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

El Vy at The Opera House - Concert Pictures

As 4AD's web site puts it, "El Vy (pronounced like a plural of Elvis; rhymes with ‘hell pie’) is the musical collaboration between Matt Berninger, vocalist and lyricist of The National, and Brent Knopf, the Portland musician and producer best known for his work in Menomena and his more recent band, Ramona Falls." They released their album Return to the Moon earlier this year and indie alternative radio has been playing the heck out of the title track. It even graced these pages.

The band sounded great and the light show was very cool and unique for a venue of this size. After a while, there can be a tendency to walk into a venue with expectations of what you're going to see in terms of things like a light show, and it's awesome when an act can bring something unique that makes the show and the resulting pics special.

The show was super sold out and I was lucky to have arrived early to get a good spot. Moving around was near impossible and a friend who came late couldn't get to the front. This shouldn't have been a surprise because getting to see a performer like Matt in a club this size at this point in his career, even for a side project show, was something special. At the end of the set, Matt acknowledged what we all knew, they only have so many songs and there wasn't going to be an encore, so enjoy this one - it's the last tune.

Overall, it was a cool show by a cool project.

Check out some tunes from their setlist.

"Silent Ivy Hotel"

"Return to the Moon"

"Paul Is Alive"

"I'm The Man To Be"

"Need A Friend"

New song from EL VY: The National's Matt Berninger and Brent Knopf

I just finished listening to the catchy new tune "Return to the Moon" by EL VY (pronounced like a plural of Elvis; rhymes with "hell pie", as you'd expect). Who is EL VY, you may ask? It's a new musical collaboration between Matt Berninger of The National and Brent Knopf, of Ramona Falls and Menomena.

The tune's got a cool beat, a funky little guitar hook and Matt's laid-back signature on the vocal melody. It's an instantly likeable pop tune.

Give it a listen:

The album, Return To The Moon, comes out October 30. Tour dates are on their site.

Pic from Facebook.