Top 20 Songs of August 2015

Every month I comb through all the new releases and personally select the top 20 best songs released that month. Then I lovingly craft them into a play list for your--yes YOU--listening pleasure. It's like a mixtape of the month club, but via the interwebz. Follow my Best New Music of 2015 playlist on Spotify, for all the updates and rad new tunes.

As life continues to be short for all of us, I'm continuing with the TL;DR version of the month's top tunes.

'Ain't Got Far To Go' - Jess Glynne : Soulful vocals set to big brassy instrumentals. You may know Jess Glynne from Clean Bandit guest vocals, but her potential is so much more.

'My Gold' - KOPPS : Like Jock Jams with a weird dystopian twist. Much needed revisit to the genre?

'No Mans Land' - Panda Bear : Panda Bear is back. Only good, strange things can come of this.

'Down' - Petite Noir : Experimental electro with R&B vocals and at least some homage to Malian pop from 21-year-old South African, Yannick Iluga.

'You're The Best' - Wet : After a breakout debut EP a year and a half ago, Wet are back. Thankfully signing to Columbia does not seem to have damaged their sound.

'Drive' - Oh Wonder : After releasing a single a month for a year, this savvy London duo are ready to release a full-length that sounds just like their Insta. Yeah, it sounds sickening, but secretly you love it.

'Never Be' - Meg Mac : Epic vocals and bare bones blues rhythms from an Aussie who's about to take the world by storm.

'Come' - Jain : OBSESSED with this little lady. Globe-trotting roots give French pop a new twist. Wes Anderson is crying with joy somewhere.

'Return To The Moon (Political Song for Didi Bloome to Sing, with Crescendo)' - EL VY : Matt Berninger (The National) and Brent Knopf (Menomena) collab. By their powers combined they're even better than you'd think.

'June & Johnny' - Jon Foreman : Lead singer of truly awful band Switchfoot proves to be a surprisingly capable soloist in the vein of Bright Eyes. Plus, he likes Carter & Cash.

'Times Square' - Destroyer : Dan Bejar starts from scratch again and strikes a lovely balance between some of his earlier sounds, plus sax solo.

'Snakeskin' - Deerhunter : Is Bradford Cox feeling...happy? This new track positively jams until is disintegrates into the craziness we'd expect from Deerhunter.

'Sleeper Hold' - Saintseneca : The kind of sounds that NPR Music drools over - folk with just the right indie edge for credible authenticity. But really, I like it.

'Smile' - The Royal Concept : Tongue-in-cheek lyrics about SoCal from saucy Swedish rock band that probably have a leather-pants strut down pat.

'S.O.B.' - Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats : If The Blues Brothers and Robert Johnson had a baby. Haven't liked a song about drug addiction this much since Old Crow Medicine Show's songs about cocaine.

'Church' - Gary Clark Jr. : Actually makes you want to go to church and beg for salvation on your knees. Vocals and harmonica burn the tape and your soul.

'Georgia' - Tiggs Da Author : American southern soul meets African beats with a distinctive accent, thanks to an English Tasmanian.

'Good Times Roll' - Griz and Big Gigantic : Sicker than ill collab that's got to have Mark Ronson loosing sleep. I dare you know to let your back bone slip.

'Chocolate Milk' - Coucheron feat. Rye Rye: Badass lady raps over some fun sounds, trippy and bit crunchy, by a Norwegian producer.

'Pleasure This Pain' - Kwamie Liv featuring Angel Haze : There so much music out there right now that just sultry female vocals over ethereal sounds, which is turning into a mass droning bore. Thank god that this track adds something a little more weighty, and actually tackles some serious shit.