After a first quarter that left us spoilt for choice, giving us at least two indisputable candidates, Kendrick and Sufjan, for album of the year; the second one almost paled in comparison. Many of the most eagerly awaited albums of the season felt straight into the good not great category, among them the latest from Sun Kil Moon; Django Django; Raekwon; Mikal Cronin; Hot Chip or Blur‘s comeback, all of which perfectly fine works that somehow failed to reach their respective artists’ previous heights.

But not all were bad news, among those who did raise the standards bar, Holly Herndon delivered an album for the times overflowing with ideas leaving the mere musical to expand into the social, political and technological realms; Vince Staples; Miguel; Shamir; Donnie Trumpet and Kamasi Washington kept all different corners of urban music vibrantly alive; Waxahatchee; Dominique A and Alabama Shakes stood up among songwriters and the collaborations between Franz Ferdinand & Sparks (FFS) and Wavves X Cloud Nothings, as well as Jim O’Rourke‘s comeback album and Jamie XX‘s solo one count as the biggest surprises.

Still to come later on the year the new albums by PJ Harvey; Frank Ocean; Kanye West; Chromatics; James Blake; Lana Del Rey; Tame Impala and Beach House, whose promising advance has seen the light of day this week. Keep yourself up to date by following Roberawards’ Spotify playlists with the best Albums; Tracks; Compilations and Reissues of 2015.

Check the list of our favourite records from 2015’s second quarter, each of them illustrated with one of its hidden gems Read the rest of this entry »