Chicago is truly blessed with a bottomless pool of talent when it comes to our local music scene (and all of our art scenes, really). However, each year a heaping handful of these bands, solo artists and DJs make bigger impressions than others.
These are the local acts that we felt won 2015 (in no particular order):
Sidewalk Chalk continued to grow their jazz-infused hip hop catalog with Shoulder Season, released earlier this year, but it's the band's live show that really puts them in the "winning" category.
From a killer instrumental prog-rock debut to an opening slot at Red Bull Sound Select's October show at Lincoln Hall, Monobody came out of nowhere and nailed it in 2015.
Vic Spencer is by no means a new name in the local rap scene, but he continued to prove his talents and earn some of the highest praise of his career on this year's The Cost Of Victory.
The DIY psych-punk three piece Lil Tits likes it harsh, abrasive, and unrestrained. 2015 saw the release of a full length tape Creep Day on drummer Karissa Talanian’s DIY label Eye Vybe Records. Catch them later this month with 90's legends Babes in Toyland!
Lili K has been a longtime Do312 favorite—she even played our DoStuff App Launch Party in September—so we have faith in the jazzy singer. However, getting tapped by Tidal and Jay-Z's Made In America Festival were surprises even to us!
They might only be a two-piece but Space Blood have more than enough character to fill the stage. It's hard to say what's better, their hypnotizing math rock melodies or their costume changes.
Stefan Ponce started 2015 with a Grammy nomination for his work on Childish Gambino's Because The Internet. His production work only got more high profile from there:
Speaking of that scorching summer single/Kanye West collab, Vic Mensa had a nice year which also included a closing set at Pitchfork Music Festival in July.
Bow & Spear mopped up the local post-punk floors in 2015 with their new release Into.
Leather Corduroys—the Savemoney affiliated duo of Kami de Chukwu and Joey Purp—debuted their project this year with the release of Season, took the stage at North Coast Music Festival over the summer and have us anxiously awaiting their next move. #winning
Hurt Everybody's recent sold out show at Reggie's proved how far the group has come in 2015. There seems to be no stopping them now.
This was the year that The Howl stopped being the lovable punks playing several slots deep on the bill and started being the headliners at spots like Quencher's and Cobra Lounge.
"Why are you about to have the best mixtape of 2015?" Chance The Rapper asks Towkio on his truly stellar .Wav Theory. It was hard to deem this 2015's best local release but this one was definitely at the top of our list.
And Chance The Rapper's headlining slot at Pitchfork Music Festival wasn't one of your favorite shows of the year, you might have been looking at the wrong stage.
Drew Mantia has existed mostly out of the limelight in the producer role but his debut album Feel Good Music proved the frequent ProbCause and Psalm One collaborator knows a thing or two about composition as well.
"Captivating. Original. Sober. None of these are words to describe Chicago punk trio Dog & Wolf," is the description tagged to these good-humored locals' Bandcamp page. They didn't break the mold on Filler For Vacancies but instead proved that if something ain't broke, there's no need for fixing it.
Typesetter rounded out 2014 with the release of Wild's End and pushed its momentum all the way through 2015. Their sonic assault of a live show certainly had a lot to do with it.
It's always awesome when two local talents combine forces. In the case of Homme (Macie Stewart and Sima Cunningham), it was one of our favorite collaborations of the year.
In fact, 2015 was a pretty nice year for both musically-inclined Cunningham siblings. Sima's brother Liam and the rest of the Marrow crew (which also includes Stewart) released their first full length and went on to headline sizable venues like Lincoln Hall.
Earlier this year, twangy rockers Whitney rose from the ashes of The Smith Westerns and immediately started making waves. Catch them early in 2016 at Tomorrow Never Knows.
Do312 <3's White Mystery. The brother/sister duo of Alex and Francis Scott Key is one of the hardest working in the industry. You don't make fans all across the globe like they have by going half-speed.
HXLT (or Hollywood Holt as some of you older Chicago scenesters might know remember him) started the year by announcing he'd signed to Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music like it was NBD and has spent the last few weeks unveiling the fruits of his post-record deal studio labors. Fingers crossed for a full-length in 2016.
ShowYouSuck never seems to stop. And 2015 was no different, right up until the end. Whether you caught him playing a show, premiering new music or namedropping his favorite spots to grab a slice around town, he was definitely on your radar.
Remember that time at SXSW that Timbaland claimed Aaliyah spoke to him in a dream and said Tink was "the one"? Yeah, that was Tink's 2015 in a nutshell.
Manic Focus may have dropped his new full length at the end of 2014 but it was his live, full-band set at House of Blues in March and his North Coast Music Festival homecoming that made 2015 a great year for this Chicago transplant.
We wrapped up a fantastic year with My Gold Mask and a much anticipated preview of their new album (out in March) at ReactionNYE.
Negative Scanner released their dark, moody, & deep post punk debut LP on Chicago’s very own Trouble in Mind record label in 2015.
The house music historians behind Queen!—Michael Serafini, Derrick Carter and Garrett David—continued to keep the scene alive this past year by turning their nearly four year old Smartbar party up one more notch.
Any time you can successfully release a track titled "Snapchat That Booty Clap" and continue to throw the best Monday night party in town, you're having a good year. Hats off to you, Porn and Chicken.
Before spreading her wings during a recent move to Berlin, Alinka and her musical co-captain Shaun J. Wright made quite a dent on 2015. The duo released a bevy of new tracks through their Twirl! label and received a remix treatment from The Black Madonna.
We were already more than familiar with Psalm One's respected reputation in the local hip hop scene when she joined forces with Fluffy, Ill-esha and Angel Davenport to form Rapper Chicks. The group spent the past year further proving the talent pool runs deep with all four members.
Fee Lion exploded onto the scene in 2015 with a 360-degree vision for her art pop aurora. Whether she was holding down a residency at the University of Chicago's Performance Lab, collaborating with Glamour Girl or booking gigs at the upcoming Tomorrow Never Knows fest, this young artist certainly isn't limiting herself to one type of creativity.
Glamour Hotline's “spooky cool girls” play an unschooled, authentic homage to early nineties riot grrl. They’re young, sassy, and poised to do huge things in 2016.
A new self-titled release from Baathhaus continued to bring the band's dark, sexual beats to the attention of fans and blogs across the country.
2015 was the year that fans of EDM began to splinter off and fall back in love with breezier, less bass-heavy electronica tracks. No local artist took advantage of this more than Autograf. The group—which includes Midnight Conspiracy members Mikul Wing and Louis Kha—premiered their debut original track on Billboard in March and, judging by the size of their crowd at ReactionNYE, things only went up from there.
One of the most intriguing releases Chicago saw this year was a blistering full length from the anonymous members of Goodbye Tomorrow. We don't need names or bios to know the mysterious hip hop artists have the potential for greatness.
Big brother Chance might have been at the forefront of the spotlight in 2015 but we would be remiss to not mention Taylor Bennett's fourth quarter full length release Broad Shoulders—the most impressive collection of music we've heard so far in his young career.
It was hard not to catch a show from Oozing Wound this past year. The trio was everywhere including playing alongside Ty Segall's FUZZ at Thalia Hall and rocking our chilly butts off at Empty Bottle's Music Frozen Dancing.
Absolutely Not's top-notch 2015 earned them some of the highest profile shows of their career. We especially loved celebrating our fifth birthday with them in August and ringing in the New Rear at Double Door where the band opened up for Har Mar Super Star.
