But not for us. Instead, New Years Day is the time to begin the world's shittiest year-end list, an annual tradition that has generated feedback such as "Hey, nice list," "Hey, I saw your list," and "I saw you did a list. Nice." We will now begin our reflection on the jams of 2015, offering our biggest, hottest mix of the year. We're gonna call it "Hot Mix 2015." Updates to the list will be posted on our official Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/mfalc/playlist/65HqpB0TGET10Y0HtnBMLF.
The double-digit section of Hot Mix is not ready, so instead here are the "almost good enough" / "bubbling under" jams. Bear in mind, even though they are in the 3-digit section, they are all still extremely hot or else we wouldn't have bothered embedding all of them. (We also usually have placements with tied songs, and we tried our best to avoid that this year.) Enjoy Page one.
| Hot Mix 2015 on Spotify |
| #200 - 166 | #165 - 131 | #130 - 101 | #100 -71 | #70 - 41 | #40 - 21 | #20 - 1 |
| All 200 Songs |
130. Tricot "E"
J-math-pop-prog. Mathematical precision intact. Not an imperfection in sight.129. Dumblonde “Eyes on Horizon”
Apparently a Danity Kane side project. Weren't they one of Diddy's creations? Driving around late at night hallucinating some 16-bit looking street signs and trees. Cruising World. Grand Theft Auto. Rad Racer.
128. KEN Mode “Blessed”
Recommended if you were really into Shellac's summer 2014 LP Dude Incredible but were bummed that it was their shortest record.
127. Miguel “DEAL”
There was a lot more JB-style funkiness in 2015 R&B than in previous years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rskwzvEaJfQ
126. Cultes des Ghouls “The Rise of Lucifer”
One of our favorite blackmetal bands put out a brutal EP a few months back. Here's the title track.
125. Babysitter “Silky Cloud”
Stumbling into the karaoke bar.124. Tenement “Roads of Home”
We haven't completed our "albums/EPs" list yet, but it's possible we liked Tenement's 5-song cassette from March 2015 just a tiny bit more than their 2-LP opus from 3 months later. “Roads of Home” closes out the mini-set with a late-afternoon summertime driving song.
123. Courtney Barnett “An Illustration of Loneliness (Sleepless In New York)”
Ted Leo's "The Ballad Of The Sin Eater" is possibly our favorite "super-verbose with attitude" rock song of all time; we wonder how fans of "Pedestrian At Best" would react to it. Most of her album kinda sounds like Ted Leo fronting Bob Dylan at that festival where he "goes electric" and folk fans started booing while he was playing "Maggie's Farm." We like it, but the true highlight of this record is the catchy garage-pop nugget "An Illustration of Loneliness." We hope she does more like this in the future. 122. Kamasi Washington “Miss Understanding”
We needed this: https://www.howtopronounce.com/kamasi/
121. Future “I Serve The Base”
Can't believe Lil B has no song called "I Serve The BasedGod."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEQz-BbWF0A
120. Ameriie "Out Loud"
She loves cupcakes.
119. Gnarwhal “Have Fun Tomorrow from Ozzy / Stella”
Remember back in high school after that first time you accidentally ordered a large coffee and got way too overcaffeinated?
118. Earl Sweatshirt "Solace"
Earl's "Revolution 9."
117. The Weeknd “Can't Feel My Face”
Back in the early 2000s while names like The Neptunes, The Matrix and Timbaland were the most highly recognized hit-making teams, Max Martin continued quietly building his resume of Top 10s waiting for the moment when he would be the only remaining giant from this era. Who knew the 2010s would become his golden years? As Martin's 3rd place score of 21 chart toppers approaches Paul McCartney's all-time record of 32, we couldn't help noticing the high-octave response "but I love it..." suspiciously resembling the "bay-bayyy..." from Paul's most recent #1. (That would be "Say Say Say" from way back in 1983. We think Girl Talk should mash these up if he hasn't already.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqt8Z1k0oWQ
116. Stove "Lowt-Ide Fins"
The "Sugar Ray" one.115. One Direction “Perfect”
Nick Jonas's "Jealous" with different words.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho32Oh6b4jc
114. Puff Daddy and the Family featuring Lil Kim, Styles P & King Los “Auction”
Not gonna lie. Nostalgia played a pretty huge part in why we got so excited over "Auction," one of the only decent tracks from Diddy's MMM mixtape (strangely labelled on certain websites as "Puff Daddy and the Family" in preparation for No Way Out 2.) We're just really excited that Puff, Lil Kim and members of The Lox are rapping together again, even though Lil Kim is a huge douche, and we've heard songs that sound like "Auction" on every Wu-Tang solo album since Fishscale. We hugely miss the days when Biggie was ghostwriting for all these guys. Good song tho.113. Young Thug featuring Birdman "Constantly Hating"
Does it count as wake and bake if it happens while watching the sun rise after staying up all night? Some of the cartoon animals from Fantasia are resting nearby. Birdman looks a lot like Birdperson from Rick and Morty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va9fNf4FZyM
112. Sufjan Stevens “Should Have Known Better”
We're pumped that the mid-2000s "over-instrumentation posing as indie-folk" fad has faded. Elliott never played around with that shit in the '90s. He never needed tubas or glockenspiels to get his point across. Neither did Nick Drake. And while Sufjan is probably the only remaining musician from the 2000s with enough magnetism to resurrect this fad with a single LP, Carrie and Lowell opts to rest in more intimate territory. It's essentially the Plastic Ono Band he was destined to release at some point - a journey inward, an unexpected departure from his densely arranged earlier discography, and quietly reflecting pensive, emotionally naked and autobiographical subject matter.
111. Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats “Inside”
Other tracks from Uncle Acid's 4th LP - like the single "Melody Lane" - maintain the Sabbath/McCartney hybrid from their first 3 albums. But its last two songs stuck out as highlights for deviating from this sound. "Inside" is one of the most "current" sounding songs they've ever recorded, borrowing cues from track 4 and track 5 on QOTSA's Lullabies To Paralyze, but still Uncle Acid enough to evoke Charles Manson's prophetic delusions.
Live version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bitx_7Wc71U
110. Philadelphia Collins "Ted Rock"
Initially inspired by Ovlov, "Ted Rock" was ultimately included on the Derp Swervin' cassette as a tribute to their post-split legacy. We're psyched that Philly Collins managed to pull together a live set twice over the past month despite existing with such a widely distant cast of musicians. Fingers are crossed for more in 2016.109. YG “Twist My Fingaz”
Dr. Dre, take note: THIS is how you do an early-'90s west coast throwback. George Clinton is the key that will set you free.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z58pxp04PZo
108. Faith No More “Sunny Side Up”
FNM's weirdness got more subtle as their discography progressed. Album Of The Year had almost nothing as bizarre as "RV." "Sunny Side Up" maintains AOTY's hooks and precision without sacrificing the quirks and warpiness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPlmhJG_xUM
107. PC Worship “Social Fiction”
When Beavis was inside of the tire and rolled down the hill screaming for like 5 minutes.
106. Rae Sremmurd featuring Nicki Minaj "Throw Some Mo"
Sremmlife turned out surprisingly solid - slightly better than Totally Krossed Out. Who knew they had it in them? They've advanced from one-hit-wonder to an unlikely and coveted one-album-wonder position. And yet, we still can't picture their career moving any farther into the future without another unlikely "event" hit like "No Flex Zone" or "No Type." We're sure the big business suits have dollar signs in their eyes and will milk the cash cow as dry as possible before tossing them to the birds. Count on them having at least one more charting single on Sremmlife 2. It might even go platinum. But so did Kris Kross's unremembered 2nd album. And then in 7-8 years, they can play 2010s nostalgia concerts at colleges with bands like Foster The People and those dudes who sang "I can ride my bike with no handlebars." It'll be great.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l0BAOqBp08
105. Surface To Air Missive “Everyone's Nobody”
This song arrived on Bandcamp over the summer and was originally labelled as a non-album track. We were happy to find it included as track 1 when the record eventually leaked to Spotify early on Christmas morning.
104. Carly Rae Jepsen "Let's Get Lost”
This isn't like when someone says "get lost." It means Carly Rae likes you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2BGjJ_4BTk
103. Failure “Mulholland Drive”
About half of the new songs on The Heart Is A Monster seem like a courageous effort to re-create the sound of Fantastic Planet. It's not so easy to dial-in that level of mastery. Had they not imploded in 1998, Failure definitely could have sealed their legacy with a proper follow-up somewhere around 2000-2001. Our fan-fiction-obsessed "what if" nerdiness imagines something that may or may not have included Failure-style arrangements of Year Of The Rabbit's "Hunted," Autolux's "Sugarless," or composites with ideas that were inserted into the oddly arranged songs from On's Shifting Skin like "If I Get To Feel You" or "C'Mon Collapse." As for their long-awaited 2015 output, "Mulholland Drive" stands tall as a highlight initially because of a mysterious vocalist. Many fans were quick to identify the voice as Greg Edwards even though it's his singing debut on a Failure album. We were unaware that he had been contributing vocals to Autolux since as early as 2001 (assuming he was the only member of the band who DIDN'T sing). The track might be the only instance throughout their history of adventurous rock projects when the sonic distance between Failure and Autolux gels for one perfect moment. Diehards rejoice.https://soundcloud.com/failuremusic/mulholland-drive
102. American Wrestlers “I Can Do No Wrong”
Over-compressed bedroom-recording stuff. Somewhere between Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Happy Birthday's self-titled and Phoenix's It's Never Been Like That.
101. Tenement “I'm Your Super Glue”
Pretty sure this is the first song on Side 4. We love Green Day's 39 Smooth and The Replacements' Tim, so this was an easy pick for one of our album highlights.
| Hot Mix 2015 on Spotify |
| #200 - 166 | #165 - 131 | #130 - 101 | #100 -71 | #70 - 41 | #40 - 21 | #20 - 1 |
| All 200 Songs |
"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold." Sometimes it's better to just release control and just let everything happen around you. And perhaps the anti-solo in "Baby in the Backroom" is where you'll be led, into a kaleidoscope of multiplying soda cans leaning into single guitar strings suspended in the air, getting plucked by twenty different hands that are now possibly surrounding all 360 degrees around you. It's strangely the moment of zen within PC Worship's Social Rust - the center of that album's see-saw. The off-pitch vocals on either side of this solo represent the human element, so flawed and mesmerizing and genuine. 
