The smell of spring in the air not only means that the plants will start to bloom and I will get allergies — it also that there are more albums to look forward to. If you have not already, you should check out the recently released Wakin on a Pretty Daze by Kurt Vile, Overgrown by James Blake or Shaking the Habitual by The Knife. Though we already have these albums to enjoy, here are some more albums we can look forward to in the coming months:
Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Mosquito: April 16th — After almost 4 years, the New York based indie-rock band is following up 2009’s universally acclaimed LP It’s Blitz! with Mosquito. The only official single, “Sacrilege,” features the same YYY sound we all know and love, but finishes off with the help of a gospel. The album recently had a track-by-track preview and an accompanying interview with the band about each song. While the whole album has the same vibe and energy as prior YYY releases, there is a more prevalent space rock and psychedelic influence in this album.
Phoenix — Bankrupt!: April 22 — Another group that is following up an album four years after the last, the French alternative rock group Phoenix is back on the scene with Bankrupt!. The only official single, “Entertainment,” was released in February and features the same dance rock ambience that was so familiar in Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. However, the songs are not as pop-sounding as the last album, but feature a more experimental sound that is still grounded in their new wave and synth-pop roots. If you haven’t, check out their recent SNL appearance, which features live performances of all new songs.
Deerhunter — Monomania: May 7 — The upcoming album from Atlanta-based shoegaze-influenced garage rock group Deerhunter now features the band as a five-piece group. Bassist Josh Fauver was replaced by Josh McKay and another guitarist, Frankie Boyles, was brought in as well. Despite the fact that lead singer, Bradford Cox, has described the album as a very avant-garde rock n roll album, the reveal song, “Monomania,” features a very raw and noisy punk vibe. At this point, it’s hard to predict how the rest of the album will sound, but based on the band’s past successes with Microcastle, Weird Era Cont. and Halcyon Digest, this is definitely an album to check out when it finally arrives.
Daft Punk — Random Access Memories: May 21 — Let’s just state what we know: how many tracks are on the album, how long each of the tracks are, the name of the album and who has collaborated on the album (Niles Rodgers, Giorgio Moroder, Todd Edwards, Paul Williams and more. There is an interesting video series called The Collaborators in which the collaborators speak of their music experience and how they felt working with Daft Punk). Other than that, Daft Punk have been huge teases and have only released really small snippets of new tracks. The global launch of the album was just confirmed to be at a rural Australian agricultural festival in New South Wales. In the meantime, do not fall for any rumors about Daft Punk concerts, as festival and concert organizers have stated that Daft Punk is definitely not touring in 2013.
Sigur Ros — Kveikur: June 18 — After recently coming back from a three year hiatus, the Icelandic post-rock group Sigur Ros is releasing a new album a little over a year after the last one, Valtari. Considering that it usually took them a few years between albums, it is pretty exciting to know that Sigur Ros is releasing something new so soon. Some of the new songs that have been featured so far (Brenninstein and Kveikur), feature a darker and more aggressive sound that was not present in the band’s previous work. This is also the last album to feature keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson, whose work within the band has really helped capture their distinctive sound.
