Merry Christmas, everybody! Bluesy rock has had its day on the Top 31, but 2015 hasn’t been it, with one exception. Alabama Shakes, with their sophomore album Sound & Color, have created something entirely outstanding from — and completely antithetical to — the synth pop bands that have taken over the Top 31.

The band is led by Brittany Howard, whose strong, pushed-to-the-max voice and masterful guitar work, along with lead guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell, keyboard player Ben Tanner, and drummer Steve Johnson, present a sound unlike anything else being produced today. You’d have to go back a few decades, to the likes of Janis Joplin or the Muscle Shoals bands of the sixties, to find something comparable.

I had the luxury of seeing Alabama Shakes at SXSW in 2012 (at the famous Stubbs, opening for a back-from-the-dead Fiona Apple), just before they released their fantastic debut album Boys & Girls (which, as a major oversight, didn’t end up on the Top 31 that year). They killed it, expectedly. Listen to this album and you’ll understand why. They are powerful, heartfelt, and deep. This is a band that’s going to keep producing wonderful music. Get in on it now, lest you fall behind.

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8. Another Eternity by Purity Ring
9. Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance by Belle and Sebastian
10. Return to the Moon by El Vy
11. Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) by Lin-Manuel Miranda
12. Art Angels by Grimes
13. The Horse Comanche by Chadwick Stokes
14. Grace Love & the True Loves by Grace Love & the True Loves
15. Shake Shook Shaken by The dø
16. La Di Da Di by Battles
17. Sky City by Amason
18. What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World by The Decemberists
19. Untethered Moon by Built to Spill
20. Viet Cong by Viet Cong
21. The Magic Whip by Blur
22. Savage Hills Ballroom by Youth Lagoon
23. Not Real by Stealing Sheep
24. Beat the Champ by The Mountain Goats
25. Gliss Riffer by Dan Deacon
26. Dark Bird is Home by The Tallest Man on Earth
27. Gunnera by Pfarmers
28. Swimmer to a Liquid Armchair by Ricked Wickey
29. To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
30. Live in Seattle by Moufang / Czamanski
31. High by Royal Headache

What is the Bacon Top 31?
Past years’ Top 31s