Anteater

Happy Holidays and salutations to all my fleabag friends & fans! As I have in previous years, it's time to break down my year musically and tune you guys into some gems that you might have missed in a variety of genres (particularly rock and metal, but with me you'll always get a wide range of stuff).

I'd like to go ahead and note, however, that 2015 just had so many good albums in every style and genre imaginable that even a top 100 would end up with me cutting stuff I enjoyed. Thus, don't be upset if your album didn't make it: I probably heard it and cut it because it wasn't *quite* there in comparison to what I ended up keeping.

I'll be updating this initial post as I go down the list this month, so refer back to it if you see something you like but might not remember what it was. I'll try to link to YT vids, Bandcamp links, etc. where applicable from post to post.

So yeah, enjoy!

~ Derek


31. HAAMOJA - Natural Evolution
30. Midnight Odyssey - Shards Of Silver Fade
29. Freddie Gibbs - Shadow Of A Doubt
28. Mercury Rev - The Light In You
27. Bobby Caldwell & Jack Splash - Cool Uncle
26. Young Gun Silver Fox - West End Coast
25. Toto - XIV
24. Obsequiae – Aria Of Vernal Tombs
23. Gazpacho – Molok
22. Moonbound – Uncomfortable News From The Moon
21. Teramaze – Her Halo
20. 2814 – 新しい日の誕生
19. Dâm-Funk – Invite The Light
18. Purposeful Porpoise – The Water Games
17. Tribulation - The Children Of The Night
16. Marcus D - The Lone Wolf
15. The Breathing Effect - Mars Is A Very Bad Place For Love
14. Cats In Space - Too Many Gods
13. Ozric Tentacles - Technicians Of The Sacred
12. Skylar Spence - Prom King
11. Solution .45 - Nightmares In The Waking State: Part I
10. Barock Project - Skyline
9. Kamasi Washington - The Epic
8. Yuka & Chronoship - The 3rd Planetary Chronicles
7. Earthside - A Dream In Static
6. John McLaughlin - Black Light
5. Unified Past - Shifting The Equilibrium
4. Dreadnought - Bridging Realms
3. Geyster - Knight Games Trilogy (I, II and III)
2. The Panic Division - Aero Nautical
1. Queensrÿche - Condition Hüman

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31. HAAMOJA – Natural Evolution

Genre: Instrumental Jazz Fusion / Djent
Put On A Playlist With: Animals As Leaders, Liquid Tension Experiment, Late 90's Dreamcast video game OSTs

HAAMOJA, AKA Yao Ting Lee, is a 24 year old guitarist, composer and producer based in Taiwan who really pulled out all the stops on this instrumental and surprisingly fluid record. There's a cinematic and very lush quality to these proceedings that elevate it above your typical shredfest that you get with the bands I listed in the Playlist contemporaries above (noticeable especially on opening cut 'Return To Zero'), so highly recommended for anyone looking for something a cut above the norm in their instrumental djent jammage.


30. Midnight Odyssey – Shards Of Silver Fade

Genre: Ambient/Atmospheric Black Metal
Put On A Playlist With: Bathory, early Emperor, Steve Roach

The latest cosmic journey of Australian black metal project Midnight Odyssey, the brainchild of a mysterious fella by the name of Dis Pater. There's a grandiose vision of space and death at work here that recalls the absolute pinnacle of black metal's top forefathers yet takes a leap forward into territory those masters never explored, with a heavy emphasis on texture that you normally would expect of guys like Brian Eno as opposed to a black metal-anything release. Most of these songs are longer than 10 minutes or so, but by Thor it's definitely worth the plunge!



29. Freddie Gibbs – Shadow Of A Doubt

Genre: Hip-Hop with a dose of Gangsta
Put On A Playlist With: Animals As Leaders, Liquid Tension Experiment, Late 90's Dreamcast video game OSTs

For those of you who thought his work with Madlib last year on Pinata was a bit too left center, the master returns this season with a heady verse-heavy mix of party jams ('10 Times') and enough close encounter recollections that would make one hell of a biography ('****in' Up The Count). Oh, and the 70's keyboard-laden 'Extradite' is an absolute banger.


