorite things from doing grisl.org was posting a year end list of my favorite albums and shows (not that anyone would or should care about what my favorite albums were). I get a kick out of trying to narrow it down to 20 albums from all different genres. Here is my list from this year. If you didn’t get a chance to check these out you should give them a shot!
Matt’s Favorite Albums of 2015:
20. Freddie Gibbs – Shadow Of A Doubt (full review)
19. Elephant Rifle – Ivory (interview)
18. Blacklisters – Adult (full review)
17. Torche – Restarter (interview)
16. Blanck Mass – Dumb Flesh
15. Kowloon Walled City – Grievances (interview)
14. Death Grips – The Powers That B (full review)
13. Deerhunter – Fading Frontier
12. Great Falls – The Fever Shed (full review)
11. Yellow Eyes – Sick With Bloom (full review)
10. HEALTH – Death Magic
9. Immortal Bird – Empress/Abscess (full review)
8. No Spill Blood – Heavy Electricity (interview)
7. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit (full review)
6. Thee Oh Sees – Mutilator Defeated At Last (full review)
5. Dan Deacon – Gliss Riffer (full review)
4. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly (full review)
3. Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth – S/T
2. Gaytheist + Rabbits – Gay*Bits (full review)
1. Mutoid Man – Bleeder
Favorite EP/Split/7″:
5. Great Falls/Thou 7″ Split
4. Grizzlor – Cycloptic 7″ (full review)
3. Fórn – Weltschmerz
2. Fight Amp – Constantly Off (interview)
1. Sandrider/Kinski Split
Favorite Shows of 2015:
Caribou @ The Showbox Market (Seattle)
Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth, Grenades @ Columbia City Theater (Seattle)
SUMAC @ The Shakedown (Bellingham)
Kowloon Walled City, Fight Amp @ The Shakedown (Bellingham)
Chelsea Wolfe @ The Shakedown (Bellingham)
Snoop Dogg @ Life Is Beautiful Festival (Las Vegas)
Babes In Toyland @ Bumbershoot Festival (Seattle)
Sandrider, Leatherdaddy (Merso), He Whose Ox Is Gored @ The Sunset (Seattle)
Melvins @ Bumbershoot Festival (Seattle)
Sandrider, Kinski, Blood Drugs @ Neumos (Seattle)
Run The Jewels @ Life Is Beautiful Festival (Las Vegas)
Deerhunter, Atlas Sound @ The Showbox Market (Seattle)