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Plenty of good music has already come out during the winter months of 2022, and there should be no shortage of quality albums as the skies brighten, the flowers bloom, and the weather warms up. Here are 41 new releases to look forward to in the coming months. (As of March 22, all release dates have been confirmed. But as usual, everything is subject to change.)
100 gecs: 10000 gecs
100 gecs’ Laura Les and Dylan Brady are set to return this year with the follow-up to their breakthrough 2019 album 1000 gecs. The new one, called 10000 gecs, is set to include the new single “MeMeMe.” According to a recent feature, the album will showcase the artists as they ease up on Auto-Tune, though not absurdity—look forward to a song called “Doritos and Fritos.” Read Pitchfork’s Cover Story “This Is Your Brain on 100 gecs.” –Evan Minsker
Aldous Harding: Warm Chris
New Zealand folk singer-songwriter Aldous Harding will release her fourth LP, Warm Chris, at the end of March. The 10-track album is produced by John Parish (who also produced Harding’s last album, 2019’s Designer) and is led by the hypnotic “Lawn,” which arrived with a surreal black-and-white video. Harding’s new record also includes contributions from H. Hawkline, Seb Rochford, Gavin Fitzjohn, Hopey Parish, and Jason Williamson of Sleaford Mods. Harding will head out on a tour later this year to coincide with the release. –Eric Torres
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Arcade Fire: WE
After five years of quiet from Arcade Fire—save for a classic Disney cover and a piece of music for a meditation app—the band confirmed a new record on the way with “The Lightning I, II” in mid-March. So far, it doesn’t seem like WE will have the high-concept rollout of 2017’s Everything Now or the elaborate cloak-and-dagger arrival of 2013’s dramatic Reflektor. Instead, according to bandleader Win Butler, the project reckons with the current state of the world, hinting at a song titled “Age of Anxiety.” Butler said that those themes were emerging in the songs before the pandemic, and that stay-home conditions accelerated the writing process. –Allison Hussey
Belle and Sebastian: A Bit of Previous
Forever in vogue—and particularly so in 2022—twee-pop royalty Belle and Sebastian regrouped in the studio over lockdown for their first album in seven years. Since 2015’s Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance, the Scottish outfit has nonetheless kept busy, releasing three EPs, commandeering a cruise ship, and hosting weekly guided meditation sessions, among other curious pursuits. Preceded by the harmonica-emblazoned rock’n’roll of “Unnecessary Drama,” the new album is the septet’s first to be recorded in its native Glasgow since 1999. “We did it together, us and the city,” Stuart Murdoch writes in the album’s liner notes. –Jazz Monroe
Bloc Party: Alpha Games
Alpha Games, the sixth album from Bloc Party and their first since releasing Hymns in 2016, is billed as a return to form for the band. Like their early material, particularly Silent Alarm, the new record aims to capture a breakneck, raucous collection of indie rock gone post-punk, as introduced in lead single “Traps.” Perhaps that explains why they tapped Nick Launay and Adam Greenspan to produce Alpha Games. Rounding out the band alongside co-founders Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack are Menomena bassist Justin Harris and drummer Louise Bartle. –Nina Corcoran
Camp Cope: Running With the Hurricane
Melbourne trio Camp Cope will release their first new album in four years, Running With the Hurricane, at the end of March. The follow-up to 2018’s How to Socialise & Make Friends finds the trio building on its punk-rock roots with spirited folk in the style of Waxahatchee. Produced by Anna Laverty with additional production from the band’s own Georgia Maq, the upcoming LP also features cameos from Courtney Barnett and Shauna Boyle of Cable Ties. Running With the Hurricane includes the singles “Blue” and “Running With the Hurricane.” –Nina Corcoran
Cardi B
