Listed below in alphabetical order are some of the most noteworthy albums scheduled to arrive between now and mid-May. Only albums with firm release dates are included.
Albums with announced release dates
Aesop Rock
The Impossible Kid
April 29 (Rhymesayers) 
This self-produced set is the alt-rapper's seventh album and first since 2012's Skelethon. The new album once again finds Aesop working with the experimental Philly outfit Grimace Federation. Preview the album through his new weekly Funny or Die series.
| WATCH: | "Rings" |
ANOHNI
Hopelessness
May 6 (Secretly Canadian)
After a surprise Oscar nomination for her original song from the Racing Extinction soundtrack—just the second-ever nomination for a transgender person, though she was inexplicably denied an opportunity to perform during the ceremony—the lead singer of Antony and the Johnsons has finally completed work on her first solo album as ANOHNI. Hopelessness was produced by the artist along with Oneohtrix Point Never and Hudson Mohawke.
| LISTEN: | "4 Degrees" |
| WATCH: | "Drone Bomb Me" |
Julianna Barwick
Will
May 6 (Dead Oceans)
The Brooklyn-based experimental artist's third album follows her 2013 effort Nepenthe. Recorded in multiple cities, the self-produced set includes contributions from Mas Ysa.
| WATCH: | "Nebula" |
Bibio
A Mineral Love
April 1 (Warp)
The British producer, known for his pastoral, folk-influenced electronica, returns with his first full-length since 2013's Silver Wilkinson. His new, sample-free album features contributions from Gotye, Olivier St. Louis and Wax Stag, and is influenced by 1970s and '80s TV themes (which seems to be a new trend; see M83, below).
| LISTEN: | "Town & Country" |
| LISTEN: | "The Way You Talk" |
| WATCH: | "Feeling" |
Andrew Bird
Are You Serious
April 1 (Loma Vista)
The latest from the singer-violinist may be his most personal outing to date. The album, which includes collaborations with Fiona Apple and Blake Mills, will come in three versions, including a deluxe edition with two bonus tracks and a box set version that adds a 5-song EP and a book.
| LISTEN: | "Capsized" |
| LISTEN: | "Left Handed Kisses" (feat. Fiona Apple) |
| LISTEN: | "Roma Fade" |
Deftones
Gore
April 8 (Reprise)
Gore is the band's first release since 2012’s highly acclaimed Koi No Yokan. It's the first time the alt-metal band has worked with producer Matt Hyde (Slayer, Porno for Pyros), and the album arrives after a longer-than-expected recording/mixing process that saw the group working through some stylistic differences.
| LISTEN: | "Prayers/Triangles" |
| WATCH: | Album teaser |
Bob Dylan
Fallen Angels
May 20
The 74-year-old singer has yet to reveal any details of his upcoming album, although he previously suggested that it could be a second album of Frank Sinatra covers, following last year's Shadows in the Night. Regardless, it's an excuse for him to tour this summer, which he will do, supported by Mavis Staples.
Brian Eno
The Ship
April 29 (Warp)
After releasing a pair of album with Underworld's Karl Hyde in 2014, Brian Eno returns to solo work for his first time since 2012's Lux. The Ship is inspired by events of World War I as well as the sinking of The Titanic, and includes a cover of The Velvet Underground's "I'm Set Free."
Explosions in the Sky
The Wilderness
April 1 (Temporary Residence)
After a few years spent putting its highly cinematic, instrumental post rock to its most natural use—soundtracking actual films like Prince Avalanche—the Texas outfit returns in April with its seventh studio album and first since 2011.
| LISTEN: | "Disintegration Anxiety" |
| LISTEN: | "Logic of a Dream" |
The Field
The Follower
April 1 (Kompakt)
Swedish minimal techno master Axel Willner returns with his first Field album since 2013's Cupid's Head. The new set features six tracks, including the title cut, the result of Willner "experimenting with a lot of new recording equipment and gear."
| LISTEN: | "The Follower" (Live in Berlin) |
Frightened Rabbit
Painting of a Panic Attack
April 8 (Atlantic)
The Scottish indie rockers completed work on their fifth album last fall with The National’s Aaron Dessner serving as producer. It'll be their first release since the departure of guitarist Gordon Skene following the band's 2013 release Pedestrian Verse.
