BEST OF 2015

Best of 2015: BeatRoute Alberta editors and writers’ lists

Thursday 10th, December 2015 / 02:07

in • AB - Features, • Alberta, • Features, ARTS & CULTURE, CITY, FEATURES, FILM, MUSIC

Christine Leonard, Writer

Photo: Sarah Kitteringham

Best Music Released in 2015

1. Torche, Restarter, Relapse Records
2. Solid Brown, Our Rich Heritage, Independent
3. Chron Goblin, Backwater, Ripple Music
4. Iron Maiden, Book of Souls, Parlophone/Sanctuary Copyrights/BMG
5. Shooting Guns / Hawkeyes, Brothers of the Nod, SunMask Records + Shooting Guns / ZAUM, Himalaya to Mesopotamia, Sunmask Records

2015 proved to be a calendar year of facemeltingly good live musical performances bookended by timely assessments by comedians Amy Schumer and Joe Rogan. Highlights from 2015 run the gambit from backstage hair-gel banter over red wine with Death From Above 1979 to slow-pitch and Rainer off-sales with The Pygmies, The Shiverettes and No River in the ghost town of Wayne, Alberta. Sled Island offered its perennial delights in the form of a tasty Fu Manchu double-header and a nostalgic visit from Netherland punks The Ex. We also bid farewell to the Republik over Arlen’s roast pork and an infected-earful of Technical Kidman. Having been mesmorized by the intensity of Sled guests Old Man Gloom and Lightning Bolt the year seemed destined for doom as dates with Dead Meadow, Yob, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, Bison, and Earthless rumbled through town to glowing receptions. Glorious Rush celebrated 40 years in business at the Saddledome while Foo Fighters’ dope guitar-throne and Primus’s Chocolate Factory left a lasting impression. Aside from the thrill of gifting Billy Boyd’s band Beecake with Brentwood honey and grinning like an idiot through a Suicidal Tendencies revival, my favourite moments definitely revolved around the abundance of burgeoning Calgary talent including break-through releases from The Electric Revival, Chron Goblin, MANcub and Mammoth Grove.