Looking Forward

Following the end-of-year-list glut, January offers the chance to the anticipate what to expect in the coming year, music-wise. So I scanned through the list of upcoming releases dutifully compiled by Pitchfork. Below are all the albums that jumped out at me; some I'm stoked for, others I'm cautiously optimistic about, and still others I'm merely curious. Here's what's on my radar:

Disappears: Guider (Kranky, 1/17)
I've been hearing Disappears' name come up here and there in the last year, thanks to their 2010 album Lux, though I hadn't really sat down and listened to them. Last week I downloaded Lux and I've been really enjoying it ever since. All the songs sound very similar, so that's either a plus or a minus depending on your perspective (truthfully, I haven't decided what my perspective is). The one new song I've heard from Guider indicates that they haven't yet tired of that sound.

Disappears: Superstition

Iron & Wine: Kiss Each Other Clean (Warner Bros./4AD, 1/25)
I love all of Sam Beam’s albums and will buy this out of sheer loyalty and respect for his prior material. But I’m wary. "Walking Far from Home," the album's opening track, gets a bit overwrought (though could be better in context of a full album), and a song I heard on KCRW a couple of weeks ago was possibly the worst thing I’ve heard from him (hoping it was from the EP he recently released which I haven’t heard). I really want this to be good but I have tempered expectations.

Iron & Wine: Walking Far From Home

John Vanderslice: White Wilderness (Dead Oceans, 1/25)
Vanderslice is a dependably great songwriter, though at the same time I don’t rank him among my #1 favorites. White Wilderness is supposed to be more of an orchestral pop album—I like the sound of that! Just the idea of such an album makes me yearn for the days of the Pernice Brothers' Overcome by Happiness. Vanderslice isn't Pernice, but I'm still curious.

John Vanderslice: Sea Salt

Matthew Friedberger: Napoleonette (Thrill Jockey, 1/25)
"Shirley" sounds a lot like the last Fiery Furnaces album, the piano-driven I'm Going Away—an album I was mostly not that into. But who knows? Anything the Fiery Furnaces do is worth hearing, because you never know what to expect. Could be genius, could be tripe.

Matthew Friedberger: Shirley

Akron/Family: S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT (Dead Oceans, 2/8)
I liked Set ‘em Wild, Set ‘em Free, though it did mostly fall out of rotation within a few months of my getting it. Curious to see how they’ve progressed but not expecting anything transformative. The one song I’ve heard was good. “Good.”

Akron/Family: So It Goes

Okkervil River: Mermaid 12" (Jagjaguwar, 2/8)
My love for Okkervil River knew no bounds back when The Stage Names and The Stand Ins came out in 2008-09. I listened to both albums so much that I eventually burned myself out on them. I haven't put either on in quite some time, but nevertheless I'm thrilled to know there's another full-length on its way later this year, and this 12" to tide me over in February. Okkervil River debuted a new song Jimmy Fallon just this week; not sure if this will appear on Mermaid or only on the new record in May.

Tim Hecker: Ravedeath, 1972 (Kranky, 2/15)
In 2010 I re-engaged with ambient/drone/space rock/whatever. Feeling a little disconnected from the genre and not sure where to look, I depended on a couple of blogs for recommendations and also paid renewed attention to Kranky, a label I could always depend on in the past but had lost track of in the last few years, outside of the occasional album here and there. Thus I noticed Tim Hecker's name keep cropping up. I downloaded is "Norberg" single and really liked it; I also really loved his collaboration with Destroyer from a few months back, "Archer on the Beach"—more for Hecker's presence than for Dan Bejar's. So in 2011 Ravedeath, 1972 becomes one of my most anticipated albums. This is the kind of music that's been hitting my sweet spot lately.

Tim Hecker: Hatred of Music I

R.E.M.: Collapse Into Now (Warner Bros., 3/8)
I’m in with R.E.M. for the long haul and that’s just all there is to it. I’m duty-bound to pick up this record. I’m beyond judging their new output against their greatest albums. I only want it to be better than the last one—the same hope I have with every new R.E.M. album. There are great songs on every R.E.M. album, period. There will be great songs on this one too.

R.E.M.: Discoverer

Wye Oak: Civilian (Merge, 3/8)
The Knot had one outstanding song (“Tattoo”) and a lot of pretty good songs. I admit I grew weary of it quickly. But Wye Oak is certainly a band that could get better. They’re worth checking in on.

Wye Oak: Civilian

Belong: Common Era (Kranky, 3/21)
The truth, if you haven't noticed, is that I've returned to a frame of mind where I'll buy anything on Kranky. I'd never heard of Belong until I read this list of upcoming releases; seeing that it was on Kranky and searched out their last album, October Language. It's lots of guitar washes and ambient textures—a more rugged Stars of the Lid, maybe? It's not something I haven't heard before but it's also a kind of music I like having on. I have no idea if the new record will sound similar or not.

Peter Bjorn and John: Gimme Some (StarTime International, 3/29)
Oh how I loved Writer’s Block. Oh how I’ve been disappointed with everything they’ve done since. I’m approaching with great caution.

Peter Bjorn and John: Tomorrow Has To Wait

So what have I missed? Let me know what's on your radar. Also, if anyone knows of a guide to upcoming releases that skews more toward ambient/electronica, do tell.