Anticipated Albums of 2018

32 albums we're anticipating in 2018

2017 is already in the rearview, and since we already told you about our favorite albums and favorite new artists of that year, it’s time to talk about our most anticipated albums of 2018. There’s tons of big stuff probably coming out this year (Kanye and Frank Ocean both seem likely) and probably plenty we don’t know about yet, but we tried to keep our list to albums that have at least somewhat concrete confirmation. We also didn’t include anything we’re still waiting on from our 2017 list, like Arctic Monkeys, Chromatics, Vampire Weekend, and The Wrens (which is definitely finished and many people have heard), and, even though it’s apparently “definitely” coming out in 2018 and we’re excited about it, we didn’t include Tool. We’ll believe it when we see it.

Also: Fiona Apple, if you’re reading this, it’s been six years and we’re still patiently waiting for a new one from you too!

With that all said, read on for our list of albums that we’re excited for in 2018…

American Nightmare
American Nightmare - American Nightmare
due 2/16 via Rise Records

American Nightmare members have stayed active in the time since their initial breakup (in Cold Cave, Some Girls, Chrome Over Brass, and other projects), and the shows they’ve been playing since reuniting a few years ago have been some of the best melodic hardcore shows that any band is putting on. Now they’re finally back with a new album, their first in 15 years, and lead single “The World Is Blue” sounds like no time has passed since their last LP. It’s short, fast, and loud like classic hardcore, but with a gothy dark side and a metallic edge — exactly what you want from American Nightmare. [Andrew Sacher]

Belly at Bowery Ballroom
Belly - Dove
due in May via TBA

For those wishing that Tanya Donelly was part of the new Breeders album (and lineup), know that she’s busy putting the finishing touches on the first new Belly album in 23 years. The lineup of the band most people knew in the ‘90s (brothers Thom and Chris Gorman and Gail Greenwood) reformed in 2015 and picked right up where they left off, sounding great at reunion shows, and even playing new songs at them. Finding their creative spark rekindled, Belly wrote even more songs, and headed into the studio with old friend Paul Q Kolderie behind the board. More signs that we’ll be in pleasingly familiar territory: Following in Star and King’s footsteps, they’ve kept the tradition of giving it a one word, four-letter title. Meanwhile, don’t get confused that there are now two active artists named Belly (the one who is a rapper is playing both Coachella and Governors Ball)
[Bill Pearis]

The Breeders at Bowery Ballroom
The Breeders - TBA
due date TBA via 4AD

The Breeders have released two albums since the turn of the century, but their forthcoming record will be the first made with the lineup of Kim Deal, Kelley Deal, Josephine Wiggs and Jim McPherson since 1993’s Last Splash. They recruited Steve Albini to help out recording drums on a few tracks, and the album promises to feature a contribution from Courtney Barnett, too. If last year’s raucous “Wait in the Car” is any indication of what to expect, it should be a good time. They still haven’t given the album a name — we’d say Title TK, but it’s already taken. [B.P.]

Brockhampton Team Effort
Brockhampton - Team Effort
release date and label TBA

The ridiculously prolific and fast-rising rap collective Brockhampton released three albums in 2017, resulting in the Saturation trilogy that we ranked as the 12th best album(s) of the year, and after a fake-out announcement that they were done making records, they revealed plans for yet another one, Team Effort. These guys have become one of the most unique and exciting new rap collectives around, and it feels like they’re only getting better. Saturation III was as much a progression from Saturation II as that album was from Saturation I, so if Brockhampton keep going at this rate, Team Effort could be their best album yet. [A.S.]

