01: LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
TBC
(DFA/EMI)
Expected early 2010
James Murphy can surely feel the pressure. Having sated the hipsters with album #1 and conquered the world with #2, god only knows what he’s got up his sleeve for #3. LCD have come a long way from their origins as a smart punk-funk jam band to become a genuinely paradigm-shifting pop band; as such, anything less than a masterpiece will be declaimed by fans and haters alike. The low-key cover of Alan Vega’s ‘Bye Bye Bayou’ which came out last month gave absolutely nothing away; indeed, all we really know at this stage is that the album was recorded in LA. We’ve not long to wait to find out if it meets our frankly ridiculous expectations.
02: KLAXONS
TBC
(BECAUSE/UNIVERSAL)
Expected mid-2010
Who remembers nu-rave? That particularly silly media meme helped Klaxons rise to fame, but the band were canny enough to disentangle themselves from it before their sporadically excellent – and Mercury Prize-winning – debut album was released. Since then, there’s been all kinds of nonsense talk about the direction that the follow-up would take – at one point it was alleged that Dr fucking Dre had been approached to handle production duties – but it seems now prudent to expect something along the lines of Myths of The Near Future Pt. 2. How come? Well, earlier this year came the depressing news that the band had finished work on a full-length set only to be told by their label that it was too weird; they ended up agreeing, and returned to the drawing-board to have another go. Only time will tell if they were right to do so.
03: BURIAL
TBC
(HYPERDUB)
Expected late 2010
Ok, so we have no real evidence that Burial’s third album is imminent, but it’s about time, right? Having made FACT’s favourite album of the decade in Untrue, the poor boy has much to live up to. His 2009 output – the Four Tet collaboration and ‘Fostercare’, a contribution to Hyperdub’s 5th anniversary compilation – suggests he’s going to have no problem blowing our minds again.
04: SANDWELL DISTRICT
TBC
(SANDWELL DISTRICT)
Expected early 2010
The world’s foremost purveyors of stripped-down, Berghain-shaking techno are set to release a collaborative album in the new year. Recorded largely in Berlin and helmed by Birmingham’s Karl ‘Regis’ O’Connor and New York’s Dave Sumner AKA Function, we expect the LP will also feature contributions from SD regulars Silent Servant (pictured) and Female. Having proved their aptitude at making absolutely killer dancefloor 12”s, we’re eager to find out how the SD crew have expanded their sound to meet the demands of a full-length; it seems likely that their well-documented appreciation of drone, industrial and post-punk electronics will figure somehow.
05: METRO AREA
TBC
(ENVIRON)
Expected mid-2010
It’s now almost eight years since Darshan Jesrani and Morgan Geist released the first Metro Area album, a compilation of the duo’s singles up to that point. They’ve reportedly been working on the sequel throughout 2009, though we don’t know whether it too will be, essentially, a singles collection. If it is, we’ve got no complaints: ‘Proton Candy’, ‘Nerves’, ‘Honey Circuit’, ‘Read My Mind’ and ‘Erodyne’, the highlights of Metro Area’s post-2002 12″ releases, would all be worthy inclusions indeed. Expect the classic Metro Area sound – a kind of postmodern, techno-savvy take on disco and boogie – but more extravagantly arranged and rendered than ever before. Oh, and here’s hoping a new Kelley Polar LP will drop on Geist’s Environ label in 2010 as well.
06: GORILLAZ
PLASTIC BEACH
(EMI)
Expected early 2010
Following Monkey: Journey To The West and a resoundingly successful – if shortlived – Blur reunion, Damon Albarn returns to the serious business of Gorillaz, promising an album suffused with a kind of “dystopian, British melancholia” and featuring guest contributions from Bobby Womack, Barry Gibb (The Bee Gees), Snoop Dogg, Mos Def and the Syrian National Orchestra.
07: SCUBA
TBC
(HOTFLUSH)
Expected early 2010
As the figurehead and resident DJ of Berghain’s groundbreaking Sub:Stance night, Scuba has done perhaps more than anyone to get Berlin techno-heads into dubstep. Oh, and he also discovered Joy Orbison and Mount Kimbie, releasing their debut records on his Hotflush label. Cheers Scuba. In February he’ll be delivering the first instalment in Ostgut Ton’s new Sub:Stance mix CD series, and then shortly after he’ll be unleashing his second LP.
08: HOT CHIP
ONE LIFE STAND
(EMI)
Due February 2010
Hot Chip’s eagerly awaited fourth album drops in January, and finds the group further honing their unique blend of bittersweet songcraft and natty dancefloor rhythm. If lead track ‘One Life Stand’ is anything to go by, the album is going to be a good one; it remains to be seen, though, whether it will represent a great leap forward for the band or a consolidation of what’s gone before. Either way, you know its singles are going to be totally inescapable.
09: MADVILLAIN
TBC
(STONES THROW)
Expected mid-2010
The follow-up to the already legendary Madvillainy reunites two of underground hip-hop’s most singular talents, Madlib and MF Doom. Entirely produced by Madlib, with alleged involvement too from Dave Sitek and Mos Def, it’s hard to imagine this record being anything other than brilliant. Fingers crossed, anyway.
10: VAMPIRE WEEKEND
CONTRA
(XL)
Due January 2010
The excitement surrounding Vampire Weekend’s Contra has been a little more muted than we expected, but then hey, we thought their Discovery side-project was going to take over the world. Certainly, the band face a similar problem to that which vexed The Strokes a few years back – having made an almost supernaturally well-formed and massively popular debut album, how the hell do you follow it? Well, you know what, Room on Fire was actually a pretty good album and Contra is as well. So go figure.
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Michael