With another year of great music gone, expectations are high for 2017. This list of winter releases is just a fraction of what’s to be expected for the coming year. Remember to keep an eye on our website for further news regarding upcoming album releases. In the meantime, checkout this list of our most anticipated 2017 winter releases and get excited.
Alvvays — TBA
Release Date: TBA
In September Alvvays posted to Instagram that the group had finished tracking the follow-up to their 2014 self-titled debut. There is no further information regarding the album’s title or its release date, but knowing the album is finished is enough for us to assume it could release anytime this winter.
Austra – Future Politics
Release Date: January 20, 2017
Described as their most ambitious album to date, Austra’s third full length Future Politics will be out January 20th. The band has defined the album as “a collection of urgent, disciplined anthems for dance floors and headphones alike.”
BECK — TBA
Release Date: TBA
The follow-up to 2014’s Morning Phase was pushed back from an October release to a November release, and we still haven’t heard anything about when the album will actually come out. We have “Wow” and “Up All Night” telling us that Beck will be bringing us some pop, but as to the release date, we can only assume it’ll be soon.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah — The Tourist
Release Date February 24, 2017
CYHSY will be returning this year with their fifth LP The Tourist. The band is promising an exciting comeback this year. Listen to their new track “Fireproof” below.
Cloud Nothings — Life Without Sound
Release Date: January 27, 2017
Early singles from Cloud Nothing’s forthcoming release have hinted at the band stepping full-bore into accessibility. “This record is like my version of new age music. It’s supposed to be inspiring,” frontman Dyland Baldi said in a statement last October. Cloud Nothings play Lee’s Palace on release day, so get ready to rock.
The Flaming Lips — Oczy Mlody
Release Date: January 13, 2017
Prior to announcing plans for a 2017 album, in 2016 The Flaming Lips released a series of new songs during classes at a yoga studio in Oklahoma City.
Foxygen — Hang
Release Date: January 20, 2017
Foxygen’s new album features a symphony orchestra in every song, as well as multiple contributors, including the Flaming Lips’ Steven Drozd and the Lemon Twigs. Listen to Hang’s groovy “Follow the Leader” below.
Gorillaz — TBA
Release Date: TBA
For those of you who follow Damon Albarn’s visual collaborator Jamie Hewlett’s Instagram feed, it’s been months upon months of teases of new Gorillaz music. While there’s no word on when we can expect a new record, it seems the next venture will focus around Noodle, one of the group’s four fictional characters.
The 2D group shared A 12 piece mini-content series called The Book of Noodle a couple months back, and most recently a 30-minute mashup celebrating her favourite women artists.
Grandaddy — Last Place
Release Date: March 3, 2017
The first single, “Way We Won’t”, from Grandaddy’s upcoming release showcased the band in familiar sounding territory. The layoff since 2006’s Just Like The Fambly Cat may have been worth it.
Hollerado — TBA
Release Date: TBA
Hollerado just released their new single “Born Yesterday” today, reaffirming their plans to release a new album soon. Listen to the new single below.
Japandroids — Near to the Wild Heart of Life
Release Date: January 27, 2017
Late last year Japandroids announced the release of Near to the Wild Heart Of Life, the follow-up to their 2012 album Celebration Rock. The band accompanied this announcement with the release of their new single of the same name. Listen below.
Kid Koala — Music to Draw To: Satellite
Release Date: January 20, 2017
Kid Koala will be returning in 2017, koala suit and all. The DJ puts on a great show and has toured with big acts such as Radiohead, Arcade Fire, and the Beastie Boys, so the new album should be quite the treat.
I can’t wait for you all to hear the whole album. wishing you warmth this winter. and many hours of productivity… pic.twitter.com/9ndAxc46Wg
— kid koala (@kidkoala) November 30, 2016
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard — Flying Microtonal Banana
Release Date: February 24, 2017
This band will be pumping out five albums in 2017 — that’s right, five — with the first being released in February. The band describes each album as “its own unique sonic adventure.”
Los Campesinos — Sick Scenes
Release Date: February 24, 2017
There are very few bands that have been as consistent as the Welsh group Los Campesinos. Over the past 11 years and five albums, the group hasn’t put out a single bad release, and it’s safe to say Sick Scenes will continue with this trend.
Mac DeMarco — TBA
Release Date: TBA
There isn’t any information on the name of Mac DeMarco’s new album or its release date, but we do have video evidence of DeMarco popping champagne in celebration of being done mixing the new record. DeMarco posted the video to Instagram a few days before New Year’s Eve.
The Magnetic Fields — 50 Song Memoir
Release Date: March 3, 2017
The Fields began recording their 50 Song Memoir on Stephin Merritt’s 50th birthday, with one song for every year of his life. Merritt notes that the unique project will be “a mix of autobiography (bedbugs, Buddhism, buggery) and documentary (hippies, Hollywood, hyperacusis).”
Major Lazer — Free the Universe
Release Date: January 2017
With no new albums since 2013’s Free the Universe, Major Lazer’s upcoming 2017 release is highly anticipated. On Twitter, Diplo confirmed the album’s release for January in response to a fan’s question about the mysterious new music teased in Diplo’s Snapchat Story. With Major Lazer’s collab with Justin Bieber on “Cold Water,” we can only expect good things from this new album. Diplo has already confirmed that Travis Scott, Usher, and Sam Smith have recorded with the group.
New major lazer comes out in January https://t.co/4xrbYJzojN
— ディプロ ー (@diplo) October 29, 2016
Mark Eitzel — Hey Mr. Ferryman
Release Date: January 27, 2017
After four years, Mark Eitzel will be releasing his 10th solo album this month. Listen to “The Last Ten Years” below for a glimpse into Hey Mr. Ferryman.