Camp Cope
Camp Cope - How to Socialise & Make Friends
due 3/2 via Run for Cover

Camp Cope’s 2016 debut was lauded by members of Modern Baseball and The Wonder Years, among others, and the strength of its indie punk songs led us to name them one of the best new(ish) rock bands of that year. After opening shows for the likes of Against Me!, Waxahatchee, and The Hotelier in their native Australia, they signed to Run for Cover and made their US live debut opening for Jeff Rosenstock at NYC’s Silent Barn. We’ve since heard the excellent first single, “The Opener,” off Camp Cope’s forthcoming sophomore album, How to Socialise & Make Friends. “The Opener” sounds vital as it calls out misogyny in the music industry, and has us anticipating even more deeply felt material narrated by Georgia Maq’s strong voice. We’re also looking forward to catching Camp Cope live again, as they return to the US for a tour with Turnover. [Amanda Hatfield]

MoMA PS1 Warm Up
Cardi B - TBA
release date TBA via Atlantic

You can’t call Cardi B a one hit wonder. In fact, she’s the third artist (and the first rapper ever) to have first three hits in the Top 10 at once (“Bodak Yellow” as a lead artist, and Migos’ “MotorSport” and G-Eazy’s “No Limit” as a guest artist). Chart statistics aside, though, Cardi proves on all of her recent singles (including the new “Bartier Cardi,” which is not too far away from the Top 10 right now either) that she can really rap and that her verses have no trouble getting stuck in your head. As we wrote when we named her one of the best new artists of 2017, she says she’s taking her time with her debut album (the followup to her two Gangsta Bitch Music mixtapes) which is probably only going to work to her benefit. Let’s hope it doesn’t take too long though… would love to get this in 2018! [A.S.]

David Byrne - American Utopia
due March 9 via Nonesuch

While David Byrne always has a few irons in the fire — be it musicals about Imelda Marcos or Joan of Arc, color guard performances, or collaborations with other cool musicians — this looks to be his first proper solo album since 2004’s Grown Backwards. Official details are scant still, but a Redditor found a now-deleted Amazon link with the title American Utopia and a release date of March 9. We do know he worked with both Oneohtrix Point Never and longtime collaborator Brian Eno on it. Will it be as high-concept as the live show he has planned to support it? Stay tuned. [B.P.]

UPDATE: American Utopia has been officially announced, and you can listen to the first single, “Everybody’s Coming to My House,” now.

DeJ Loaf No Fear
DeJ Loaf - Liberated
release date TBA via Columbia

The anticipation has been high for DeJ Loaf’s proper debut album since the release of her killer 2015 EP #AndSeeThatsTheThing, and The FADER says it’ll finally be out this year. DeJ has been showing off so many different sides of her on the singles released in the leadup to the album’s release: she’s got triumphant horns and live-sounding drums on “Changes,” danceable soul on “No Fear,” and melodic downtempo on “Big Ole Boss” — not to mention the album reportedly features soul singer Leon Bridges. It seems like DeJ Loaf knows no bounds. [A.S.]

Earl Sweatshirt at Afropunk Fest 2016 - Sunday
Earl Sweatshirt - TBA
release date and label TBA

It’s been three years since Earl Sweatshirt’s fantastic I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside, and there’s still no other rap album like it. It’s dark and personal in a way that feels part bedroom pop, part major label rap, and it still might be the best rap album to come out of the whole Odd Future movement. So it was good news when Earl celebrated New Year’s Eve by tweeting, “new chunes 2018, don’t think i wasn’t at work.” It’s too soon to know exactly what direction Earl will take on the next album, but he played some new songs live recently and it sounded pretty promising. [A.S.]

Field Music - Open Here
due 2/2 via Memphis Industries

David and Peter Brewis took a five year break after 2011’s Plumb to work on other projects (some of which involved them both). They returned in 2016 with their best record to date, Commontime. Now they’re back almost two years to the day with Open Here, which reflects both the state of the band and the state of the world. Brexit and the U.S. election inform the lyrics, while Madonna inspired the inventive first single “Count it Up.” “Where Commontime felt like a distillation of all of the elements that make up Field Music,” says David, “this feels like an expansion; as if we’re pushing in every direction at once to see how far we can go.” [B.P.]