Cardi B seems to be enjoying life as a very famous person, but whenever she’s in the mood to rap it has a seismic impact. It’s happened again and again, from mega hit singles like “WAP” and “Up” to memorable guest features on Normani’s “Wild Side” and Lizzo’s “Rumors.” There are almost no details out there about what her next album will sound like or when it will arrive, but it will probably be the soundtrack of a week or a month or a year. –Alphonse Pierre
Danny Brown: Quaranta
Danny Brown has been teasing his Uknowhatimsayin¿ follow-up for some time, sharing an audio clip of music in October 2020 with the caption “XXXX.” The Detroit rapper, now 41 years old, recently gave an update to Anthony Fantano, telling him, “It’s not called 40, it’s called Quaranta,” the Italian word for “forty,” and one that certainly brings to mind “quarantine.” In the time since Uknowhatimsayin¿, Brown has revived his Bruiser Brigade Records, featuring on albums from J.U.S, Fat Ray, Zelooperz, Bruiser Wolf, and Quentin Ahmad DaGod, as well as the compilation TV62. –Matthew Strauss
Dehd: Blue Skies
There’s a simple optimism present in Dehd’s music that feels like you’re stepping outside on the first sunny day of the year. The Chicago indie-rock trio will have more of that to offer on Blue Skies, the outfit’s third album, when it’s out in late May. On lead single “Bad Love,” vocalist Emily Kempf sings about the decision to stop aligning herself with people who don’t bring out the best in her and, instead chase “a relationship with oneself rather than an unhealthy one [with someone else.]” The follow-up to 2020’s Flower of Devotion was recorded by Dehd and saw the band working with mixing engineer Craig Silvey and mastering engineer Heba Kadry for the first time. –Nina Corcoran
Destroyer: Labyrinthitis
As he started writing his 13th Destroyer album, Dan Bejar found himself writing “anti-songs, anti-poems, nothing cohesive,” as he recently told Pitchfork’s Ryan Dombal. Rather than fight the incoherence, he decided to chase the impulse, developing his fragments into the 10 tracks of Labyrinthitis with producer John Collins. In the seven-minute single “June,” Bejar delivers a dance-pop spin and declares that snow angels are “a fucking idiot somebody made” before unwinding a freewheeling spoken-word part—the kind of baffling, beguiling twists that only Dan Bejar could pull off. –Allison Hussey
Ethel Cain: Preacher’s Daughter
One year after her Inbred EP, Ethel Cain will be releasing her debut album, Preacher’s Daughter. The Florida native is indeed the daughter of a Baptist deacon, but her spooky goth rock focuses on reclaiming her roots. The album is produced by Cain and is led by the single “Gibson Girl.” –Quinn Moreland
Father John Misty: Chloë and the Next 20th Century
At the beginning of November, Father John Misty posted a handful of black-and-white shots to Instagram, showing a new, austere buzzcut look. What followed was the announcement of Chloë and the Next 20th Century. So far, he’s shared the singles “Funny Girl,” “Q4,” and “Goodbye Mr. Blue.” –Matthew Strauss
Florence and the Machine: Dance Fever
As a decade of relentless touring gave way to the isolation of COVID-19, Florence Welch found inspiration in the concept of choreomania, a weird Renaissance-era trend that involved masses of people dancing themselves to exhaustion—or even death. Welch’s first Florence and the Machine album since 2018’s High as Hope promises a similarly gothic slant on what goes on at a club. Co-produced with Jack Antonoff and Glass Animals’ Dave Bayley, Dance Fever thumps its way to the macabre on advance tracks such as “Heaven Is Here,” and “My Love.” Opener “King” foregrounds the powerhouse UK vocalist’s introspective side. –Marc Hogan
Fontaines D.C.: Skinty Fia
