Twenty albums to look out for in 2016

DAVID BOWIE – BLACK STAR

Release date: January 8

Music icon David Bowie might have retired from the stage, but his musical reign is far from over and his hotly-anticipated twenty-fifth (yes, twenty-fifth) studio album is set to drop on his 69th birthday. If lead single “Blackstar” is anything to go by, expect to be electrified. 

SAVAGES – ADORE LIFE

Release date: January 22

Following on from treacle-thick, energy-filled lead single “The Answer” (below) we’re more than ready for the second album from post-punk four-piece Savages. “It’s about change and the power to change,” they revealed in a statement. “It’s about sticking to your guns and toughing it out.”

SANTIGOLD – 99¢

Release date: January 22

Brooklyn singer Santigold set the tone with her warped, dream-like collab with Atlanta oddball iLoveMakonnen, moving away from the brash pop bangers that defined her 2012 second album. If this is the direction she’s going in, then we’re happy to join her.

SIA – THIS IS ACTING

Release date: January 29

Following on from Sia’s career-crowning sixth album 1000 Forms of Fear , which sits at number one on our ‘Top 20 albums of 2014’, the creative polymath and song-writing extraordinaire will be back with This Is Acting. According to Sia, the album is made up of songs written for other people including Rihanna, Beyoncé and Katy Perry – hence its title.

WET – DON’T YOU

Release date: January 29

We’ve been obsessed with Brooklyn trio Wet ever since last year’s sweet and subtle pop gem “Don’t Wanna Be Your Girl”, although it feels like we’ve been waiting for their debut album forever. Not for much longer, though – the 11-track release will be with us in one month’s time.

ELIOT SUMNER – INFORMATION

Release date: January 29

So far, the artist formerly known as I Blame Coco has offered up a string of dark, guitar-led anthems with roaring chorus’, her distinctive, low-register voice adding a heady dose of emotion. And if her recent creations are anything to go by, her upcoming debut promises to be just as intense.

SUNFLOWER BEAN – HUMAN CEREMONY

Release date: February 5

Saint Laurent’s resident cool girl Julia Cumming spends half her time looking morose on the runway and the other half thrashing a bass around and screeching into the mic as the front woman of scuzzy psych-punk band Sunflower Bean. And now, we get to see the fruit of her musical labour via the band’s highly-anticipated debut, out in Feb.

DIIV – IS THE IS ARE

Release date: February 5

It hasn‘t been the easiest few years for New York indie outfit DIIV – with various members of the band held back by drug-related controversies – but second album Is the Is Are is set to be their much-needed, much-anticipated comeback.

ANIMAL COLLECTIVE – PAINTING WITH

Release date: February 19

In what will be their tenth album to date, Baltimore 4-piece Animal Collective are set to ditch the drawn-out reverb and enter a poppier new era. “Everything seems drenched in reverb these days, and is so distant,” they said. “In a way, it was a reaction to that.”

CHRSTINE AND THE QUEENS – CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS

Release date: February 26

Queer electro-pop queen Héloïse Letissier AKA Christine and the Queens has already released her synth-soaked self-titled debut in France, her hometown, but in March its reworked English counterpart will be unleashed into the world. “I didn’t want to be the exotic French girl releasing a pop album that nobody really understood,” she explained. “Like, ‘Hey! Sounds good! Can’t hear a thing!'”

BABY METAL – TBC

Release date: April 1

Anti-girlgroup BABYMETAL are like nothing we’ve ever heard before, with their off-the-wall fusion of cutesy J-Pop and speaker-shaking death metal. Needless to say, we’re stupidly excited for their as-yet-unnamed follow-up to 2014’s explosive self-titled debut.

ANOHNI – HOPELESSNESS

Release date: Spring

Co-produced by sonic masterminds Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke, Hopelessness will be Antony Hegarty’s first release under new moniker Anohni. Describing it as “It's an electronic record with some sharp teeth” and “as different as could be from my previous work”, the artist’s first album in six years feels like a rebirth. 

PJ HARVEY – TBC

Release date: Spring

When PJ Harvey won the Mercury Music Prize for Let England Shake in 2011, the award cemented her already-established reputation as one of Britain’s most influential songwriters. And now, almost half a decade later, the artist is back with her ninth album, which will arrive next spring.

CL – LIFTED

Release date: Autumn

2NE1’s ‘baddest female’ CL has had her solo US debut peeking around the corner for ages, but in our cover interview with the K-Pop star, she revealed that Lifted will finally arrive next year. Featuring riotous lead single “Hello Bitches” (below), production from BloodPop and a rework of Wu-Tang Clan’s “Method Man”, expect big, big things.

ALICE GLASS – TBC

Release date: TBC

Alice Glass’ first track away from Crystal Castles (“Stillbirth”) marked an explosive, punch-to-the-gut moment where she screamed, “I’ve been waiting for you to die” over apocalyptic stabbing synths, her rage so white-hot you could almost feel it. And while she’s remained tight-lipped about her solo album, we’ll be keeping a close eye on her musical movements.

RIHANNA – ANTI

Release date: TBC

RiRi’s been dropping clues, hints and tasters for new album ANTI like a never-ending game of cluedo, making twitter practically froth at the mouth. If the album hasn’t arrived at time of publishing, we’re putting all our bets on a January release.

FRANK OCEAN – BOYS DON’T CRY

Release date: TBC

Admittedly, this addition is purely speculative – who knows when Frank Ocean will drop his album? Hell, it might never arrive. But we haven’t given up all hope for an unexpected 2016 release just yet. In the meantime, have a read of everything we know about it so far.

KANYE WEST – SWISH

Release date: TBC

Despite the fact that Yeezy has said Swish won’t be ready ‘till it’s ready, artists A-Trak, Pusha T and Travi$ Scott have all said they’ve heard it, with the latter claiming it’s “coming very soon” and that “He’s on his God-level rapping shit. It’s that Kanye everybody wants.” Roll on 2k16.

LADY GAGA – TBC

Release date: TBC

Mother Monster’s sixth album has been a long time coming, with the singer claiming she had started it as far back as December 2014 and continuously dropping subtle hints ever since. And as her stint on shlock-horror TV show American Horror Story draws to a dramatic close, her album continues to linger tantalisingly in the horizon.

MYKKI BLANCO – TBC

Release date: TBC

Riot grrrl rapper Mykki Blanco might have spent the last five years pushing sonic and aesthetic boundaries, but she has yet to release a proper full-length album – until next year, that is. “This is the start of my official return focusing primarily on Mykki Blanco,” she told us last month. “I’m finishing my album and continuing to record new music, which is something I’ve consistently never done.”