18 albums we’re looking forward to in 2018

With 2018 dawning it’s time to take a look ahead to the albums we hope will be gracing our turntables over the next 12 months.

There’s a spectrum of our favourite artists returning, plus plenty of new things to get excited about, so we've narrowed it down to just 18 records we can’t wait to hear in 2018...

And if you can't wait that long, here's a reminder of our Albums of the Year 2017.

Title: Resistance Is Futile

Tackling some of the bigger political issues that have emerged in the last few years, while revisiting the guitar-driven excitement of earlier work including Generation Terrorists and Everything Must Go, the Manics say: “the main themes of Resistance is Futile are memory and loss; forgotten history; confused reality and art as a hiding place and inspiration.” First single, International Blue, neatly demonstrates that fusion with its big riffs and influence from French Nouveau Réalisme artist Yves Klein.

ETA: 6 April

Title: TBC

Having promised to “really push it with this one”, Hopkins apologised to fans in May 2017 for the amount of time he was spending on his new record. He’s since insisted things are starting to “take shape”, and it is hoped the follow-up to 2013’s Immunity will be due out soon.

ETA: TBC

Title: Landfall

Inspired by her personal experiences during Hurricane Sandy, Anderson’s Landfall – which she has performed live at several festivals – has been recorded for release. A 30 track collaboration with the Kronos Quartet, she explained in a statement that the record is full of: “Stories with tempos. I’ve always been fascinated by the complex relationship of words and music whether in song lyrics, supertitles or voice over. In Landfall, instruments initiate language through our new text software, Erst.” Around the release (on 6 February in fact), Anderson also publishes a new book, All The Things I Lost In The Flood, which delves through her 40 year-strong, personal archive.

ETA: 16 February

Title: Always Ascending

Following the departure of Nick McCarthy in 2016, the band recruited 1990s guitarist Dino Bardot and musician Miaoux Miaoux, AKA Julian Corrie, into their ranks before recording with producer Philippe Zdar (Phoenix collaborator and one half of Cassius) for their fifth album. Tracks include Paper Cages, Lois Lane, Finally, and the 6 Music playlisted title track.

ETA: 9 February

Title: TBC

Fresh from Lotta Sea Lice, her collaborative record with Kurt Vile, Barnett says she is “getting close” to finishing her next solo album. So close, in fact, that she just needs a name for it, recently telling Beats 1: “I’m trying to come up with a title for my new album… It’s all one-sentence thoughts, you know trying to come up with something clever.”

ETA: TBC

Title: Mr Dynamite

Grant has teamed up with electronic trio Wrangler for his next album, set to be released under the name Creep Show. Combining “wires”, drum machines and early hip hop production, Grant shares vocals on this new project with former Cabaret Voltaire frontman Stephen Mallinder who is one third of Wrangler.

ETA: 16 March.

Title: TBC

Shock horror, Josh Tillman has traded cynicism for actual heatbreak after his “life blew up” and he wrote his next record while living in a hotel for two months. Refusing to go into specifics of his distress, he recently told Uncut that the record’s ten songs: “essentially serves the purpose of making the painful and the isolating less painful and less isolating. But in short, it’s a heartache album.”

ETA: TBC

Title: American Utopia (?)

The former Talking Heads man stoked rumours of a new record by announcing a series of live dates for 2018… then an online retailer added to the speculation by appearing to leak the title, American Utopia, and a possible release date on a pre-order page that was rapidly withdrawn – although not before eagle-eyed fans saw it first. What is (slightly) more certain is Byrne has previously said he’s worked on new music with Brian Eno and Daniel Lopatin, so both could feature on the album.

ETA: Spring, maybe…

Title: TBC

It’s on to album Number 10 for the duo, and the pair have been working away on their next record for several months. Frontman Jason Williamson recently told MOJO that this will be a lyric driven affair, explaining “it’s the real comedy lines that really sell an idea to me.”

ETA: TBC

Title: TBC

Having recorded in Los Angeles and New York for the first time – along with sessions in his adopted home of Nashville – it seems that the green-fingered (among others) should be keenly awaiting Jack White’s next solo album. Recently speaking with actor Gary Oldman for Interview, the former White Stripe declared his nearly finished record is: “good gardening music or roofing music or, you know, back-alley stabbing music.” Make of that what you will...

ETA: TBC

Title: TBC

Having concluded various solo projects, the Sheffield band spent the end of 2017 recording a follow-up to AM, although typically details are scant. We know it should be out in the next 12 months though thanks to the motorcycle press, as keen rider and bassist Nick O’Malley told For The Ride that Arctic Monkeys’ next album will definitely be released in 2018, or “if it isn’t, we’ve got problems".

ETA: TBC

Title: TBC

Though touring in 2017 to celebrate 15 years of debut album Turn On The Bright Lights, the New York trio revealed they were already focused on their next record by playing new song Real Life live in their set. The recording of this and other new material is expected to take place in the first half of 2018.

ETA: TBC

Title: Microshift

Following time away concentrating on side projects and term time (one of the band is a full time teacher), the psychedelic Leeds noise-mongers return with their third album. Immersive and full of energy musically, the Leeds group say they will focus on a series of difficult and challenging topics lyrically.

ETA: 2 February

Title: TBC

Having released their first song in eight years, October 2017's Wait in the Car, Kim Deal recently confirmed on the WTF Podcast that a full album from the band will be released in 2018. She also added that Steve Albini has drummed on two tracks.

ETA: TBC

Title: Transangelic Exodus

Don’t call it a concept record… because that doesn’t contain enough narrative for Furman’s purposes. In a statement, the singer-songwriter recently declared that Transangelic Exodus is: “not a concept record, but almost a novel, or a cluster of stories on a theme, a combination of fiction and a half-true memoir. A personal companion for a paranoid road trip. A queer outlaw saga.” Religion, love, identity and the current state of American political discourse also feature among the themes the record explores.

ETA: 9 February

Title: TBC

“Young Fathers have finished a new album,” the Edinburgh group recently enigmatically declared on their website. And that’s about it for now, save for their wishes that “we hope you hear it sometime in the near future” plus a teaser in the form of the Gospel-infused new song ‘L O R D’. “You can’t dance to it,” the band insist, but we’re not so sure…

ETA: TBC

Title: TBC

Having established themselves with a series of singles and a much-admired live show, the Londoners insist their Dan Carey-produced debut will not be limited to just what audiences have heard so far on stage, recently telling DIY magazine: “We’re always changing our ideas about the band because we become bored by just sticking to one thing.”

ETA: TBC

Title: Mitsubishi Macchiato (TBC)

Having worked on it for most of 2017, the New Yorkers were “80% done” according to frontman Ezra Koenig in September, though he cautioned that “the last 20% is always the hardest”. Founding member Rostam Batmanglij has officially left the band, although may make some contributions to the recording that the band are “trying to finish ASAP”.

ETA: ASAP

Joan As Police Woman

The Cure

First Aid Kit

Django Django

Scott Walker

Muse

Florence + The Machine

Trent Reznor

Orbital

Róisín Murphy

Belle & Sebastian

Field Music

Johnny Marr

The Good, The Bad & The Queen

MGMT

Editors

Nils Frahm

Poliça

tUnE-yArDs

Poliça

Django Django

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