| LISTEN: | "Death Dream" |
| WATCH: | "Get Out" |
PJ Harvey
The Hope Six Demolition Project
April 15 (Vagrant)
Harvey recorded her ninth album early last year in a rather unusual location: a glass-enclosed installation at London's Somerset House, where a live audience was able to observe the recording sessions. The resulting album (her first since the excellent 2011 release Let England Shake) didn't surface in 2015, but will next month.
| LISTEN: | "The Community of Hope" |
| WATCH: | Album trailer |
| WATCH: | "The Wheel" |
Tim Hecker
Love Streams
April 8 (4AD)
Love Streams is the experimental electronica artist's first LP since 2013's Virgins and his first release for 4AD. Like that previous album, the new set was recorded in Iceland and includes collaborations with Kara-Lis Coverdale and Grímur Helgason. Also contributing was the Icelandic Choir Ensemble, with vocal arrangements by noted film composer Jóhann Jóhannsson.
| LISTEN: | "Castrati Stack" |
Islands
Should I Remain Here at Sea?
Taste
both out May 13 (Manque Music)
After releasing a solo album and scoring two seasons of the hit podcast Serial, Nick Thorburn has returned to his main project, Islands. In May, the band will release two unrelated albums on the same day, both the result of a PledgeMusic crowdfunding campaign. Taste is the more electronic of the pair, while Should I Remain Here at Sea? is more raw and organic.
| LISTEN: | "Back Into It" |
| LISTEN: | "Charm Offensive" |
Damien Jurado
Visions of Us on the Land
March 18 (Secretly Canadian)
Concluding a conceptual trilogy that began with 2012's Maraqopa and 2014's Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son, Visions Of Us On The Land again finds the singer-songwriter working with producer Richard Swift.
| LISTEN: | Full album stream |
| WATCH: | "Exit 353" |
| WATCH: | "Qachina" |
The Last Shadow Puppets
Everything You’ve Come to Expect
April 1 (Domino)
Consisting of the Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner, The Rascals' Miles Kane, and Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford, the Last Shadow Puppets have reconvened to record a follow-up to their Mercury Prize-nominated 2008 debut The Age Of The Understatement. Owen Pallett again contributes string arrangements.
| WATCH: | "Bad Habits" |
| WATCH: | "Everything You've Come to Expect" |
Lush
Blind Spot EP
April 15 (Edamame)
The surviving members of the great British shoegaze/alt-rock band Lush have reunited for the first time since 1996, and have big plans for 2016. A spring reunion tour will be bookended by this new four-song EP and—potentially—a new full-length album further down the line. "Out of Control," the first taste of Blind Spot, should please longtime fans, as it sounds of a piece with Lush's early 1990s output.
| WATCH: | "Out of Control" |
M83
Junk
April 8 (Mute)
That intentionally (?) amateurish album cover hides what, on paper (and on its first track), sounds like one of spring's oddest albums. The French electronica act's first studio album in five years (following Hurry Up, We're Dreaming) is influenced by 1980s TV sitcoms like "Who's the Boss" and "Punky Brewster," and includes contributions from Beck, Steve Vai, Mai Lan, and Susanne Sundfør. It does not, however, include former vocalist/keyboardist Morgan Kibby, who has left the band; she has been replaced (after a worldwide search) by Kaela Sinclair, who will join M83 in time for their upcoming tour.
| LISTEN: | "Do It, Try It" |
Bob Mould
Patch the Sky
March 25 (Merge)
Though a rumored Hüsker Dü reunion doesn't appear to be a possibility, Bob Mould continues to move forward with his solo career. This darker follow-up to 2014's Beauty & Ruin was again recorded with bassist Jason Narducy (Split Single) and Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster.
| LISTEN: | "The End of Things" |
| WATCH: | "Voices in My Head" |
Marissa Nadler
Strangers
May 20 (Sacred Bones)
The singer-songwriter's 2014 album July was her best-reviewed LP to date. She follows that in May with Strangers, her seventh studio album, which returns Randall Dunn as producer.
| LISTEN: | "Janie in Love" |
Pantha du Prince
The Triad
May 20 (Rough Trade)
German techno producer Hendrik Weber returns with his first solo album in six years (though he did release an album with The Bell Laboratory in the interim). This proper follow-up to Black Noise also features some contributions from members of Bell Laboratory, plus Queens and Joachim.
| WATCH: | "The Winter Hymn" |
Parquet Courts
Human Performance
April 8 (Rough Trade)
The Brooklyn indie rockers are nothing if not prolific, having already released four studio albums and two EPs in the last five years. Now comes their fifth LP, recorded over the course of a year and produced by the band's own Austin Brown.
