As we see off a year that was fixated on time travel (thanks for that, Back To The Future II), it's fitting that 2015's stand-out compilations offer a voyage through place and time, and back again:

from Jamaican proto-ska to 60s French psychedelic pop; from nascent US punk to vintage southern soul; from visionary 21st century electronica to early-1900s Lebanese folk.

Here in the future, prime compilers Rough Trade Shops issued a stellar collection of 21st Century beats and rhymes – largely released on independent labels – courtesy of Hip Hop 15 (Rough Trade Shops), which spotlights some of 21st century hip-hop's most incendiary artists, including Run The Jewels, Flying Lotus, Earl Sweatshirt, Pharoahe Monch, Essa and Edinburgh's own genre-defying experimental pop poets, Young Fathers.

The earliest recordings in our compilation odyssey come courtesy of the remarkable Time Wept: Vocal Recordings From The Levant 1906-1925 (Honest Jons): a stunning excavation, restoration and anthology of emergent recordings from Bil?d al-Sh?m – “the countries of Damascus” – known these days as Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. It sheds colourful historical light on the social and cultural context of this far-flung folk music, (public music-making was largely deemed undignified, especially for women; venues were unforgiving; recording was frowned upon; and audiences were largely composed, according to one bygone chronicler, of “the noise of water-pipes, teeth crackling watermelon seeds and pistachio nuts, and screaming waiters”). Among the album's fascinating artists are Jewish “Nightingale of the Damascene gardens”

?as?ba Mosh?h, revered Beirut crooner B?lus ?ulb?n, lutist and musical director Q?sim Ab? Jam?l al-Durz? and Mount-Lebanon folk singer Y?suf T?j. These pioneering recordings and historic expressions of the region's creative freedom feel particularly resonant, and vital, in light of the current Syrian crisis.

Early music of a different stripe can be traced on Coxsone's Music – The First Recordings of Sir Coxsone The Downbeat 1960-63 (Soul Jazz), which documents the nascent work of dancehall king Clement “Sir Coxsone” Dodd, and revels in the embryonic Jamaican rastafari, gospel, proto-ska and R&B music he produced before launching his legendary reggae powerhouse Studio One Records. It makes for a joyous, illuminating trip – from Workshop Musicians' self-explanatory Calypso Jazz to the inchoate ska of Neville Esson's I Do, via formative early outings for the Skatalites' Don Drummond and Roland Alphonso. Reggae – and, by extension, popular music – was redefined by the visionary Dodd, and this collection offers joyous insight into his singular and pioneering aesthetic in the early 1960s.

The early 60s (and beyond) were also fertile times for southern soul – as evinced on this year's glorious Back To The River: More Southern Soul Stories, 61-78 (Kent / Ace), which picks up where its gilded predecessor – 2006's Take Me To The River – left off. It's testament to the wealth of exceptional voices, of incredible songs that were sung, of remarkable tales that were waiting to be told, that this sequel is equally vital and enlightening. A three-CD trove of classic (but often untapped) blues, funk and soul, it soars from Muscle Shoals and Memphis through Miami, New Orleans and New York, as sound-tracked by Bettye Lavette, Solomon Burke, Little Beaver, Aretha Franklin, Fontella Bass and many more, and follows them as they transform the musical landscape of America and far beyond.

Meanwhile, in Europe, renegade French pop acts were dabbling with far-out dance music, psychedelic pop and much besides, as charted in the latest instalment of Wizzz! French Psychorama 1967 – 1970 Volume 3 (Born Bad). An effervescent, landmark series that gets down to the early days of Francophile alt-pop, psychotropic soul and wayward yé-yé, it shines kaleidoscopic light on the era's musical and hedonistic excess, and counts hidden gems such as Long Chris' garage-psych wigout Nevralgie Particuliere and Jane et Julie's uber-cool torch-song, Notre Homme A Moi among its super-chic, day-glo highlights.

And there's loads more vintage femme-pop chic courtesy of Girl Zone: Where The Girls Are (Ace), a stop-gap of sorts – and a typically stylish one at that – in the superlative reissue label's acclaimed girl group series. Its lava-red vinyl is a joy to behold, and its contents are even hotter than that, from Reparata and the Delrons’ searing Panic to the incendiary Camel Walk, which comes courtesy of Tina Turner's outstanding backing band, The Ikettes – not to mention the irresistible It's All In The Way (You Look At It Baby) from Mousie and The Traps.

Fellow doyennes of immaculately-packaged and inspired compilations, Soul Jazz Records, pulled a(nother) blinder this year too, thanks to Punk 45: Kill The Hippes! Kill Yourself! The American Nation Destroys Its Young / Underground Punk In The United States of America Vol.1 1973-1980, a guitar-fried, kamikaze trip through 70s America, which traces the rise of US sonic anarchy in towns and cities – Detroit, Los Angeles, Ohio Cleveland, Philadelphia – and detonates a barrage of proto- and rare punk seven-inches along the way, rolling out The Deadbeats, Pere Ubu, Electric Eels and The Lewd among others, as it maps punk's US underground geography.

Back in the UK, anarchy and the DIY ethos are all over Optimo's [Cease & Desist] DIY (Cult Classics from the Post-Punk Era 1978-82), which is one of this year's most unmissable and welcome releases – not least because it almost didn't happen. Originally scheduled for release under the title Now That's What I Call DIY, before Sony (owners of the Now That's What I Call Music franchise) took objection and forced Optimo to destroy all copies under said moniker – hence the revised nomenclature. The album features 16 rare post-punk seven-inches, some of them truly wondrous but hitherto largely unknown (Tesco Bombers'

Break The Ice At Parties, Spunky Onions' How I Lost My Virginity), some quietly revered but lately overlooked (Thomas Leer's Private Plane, The Fakes' Look-Out) – all personal favourites of curator JD Twitch, who says of these brilliant songs: “None of them had any success, most are (unjustly) obscure, but every one of them has inspired me and would be in my ultimate seven-inch singles box”.

Post-punk, too, inspired the early days of indie empire Creation, as documented in Creation Artifact: The Dawn of Creation Records 1983-1985 (Cherry Red). Alan McGee's legendary label enjoyed colossal success with the likes of Oasis, but this box set serves as a reminder of the myriad off-kilter indie innovators who shaped and inspired its stable in the early years – from The Pastels to the Jasmine Minks; from The June Brides to The Membranes; from The Legend! To Meat Whiplash. It includes session and live tracks, demo recordings, and crucial early releases from Primal Scream, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and acts who'd go on to define the Creation Records – and 80s / 90s indie – aesthetic that still influences and strikes a chord to this day.

Taking us back to the future, Rough Trade Shops' Counter Culture 15 (Rough Trade Shops), offers a fun-filled annual foray into alternative and indie music via far-out folk, rap, avant-pop and electronica. Its

2015 tracklist shines with well-known names (Bjork, Sufjan Stevens, Courtney Barnett) and glimmers with well-loved, lesser-known artists (Nils Frahm, Holly Herndon, Jenny Hval) and even serves up some modern-day punk revolutionaries (Sleaford Mods, Joanna Gruesome). Now, that's what I call a pretty good year.