Year in Review: Top 10 Albums of 2015 Rated by Contributors

10 years from now, we might look back at the Top 10 Albums of 2015 as the year the “new music industry” became a viable business model.  As the battle rages to fine tune some of the sticky points around streaming services, vinyl sales soar at the same time bands and artists offer free downloads, surrendering the traditional model and entrusting their legacy to future generations.

With so many different ways to deliver musical products to consumers, our Top 10 Albums of 2015 list will include LP’s, EP’s and Mixtapes.  We are not a hive mind at Janky Smooth so you will find albums we didn’t publish favorable reviews on in our contributors top 10 list.

We here at Janky Smooth feel blessed to stand on the precipice with you and gaze upon the vast landscape of music that is exploding from all corners of the world.

Top 10 Albums/EP’s/Mixtapes of 2015 

Johnny Ramos- Photographer: Top 10 Albums of 2015

1. Tame Impala – Currents
2. Beach House – Depression Cherry
3. Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
4. Death Grips – The Powers That B
5. Toro Y Moi – What For?
6. Turnover – Peripheral Vision
7. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Multi-Love
8. Hot Chip – Why Make Sense?
9. Dance Gavin Dance – Instant Gratification
10. Turnstile – Nonstop Feelings

Top Post- Albert Hammond Jr Strokes the Teragram Ballroom

Brent Smith- Author: Top 10 Albums of 2015

1. Fuzz- Fuzz II
2. Destruction Unit- Negative Feedback Resistor
3. Dead Sara- Pleasure to Meet You
4. Ho99o9- Dead Bodies in the Lake
5. Metz- Metz II
6. Tyler, The Creator- Cherry Bomb
7. Radkey- Dark Black Makeup
8. Yacht- I Thought The Future Would Be Cooler
9. House of the Rising Fuzz- Compiliation
10. FIDLAR- Too

Top Post- Ho99o9 EP Release Party at Mystery Box: An Initiation

David Evanko- Photographer: Top 10 Albums of 2015

1. Wand- Golem
2. Thee Oh Sees- Mutilator Defeated At Last
3. Mild High Club- Timeline
4. Courtney Barnett- Sometimes I Sit and Think And Sometimes I Just Sit
5. Viet Cong- Viet Cong
6. Fuzz- Fuzz II
7. Metz- Metz II
8. Royal Headache- High
9. Kurt Vile- B’lieve I’m Goin Down
10. Drab Majesty- Careless

Top Photo from Berserktown II: Music Fringe Binge at The Observatory

Travis Moore- Videographer: Top 10 Albums of 2015

1. A Place To Bury Strangers- Transfixation
2. Gang of Four- What Happens Next?
3. Death Grips- The Powers That B
4. Built To Spill- Untethered Moon
5. Le Butcherettes- A Raw Youth
6. Eagles of Death Metal- Zipper Down
7. Winter- Supreme Blue Dream
8. Thee Oh Sees- Mutilator Defeated At Last
9. Cotillion- Cotillion
10. Shannon and The Clams- Gone by the Dawn

Top Post: A Backyard Interview with Deap Vally- Janky Smooth Sessions Part 2

Julien Kelly- Photographer: Top 10 Albums of 2015

1. Homeshake- Midnight Snack
2. Fuzz- Fuzz II
3. Current Joys- Me Oh My Mirror
4. Shannon and the Clams- Gone by the Dawn
5. FIDLAR- Too
6. Slow Hollows-  Atelophobia
7. Alabama Shakes- Sound and Color
8. Unknown Mortal Orchestra- Multi-Love
9. Milo- So The Flies Don’t Come
10. Mild High Club- Timeline

Top Post of 2015: Ty Segall Unplugged at The Smell

Lawrence Rengert II- Author: Top 10 Albums of 2015

1. Tobias Jesso Jr- Goon
2. Kurt Vile- B’lieve I’m Goin Down
3. Jacco Gardner- Hypnophobia
4. Alamo Race Track- Hawks
5. Little Wings- Explains
6. The Miseries- The Miseries
7. Bewilder- Dear Island
8. Jeff Bridges- Sleeping Tapes
9. Bob Dylan- Shadows in the Night
10. Wilco- Star Wars

Top Post of 2015: Did The Melvins Play a Free Show at Permanent Records to Support Buzz’s Vinyl Habit?

Jai Chebaia- Author: Top 10 Albums of 2015

1. Tame Impala- Currents
2. Unknown Mortal Orchestra- Multi Love
3. Midnight Snack- Homeshake
4. Deer Hunter- Fading Frontier
5. Helvetia- Dromomania
6. Milo- So The Flies Don’t Come
7. Earl Sweatshirt- I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside
8. Mild High Club- Timeline
9. Slow Hollows- Atelophobia
10. Shannon and the Clams- Gone by the Dawn

Top Post of 2015: Shannon and the Clams Debut “Gone by the Dawn” at El Rey

Taylor Wong- Photographer and Author: Top 10 Albums of 2015

1. Danzig- Skeletons
2. Snakearm- Concrete
3. Ho99o9- Horrors of 1999
4. Wavves- V
5. together Pangea- Phage
6. FIDLAR- Too
7. Tijuana Panthers- Poster
8. Guantanamo Baywatch- Darling… It’s Too Late
9. Ho99o9- Dead Bodies in the Lake
10. Retox- Beneath California

Top Post of 2015: Punk Rock Bowling 2015 And What Is Punk Rock, Poser?

Justin Cornwall- Author: Top 10 Albums of 2015

1. Sufjan Stevens- Carrie & Lowell
2. Father John Misty- I Love You, Honeybear
3. RATATAT- Magnifique
4. Death Cab For Cutie- Kintsugi
5. Diane Coffee- Everyone’s a Good Dog
6. Tame Impala- Currents
7. Bob Moses- Days Gone By
8. Florence and the Machine- How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
9. Jamie XX- In Colour
10. Foo Fighers- Saint Cecelia

Top Post of 2015: Hanni El Khatib The Last First Friday of 2015 at Natural History Museum

Paige Vreede- Author: Top 10 Albums of 2015

1. Courtney Barnett- Sometimes I Sit and Think…
2. Father John Misty- I Love You, Honeybear
3. Together Pangea- The Phage
4. Widowspeak- All Yours
5. Mystic Braves- Days of Yesteryear
6. Wavves- V
7. Waxahatchee- Ivy Tripp
8. Ducktails- St. Catherine
9. Ought- Sun Coming Down
10. L.A. Witch- L.A. Witch

Top Post of 2015: Buzz Bait- An Interview With The Gooch Palms

Danny Baraz- Author/Publisher: Top 10 Albums of 2015

1. Death Grips- The Powers That B
2. Thee Oh Sees- Mutilator Defeated at Last
3. Joey Bada$$- B4.DA.$$
4. Beach House- Depression Cherry
5. Destruction Unit- Negative Feedback Resistor
6. Fuzz- Fuzz II
7. Ho99o9- Dead Bodies in the Lake
8. Metz- Metz II
9. Courtney Barnett- Sometimes I Sit and Think…
10. Le Butcherettes- A Raw Youth

Top Post of 2015: Beach Goth 4- The Party of The Year