28. Mercury Rev – The Light In You

Genre: Shoegaze, Baroque Pop
Put On A Playlist With: Sufjan Stevens, Smashing Pumpkins, late 90's Radiohead

Mercury Rev have always been something like a more whimsical, psychedelic cousin to bands like Radiohead or Pulp, and although they've changed lineups a few times and gone through more than one or two stylistic overhauls, that ephemeral quality reigns supreme on The Light In You. It's so gorgeous that you wish Wes Anderson would score his next movie to it beat-by-beat.


27. Bobby Caldwell & Jack Splash – Cool Uncle

Genre: R&B/ Blue-Eyed Soul / Pop / Funk
Put On A Playlist With: Bobby Caldwell, Meyer Hawthorne, Jessie Ware, Daft Punk

The best R&B album of the year is the collision of two absolute monster songwriters: Jack Splash, who has produced and written for Kendrick Lamar, Alicia Keys and many others, and the seemingly immortal blue-eyed crooner Bobby Caldwell, who has been sampled like crazy since the late 70's and who has written for Boz Scaggs and Chicago as well. Together, they've created a minor masterpiece. Cool Uncle indeed!


26. Young Gun Silver Fox – West End Coast

Genre: West Coast Rock, Soft Rock, “Yacht Rock”
Put On A Playlist With: America, Hall & Oates, Fleetwood Mac, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson

Surprisingly magical soft rock passion project from Andy Platts and Shawn Lee, two U.K. songwriter/musician veterans who have one helluva grasp on that “classic” FM 70's singer/songwriter sound. Killer harmonies, killer hooks and a vibrant production/mixing job – what more could you want? Lots of gems abound, but opening cut 'You Can Feel It' could have been right there alongside 'A Horse With No Name' on America's first record, and there's also a strong classic Motown feel going on the bouncy 'See Me Slumber' and classy orchestral closer 'Long Way Back'.


25. Toto – XIV

Genre: Progressive Hard Rock, Pop, R&B
Put On A Playlist With: Deep Purple, Yes, Boz Scaggs, Todd Rundgren

Despite a series of setbacks (bassist Mike Porcaro's death) and initially unwanted label obligations, past and present members of Toto banded together to put together what seems to be their final outing in studio….and it really ****in' rocks. This is a great album to show people who think Toto are soft rock dinosaurs – these guys jam like monsters and are pretty heavy at times too. Vocalist Joseph Williams, Steve Lukather on guitar, David Hungate...these guys are all legends for a reason. Furthermore, there's a very progressive rock bent on much of the material here, especially 'Running Out Of Time' and the collosally awesome closer 'Great Expectations'. Highly recommended.

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Exo

I look forward to this list every year.

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SUPREME POO BAH MODERATOR EXTRAORDINAIRE

14232949

Well, if it's true that Freddie Gibbs has moved away from his Pinata sound, then I've unfairly overlooked a potentially good album.
The track you shared sounds a lot more interesting than what was Pinata so gonna take your advice and give it a listen.

Hopefully there's less prog rock on your list this year but I have a sneaking suspicion that won't be the case.

Look forward to the unveiling.

Anteater

Depends on how you define "progressive rock". If you mean stuff like Yes or King Crimson, there's only two or three albums in total on the list that's in that vein. Rest is more versatile genre-wise.

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24. Obsequiae – Aria Of Vernal Tombs

Genre: Black Metal / Medieval Folk
Put On A Playlist With: Elder Scrolls game soundtracks, Windir, Saor, early Ulver

Blaspheming around in some nether region between black metal and the strummings of ye olde wandering minstrel types, this is about as good a dose of blackened folk metal as you'll run across in any given year. The acoustic melodies throughout many of these blastbeaten pieces, as well as the stand alone interludes, are damn lovely. And when the disparate elements that define these guys' binary start to blend together on songs like 'Autumnal Pyre' or 'Pools Of A Vernal Paradise', the results are pretty jammin'.