Irish post-punks Fontaines D.C. may be coming off a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album for their 2020 full-length A Hero’s Death, but as Irishmen living in London, they still put up with their fair share of bullshit. Frontman Grian Chatten has said their forthcoming LP Skinty Fia—which draws its name from an old Irish cuss word that translates to “the damnation of the deer”—is informed by the distinct experience of Irishness in England, the way prejudice and mistrust can shape and mutate people and culture. Early single “Jackie Down the Line” is written from the perspective of somebody who doesn’t feel the need to pretend to be good. –Matthew Ismael Ruiz
Girlpool: Forgiveness
It’s been three years since Girlpool’s last album, What Chaos Is Imaginary. In the interim, the Los Angeles duo of Avery Tucker and Harmony Tividad have stayed busy: They remixed Alanis Morissette, appeared in a Chloe Moriondo video, and released “Like I’m Winning It,” which was later remixed by Devonté Hynes, Porches, and Lydia Ainsworth. Their new record, Forgiveness, is produced by Yves Rothman and is led by the singles “Faultline” and “Lie Love Lullaby.” “A lot of life feels like unavoidable experiences to me,” Tividad remarked in the album’s press material. “To me, Forgiveness is about accepting that concept. It’s about forgiving reality for having to be exactly what it is all the time.” –Quinn Moreland
Grimes: Book 1
Since releasing her long-awaited fifth album Miss Anthropocene in 2020, Grimes has been hard at work on an epic space opera called Book 1. She teased the project earlier this year after sharing the one-off single “Shinigami Eyes” and announcing her next EP, Fairies Cum First, which was billed as a “prelude” to Book 1. Grimes discussed her forthcoming LP—and some other things—in a recent chat with Vanity Fair. According to the interview, Grimes’ 15-track “fairycore” album is set in the distant future, and contains as yet unreleased tracks like “Marie Antoinette 2077,” “100% Tragedy,” and “Sci-Fi,” which she wrote with the Weeknd and his producer Illangelo. –Madison Bloom
Ibeyi: Spell 31
Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Díaz return with Spell 31, their third album together as Ibeyi. They sample themselves on Spell 31’s “Sister 2 Sister,” recycling a chant of their band name (the Yoruba word for an Orisha spirit representing twins) from their breakout 2014 single “River.” Jorja Smith makes a guest appearance on “Lavender & Red Roses,” with London-based rapper Berwyn joining the siblings on a cover of Black Flag’s “Rise Above.” “Made of Gold,” which was released last fall and features Pa Salieu, also appears on the album. –Allison Hussey
Jack White: Fear of the Dawn
Four years after Boarding House Reach, Jack White is readying two new albums. The first, Fear of the Dawn, features the single “Taking Me Back,” which made its debut in conjunction with a Call of Duty promotional campaign. It also includes a new collaboration with Q-Tip (on a song called “Hi-De-Ho”), following their work on the final Tribe Called Quest album. –Evan Minsker
Kendrick Lamar
Last August, Kendrick Lamar broke his long-held silence on the subject of his next record. “As I produce my final TDE album, I feel joy to have been a part of such a cultural imprint after 17 years,” he wrote on Oklama.com. Since releasing his Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winning album Damn. in 2017, Lamar has guest starred on a number of songs; tracks with Nipsey Hussle, Rich the Kid, Anderson .Paak, Rapsody, Frank Ocean and Pharrell, Jay Rock—even U2. He curated the Black Panther soundtrack, launched creative agency pgLang with Dave Free, and laid down verses on two Baby Keem songs. He also recently performed at the Super Bowl. –Madison Bloom
Kevin Morby: This Is a Photograph
The title of Kevin Morby’s new album was inspired by the moment after he found an old picture of his dad, who had just been rushed to the hospital in a medical emergency. Featuring contributions from Cassandra Jenkins, Makaya McCraven, Tim Heidecker, and Alia Shawkat, the follow-up to 2020’s Sundowner is a study on mortality, and Morby’s latest collaboration with production partner Sam Cohen. –Evan Minsker
Koffee: Gifted
