Best of: My favourite songs of 2015

I feel like 2015 has flown by and I have missed a lot of the music it had to offer. I've seen a lot of shows by a lot of great bands. Not as many as in 2014 mind you, and I've purposely slowed down in the past month or so, but still a lot. There's so much great music that was produced this year, and there's so much that I've yet to discover. Every year, I bookmark the best of lists from other sites and I don't look at any of them until after my own list is up. Most years, I don't get through reading all the others, either.

Follow the links in the song titles below to listen to the tunes, and click the links in the artist name to get to my posts of concert coverage and pictures of the artists. In some cases, where I've seen a band multiple times and they've got multiple songs in the list, the links are distributed. In cases where I've seen a band more than once but they only have one song below, you'll see a second link. Please click away and have fun!

All the best to everyone for 2016. May there continue to be more great music that brings smiles to our faces, joy to our hearts and gets our bodies moving. And more great artists that indulge my desire to photograph them delivering that music. Happy 2016 everyone!

50. "I Want To Feel Alive" The Lighthouse and The Whaler

49. "Let It Burn" by Magic Giant

48. "Sprinter" by Torres and more

47. "Cataract" by Dirty Ghosts

46. "Pony" by Wavves

45. "Saturday Night" by Yukon Blonde

44. "So Down Low" by The Elwins

43. "Begin Again" by Purity Ring

42. "Young Blood" by The Districts

41. "Gold" by Clavvs

40. "Ripe" by Screaming Females

39. "Bury our Friends" Sleater-Kinney

38. "Marks to Prove It" by Maccabees

37. "Freazy" by Wolf Alice

36. "The Graduates" by Speedy Ortiz

35. "Poison" by Waxahatchee

34. "Moaning Lisa Smile" by Wolf Alice

33. "My Backyard" by Taylor Knox

32. "Swell Content" by Speedy Ortiz

31. "Dreaming" by Smallpools

30. "When You Were Mine" by Night Terrors of 1927 featuring Tegan & Sara

29. "Heard Good Things" by Julian Taylor Band and more

28. "Peaches" by The Districts

27. "Way Too Much" by Wavves

26. ​"Hope Is Made of Steel" by Northcote

25. "Fluffy" by Wolf Alice

24. "Stained Glass Heart" by Public Animal and more

23. "The Kids Are All Wrong" by Lowest of the Low

22. "Josephine" by Frank Turner

21. "Return to the Moon" by El Vy

20. "4th and Roebling" by The Districts

19. "Under a Rock" by Waxahatchee

18. "City on the Hill" by Desaparecidos

17. "Royal Jelly" by Deap Vally

16. "Raising the Skate" by Speedy Ortiz

15. "Heaven Sent" by Best Coast

14. "Cocoon" by Ash

13. "In the Blink of an Eye" by Lowest of the Low

12. "I Feel Love (Every Million Miles)" by The Dead Weather

11. "Never Ending Circles" by Chvrches

10. "Dangerous" by Big Data featuring Joywave

9. "You're A Germ" by Wolf Alice

8. "24 Frames" by Jason Isbell

7. "Things Happen" by Dawes

6. "Warrior" by Sate and more

5. "Giant Peach" by Wolf Alice

4. "Leave a Trace" by Chvrches

3. "Flesh without Blood" by Grimes

2. "Get Better" by Frank Turner

1. "Bros" by Wolf Alice

TURF 2015: Day 1, Club Bonus Series and Preview Series Compendium - Concert Pictures

Day 1 of the 2015 of TURF, The Toronto Urban Roots Festival, was fantastic. The weather was great, the crowd, as always, was fantastic and, of course, the music was sublime.

Prior to the big festival at Fort York, the TURF team put on a Club Bonus Series the coincided with the main festival, as well as a Preview Series. I didn't make it out to all those extra shows, but for the ones that I did, my posts are linked below.

If you missed my individual posts, here's all of day one in one place, plus links to my Club Bonus Series and Preview Series posts.

Main Festival

Fishbone

Of Monsters and Men

The Sadies

The Avett Brothers

Murder by Death

Built to Spill

Desaparecidos

Restorations

Shakey Graves

Cold Specks

Catl

Club Bonus Series

Fishbone

Sate

Les Hôtesses d'Hilaire

Royal Canoe

Highs

Preview Series

Northcote

Click through for pics of each performance, my thoughts, and some music from each of these amazing artists.

Keep watching this space for individual posts on each act that I caught on Day 2 and Day 3 of TURF.

TURF 2015 Day 1: Desaparecidos on the East Stage - Concert Pictures

There was certainly a lot of buzz that came along with the announcement that Conor Oberst would be playing at TURF, not as Bright Eyes, but with his old alternative / punk band Desaparecidos. I did a little Feature on them and thoroughly enjoyed their straight-up tunes and on-stage energy. A very cool set from a very cool band.

Enjoy some tunes from their setlist.

"The Left Is Right"

"The Underground Man"

"City On The Hill"

"Te Amo Camila Vallejo"

"Man And Wife, The Latter (Damaged Goods)"

"MariKKKopa"

"Greater Omaha"

TURF announces Club Bonus Series: Royal Canoe, Murder by Death, Desaparecidos, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Restorations, CATL, Will Butler and more at Lee's Palace

So we got the TURF festival line-up for Fort York. We got the Club Preview Series with Northcote (check out my pics from that show) and upcoming shows from Birds of Bellwoods August 13 at Lee's Palace and Union Duke August 21 at The Horseshoe. We get the Club Bonus Series, where you get to go from a fantastic day of the sights, sounds and tastes of TURF at Fort York, to the cozy confines of The Horseshoe or Lee's Palace to take in more great music. The announcement of The Horseshoe shows came about a week ago. Now we get the Club Bonus Series details for Lee's Palace, with one more show announcement to come on July 21. I think that TURF may turn out to be the music event of the year here in Toronto!

The Club Bonus Series at Lee's Palace runs from September 16-21 and features acts including Royal Canoe, Murder by Death, Desaparecidos, St. Paul & The Broken Bones and Will Butler. Fantastic bands like CATL, Restorations, Highs, Hop Along and Julian Taylor Band are opening. Off the top, I think that Desaparecidos, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, CATL and Restorations are not to be missed. I'm just getting acquainted with some of the other artists.

You can get in by buying a VIP Plus ticket for access to all TURF shows or individual tickets to the club shows. Tickets go on sale this Thursday, July 16 at noon.

The dates / shows are:
September 16 Royal Canoe w/ Highs
September 17 Murder By Death w/ Restorations & CATL
September 19 Desaparecidos w/ Hop Along
September 20 St. Paul & The Broken Bones w/ Julian Taylor Band
September 21 Will Butler

Listen and pick your shows:

Royal Canoe

Murder By Death

Desaparecidos

St. Paul & The Broken Bones

Highs

Restorations

CATL (check out my pics from their show at The Shoe in January)

Hop Along

Julian Taylor Band

Will Butler

TURF Feature: Desaparecidos

Desaparecidos is Conor Oberst's alternative / punk band that formed in 2001 and broke up in 2002 due at least in part on the increasing success of Oberst's other band, Bright Eyes. They're back playing again and are part of the incredible line-up that's been put together for this year's Toronto Urban Roots Festival. If you're in Toronto, do not miss their set at TURF on September 18.

Here's "City On The Hill" is from their new album Payola came out June 23.

Pic from Facebook.