Foxing at Terminal 5
Foxing - TBA
release date TBA via Triple Crown

Foxing told the crowd at the recent Triple Crown anniversary show that they’d be back in 2018 and that they’d have a new album when they return. They also played a new song at that show that sounded like it was a clear progression from their excellent 2015 album Dealer. Foxing singer Conor Murphy also released one of our favorite albums of 2017 with his solo project Smidley, and Foxing remain at the very top of their game as a live act, so it seems like this roll that Conor and his pals are on is not over yet. [A.S.]

Grimes at The Meadows 2016 - Saturday
Grimes - TBA
release date and label TBA

With the release of 2015’s Art Angels, Claire Boucher proved herself to be a relentlessly innovative songwriter and producer, expanding upon the sounds she honed on 2012’s Visions until they were barely recognizable. One of our favorite albums of the year, Art Angels is a kaleidoscope view of freaky off-kilter pop music, and it’s anyone’s guess as to what direction Claire will go in next. And it seems a new release isn’t far off: in August, Claire reported from the studio on Instagram, where she said she was “trying to legit make something you’ve never heard before. unexplored sonic landscapes.” She tweeted another update in December, saying that she’d played new music for her label, who liked it, although she lamented her progress in another Instagram soon after, ssaying, “when u have all the songs but u still need to do vox and fix drums on p much every thing.” Hopefully we’ll see the fruits of Claire’s labors sometime in 2018. [A.H.]

Hookworms - Microshift
due 2/2 via Domino

We weren’t sure we’d get another Hookworms record. The Leeds, England band wowed with their first two albums of roaring motorik drone rock, not to mention a transcendent, ferociously loud live show, but the band suffered some major setbacks in 2015. Their North American tour was canceled due to visa issues at the 11th hour (a tough blow even for bands whose members don’t all have serious day jobs), and bandleader MJ’s riverside Suburban Home studio was destroyed in a flood. Following a crowdfunded rebuild of the studio, Hookworms set to work on their new album. Despite the title, it’s more than a microshift, sonically, from what came before. If first single “Negative Space” is any indication, the new album is more than a microshift, sporting a decidedly more pop direction, embracing dance music and MJ taking the occasional break from wailing to reveal an appealing singing voice. The record reflects the tough three years that preceded and the light at the other end. “All of our records are to an extent about mental health,” says MJ, “Largely this is an album about loss but also about maturing, accepting your flaws and the transience of intimacy.” [B.P.]

Hop Along at House of Vans Chicago
Hop Along - TBA
release date TBA via Saddle Creek

We got a small teaser of Hop Along’s next album when they opened for Conor Oberst at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival in Prospect Park, a show they said they took a break from recording to play. Propelled by Frances Quinlain’s wild, raw voice, Hop Along really shine live, and they debuted a great-sounding new song at that show. Attendees of Cap’n Jazz’s House of Vans show in Chicago, which Hop Along opened, got to hear even more new material, and Frances promised new stuff at a few solo dates in October with Oberst and Tim Kasher. There hasn’t been much concrete info yet about Hop Along’s next album, but 2015’s Painted Shut was one of our favorite albums of the year, and we’re eager to hear what they release next. [A.H.]

Hot Snakes
Hot Snakes - TBA
release date TBA via Sub Pop

Post-hardcore greats Hot Snakes reformed in 2011 after a six-year breakup, but didn’t really get serious about being “back” until the dissolution of Rick Froberg’s Obits in 2015. Then the reunion got serious in 2017 with the dual announcement of a tour and — surprise! — a new record. While details on the record remain hush hush, apart from a spring release date, Hot Snakes did not shy away from playing new songs on that tour, which all fit in nicely alongside the classics. And they just shared a minute or so of a new song that sounds pretty sweet. To tide you over till details emerge, Sub Pop is reissuing Hot Snakes’ Automatic Midnight, Suicide Invoice, and Audit in Progress. [B.P.]