Koffee preaches positivity. The Spanish Town, Jamaica–raised dancehall and reggae singer erupted onto the scene as a teenager three years ago with her sweet-sounding breakout single “Toast” and the warm vibes of her EP Rapture. Now 22, Koffee’s official debut Gifted is due this month, and the singer looks to continue to weave lyrics that comment on Jamaica’s sociopolitical issues with catchy hooks and rhythms that are perfect to groove to. –Alphonse Pierre
Kurt Vile: (watch my moves)
Kurt Vile’s first album since 2018’s Bottle It In is also his debut for the august record label Verve. Just don’t expect the ever charming, ever understated singer-songwriter to reinvent the wheel. Lead single “Like Exploding Stones” refines his lovable schtick into another playful illustration of chronic anxiety and ennui. That song features Sun Ra Arkestra’s James Stewart alongside Vile’s band the Violators, and the rest of the record includes contributions from Cate Le Bon, Chastity Belt, Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa, and percussionist Sarah Jones. –Jazz Monroe
Leikeli47: Shape Up
The masked rapper Leikeli47 is preparing to release Shape Up, the finale to a trilogy that began with her debut Wash & Set and was followed by 2018’s Acrylic. She’s built a reputation for slick, genre-melding rap, with new wrinkles being added with every release. Executive produced by Harold Lilly, Shape Up already has three singles: January’s “Chitty Bang” February’s “BITM” (which stands for “Bitch I’m the Man”), and March’s “LL Cool J.” Leikeli47’s face is blurred on the album’s cover, true to her mysterious persona. –Alphonse Pierre
Let’s Eat Grandma: Two Ribbons
Let’s Eat Grandma—the UK duo of Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth—return after three years without new music. I’m All Ears producer David Wrench returns, too, for Two Ribbons, pushed back to late April due to vinyl delays. –Matthew Strauss
Lizzo
What can be expected from Lizzo’s follow-up to Cuz I Love You, the 2019 album that made her the most-nominated artist at the 2020 Grammys and one of the most omnipresent pop stars of its moment? So far, the only single that’s been released is the Cardi B–featuring track “Rumors,” which arrived in August 2021. It was her first new track in two years and arrived with a visual indulging in Ancient Greek aesthetic. –Evan Minsker
Maren Morris: Humble Quest
Maren Morris began writing her new album, Humble Quest, in the early days of the pandemic amid international and personal tumult. The country singer was juggling new motherhood, a paused career, and the death of her friend and collaborator Michael Busbee. It was a humbling time, hence the album title. Led by the single “Circles Around This Town,” Humble Quest is Morris’ first solo full-length since 2019’s Girl. The album was produced by Greg Kurstin and written by Morris alongside her husband Ryan Hurd, Julia Michaels, Jimmy Robbins, Natalie Hemby, Laura Veltz, and Jon Green on Busbee’s piano. –Quinn Moreland
Maria BC: Hyaline
Hyaline is the debut album from Ohio-born, Oakland-based ambient pop singer-songwriter Maria BC. Recorded in their former apartment in Brooklyn, the album includes samples recorded in Prospect Park, an organ played by their dad at his church in Ohio, and songs recorded directly into their phone. Maria BC has recently shared the album’s languorous lead single “The Only Thing,” a song about “allowing yourself to be seen fully by another person,” as they explained. “When you find they aren’t afraid, you realize you shouldn’t be either.” –Eric Torres
Normani
Normani has taken her time with the rollout for her first solo record, sharing her attention-grabbing debut “Motivation” in 2019 before recruiting Cardi B for the slinky, luxurious “Wild Side” last July. She’s delivered those two powerhouse singles with stunning choreography and eye-popping visuals—full-suite treatments that bode well for anything else on the way. She’s nodded to titans like Janet Jackson and Aaliyah as she’s developed her own lane, maintaining a hold as one of the most promising young forces in the pop landscape. And, just last week, she shared another new track, “Fair.” –Allison Hussey
Obongjayar: Some Nights I Dream of Doors