23. Gazpacho – Molok

Genre: Alternative Rock, "Nu-Prog", Experimental
Put On A Playlist With: Elbow, Muse, No-Man, The Verve

These modern Norwegian proggers never fail to serve up something a little different, and Molok is no exception: apparently, it is an album capable of destroying the universe. How could this possibly be the case? Well, a strange noise at the end of the record will cause the correction software in CD players everywhere to generate a random number every time the CD is played – and if that number corresponds to the actual position of every electron in the universe, theoretically the universe could come to an end....supposedly. Musically, expect 90's flavored Brit-rock with some nice orchestral touches and lots of moody arrangements flavored by some Stone Age instrumentation (like a thousand year old dulcimer!!).


22. Moonbound – Uncomfortable News From The Moon

Genre: Art Rock, New Wave, 80's Pop
Put On A Playlist With: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, early 80's King Crimson, Mr. Mister

One of my favorite pop-oriented discoveries this year, Moonbound are are an interesting blend of late 70's/early 80's Genesis and contemporary pop with some interesting left turns here and there that might remind you of King Crimson circa Three Of A Perfect Pair. Lead vocalist and primary songwriter Fabio Trentini has a voice in that sits in that unusual uncanny valley between Peter Gabriel in his prime and vintage Phil Collins...and his emphasis seems to focus between one or the other depending on the song, which makes for a rather interesting hybridized type of listening experience. In another world where 'The Rhythm Of The Heat' and 'In The Air Tonight' could have come from the same mind, this album might've sold millions.


21. Teramaze – Her Halo

Genre: Catchy Progressive Metal
Put On A Playlist With: Kamelot, Karnivool, Dead Letter Circus

Teramaze have been one of Australia's more interesting metal bands to emerge into prominence over the last few years, especially in the wake of Karnivool and their ilk. And while I quite enjoyed their Esoteric Symbolism release last year, I sometimes felt it was a bit too noodly and compressed sounding for it's own good. That particular problem has been solved with the recruitment of new singer Nathan Peachy and a shift in the overall dynamics of the group, allowing the hooks and arrangements to breathe in ways that are quite astounding. From the headbanging suite opener 'An Ordinary Dream (Enla Momento)' through the killer anthem of a title track, there's a lot of fun to be had within.


20. 2814 – 新しい日の誕生

Genre: Ambient, Vaporwave
Put On A Playlist With: Mid 80's Harold Budd, James Ferraro, Macross 82-99

Whilst vaporwave itself is pretty much just an amalgamation of mid 80's Japanese City Pop, old school electronica, sampling and mid 2000's Chillwave, this album is the first time I've heard someone taking all these elements and crafting a pure ambient experience out of it. Needless to say, color me very impressed. Amazing for sleep!



19. Dâm-Funk – Invite The Light

Genre: Space Funk, EDM, Hip-Hop
Put On A Playlist With: Galactic, Jamiroquai, The System, Common, Kendrick Lamar

Playing with everyone from Todd Rundgren to Flying Lotus over the last decade or so, Damon Garrett Riddick (AKA Dâm-Funk) has managed to pack quite a funky variety of ideas (and ideals) into Invite The Light, making it something like a modern treatise on what a spacey electrified funk album should be in 2015. This is a big, tasty slab of a record where 9-minute bangers like 'O.B.E.' can hang with pop-rap jams like 'HowUGonFu*kAroundAndChooseABusta?' and still maintain cohesion.


18. Purposeful Porpoise – The Water Games

Genre: Jazz-Folk, Progressive Rock, Power Pop
Put On A Playlist With: Jellyfish, Jean Luc Ponty, The Beatles, Renaissance

The best albums are often the product of a singular artistic vision. Such is the case with Purposeful Porpoise, a L.A. based progressive rock group led by singer/guitarist Alex Cora, who collaborated with some of the best musicians on the planet to pull out one hell of a beautiful debut record, with a few of the bigger names including former Frank Zappa drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and violin virtuoso Ginny Luke. The overall sound is quite a thing: basically power pop oriented progressive rock with an emphasis on guitar, violin and some pretty tasty vocal harmonies amidst the proceedings. Recommended even to those normally averse to anything with the word "progressive" attached.