| WATCH: | "Berlin Got Blurry" |
| WATCH: | "Dust" |
Pet Shop Boys
Super
April 1 (x2/Kobalt)
The veteran synthpop duo's most recent album, 2013's Electric, was a surprisingly strong return to club-friendly dance music. Their new set Super looks to be more of the same, with Stuart Price once again serving as producer and mixer.
| LISTEN: | "Inner Sanctum" |
| LISTEN: | "The Pop Kids" |
| WATCH: | Album trailer |
Iggy Pop
Post Pop Depression
March 18 (Loma Vista)
For what could very well be his final album, the 68-year-old rock legend has teamed with Josh Homme and Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders, with Homme also producing.
| LISTEN: | Full album stream |
| LISTEN: | "Break Into Your Heart" |
| LISTEN: | "Gardenia" |
| LISTEN: | "Sunday" |
Primal Scream
Chaosmosis
March 18 (Ignition)
The Bobby Gillespie-led band return with their first album since 2013's More Light. Sky Ferreira and HAIM are among the guests on the 10-song LP, which early reviews suggest varies wildly in style and quality.
| WATCH: | Album trailer |
| WATCH: | "Where the Light Gets In" (feat. Sky Ferreira) |
Sturgill Simpson
A Sailor's Guide to Earth
April 15 (Atlantic)
The country artist earned quite a bit of acclaim for his 2014 sophomore set Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. It also earned Simpson a major label contract, which he will kick off with this self-produced nine-song set. A Sailor's Guide includes a cover of Nirvana's "In Bloom" and an appearance by the Dap-Kings.
| WATCH: | "Brace For Impact (Live A Little)" |
Gwen Stefani
This Is What The Truth Feels Like…
March 18 (Interscope)
The No Doubt frontwoman, The Voice judge, and Grammy-winning solo artist will release her first solo album in a decade later this month. Her third solo release overall, Truth follows 2006's The Sweet Escape and includes a dozen tracks—though neither of the new songs she released in 2014 are among them, since they were intended for a different album that was ultimately scrapped.
| LISTEN: | "Make Me Like You" |
| LISTEN: | "Misery" |
| WATCH: | "Used to Love You" |
The Thermals
We Disappear
March 25 (Saddle Creek)
The Portland, Oregon indie punk band's follow-up to 2013's Desperate Ground was produced by Chris Walla.
| LISTEN: | "Hey You" |
| LISTEN: | "My Heart Went Cold" |
| LISTEN: | "Thinking of You" |
Underworld
Barbara Barbara, we face a shining future
March 18 (Astralwerks)
After a few years devoted to solo endeavors, scoring the London Olympics opening ceremonies, and reissuing classic albums, the 35-year-old duo of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have returned to the studio to record their first new album since 2010's Barking.
| LISTEN: | "Ova Nova" |
| WATCH: | Album trailer 1 |
| WATCH: | Album trailer 2 |
| WATCH: | "I Exhale" |
Weezer
s/t [The White Album]
April 1 (Crush Music/Atlantic)
Weezer is going the self-released route for its fourth self-titled album and 10th LP overall. The so-called White Album will include both of last year's singles as well as the recently released tracks "King of the World" and "L.A. Girlz." A one-of-a-kind $25,000 deluxe version of the album comes with a trip to the Galapagos with Rivers Cuomo. Sadly, it is already sold out.
| LISTEN: | "Do You Wanna Get High?" |
| LISTEN: | "Thank God for Girls" |
| WATCH: | "California Kids" |
| WATCH: | "King of the World" |
| WATCH: | "L.A. Girlz" |
Woods
City Sun Eater In The River Of Light
April 8 (Woodsist)
Indie-folk outfit Woods return with a follow-up to 2014's With Light and With Love. It'll be their ninth album in the past decade, though just their second LP to be recorded in a proper studio.
| LISTEN: | "Can't See at All" |
| LISTEN: | "Sun City Creeps" |
Yeasayer
Amen & Goodbye
April 1 (Mute)
The Brooklyn psych-pop oddballs follow 2012's Fragrant World with this fourth album, which features an appearance by Suzzy Roche of the Roches. A tour in support of the album begins in May.
| WATCH: | "I Am Chemistry" |
| WATCH: | "Prophecy Gun" |
What are you looking forward to?
Which albums are on your most-anticipated list for the spring? Let us know in the comments section below.
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