Kacey Musgraves at Spotify House
Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
release date TBA via Mercury Nashville

Kacey Musgraves has always had something of an “indie” or outlaw side compared to most pop country, and she’s calling Golden Hour her “trippy” album and naming The Bee Gees, Sade, and Neil Young as influences, so it sounds like it could be her most appealing album to indie fans yet. (She also added, “There’s no Auto-Tune, there’s no nothing.”) Its two predecessors (2013’s Same Trailer Different Park and 2015’s Pageant Material) are some of the most effortlessly enjoyable country albums released this decade, so if Kacey keeps that up while getting “trippy,” Golden Hour could really be a success. [A.S.]

Outside Lands 2017 - Sunday
release date TBA via Interscope

Kamaiyah came out swinging with her excellent debut mixtape A Good Night in the Ghetto, which is jam packed with ridiculously catchy West Coast rap and not surprisingly landed her a major label deal. Her Interscope debut has been taking a while due to sample clearance (and Kamaiyah dropped a stop-gap mixtape for her fans in the meantime), but it’s seeming like it’ll be worth the wait. “Successful,” which is presumably on the album, sounds like everything that was great about A Good Night in the Ghetto but bigger and cleaner. [A.S.]

Kississippi
Kississippi - TBA
release date TBA via SideOneDummy

After a promising 2015 EP, Philly’s Kississippi (the project of Zoe Reynolds) signed to SideOneDummy and released the single “Cut Yr Teeth,” which is easily the best thing they’ve done yet. It’s cut from a similar indie/punk cloth as stuff like Waxahatchee, Hop Along, and Modern Baseball, and it proves that Zoe is increasingly gripping as both a singer and songwriter. (It also benefits from the drumming talents of Michael Tashjian of Thin Lips and The Superweaks.) Album info is still TBA, but if the rest of it is like “Cut Yr Teeth,” it’s gonna be a good one. [A.S.]

La Dispute
La Dispute - TBA
release date and label TBA

Not much info is out there for this one just yet, but La Dispute recently revealed that they’re in the studio with producer Will Yip working on the followup to 2014’s great Rooms of the House. All of their albums have been different — 2008’s Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair has the most dramatic emo flair, 2011’s Wildlife ups the prog and art rock tendencies while introducing some of their most powerful lyrics, and Rooms of the House is a concept album that’s their most subdued but also their most focused — so it’ll be pretty exciting to see where they head next. [A.S.]

Lucy Dacus
Lucy Dacus - Historian
due 3/2 via Matador

“Night Shift,” the first single off Lucy Dacus’s sophomore album and first for Matador, Historian, opens with the lyrics, “the first time I tasted somebody else’s spit, I had a coughing fit.” With this very quotable line she embarks upon her first breakup song, and it bodes very well for the album to come. After making a big impression with her 2016 indie folk debut, No Burden, Lucy worked again with producer Collin Pastore for her new album. Noted producer and engineer John Congleton did the mixing. Lucy also impressed us live with her stage presence and tight band, and we named her one of the best new(ish) rock bands of 2016. We’ve been looking forward to a new album, and with what we’ve heard so far, it promises to be a worthy one. [A.H.]

due February 9 via Columbia

After MGMT’s hits-filled breakthrough Oracular Spectacular, they turned their sights away from mainstream success and towards psychedelic weirdness. Its followup, 2010’s Congratulations, may have been divisive amongst fans, but it’s arguably an even greater artistic achievement than Oracular Spectacular. MGMT went even further down the rabbit hole with their self-titled 2013 album, but it looks like they’re bringing the best of both worlds to Little Dark Age. Both singles, the title track and “When You Die,” have one foot firmly planted in genuinely trippy psychedelia, but MGMT are writing danceable pop songs again. They’re still nothing like “Kids” or “Electric Feel,” but MGMT aren’t the type to ever fully repeat themselves anyway. This middle ground suits them well. [A.S.]

My Bloody Valentine - TBA
due date TBA via MBV Records

It took 22 years for My Bloody Valentine to follow-up Loveless with MBV. Could the shoegaze icons really have a new album a mere five years later? “We one hundred percent will,” confirms main man Kevin Shields who says that what started as an EP has now grown to a seven-or-eight song album. He told Pitchfork that the band plan to tour this summer and “that’s always a really good way to guarantee that we’ll get the record done.” Mind you, Shields has only a slighter better batting average of hitting deadlines than George RR Martin, but we want to believe. Meanwhile we’ll pour over the new all-analog vinyl remasters of Isn’t Anything and Loveless. [B.P.]

