[list] 10 Albums We’re Most Excited About in 2013 (so far)

It’s a new year, so we’re bracing ourselves for new music. Below are the 10 releases we can’t wait to hear – what did we miss?

Blue Hawaii, Untogether

Release Date: January 22nd

As if an ice age had come to the tropics of their Blooming Summer EP, the first tracks from Blue Hawaii’s new album revealed a chillier new direction. But at the same time, the “In Two” singles contain the same blend of deft sample manipulation and introspective melodies to make us accept and even anticipate their change in climate

Atoms For Peace, Amok

Release Date: February 26th

“One of the things we were most excited about was ending up with a record where you weren’t quite sure where the human starts and the machine ends,” says Thom Yorke, not describing OK Computer, but his new collaborative LP with Flea, Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker, and Mauro Refosco. And from the doom-singing artwork, to the claustrophobic dance tracks his band has been creating, Yorke seems tantalizingly close to furthering the vision he started in ’97.

Doldrums, Lesser Evil

Release Date: February 26th

Airick Woodhead’s experimental electro shouldn’t be pop, but it is, which is something you could have said about some of the genre’s best breakthroughs. Would it be irresponsibly premature to declare Doldrums and his debut full-length Lesser Evil as pop’s best future? Yes? Oh, well, we’re just really excited is all.

VÅR’s debut album

Release Date: TBD 

VÅR’s At War For Youth EP tapped into an urgent restlessness fueled by a love of their fellow man and a hatred of injustice. Hopefully their debut album for Sacred Bones is just as uncompromising

Eat Skull, III

Release Date: February 19th

The moment we stumbled across Eat Skull’s music resembled putting on a garage sale record from a long-dead band and immediately falling in love. We can’t wait to hear their latest record of lo-fi rock artifacts.

My Bloody Valentine’s 3rd Album

Release Date: TBD

Kevin Shields has been sitting on these recordings for, oh, twenty years or so, and now that he’s stopped despising them they’re almost ready to go public. No one knows what they sound like, but our own expectations refuse to go lower than “The Smile of Shoegaze,” which is probably a mistake, but whatever.

The Knife, Shaking The Habitual

Release Date: April 9th 

The most freeing thing about listening to Knife albums back-to-back is that doing so undermines any notion of them being a band with a plan. I suppose that’s one of the reasons why their electronic compositions are so freely described as “weird,” which Shaking The Habitual will no doubt be. But us, we just want to get swept away in the unique kabuki of their entire aesthetic and see what happens.

Danny Brown, Old

Release Date: TBD

The title of Danny Brown’s debut LP (seriously, how long’s it been since XXX?!) is an adjective that’s never crossed my mind when I listen to his music. It’s probably a shot at his detractors, who doubt a 31 year old’s ability to break into the rap game so late. But that’s just what he’s done, and no matter what’s on Old, he’s already proved them wrong.

Earl Sweatshirt, Doris

Release Date: TBD

Let’s be real: No one’s more excited about any member of Odd Future (Frank Ocean doesn’t count) than Earl Sweatshirt, especially since his public transformation from the rapin’, murderin’ hip-hop Damian, to something approaching elevated. He’s promised “pretty music” for Doris, and we can’t wait to hear what that means.

Arcade Fire’s 4th album

Release Date: TBD

What direction will the band take post-Grammy win? Will they stay the course or can we expect a Ke$ha cameo? Either way, we’re stoked. Especially if James Murphy is producing that last one.