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17. Tribulation – The Children Of The Night

Genre: Traditional Heavy Metal, Black Metal, "Death N' Roll"
Put On A Playlist With: Black Widow, Dissection, Watain, early Black Sabbath

Swedish hard rockin' group who punch up the usual melodic black metal formula with a lot of tasty 70's hard rock elements, including prominent organ and twin lead guitar work that's so delicious they give early At The Gates a run for their money. This is their third album so far and it definitely swooped in without much warning...kinda like bats. Halloween's already past, but this will be on more than a few playlists when the orange moon comes 'round again...


16. Marcus D – The Lone Wolf

Genre: Hip-Hop, Jazz-Rap, Experimental
Put On A Playlist With: Nujabes, Substantial, Nomak

An LP that goes down as smooth as gelato in the desert, complete with a punchy balance between instrumental material and the guest spots but with a greater diversity of instruments than your typical jazz-hop record (including flute and some old school Rhodes). Not the masterpiece that Melancholy Hopeful was a few years back, but this here be prime chill fo'sho.


15. The Breathing Effect – Mars Is A Very Bad Place For Love

Genre: Space Jazz-Fusion/Bossa Nova, Electronica
Put On A Playlist With: Pink Floyd, early Return To Forever, Stereolab

An interstellar romance set to the dial of vintage jazz-fusion sounds with a modern EDM twist of the lightsaber. Highlights include vocal centerpiece 'Visions' and the Brazilian bliss of 'Streetlights Out Of Focus'. Low key, but quite good.


14. Cats In Space – Too Many Gods

Genre: Power Pop, Classic Rock / AOR, Glam Rock
Put On A Playlist With: Electric Light Orchestra, Sweet, David Bowie, Supertramp, John Miles

A super project of sorts aiming to recapture the pop genius of the mid 70's powerhouses, and through some ballsy performances and stellar songwriting these guys just about pull it off. Jeff Lynne's influence, both from a compositional standpoint and in a production sense, is all over these songs, especially on monster single 'Mr. Heartache' and the vocoder-laced 'Man In The Moon'. And that's not a bad thing really: this is one of the finest love letters to the mid 70's as anything I've run across in twenty something years of collecting music.


13. Ozric Tentacles – Technicians Of The Sacred

Genre: Psybient, Goa, Space Rock
Put On A Playlist With: Shpongle, Entheogenic, Gong

The Ozrics have had their ups and downs since their inception in the mid 80's, bending electronic music in ways nobody had ever thought of before back then and peaking creatively in the 90's in the midst of the U.K.'s rave scene. With this particular album however, it sounds like guitarist Ed Wynne and his revolving door of collaborators have turned back the clock to their peak creative era: the production, use of keyboards and percussive elements, etc. all sounds more organic than anything they'd done in over 15 years. And that guitar mann....well, pass the blunt and enjoy.


12. Skylar Spence – Prom King

Genre: New Wave, Synth-Pop, Future Funk
Put On A Playlist With: Daft Punk, Toro Y Moi, Mayer Hawthorne

A Nu-disco poptastic jam colossus from the mastermind behind Saint Pepsi. While there's nothing special about the vocals of one Ryan Bradlin DeRobertis, it's the craft behind stuff like 'Can't You See' and the "coulda been/shoulda been" classic 'Affairs' that make you realize how much a producer's ear can make a difference in an otherwise potentially anonymous outing. Chillwave and its ilk won't be coming back into the spotlight anytime soon, but this guy's got a classic ready to claw its way out if these songs are of any indication.


11. Solution .45 – Nightmares In The Waking State: Part I

Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Put On A Playlist With: Scar Symmetry, Edge Of Sanity, Dark Tranquality

Christian Älvestam is regarded as one of the finest "clean" singers in the darksome world of European extreme metal, and he's got a helluva snarl in there too. It's a great juxtaposition, and if you loved him in early Scar Symmetry you'll find his work in Solution .45 to be even better in some respects. There's some symphonic elements here and there throughout, but this isn't quite power metal or progressive metal despite influences from both seeping into the core melodeath aesthetic. If you like all those things coupled with some pretty fine hooks ('Wield The Scepter', 'Winning Where Losing Is All'), this mixes it up with ablomb.