Owen Pallett - Island
release date and label TBA

For his followup to 2014’s In Conflict, Owen Pallett is returning to the fictional world of Spectrum, the setting of his 2010 album, Heartland. In a September update on Facebook, Owen described Island as a “narrative sequel to Heartland” – he also revealed that it’s “nearly-finished.” Musically, we’re expecting more of the inventive strings that have made Owen a sought after composer. He had a prolific 2017 working on string arrangements for albums from long time collaborators Arcade Fire, as well as Charlotte Gainsbourg, Haim, Kirin J Callinan, and more. We hope he gets some time to finish his own in 2018, too. [A.H.]

Pianos Become the Teeth Wait For Love
Pianos Become the Teeth - Wait For Love
due 2/16 via Epitaph

On new single “Charisma,” Pianos Become the Teeth move even further from their screamo roots than they did on 2014’s great Keep You, and the cleaner approach continues to work wonders for them. Keep You was a devastating album that revolved around the death of singer Kyle Durfey’s father, but “Charisma” sounds just a bit happier. It’s brighter and a bit more tender sounding, but not at the expense of how powerful PBTT have always been. Kyle’s voice still soars, drummer David Haik is still out of this world, and the guitars still shine with the beauty of a post-rock band and the ferocity of a hardcore band. If the rest of the album is on this level, we’ll be in for a treat. [A.S.]

Afropunk 2017 - Saturday
serpentwithfeet - TBA
release date TBA via Secretly Canadian

We were introduced to orchestral R&B artist serpentwithfeet with his 2016 blisters EP on Tri Angle Records (the same label that helped launch pop boundary pushers like How to Dress Well and AlunaGeorge), and in the time since then, he’s opened tours for Grizzly Bear and Perfume Genius, landed slots on expertly curated festivals like Basilica Soundscape and Afropunk, and now inked a deal with the larger Secretly Canadian label and duetted with Bjork. It’s no surprise that all these impressive people want to work and/or tour with him — serpentwithfeet’s EP was instantly great, his live show is genuinely captivating, and his future looks very bright. [A.S.]

Sharon Van Etten
Sharon Van Etten - TBA
release date and label TBA

Sharon Van Etten’s last full length album, Are We There, was released in 2014, but she’s been anything but idle in the time since. She tried her hand at acting with a role on The OA, and appeared at The Bang Bang Bar on an episode of Twin Peaks: The Return (as well as playing David Lynch’s Festival of Disruption). That’s not the only musical project she’s been involved with, either; she lent vocals to music from Lee Ranaldo, Land of Talk, Hercules & Love Affair, Michael Cera, and Lost Horizons. She also scored Strange Weather, appeared on the soundtrack for The Man in High Castle, and re-released her 2009 debut, Because I Was in Love. We may be able to expect even more new music from Sharon — who ALSO recently became a mother — later this year, too. In an interview with The Creative Independent that was published on November 13, she said she was heading back to the studio “next week.” The interview also talks about how motherhood is inspiring her writing now, and about the timing of the re-release (it came out on November 17). The motivation behind the re-release was related to music people heard on The OA, her getting her masters back, and just perfect timing in general: “During this off time, where I probably won’t have a record out for another year, why not share something that will feel new to people? Why not remind people where I came from a little bit, before I scare them with my next record?” We promise we won’t be scared! [A.H.]

Superchunk - What a Time to Be Alive
due 2/16 via Merge

As anyone knows who is awake right now, the world has not gotten less crazy since 2016 which gave us Brexit and the U.S. presidential election. The state a lot of us find ourselves in is reflected in What a Time to Be Alive, the first Superchunk album in over four years. “The album is about a lot of things of course but mainly dealing with anxiety and worse in the face of incipient authoritarianism,” says frontman and Merge Records co-founder Mac McCaughan. The LP was written between the election and Trump’s inaugurations and while there is no doubt some irony in the title, Mac notes its sincerity, too. “I think that’s important to not be completely bummed out about everything all the time.” As you can hear on the title track, the band work through our time’s craziness the only way they know how: with intelligence, humor and another batch of rousing indie rock anthems. [B.P.]

