Best Albums of 2015

[Dirty Water]

To Pimp a Butterfly.

One of the more popular arguments against TPAB seems to be that the lyrics are too of-the-moment, compared to C&L's timelessness. Lyrically this may be true, but I encourage those who haven't taken them into consideration to look at the pure vocal performance(regardless of lyrics) and the composition. I don't believe that TPAB is lacking in either of the two.

[vcuEvan]

To Pimp a Butterfly

[Smuttynose Island]

To Pimp a Butterfly

[Stinkweed Imp]

Carrie and Lowell

[The King's Flight to the Scots]

Reminder that voting closes today. Right now, I have Carrie and Lowell ahead by a single vote.

[iloveGod]

TPAB

[The Stately Rhododendron]

To Pimp a Butterfly.

Carrie and Lowell is good, but Sufjan has made several albums that are better than it, if you ask me, like Seven Swans (maybe my favorite) and Illinois.

TPAB actually influenced protest culture, remember. That's not easy for an album to do! For someone who started going to demonstrations at a very young age, it's important to me that Kendrick made a song that can be used as a tool in protests, Alright.

[Vainamoinen]

I remembered disliking TPAB a lot when it came out, but in the interest of fairness I listened to it again last night. It still sucked. Musically, there are very few inspiring songs/songs that I would like to listen to again: in fact, there are a lot of songs that I actively disliked listening to ("For Free?", "u", and of course "Mortal Man" come to mind). In addition, Kendrick's poem-motif thing is dumb and cringe-worthy, and the fake Tupac interview/dialogue is just terrible/annoying/everything. I recognize that TPAB is a powerful statement about race in America and police brutality and discrimination and all that, but it's not inspiring music, and the best album of the year title should be evaluated on the merit of an album as music, not on the merits of its message (which is part of the music, certainly, but not all).

I joined this thread solely to vote against TPAB, and I'm going to continue to do so. Carrie and Lowell.

I agree with everything in this post. TPAB is just bad music. I vote Carrie and Lowell.

[The Stately Rhododendron]

I remembered disliking TPAB a lot when it came out, but in the interest of fairness I listened to it again last night. It still sucked. Musically, there are very few inspiring songs/songs that I would like to listen to again: in fact, there are a lot of songs that I actively disliked listening to ("For Free?", "u", and of course "Mortal Man" come to mind). In addition, Kendrick's poem-motif thing is dumb and cringe-worthy, and the fake Tupac interview/dialogue is just terrible/annoying/everything. I recognize that TPAB is a powerful statement about race in America and police brutality and discrimination and all that, but it's not inspiring music, and the best album of the year title should be evaluated on the merit of an album as music, not on the merits of its message (which is part of the music, certainly, but not all).

I joined this thread solely to vote against TPAB, and I'm going to continue to do so. Carrie and Lowell.

I agree with everything in this post. TPAB is just bad music. I vote Carrie and Lowell.

can you elaborate?

[Vainamoinen]

I remembered disliking TPAB a lot when it came out, but in the interest of fairness I listened to it again last night. It still sucked. Musically, there are very few inspiring songs/songs that I would like to listen to again: in fact, there are a lot of songs that I actively disliked listening to ("For Free?", "u", and of course "Mortal Man" come to mind). In addition, Kendrick's poem-motif thing is dumb and cringe-worthy, and the fake Tupac interview/dialogue is just terrible/annoying/everything. I recognize that TPAB is a powerful statement about race in America and police brutality and discrimination and all that, but it's not inspiring music, and the best album of the year title should be evaluated on the merit of an album as music, not on the merits of its message (which is part of the music, certainly, but not all).

I joined this thread solely to vote against TPAB, and I'm going to continue to do so. Carrie and Lowell.

I agree with everything in this post. TPAB is just bad music. I vote Carrie and Lowell.

can you elaborate?

I quoted Corin's post since it comprehensively matches my opinions on this. I will add that I believe good art can't just have a powerful message, but must be aesthetically pleasing, and TPAB falls very short on that.

[theMoMA]

Carrie & Lowell, because I enjoyed listening to it more.

[gustavadolf]

Carrie and Lowell is good, but Sufjan has made several albums that are better than it, if you ask me, like Seven Swans (maybe my favorite) and Illinois.

Although I'd agree with you that both Seven Swans and Illinois are better than Carrie and Lowell, I don't see how this has any relevancy to the topic at hand. GKMC is better than TPAB. The point is not whether an album is its artist's best work, but whether one album is better than the other.

[The Stately Rhododendron]

Carrie and Lowell is good, but Sufjan has made several albums that are better than it, if you ask me, like Seven Swans (maybe my favorite) and Illinois.