The Nigeria-born, London-raised singer Obongjayar, last year released Sweetness, a gentle 4-track EP about romance with producer Sarz. Now after recent notable collaborations with Little Simz on “Point and Kill” and Pa Salieu on “Style & Fashion,” up next for him is the 12-track record Some Nights I Dream of Doors, due in May. The album will feature two previously released singles with “Try” and “Message in a Hammer.” You can expect it to hit on numerous genres including R&B, jazz, and Afropop. –Alphonse Pierre
Phife Dawg: Forever
Just before A Tribe Called Quest’s Phife Dawg died in 2016 from diabetes complications, he had been working on a new album. Forever finally arrives this year. The album includes “Nutshell Part 2,” his single featuring both Busta Rhymes and Redman. Another previously released track called “French Kiss Deux” features Illa J, better known as the brother of the late J Dilla. –Evan Minsker
Porridge Radio: Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky
In 2020, Porridge Radio burst out of Britain’s indie-rock nebula with the lacerating, lacerated LP Every Bad, only for the pandemic to scupper IRL celebrations. That album’s follow-up, which is led by “Back to the Radio,” expels their bottled energy, channeling the panic, anxiety, and fleeting ecstasy of lockdown life. “We’re making music in a scene that is very emotionally repressed,” the band’s self-scrutinizing, sing-speaking frontwoman Dana Margolin said in press materials. “Sometimes if I listen to nu-metal or emo lyrics, I find that we seem to fit in better emotionally in that world. They’re as cringe as me.” –Jazz Monroe
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Unlimited Love
The last Red Hot Chili Peppers album was 2016’s The Getaway, but, in some ways, Unlimited Love feels like a spiritual follow-up to 2006’s Stadium Arcadium. The new one is the band’s first in 16 years to feature John Frusciante, who is back in the fold. It also marks Red Hot Chili Peppers’ reunion with a longtime collaborator, the iconic producer Rick Rubin. The band has shared the singles “Black Summer” and “Poster Child,” the latter of which opens with the words “Melle Mel and Richard Hell were dancing at the Taco Bell.” –Evan Minsker
Romero: Turn It On!
Melbourne power-pop outfit Romero deliver a set of guitar-driven thrills with Turn It On!, their full-length debut. The band packs immediately memorable hooks and electrifying riffs into its songs, evident in the confident strut of “Troublemaker” or the explosive energy of the album’s title track. The band’s 2020 single “Honey” also appears on the record. Turn It On! is a blazing, boisterous LP that exudes carefree fun, a safe bet for windows-down hangs all summer. –Allison Hussey
Soul Glo: Diaspora Problems
Philadelphia hardcore band Soul Glo don’t plan on slowing down. Their upcoming fourth studio album, Diaspora Problems, finds Soul Glo once again dabbling in screamo and industrial hip-hop while confronting the disposability of Black art, financial instability, and state violence. Produced by the band, Diaspora Problems already has two singles: the relentless “Jump!! (Or Get Jumped!!!)((By the Future))” and the Mother Maryrose–featuring “Driponomics.” It’s Soul Glo’s first full-length LP since releasing The Nigga in Me Is Me in 2019 and follows their debut EP on Epitaph from last year, as well as their 2020 breakout EP Songs to Yeet at the Sun. –Nina Corcoran
The Smile
Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner are the Smile, a new band created in collaboration with Radiohead’s longtime producer Nigel Godrich. “Not the smile as in ‘ahh,’ more ‘the Smile’ the guy who lies to you every day,” explained Yorke during the band’s debut performance at Glastonbury last year. That ominous set-up translates into aggressive guitar work by Greenwood, propulsive rhythms from Skinner, and rough, belted vocals by Yorke, or at least that’s what the live renditions of new songs “We Don’t Know What Tomorrow Brings” and “Thin Thing” sound like. There’s no word yet what the Smile’s debut record will be called, if they choose to release it at all. After all, if there’s one thing Radiohead members love to exhibit, it’s elusiveness. –Nina Corcoran
