This time of year is always awash with lists of ranked records. But for every poll topped by a Courtney or Kendrick, there are plenty more albums that flew under the radar these past 12 months. Before we shut the door on 2015 for good, here are ten albums that deserve a second look (or more likely first, if you missed them this year). Who knows, you might wanna revise your top spot after reading this…

PALE BLUE “The Past We Leave Behind” (2MR)

My hands-down fave album of 2015 was the debut from the emotive new dance project by ex-Italians Do It Better label founder, Mike Simonetti. All billowing synth-pop and icy disco-funk, it sat somewhere between The Golden Palominos and Glass Candy, but also had a refined 4AD-label vibe about it, right down to the artwork. It had a lot of curveball components – guest vocals by Jana Hunter from Lower Dens (“Dusk In Parts”), a downbeat Bruce Springsteen cover (“Tougher”) and even a Saint Etienne-esque closing disco-pop anthem (“One Last Thing”). The Past We Leave Behind was a rare triumph of cerebral dancefloor trickery, an album for the heart and the feet.

[Listen]

_______________________________________________________________________

JAILL “Brain Cream” (Burger Records)

After a couple of records of scrappy garage-rock on Sub Pop, these Wisconsin wowsers turned on the pop smarts for their fourth album and dropped it via their original home Burger Records. Some of the janglier jams like “Got An F” and “Little Messages” were reminiscent of Sloan and/or The Shins at the height of their powers, and made this one of the hands-down most pleasantly surprising releases of the year.

[Listen]

_______________________________________________________________________

JIB KIDDER “Teaspoon To The Ocean” (Weird World/Domino)

The umpteenth record from nomadic USA sound collagist Sean Schuster-Craig was his first for Domino offshoot Weird World, and balanced his sampledelic acid-folk with some poignant psych-pop. Taking cues from Brian Eno and Panda Bear alike, it featured a cameo by labelmate Julia Holter and even won a new fan in Mark Ronson.

[Listen]

_______________________________________________________________________

DIE VERBOTEN “2007” (Deewee)

An all-star churning krautrock project between the Belgian-born Dewaele brothers (from Soulwax and 2 Many DJ’s), teaming up English-born electro artist Riton and his brother-in-law the artist and designer Fergadelic. Recorded in 2007 (hence the album name) but shelved until now, this could have come straight out of 1972 – made up of cosmic motorik grooves that rivalled the best analog vibes of Neu! and Can. Hooray for 13-minute songs!

[Listen]

_______________________________________________________________________

TURZI “C” (Record Makers)

The enigmatic electronic outfit from Versailles have remixed everyone over the years, from Phoenix to Wolfmother to Sebastien Tellier. Their third album (yep, the first two were titled “A” and “B”) had the cinematic feels, veering from lethargic techno to reverberant krautrock and continuing a moody legacy that touchstone composers like Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter created.

[Listen]

_______________________________________________________________________

NIC HESSLER “Soft Connections” (Captured Tracks)

The cheekboned California songsmith’s record was a triumph in every sense – he signed to Captured Tracks five years ago, but was struck down with an illness that left him partially paralysed and unable to play music. Finally feeling good, his delayed debut album was full of feel-good power-pop and crystalline jangle-rock, sitting somewhere between Prefab Sprout and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (his labelmates EZTV made another gorgeously harmonic guitar-pop album too this year).

[Listen]

_______________________________________________________________________

LONELADY “Hinterland” (Warp)

The first album in five years from Manchester’s lone wolf Julie Campbell felt deliciously out of step with everything else in 2015. An economical set of taut post-punk and liquid disco-funk, it was a throwback to innovators like Lizzy Mercier Descloux and ESG, but held its own with its unfurling grooves.

[Listen]

_______________________________________________________________________

MARCHING CHURCH “This World Is Not Enough” (Sacred Bones)

Solo projects by frontmen usually blow (hi, Julian Casablancas), but Iceage’s Elias Bender Rønnenfelt got it right – his offshoot traded in telekinetic jazz excursions and unsettling late-night soul, with a dash of the drunk brawling vibe of early Nick Cave and The Pogues. He even conquered a croonsome cover of Dan Penn’s sombre standard “The Dark End Of The Street”.

[Listen]

_______________________________________________________________________

BEAT CONNECTION “Product 3” (Anti-)

Yep, sun-kissed synth-pop and rubbery R&B aren’t the first musical genres you necessarily associate with Seattle, but Beat Connection have been at it for a few years and keep getting better and tighter. They toured the USA with Django Django, and the singles off their second record wipe the floor with anything by those Brit boys.

[Listen]

_______________________________________________________________________

COLDER “Many Colours” (Not Available/Bataille)

Forget “The Force Awakens”, this was the most welcome reignition of a franchise in 2015. Parisian Marc Nguyen Tan’s first album in ten years was as icy (sorry) as ever, but whereas his early material owed a huge debt to post-punk (Joy Division) and post-disco (Depeche Mode), this new one was a little sleeker and refined, songs like “Another Year” channelling Kraftwerk and Ghost Culture.

[Listen]