Joseph DiDomizio, Lead Producer
How To Destroy Angels, Welcome Oblivion
The early part of this year is looking mighty thin, by my musical tastes (Justin Timberlake notwithstanding), so what has me most jazzed, or rather curious, is the first full-length album from How To Destroy Angels. On March 5, Trent Reznor, his wife Mariqueen Maandig [19], Atticus Ross and art director Rob Sheridan will deliver the first taste of what this band can do on a long player. The couple of EPs released since 2010 and the work on The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo soundtracks may give some insight into what to expect, which isn’t much different than some of Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails [20] work. That’s OK, because since 2005’s “With Teeth” he and his collaborators have been making some great music.
Release date: March 5
Megan Paolone, Lead Producer
Lady Gaga, ARTPOP
With the release of her fourth album ARTPOP, 2013 will be the year of Gaga. She’s had a little break from touring, officially retiring the wildly popular “Monster Ball,” and announced in December that she’s already written 50 songs for ARTPOP (similar to how she’d written The Fame and The Fame Monster). Two other cool bonuses that will please her Little Monsters: photographer Terry Richardson [21] is working on a documentary about Mother Monster and the creation of ARTPOP, which will also be available for purchase as an interactive app (likely similar to what Björk did on Biophilia [22]). Though Gaga says that no marijuana was used in the making of ARTPOP, she claims it’s “very risky.” [23] I can’t wait to hear what she’s created.
Release date: TBA
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mosquito
In the last couple of days, details about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs mysterious fourth record have been released, making the album itself a little less cryptic but fans no less excitedly impatient. It’ll be released on April 16, and produced by TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek and producer Nick Launay, with one track by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy. In a recent statement, frontwoman Karen O said the album’s songs (two of which the band premiered at a show in Pomona [24], Calif. recently) are “more moodier and tripped-out” than ever before, and that “you might catch some roots reggae and minimalist psychedelia influences.” Most of all, the cover art [25] is terrifyingly awesome.
Release date: April 16
Devendra Banhart, Mala
Mala is Devendra Banhart’s first release since 2009, and it’s truly a DIY effort. Banhart, who is also a visual artist, painted the album artwork [26] himself, and recorded the album in Los Angeles using a vintage Tascam recorder, playing all of its featured instruments with longtime bandmate Noah Georgeson. Mala consists of 14 tracks, one of which, apparently inspired by a 12th-century Catholic saint, is streaming at Pitchfork [27]. The album’s name, which is an Eastern European pet name (and not the feminine Spanish word for “bad”), was inspired by Banhart’s fiancée, who is Serbian. Let’s hope Mala isn’t chock full of sappy love songs.
Release date: March 12
Emily Slack, Lead Producer
Local Natives, Hummingbird
After the fantastic Gorilla Manor (2010), Local Natives have been working on their highly anticipated sophomore release in between touring and finding a break from their home base in Los Angeles, Calif. If the album’s first single “Breakers” [28] (released back in October) is any indication of what the new album will be like, the band is in for another success.
Release date: Jan. 29
Foals [29], Holy Fire
To be honest, I have a love-hate relationship with Foals. On one hand, I had no love for 2008’s Antidotes, while I absolutely adored 2010’s Total Life Forever. Based on the rich, upbeat indie rock single “My Number” released in December, the band’s third album Holy Fire just might keep the love for Foals going.
Release date: Feb. 11 (UK, no U.S. release date has been announced)
Greg Cwik, Writer
Queens of the Stone Age, TBA
It’s easy to single out the moment when Queens of the Stone Age transcended their robot rock/stoner rock moniker and became the sweatiest, balliest, booziest mainstream rock outfit of the aughts: Dave Grohl. When they put the former Nirvana skin-beater behind the kit—with his manic, primal pounding so fervid, yet somehow devoid of dexterity—the rest of the band had more space to fill. Josh Homme’s guitar never spewed so much fire. Then Grohl left the band and things got trippier. Era Vulgaris, the band’s most eclectic album to date, has electrical wiring for veins and a V-8 for a heart— it just goes. Like a drug trip minus the drugs, Era Vulgaris mingles Gary Numan synth-soaked weirdness with crunchy metal attitude, though Joey Castillo’s drumming is ludicrously bland and indistinct. And now the new QotSA album is being recorded and … wait for it… Dave Grohl is back! YESSSS. Homme said it’s going to sound like running a dream in codeine cabaret. With a vengeful force of nature on drums and Troy Van Leeuwan providing his eerie slide-guitar ethereality and cameos by former QotSA bassist Nick Oliveri, Trent Reznor and Jake Shears (!), the new QotSA album has me excited.
Release date: TBA
Nick DeSantis, Writer
Atoms for Peace: Amok
When Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke teamed up with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and longtime collaborator Nigel Godrich for a few shows in 2009, it seemed like he was just simply giving his solo material the supergroup treatment. However, after lighting-fast concert sellouts and rave reviews, the band seems to have taken a life of its own, naming itself Atoms For Peace (after a Yorke solo track) and announcing their debut album Amok, set for release on Feb. 25 on XL Recordings.
If “Default,” the first single off of the album, is any indication of Amok’s sound, it will once again showcase the spare and skittish electronic roots of Yorke’s 2006 debut album The Eraser. However, other songs previewed during live shows aptly showcased Flea’s considerable talents on bass, which added some bounce to Yorke’s usual electronic noodling and feline vocals. With these new sounds applied, the prospects for Atoms For Peace to evolve away from Yorke’s solo material into its own distinct sonic signature seems promising.
Release Date: Feb. 25
David Bowie, The Next Day
Music publications and critics around the world widely speculated that he quietly retired. Rumors of declining health and crippling writers block seemed to give evidence as to why venerable music icon David Bowie went completely missing from the public eye for an entire decade, seemingly falling off the face of the earth after releasing and touring behind 2003’s Reality.
Evidently, the Thin White Duke has returned. On Jan. 8 (Bowie’s 66th birthday), he stunned just about everyone with the sudden announcement of The Next Day, a brand-new studio album that he had been secretly recording in New York City for over two years with longtime producer Tony Visconti [30].
The Next Day’s material is said to run the gamut from straight-forward rockers to experimental art rock reminiscent of his Berlin era. The nod to Bowie’s past isn’t evident only in the music: the album’s controversial album cover, which positions a large white box right smack in the middle of the classic cover of Bowie’s Heroes, is already creating controversy online, with many thinking the image is simply a prank. Regardless of the strange album art [31], fans across the world are thrilled that new output by Bowie is finally on the horizon.
Release Date: March 12
Dee Lockett, Writer
Justin Timberlake, The 20/20 Experience
Often the most anticipated albums are the unexpected ones. On Jan. 14, the artist formerly known as JT (you know, the one that made music) dropped a bomb in the form of a new song "Suit & Tie" featuring the king of hip-hop Jay-Z. He then dropped an even bigger bomb: the announcement of his first album in seven years, The 20/20 Experience. His sophomore album FutureSex/LoveSounds was an instant classic. And considering JT's going back to his longtime producer Timbaland for his third release, artists from Justin Bieber to Drake should be shaking. We are about to witness the return of R&B.
Release Date: TBA