Rare breed: An experimental rock band with three vocalist-songwriters who not only all switch off guitar, bass, and drums (in addition to whatever other odd sounds they might be throwing into their records) but who also present themselves as a true singular unit. Granted, thousands of high school bands can say the same. But there's 2 key differences: #1, Palberta is deliberate and self-aware - lofi, but NOT outsider-music. And #2, most importantly, they fucking slay. As noted earlier, they also insert recurring themes into their songs, like when the first minute-and-change of "Susan" reprises 
Bieber, Tay Sway, 1D, Selena G. They've recently been joined by Ariana in that special millennial category of "perpetual teens." When 
"Swiftly 'bout to stick a sweet dick in your sweetheart / Then get some groceries off my geeker EBT card." Okay, so we're actually confused by this one line because the only dinner groceries Gibbs could buy with a junkie's stolen EBT card would be like a box of Mac & Cheese, or something that can be cooked on the stove, unless the girlfriend just wants like some Reece's Eggs and Pringles, in which case he's all set. "And it feels so good, and it feels so right." We thought he might be expressing sarcasm here, as if he's been in the game so long and knows thug-life backwards but also "getting too old for this shit" like Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon. Either way, Gibbs remains on-point all throughout Piñata, rivaling the finest 
A recent 
You know when the fuse on a stick of dynamite is long enough that you can watch the sparks as they make their way up to the explosive kaboom? That's basically the first 15 seconds of this song. Dope vocal effects and nicely toned distorted bass ride out the verses as they lead in and out of the noisefuck choruses. We spoke briefly with Devin and Andy from "The GIG" to discuss arguably the most immediate moment on Vacation Vinny.
Face the portal. An entry into the unknown. Step inside. Stand still if you'd like; the conveyor belt will do the walking for you. As chain smoking Sam-Well Jackson in Jurassic Park would say, "hold onto your butts." If the walls start moving around, stare at them longer. Shit gets darker and darker until it's pitch black, and then the chorus hits. Suddenly, the surrounding tunnel turns neon dark-green with pink and yellow flying everywhere. Don't go in too deep though. It's possible that this whole time you were driving in the summer rain at 3AM. Or maybe that's the only part of this that ISN'T real. Whatever you do, don't wake up.
Remembering the first time we saw the album cover of Al Green's Greatest Hits (reissued on CD, over 20 years after its release date). We couldn't help but ask outloud, "What the fuck ever happened to guys like this?" D'Angelo seems to have agreed with this sentiment. It wouldn't be untrue to call Black Messiah a handbook of soul music history written by D'Angelo himself, taking each of those giants and expanding on their sounds - sometimes combining two giants into one song, but also presented in a fresh light that's entirely starring D'Angelo. "The Charade" and "Really Love" are the calm after the storm closing Side A (along with "Sugah Daddy"). It's the section of the album that feels most similar to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On or Al Green's Call Me. "Charade's" closing harmonies are the second coming of Prince and the Revolution. (Or it's the closest we've come ever since.) After years of floating around online, the final version of "Really Love" came out gorgeous enough that it was completely worth all the wait, without a single wasted moment in its 2-minute solo-guitar intro.
The car's facing the edge of the cliff. Does he shift to drive? Does he hit the gas? "Rice and Bones" is Disco Doom's finest exercise in restraint, slowly and painfully building into a Mogwai-style wall of blazing chaos. It's a 5-minute structural palindrome of sorts. Starting quietly pensive, it slowly builds without revealing too much, with appropriately few lyrics sung quietly from Gabriele De Mario, until it reaches the inevitable devastatingly crushing center. There's some more lyrics here also, but the blaze is so high that his voice is lost among the wreckage. It grows, it peaks, and then it fades again, returning to normalcy, never deviating from its 5-bar chord structure. It's so strange how simplicity can sometimes transmit universal emotion so effectively. The picture speaks a thousand words.
In case there was any doubt, Skateboard P wins this contest. "Frequency high, like a spaceship." Pharrell, don't you dare ever hold back on those references to aliens and outer space. His verse is so good that it's almost unfair, making the surrounding verses seem comparatively embarrassing. Casino takes a distant 2nd place, closing out the song with some amusing hype-man insanity. Future's verse is basically all feeling and rhythm. It might take the average listener MANY attempts before deciphering what mush-mouth might be attempting to articulate. Pusha T enunciates well enough, but by the time he's done it starts to feel phoned-in. (No worries though. Pharrell steers us back on course mere seconds later.) Had it not been for the glaringly uneven vocal performances, "Move That Dope" would have been a safe bet for our Top 3, despite that it's very easy to overlook this flaw thanks to Mike Will Made It's ferocious beat (possibly the sickest of 2014) and that brilliantly contagious hook. Shit's unstoppable.