Riot Fest 2017 - Sunday
that dog. - TBA
release date and label TBA

Alt-rock vets that dog. spent last year playing 1997’s Retreat from the Sun in full at shows for its 20th anniversary, and they’ve also been working on a long-awaited followup to that album. The lineup for the new album includes original members Anna Waronker, Rachel Haden, and Tony Maxwell (but no Petra Haden, whose violin was an essential part of their sound). They’ve also got a handful of exciting guests, including fellow Haden siblings Tanya and Josh, plus Maya Rudolph, Pat Smear (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Germs), Josh Klinghoffer (current RHCP guitarist), Steve McDonald (Redd Kross, Melvins), Andrew Dost (fun., Anathallo), Kaitlin Wolfberg, and an orchestra. No word yet on what the album is going to sound like, but it will likely be a success if they channel their classic material, considering how influential their brand of indie/punk-style alt-rock is on current indie rock bands. [A.S.]

Turnstile Time & Space
Turnstile - TIME & SPACE
due 2/23 via Roadrunner

Turnstile recently joined Code Orange in the growing list of real-deal hardcore bands signing to major label Roadrunner Records (a division of Warner), and considering Code Orange’s Roadrunner debut Forever got serious Rolling Stone hype and a Grammy nom, here’s to hoping Turnstile have a similar breakthrough. Going by lead singles “Real Thing” and “Generator,” they definitely sound ready for it. All the fury of their early hardcore days are here, but so are big clean vocals, genuinely catchy choruses, flashy guitar solos, and co-production by Diplo on one song. It’s just the right balance of having pop appeal and staying true to their roots, and it’s a blast to listen to. [A.S.]

us-girls-a-poem-unlimited
U.S. Girls - In a Poem Unlimited
due 2/16 via 4AD

Ten years into her career as U.S. Girls, Meg Remy switches up her M.O. for In a Poem Unlimited, eschewing samples in favor of a full live band. She’s still pulling from ‘60s girl groups and R&B, but theres a real ‘70s vibe this time out, adding glam, glitter, disco and funk to her arty mix. (“Sed Knife” from 2016’s Half Free pointed in this direction.) Lyrically, Meg remains a potent voice of protest, mad as hell — literally in one case — and laying into the powers the be. Having road-tested the record with her new band late last year, this year’s tour should be as anticipated as the LP itself. [B.P.]

Yo La Tengo at Bowery Ballroom
Yo La Tengo - Title TBA
due in March via Matador Records

There’s not much in the way of concrete information about Yo La Tengo’s forthcoming 15th studio album, apart from that it’s on the way, as quasi-confirmed by Matador. They did play a handful of new songs at their Hanukkah shows, at least a couple of which were sung by Georgia. (One called “Shades of Blue” was particularly nice.) As those Hanukkah shows reinforced to me, Yo La Tengo are a treasure and any new record should be greeted like an old friend. [B.P.]

The 1975 at Sweetlife
The 1975 - Music for Cars
release date and label TBA

Not much is known about The 1975’s third album besides a title and an expected 2018 release, but there’s reason to be excited. I’m still not sold on all 74 minutes of their overblown sophomore album I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it, but it’s a massive step up from their debut and it has some serious jams (“The Sound” is already a classic), and hopefully Music for Cars will be a similar progression. Their ambitions are certainly high enough. Singer Matty Healy told NME, “If you look at third albums, ‘OK Computer’ or ‘The Queen Is Dead’, that’s what we need to do. I want a legacy. I want people to look back and think our records were the most important pop records that a band put out in this decade.” The 1975 have also truly perfected their live show in the time since releasing I like it when you sleep — more proof that they’re getting better and better. [A.S.]