Mother Mother — No Culture
Release Date: February 10, 2017
Vancouver’s Mother Mother has been hard at work producing their sixth studio album and are ready to release No Culture February 10th. The follow-up to 2014’s Very Good, Bad Thing has already brought to light a pop-infused single “The Drugs.”
The Orwells — Terrible Human Beings
Release Date: February 17, 2017
After a hiatus, The Orwells will be back this year with their forthcoming album Terrible Human Beings. In October 2016, the band got us all pumped up in anticipation for the new album with a new song “Buddy.” Listen to the explosive new track below.
The Rural Alberta Advantage — TBA
Release Date: TBA
Just over two years removed from their previous release, The Rural Alberta Advantage has teased the release of a new record in 2017. This will mark the band’s fourth album since their 2008 debut, and will be the first since keyboardist/vocalist Amy Cole decided to leave the group. The first single “White Lights” was released last November, and the band is currently road testing the new material.
Ryan Adams — Prisoner
Release Date: February 17, 2017
Ryan Adams is all set to release his sixteenth studio album Prisoner this coming February 17th, and from what we’ve heard so far it’s going to be heavy. The record is said to be written about a particularly nasty divorce the singer-songwriter recently went through from Mandy Moore.
The Sadies — Northern Passages
Release Date: February 10, 2017
The Toronto band will be back this year with their 10th studio album. The group, whose members have been together for over 20 years now, recorded the new album in a basement and have described it as a “wild acid-folk-country-punk trip.”
Sampha — Process
Release Date: February 3, 2017
I urge you to listen to “Blood On Me” by Sampha, within about 30 seconds you’ll have his album pre-ordered. His voice will reel you in and bear hug you tightly, what more could you want?
The Shins — Heartworms
Release Date: March 10, 2017
Fans of James Mercer’s pivotal indie rock troupe The Shins can rest assured a new album is almost here. March 10th brings the latest installment called Heartworms, which was written and produced by fully by Mercer himself (with the exception of “So Now What” produced by Richard Swift).
Sinai Vessel – Brokenlegged — January 27
Release Date: January 27, 2017
North Carolina’s Sinai Vessel will release their debut album this month through Tiny Engines. Some delectable indie-rock for the jam-packed January 27th release day.
Sleater-Kinney — Live in Paris
Release Date: January 27, 2017
Live in Paris will be Sleater-Kinney’s first ever live album. Watch the band shred it in their recently released fan-filmed video for “Surface Envy” below.
Spoon — TBA
Release Date: Expected March 2017 release
Spoon’s yet-to-be-titled 2017 release will arrive via Matador Records, which the band returns to for the first time since its 1996 debut. Britt Daniel and Co. once again worked with producer Dave Fridman, who they also worked with on 2014’s They Want My Soul. Spoon and Matador Records both recently released images of a skull on their social media pages, leading us to believe that they are teasing a new release.
Strand of Oaks — Hard Love
Release Date: February 17, 2017
“Some records are built like monuments, set in stone,” Showalter explained in a press release. “I want this record to be burned in effigy, in celebration of the limited time we have on this earth.”
After a car accident that resulted in a near-death experience in 2013, Timothy Showalter survived to walk away a changed man. Immediately following the accident, Showalter began work on his 2014 album HEAL with a whole new perspective and sense of determination. The record ended up being a breakthrough for his career, being named one of the best albums of that year, and lead to opening slots for Jason Isbell, Iron and Wine, and Ryan Adams. Showalter recently announced that his follow-up record Hard Love will be released on February 17th.
Sun Kil Moon — Common As Light And Love Are Red Valleys of Blood
Release Date: February 28, 2017
Sun Kil Moon’s 2014 album Benji was masterpiece of small town tales and garbage fires gone bad, and the follow-up Universal Themes was among the best folk rock albums to come out of 2015. Simply put, the San Francisco-based act is on a roll. They’ve already eclipsed Japandroids for the 2016 longest album title championship.
Surfer Blood — Snowdonia
Release Date: February 3, 2017
After the Florida group tragically lost member Thomas Fekete, Surfer Blood returns with a new record sure to be filled with groovy washed out tracks for a trip to the beach.
Ty Segall — Ty Segall
Release Date: January 27, 2017
With California–based psych rocker Ty Segall set to release his ninth studio album under his own name early in 2017, he’s clearly leaving himself ample room to drop records 10, 11, and maybe even 12 before the year’s out. The prolific singer-songwriter released “Orange Color Queen” from the upcoming record and it’s the kind of consistency we’ve come to expect from the 29-year-old.
Xiu Xiu — Forget
Release Date: February 24, 2017
According to a press release, this album will be the band’s “most direct engagement with pop music.” The album will be Xiu Xiu’s first LP of original music since 2014’s double release. The band gave us a glimpse of what to expect with the release of new song “Wondering.” Check it out below.
The xx — I See You
Release Date: January 13, 2017
The xx have released three songs so far from their highly anticipated third album, I See You. On New Year’s Day, the band tweeted out a video of themselves performing a karaoke version of one of their new songs, “Say Something Loving,” in Tokyo.
A few weeks ago we were in Tokyo and filmed ourselves doing karaoke to our new song ‘Say Something Loving’, we had a lot of fun! xx The xx pic.twitter.com/zctL2funtL
— The xx (@The_xx) January 1, 2017
- SEE ALSO: Most Anticipated Winter Album Releases