Spiritualized: Everything Was Beautiful
The title of Spiritualized’s ninth album is shaping up to be curiously apt. The first three singles from the UK space rockers’ upcoming Everything Was Beautiful have been both all-encompassing and exquisite. Bandleader J Spaceman (aka Jason Pierce) plays 16 instruments, and he’s joined by more than 30 musicians and singers to kick up a starry-eyed din. The title also completes the Kurt Vonnegut quote from Spirtualized’s previous album, 2018’s And Nothing Hurt. Naming the albums in backwards order seems fittingly counterintuitive from Spaceman, who has said that he found in the bleakness of pandemic loneliness a “beautiful solitude.” —Marc Hogan
Syd: Broken Hearts Club
Broken Hearts Club is the sophomore solo album from R&B singer, producer, and the Internet member Syd. The 13-track follow-up to 2017’s Fin features guest appearances from Kehlani, Smino, and Lucky Daye and includes the breezy, previously released singles “Missing Out,” “Fast Car,” “Right Track,” and “CYBAH.” “The album is about a relationship I had that ended in my first real broken heart,” the Los Angeles–based artist said about the new music. “It almost felt like I joined a club because all of my friends went through similar experiences. It was like a rite of passage.” –Eric Torres
SZA
Ever since SZA dropped her breakout album Ctrl in 2017, we’ve been impatiently waiting for the next one. But the immediate future just brought big collaborations: A song with Kendrick Lamar for the Black Panther cut “All the Stars,” another with the Weeknd and Travis Scott for the Game of Thrones track “Power Is Power,” and, unfortunately (but inevitably), a Maroon 5 single. Her first single as a lead artist since 2017 didn’t arrive until 2020, when she dropped the Neptunes-produced “Hit Different” (featuring Ty Dolla $ign) and “Good Days.” Earlier that year, she insinuated that Top Dawg Entertainment had been holding up the release of her new music, and, in 2021, SZA self-released three tracks—“Nightbird,” “Joni,” and “I Hate You”— via an anonymous SoundCloud account. She issued the latter on official platforms months later, after a fresh string of collaborations, “Kiss Me More,” “Fue Mejor,” and “No Love,” to name a few. –Madison Bloom
Tomberlin: I Don’t Know Who Needs to Hear This…
Sarah Beth Tomberlin’s new album is called I Don’t Know Who Needs to Hear This….“The theme of the record,” Tomberlin said in the press material, “is to examine, hold space, make an altar for the feelings.” The album is led by the singles “IDKWNTHT,” “Happy Accident,” and “Tap.” It is co-produced by Philip Weinrobe and features contributions from Cass McCombs and Told Slant’s Felix Walworth, among others. The album is her second full-length on Saddle Creek, following 2018’s At Weddings. In 2020, she shared an Alex G–produced EP titled Projections. –Quinn Moreland
Toro y Moi: Mahal
Mahal, the seventh LP from Toro y Moi (aka Chaz Bear) and his first for indie label Dead Oceans, was announced in January with the psychedelic singles “Postman” and “Magazine.” Since then, Bear has shared new single “The Loop,” accompanied by a video directed by Company Studio. Mahal features contributions from Sofie Royer, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Neilson, Neon Indian’s Alan Palomo, the Mattson 2, and more. Toro y Moi will open for Khruangbin later this spring. –Eric Torres
Undeath: It’s Time...To Rise From the Grave
When Undeath vocalist Alexander Jones said “We take the music seriously, but we don’t take ourselves that seriously,” he meant it. The Rochester, New York death metal band is notorious for its gore-laden lyrics, heavy riffs, and a proclivity for goofing off, and the band succeeded in delivering on all fronts with its 2020 debut Lesions of a Different Kind. On their new full-length It’s Time…To Rise From the Grave, Undeath seem to be headed in that same direction, as the use of the necronomicon and dueling guitar solos in their “Rise From the Grave” music video suggest. –Nina Corcoran
