New Music to Get Excited About

The first quarter of 2016 has seen college radio return to form with some excellent releases from veterans of the medium. Animal Collective, Ty Segall, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Ra Ra Riot, Yuck, and others have stood out of the stacked crowd of albums. Looking into the near future, the college and indie music scene is gearing up for Record Store Day, and not backing down before the summer music season. Here are a few releases we are looking forward to.

March

It may be the end of the month, but some of the best albums of March may still be on the way. 

Bob Mould – Patch in the Sky

The Joy Formidable – Hitch

RJD2 – Dame Fortune

The Thermals – We Disappear

White Denim – Stiff

April

Aesop Rock – The Impossible Kid

One of the most unique rappers in the underground scene returns in 2016! He has already teased the album with a series of videos featuring talking cartoon animals, and a strange storyline in which Aesop moved to the forest to focus on his writing. What else would you expect?

Andrew Bird – Are You Serious

Andrew has listeners anxious to their hands on his new album after he released the mesmerizing single “Capsized”. A few tracks have surfaced since then, showing that Are You Serious could be seriously good.

Bombino – Azel

Tuareg singer and songwriter Omara Moctar, known as Bombino, made has waves with his catchy picking and beautiful melodies. The musician’s group has played festivals worldwide and toured America with Gogol Bordello.

The Dandy Warhols – Distortland

Explosions in the Sky – The Wilderness

The Last Shadow Puppets – Everything You’ve Come to Expect

M83 – Junk

Mayer Hawthorne – Man About Town

Mogwai – Atomic

Mr. Lif – Don’t Look Down

Parquet Courts – Human Performance

Human Performance will be the group’s first full band studio recording since their 2014 release Sunbathing Animal. 

Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth

Simpson made his name as a musician playing traditional country when the charts were full of pop country artists. Since being picked up by NPR, doing a set on Austin City Limits, and establishing his unique with fans of twang, something has changed. Simpson has released several new tracks which set his soulful voice to blues and rock influenced tracks. It will be interesting to see if he can continue to grow on his 2015 momentum.

We Are Scientists – Helter Seltzer

Wire – Nocturnal Koreans

Art punks not dead. Nocturnal Koreans will be the band’s 15th studio album.

Yeasayer – Amen & Goodbye

May

Bob Dylan – Fallen Angels

Islands – Should I Remain Here at Sea?/Taste

Islands will release two full length albums on the same day. The group has emphasized that these are completely separate albums, not a double album. They were both crowd funded by fans, and will not be released on a label. The group describes Taste as more electronic, and Should I Remain Here at Sea? as a natural sounding album.

Modern Baseball – Holy Ghost

So So Glos – Kamikaze

Those Pretty Wrongs – Those Pretty Wrongs

White Lung – Paradise