My 5 most anticipated albums of 2018

We are almost a week into 2018 and I thought I would share some of the albums I look most forward to hearing in 2018. Most of these are released here in Q1 so we don't have to wait that long.

5. Mitski - TBD

My first encounter with Mitski was hearing her live at Reeperbahn festival in Hamburg, Germany a little over a year ago. It’s hard not to compare her with Angel Olsen, both moving in the space of simple and grungy indie-rock. But where Olsens form seems to be on a downtrend - she seemed completely uninterested on this summers festival tour - I think we have yet to see Mitski’s best work.

4. Jonathan Wilson – Rare Birds

While you might haven’t heard Wilsons music you are most likely familiar with some of his work as a producer.
He has produced albums for Conor Oberst, Father John Misty, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and others. I fell in love with his debut “Gentle Spirit” the first time I heard “Desert Raven” - maybe you will too. It’s my best bet for a mellow psychedelic album to look forward to - the first single has a nice War On Drugs vibe, but I’m hoping for the rest to have less drive.

3. tUnE-yArDs - I can feel you creep into my private life

I can feel you creep into my private life is the fourth album from tUnE-yArDs. Her latest offering Nikki Nack was filled with great songs like Water Fountain that succeeded to combine her lofi aesthetics with some sublime productions. The latest single “Look At Your Hands” is more electronic in it’s sound and points towards a more 80s influenced sound, but is still unmistakably tUnE-yArDs.

2. Belle & Sebastian – How to solve our human problems

The first Belle & Sebastian album I heard was If You’re Feeling Sinister which accompanied many of my teenage years. They have released 8 albums since then and How to solve our human problems it their album no. 10 in total.
The first single We Were Beautiful has me a little bit worried with its breakbeat-inspired production which feels a little bit dated, but its still a album I’m looking very much forward to.

1. MGMT – Little Dark Age

It’s been more than 10 years since MGMT released their debut album Oracular Spetacular. 10 years! That album is still a modern pop masterpiece in my book and a study into great production (Oracular Spetacular was produced by Dave Fridmann). Sometimes it feels like I have grown old and out of touch and I imagine the two guys in MGMT might feel the same. This is not a bad thing though; while a lot has happened on the pop music scene and other rock acts have reached the lowest levels of credibility, MGMT has consequently tried not to please a bigger audience since. Listening to Congratulations and MGMT has been like listening to a band during a eternal identity crisis, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Where they have been known to have strong 70s influences their newest single is a lot more 80s. I hope there’s hiding some of their great melodies beyond this stylized and monotone forerunner but let's see!

Which albums are you looking forward to?