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10. Barock Project – Skyline

Genre: Poppy, off-the-wall Progressive Rock
Put On A Playlist With: Queen, Toto, PFM, Led Zeppelin, The Protomen

Contemporary Italian prog band with an eclectic, sweeping and very Baroque sense of melody amidst their progressive rock / theatrical Queen-esque pop leanings. Between some showstopping performances and a killer instinct in regards to balancing all the acoustic and more traditional rock band elements throughout this LP, it's a pretty big bright spot in an otherwise surprisingly bare year for progressive rock groups. The nearly 10-minute 'Tired' and opening folk-inflected epic 'Gold' are two key tracks, but everyone will find something different to latch onto here.


9. Kamasi Washington – The Epic

Genre: Old Skool Jazz-Fusion son
Put On A Playlist With: John Coltrane, Weather Report, Sun Ra, Kendrick Lamar

2015's mainstream all star in the jazz realm is interesting even before the initial notes hit your ears: its quality (evaluated before release) by Terrace Martin was what got saxaphonist Kamasi Washington his much publicized gig with Kendrick Lamar on critical and commercial hip-hop masterwork To Pimp A Butterfly. Of the two albums, this one came out a bit ahead for me, but for all intents and purposes you can consider this the cosmic cousin of TPAB. Instead of hip-hop though, this is pure fusion influenced by everyone from Sun Ra to George Benson, and a beautiful spiritual successor to what those masters started.


8. Yuka & Chronoship – The 3rd Planetary Chronicles

Genre: Instrumental / Soundtrack, J-Pop (ish), Classical, Symphonic Progressive Rock
Put On A Playlist With: Gerard, Outer Limits, Mr. Sirius, ELP

High quality Japanese instrumental progressive rock outfit let by virtuoso composer / pianist / vocalist Yuka Funakoshi. The album is a concept record dealing with the birth of the planet, following it's life through the Stone Age all the way to our own present era and beyond. Heady stuff on paper...but Yuka's grasp of songcraft is almost transcedental when it comes to executing this suite. She's a master at the keys and her vocalizations are breathtaking, among other things. Couple this with a stellar backing band (Chronoship) that's no slouch in the performance department and you have a big spacy recipe for success.


7. Earthside – A Dream In Static

Genre: Art Rock, "Cinematic Metal", Djent
Put On A Playlist With: TesseracT, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Sevendust, Skyharbor

Earthside is a New England-based creative collective that plays an absorbing style of modern progressive music they call “cinematic rock.”. Four killer instrumentals and four equally spellbinding vocal tracks (featuring guys like Lajon Witherspoon from Sevendust and Speed Strid from Soilwork) are what you get here, and it is a melodic metal experience that has to be heard in totality to be believed.


6. John McLaughlin – Black Light

Genre: Ambient, Electronic, Jazz, Experimental
Put On A Playlist With: Jaga Jazzist, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Allan Holdsworth

Like the playlist-mentioned Allan Holdsworth above, John McLaughlin has been a looming force in jazz guitar now for five decades and even now, dozens of albums into his career, he pushes the envelope. The synth-axe is pretty retro, but juxtaposed against some beautiful electronic ambiance and mixing in the off kilter shreddage that remains his definitive trademark you have my favorite jazz album of the year. The chillest track here, 'Gaza City', deserves it's own neo-noir video game adaptation ASAP.


