Anticipated Albums of 2016

As with last year, I thought I might share some of the albums or projects I'm anticipating for next year. Some have been confirmed, and others are just my wishful thinking. Feel free to share what albums you're anticipating next year. In alphabetical order:

• Beck- TBA: There have been some talks of Beck's next album. It has been said that it's a more logical successor to Modern Guilt, and 'Dreams', possibly off the next album, was pretty decent, so hopefully it'll be pretty good. I was a little disappointed by Morning Phase.
• DOOMSTARKS- Self Titled (?): The MF DOOM/ Ghostface Killah collaborative album has had it's share of setbacks, but hopefully it comes out next year. I heard the track they shared on Adult Swim, 'Lively Hood', and it got me pumped. Hopefully this will be a little more of DOOM than NehruvianDOOM was, and hopefully it'll be a return to form for Ghostface.
• Gorillaz- TBA: I have heard rumblings about the new Gorillaz project in the works. I enjoyed Plastic Beach, and though The Fall wasn't my favorite album (I kind of thought it was a little bit of a novelty that it was recorded all on an ipad), there were moments that were cool, and I'm still excited to see what Damon Albarn and company bring to the table next.
• Lush- Untitled EP: Following news of the band's reunion, the band also announced their plans for an as yet untitled EP. Lush are one of my favorite shoegaze acts, and I'm really excited to hear what they're planning. I'm hoping they embrace their more dreamy sound, not that I don't enjoy Lovelife, but I just enjoy their take on shoegaze as opposed to their more Britpop influenced material.
• M.I.A.- Matahdatah: Matangi wasn't exactly my favorite M.I.A. project, but 'Borders' got me pretty pumped for the new album. M.I.A. has been pretty silent for a while other than 'Borders', and you can always expect her to bring some new sounds to a project, so it'll be interesting to see the progression and see what M.I.A. has been up to.
• Robin Pecknold- Solo Material: News of Robin Pecknold touring with Joanna Newsom and debuting new solo material was music to my ears. I hope this culminates in some recorded material. Anything from Robin Pecknold. Fleet Foxes are on hiatus for now, so I'll pretty much take anything I can get.
• Run the Jewels- Run the Jewels 3: El-P and Killer Mike are currently in the studio preparing their follow up to 2014's excellent album. It's been a pretty eventful couple of years for Run the Jewels, and I hope this year of touring and break from recording (apart from the Meow the Jewels remix album) will bring them back fresh for this project. I feel like they'll be able to create a solid trilogy of great hip hop albums.
• Swans- TBA: To Be Kind was my favorite album of last year, and I'm very excited to see what Michael Gira and crew do to follow it up. The Gate showed a lot of promise for the record, and I've already pre-ordered the vinyl, so waiting with baited breath. I've been following the band's journey through the recording process, Sonic Ranch and otherwise, so I'm really excited to see what comes out of the supposed final release of this lineup of the band.
• Tortoise- The Catastrophist: I'm looking forward to seeing what the celebrated post rock band is going to dish out with this new album. There's been a pretty long album silence since Beacons of Ancestorship, and I'm excited to see the new and interesting ways that they'll bend countless genres to their will and churn out some intricately arranged but amazingly performed music.
• Kanye West- SWISH (for now): Yeezus was a pretty polarizing album, but I guess I enjoyed a fair portion of it, that portion being the production. I really haven't been interested in a lot of Kanye's lyrical content recently, that content being dominated by a ton of shallow braggadocios droning. However, I enjoyed 'Only One' and 'All Day', though having some repetitive lyrics, had a pretty good beat. I'm interested to see the extent of Paul McCartney's collaboration on the album as well. Hopefully, Kanye will step up on the lyrical front and keep pushing the envelope production wise. 

So, those are the albums or projects I'm looking forward to the most. Be sure to share what albums you're looking forward to in the new year.

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