Although I'd agree with you that both Seven Swans and Illinois are better than Carrie and Lowell, I don't see how this has any relevancy to the topic at hand. GKMC is better than TPAB. The point is not whether an album is its artist's best work, but whether one album is better than the other.

I just mean I don't think it's the transcendent effort that some people consider it to be. It's very good, no doubt, but TPAB is transcendent. Besides the physical album, the songs in it can be shouted. Playing the songs outside, in public, can be cathartic. Shouting "we gonna be alright" during a protest reaches the spiritual power of "Om Mani Padme Hum" (OM, of course, was chanted by Allen Ginsberg during the 1968 DNC protests).

I have no problem with people saying the C&L is better. But saying TPAB is not "inspiring"??? Have you heard it in a crowd? Have you blasted it from a car? If "Should have know better" comes on the radio, I won't object. But, when I was driving back from the World Fellowship center in scenic Albany, New Hampshire, I turned to Hot 97 when I entered the NJ turnpike. "King Kunta" started. I blasted the out of that.

[naan/steak-holding toll]

Don't usually feel qualified to vote in these things, but I listened to TPAB a few days ago and decided to give the Stevens album a whirl for this poll. I definitely enjoyed both a lot, but I've got to go with To Pimp A Butterfly.

[Sam]

Besides the physical album, the songs in it can be shouted.

Is there a word missing? I'm not sure what this sentence means, as is.

EDIT: Also, I got the feeling TPAB was promoted as a "protest album" more than really made sense, given the subject of the songs, because music critics in 2015 felt there should be a protest album. There was something similar at the end of 2014 with Black Messiah, which some critics acclaimed as a statement of the African-American experience for no clear reason beyond it being the work of an African-American musician who draws upon the work of past African-American musicians. (It was also an excellent album, I should add.)

[Auks Ran Ova]

I'm not sure what this sentence means, as is.

That's awfully charitable towards the rest of the sentences.

[Irreligion in Bangladesh]

Carrie & Lowell.

[Rococo A Go Go]

To Pimp a Butterfly is something that has received nearly universal acclaim for its importance, but I'm not sure if making a poignant statement on being black in America in 2015 is something that's so unique as to automatically hand it the title of 2015's best album. There are a few tracks that I skipped halfway through just because I didn't enjoy listening to them; they were not necessarily bad, but also just not very compelling. But some of these songs are fantastic, just like Kendrick's first album. I would like to note "How Much a Dollar Cost?" and "The Blacker the Berry" as two standouts.

Carrie and Lowell is an intimate meditation on what is essentially Sufjan's life story, and the themes are transcendent, but my main issue with Sufjan's music is that despite the fact it's good and I enjoy it, it never particularly stands out in a way that some of it's competition does. This album also has few tracks that I outright disliked, but I'm not sure if having more manageable troughs is something that's extraordinarily important.. However, it is a complete work and something that I find very hard to find too much fault with. I would also like to note "No Shade in the Shadow of the Cross" and "Should Have Known Better" as my two favorite tracks on the album.

I have listened to both of these albums again in hopes to come to a decision. Both are very good albums, although neither are flawless. Ultimately this was a very tough choice, and I can't make a decision without noting that either album is definitely deserving of winning. But the album I enjoyed more was Carrie and Lowell, and it gets my vote.

[Off To See The Lizard]

Carrie and Lowell

[The King's Flight to the Scots]

Your album of the year is Sufjan Stevens' Carrie and Lowell, 17-15. For what it's worth, I agree with Sam's point that To Pimp a Butterfly gets pigeonholed as a "protest" album when it's actually more introspective. I liked it for the aesthetic qualities (vocal technique, production, lyricism) that other people seem pretty down on. But, Sufjan's great too, and I accept the outcome.

Anyway, thanks to everybody who participated! I enjoyed learning about a lot of new music by combing through the nominations, and it sounds like others did, too. I also really enjoyed reading people's defenses of music they really liked. Overall, pretty pleased with how this went.

I'd like to solicit some feedback on whether this is a thread worth continuing next year, what went well, and what could be done better. Feel free to post your thoughts!

[The Stately Rhododendron]

I'm not sure what this sentence means, as is.

That's awfully charitable towards the rest of the sentences.

Why do you have to throw that shade Rob "Snarkson"

[The Time Keeper]

I'm not sure what this sentence means, as is.

That's awfully charitable towards the rest of the sentences.

Why do you have to throw that shade Rob "Snarkson"

The Pitchfork auditions thread is somewhere else.