5. Unified Past – Shifting The Equilibrium

Genre: Crossover Progressive Rock
Put On A Playlist With: Early 80's Rush, Yes (circa Close To The Edge), The Outfield, Brother Ape

One of those nobody neo-prog groups suddenly shot to the top of the heap this year for me out of nowhere thanks to a combination of damned good songwriting and a new vocalist (Phil Naro) who has one hell of a great voice for capturing an "enlightenment / feel good symphonic acid trip" sort of vibe. Why the hell didn't Yes hire this guy to come on after Jon Anderson parted ways with 'em over ten years ago? His lower tone is Geddy Lee to a T, but that's to the benefit of this metal-tinged tour-de-force. This is the kind of stuff that reminds me of why progressive rock was my first musical love: when Naro hits those highs, there's just no coming down from it.

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4. Dreadnought – Bridging Realms

Genre: Contemporary Doom Metal, Sludge Metal, early 70's Psych-Rock & Jazz-Rock
Put On A Playlist With: Candlemass, Pallbearer, Camel, Blood Ceremony

One hell of a metal experience, juxtaposing female vox classic-styled Doom Metal (harsh and clean vocals) against Canterbury-esque flutey folk rock workouts that remind me a lot of Caravan, Fairport Convention or perhaps some of the mid 70's Camel classics. The concept of juggling equal parts "light and shade" might seem like something you've all heard before a thousand times before...but I assure you all never quite like this. As much as I like Opeth for instance...well, these guys have a better balancing act in some respects.


3. Geyster – Knight Games Trilogy (I, II and III)

Genre: 70's Art Rock, Yacht Rock, Blue-Eyed Soul
Put On A Playlist With: Ambrosia, The Alan Parsons Project, Steely Dan, America

Geyster, AKA Gaël Benyamin, is a one-stop shop songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist, etc. from the land of perfume, frog legs and Napolean...and he knows the power of smooth music probably better than even the best of 'em from thirty years ago or more. In an extremely bold move that would even give some of the bigger names in pop pause, Gael released an entire trilogy of albums simultaneously in early March. Basically, twenty-nine songs of pure Westcoast/Blue-Eyed Soul awesomeness, featuring some of the best damned analog production and cosmic keyboard work this side of Saturn. That's a lot of music to digest, but all three albums here have least a few potential boat shoe classics waiting to end up next to Daft Punk on your more palatable playlists. Great for the highway...and beyond!


2. The Panic Divison – Aero Nautical

Genre: Dream Pop, Synth-Pop, Alternative Rock, Pop-Punk, Arena Rock
Put On A Playlist With: Jimmy Eat World, Tears For Fears, Mr. Mister, Mew, The Dream Academy

Every '80s enthusiast's wet dream rolled into an early-'00s guitar-centric package. And what a package it is, inundated with a reverb-heavy backdrop that somehow draws the best ideas of the first-wave shoegaze boom and the previous era (80's dream pop) into something distinct from either. But that's not even the real kicker: Colton's huge voice and those enormous guitar hooks bring to mind everything from Roland Orzabel of Tears For Fears, to the classic early outings of Jimmy Eat World—or perhaps modern indie/prog rock superstars like Mew... and, hell, sometimes all of these myriad influences can be heard in a single song. Weird to read, I'm sure, but it has to be heard to be believed.


1. Queensrÿche – Condition Hüman

Genre: Progressive Metal
Put On A Playlist With: Fates Warning, Iron Maiden, Alice In Chains, Tool, Pagan's Mind

The best melodic metal album of the year, and probably my favorite album of its kind over the last ten years along with Fates Warning's Darkness In A Different Light a few years ago. The comeback self-titled that came out in 2013 with new singer Todd La Torre was a fist to the face in the best possible way, but the overall package was slightly marred by a hot mastering job and overly condensed song lengths. Condition Hüman fixes those minor problems and then some: from those grin-inducding guitar harmonies that open up 'Arrow Of Time' to that awesome shift midway through the behemoth title track closer, this album is melodic progressive metal heaven. From 1983 to about 1994, Queensrÿche had an absolutely perfect run that was hard to top by anyone in any genre. This album sits right among Operation: Mindcrime and all the rest with class to spare. It carried me through my younger brother's untimely death a few months ago and I forsee it continuing to get a lot of replay over many years to come as well.

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Slushburgh

I won't be the last to say this, no Kendrick Lamar?