Gorillaz at the Wells Fargo Theatre. Photo by Joe McCabe, heyreverb.com.
Album release dates are a fickle mistress. Despite label influence, production setbacks and changes of heart, some artists try to ballpark an album months ahead of its announcement.
Take James Blake, for example, who had hoped his third full-length would have dropped in spring 2015. For whatever reason, we’re still waiting on that one. Maybe that’s why so few of our most anticipated electronic albums this year have solid release dates — the artists themselves don’t even know.
For some (ahem, Gorillaz), it’s news enough that they’re back at all. Others, we hadn’t heard about until a month ago. That’s the beauty of electronic music, a genre that’s history is being written before our eyes. Will Animal Collective remain a fringe interest? Can Kill J become the new Robyn?
From gatekeepers to upstarts, check out our look at the most exciting electronic albums of 2016 below.
10. DJ Shadow, TBA
Release date: TBA
The author of “Endtroducing…..” hinted at a return in 2016 a few weeks back when he released “Swerve,” his first new track since his 2014 EP, “Liquid Amber.” Like DJ Shadow himself, the pathos of “Swerve” is planted firmly in the ’90s, its preset drum samples and Atari-esque synths firing full bore. In today’s EDM landscape of ultra-slick production and trapdoor bass drops, it sounds dated (especially that vocal tag) and even quaint. But any new project from DJ Shadow is worth a look, no matter what era.
9. RJD2, “Dame Fortune”
Release Date: March 25
RJD2 is so much more than the author of . Like DJ Shadow, the Philadelphia-based producer is of an old order, and probably wouldn’t even describe himself as an electronic musician. He performs like a DJ of yore, with a twist: not two, but and a microphone. Word that RJD2 is releasing an album this year, and judging from its accompanying single, he’s back with purpose.
8. Kill J, “Quasi”
Release Date: Feb. 5
This one is only an EP, but we’re including it in the hopes Kill J’s full-length won’t be far behind. This Copenhagen-based powerhouse has a Bjorkian gift for vocal riffs as evidenced in the slow trickle of pre-release singles like “You’re Good But I’m Better.” There’s a strong Robyn element to Kill J’s irresistable mix of pop-predicated electro-R&B, which is the best: in that European powerhouse’s absence, a new challenger appears.
7. Chet Faker, TBA
Release Date: TBA
The relative lack of buzz for Australian artist Chet Faker’s brand of performance-based electronica is baffling. Faker brings singer-songwriter sincerity to a genre that’s often as dehumanized as a brightly lit vacuum. Case in point: 2014’s “Built on Glass.” With catchy yet brazenly introspective tracks like “Talk is Cheap” and “To Me” to its credit, it alone is enough to warrant a Google alert for Faker. The word that he’s been in touch with while working on his next album is a tantalizing proposition. Faker is one album away from something special. Now more than ever, he seems poised to realize that potential.
6. Yeasayer, “Amen & Goodbye”
Release Date: TBA
The genre-less Yeasayer have walking into left field since their first album. The Brooklyn-based trio hurried that into a gallop on 2012’s “Fragrant World.” Replete with stories of Ronald Reagan’s skeleton and real-life cancer patients, the album’s fascinating rhythms and fluid sense of melodic movement got lost in the weirdness of these guys’ songwriting sensibilities. The band’s promise plenty of palm-staring, and hopefully another handful of songs to add to Yeasayer’s long list of oddball singles.
5. Polica, “United Crushers”
Release Date: March 4
The dark alley disposition of Poliça’s gloomy electro-pop sounds like it could’ve materialized in some seedy club in eastern Europe. But on the right night, with the right amount of fog, the band’s native Minneapolis can be a close analog. After coming strong out of the gates in 2012, the band sounds more cohesive than ever on their latest single, “Lime Habit,” a single that is itself a strong reason to keep an ear out for “United Crushers.”
4. Animal Collective, “Painting With”
Release Date: Feb. 15
Nothing splits public opinion in music like an Animal Collective album. The kaleidoscope of rhythm-forward electronic we got on 2010’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion” demonstrated that the avant garde quartet could appeal to more than those select few listeners who like to hunt out significance in music like a 3D sailboat in a Magic Eye picture. From what we’ve heard so far, “Painting With” sounds somewhere between that album and 2013’s return to the weird, “Centipede Hz.” With contributions from the Velvet Underground’s John Cale and Bon Iver/Arcade Fire collaborator Colin Stetson, color us intrigued.
3. James Blake, “Radio Silence”
Release Date: TBA
We called it last year (and to be fair, so did he), but 2015 came and went without a peep from James Blake, the UK’s enigma of a post-dubstep producer/singer. It was initially rumored that Blake would release the album in April of last year. We still don’t have a solid date locked in yet, but Blake did release a few details about his upcoming third album. It’s called it could feature Kanye West, and judging by the one song we’ve heard so far, it should put Blake in a good position to write the title song for the next James Bond flick.
Listen to a live performance of the album’s title track, “Radio Silence,” below.
2. M83, TBA
Release Date: TBA
The music of French producer Anthony Gonzalez, aka M83, was once too precious for anyone but the most blog-swaddled indie darlings. Then, in 2011, “Hurry Up We’re Dreaming” gave us Gonzalez at his most floor-forward. On the strength of that album and its radio-ready single “Midnight City” ( and all) in particular, M83 became a festival sensation. When word came out a few months back that the producer for 2016, buzz began to amass instantaneously — even in the absence of any new music.
1. Gorillaz, TBA
Release Date: TBA
Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz is one of those rare projects that has yet to disappoint. Excluding the rarity disk “D-Sides,” Albarn has spurred LP after LP of fascinating electronic rock via his animated band of hesher-styled misfits. 2010’s “Plastic Beach” was rumored to be the band’s finale — and it would have made a fine one — but by way of his cartoonist, Jamie Hewlett, that fans should expect another Gorillaz album in 2016. No complaints here.
