4. Gwenno – Y Dydd Olaf (album): Formerly of The Pipettes, 2015 saw the re-release of Gwenno’s debut album all in her native tongue of Welsh. We’ve yet to pick up the Super Furry Animal’s Mwng so this was our first introduction to the wonders of the Welsh language (other than a night on the tiles in Cardiff all those years ago). Gwenno’s vocals sound like they could have been recorded in the 60s while the digital undertones don’t sound dissimilar to Broadcast. Lead track “Chwyldro” and the hushed vocals of “Golau Aall” are just two of the many highlights.
3. Cold War Kids – First (song): On our old radio show, Cold War Kids’ “We Used to Vacation” got played quite a bit. The rest of the album wasn’t the greatest so they fell out of favour until we heard this coming from the girlfriend’s iPhone. Having been released in 2014, “First” keeps popping up in TV shows and movies thereby being discovered by another batch of music fans every few months. We weren’t the first to say how great this song is and I’m sure we won’t be the last.
2. The Rolling Stones – She’s a Rainbow (song): Late in 2015 we bought a pile of discs from The Rolling Stones so having been dipping into them here and there since then. Not knowing many of the songs from 1967’s album Their Satanic Majesties Request, when we finally listened, we fell in love instantly with “She’s A Rainbow”. A shouty, happy delight with a piano that always seems to need winding up before it gets going, this is the Stones at their most poppy.
1. Jason Isbell – Something More Than Free (album): We’ve been reading about Isbell for a few years and after seeing his fifth studio album riding high on so many 2015 year end charts, we finally gave it a spin. Glad we did. “24 Frames” is an instant classic with “How To Forget” and “Children of Children” close behind. We didn’t do a year-end list last year but if we did one today, Jason Isbell would be very close to the top.
The Light Appears 