It's not albums released in 2015, it's albums I've listened to in 2015. And really, it's not just albums - it's live bootlegs, singles, EPs - anything that's basically released as one work. I hope some good comes out of this list, because I've seen some very strange misses in best-of-2015 lists, e.g. Torres' album, which is a container for remarkably good songwriting and performance, also Barbara Morgenstern's new album, "Doppelstern", called a "collaboration project" by herself, which is astonishingly good - it's my favourite of hers, which says a lot. Also, Du Blonde has single-handedly wrapped up glam rock without being the least dull.

Sleaford Mods keep being current and probably the best duo in Great Britain since they came up, The Charlatans came back from death and California with their best album yet. Speaking of artists getting stronger, let's mention Alva Noto, Nils Frahm and The Libertines. Ah, The Libertines...talk about coming back from death, poetically speaking, here.

To sum up, either it's been a year where I've not liked electronic as much as non-electronic music, but the electronics are at the bottom where the twanged stuff is generally at the top.

Still, as far as 2016 goes, David Bowie has set a target and standard of sorts by releasing an album that's filled with electro-acoustic jazzy non-conforming stuff, and it's still poppier and definitely more alive and better than most of what I heard in 2015. So here's to the future, and here's the past: