By Lauren Armao
The last few years have been great years for music. This past year, in 2017, our playlists were blessed with incredible releases from artists like PVRIS, Lorde, Hippo Campus, COIN, LANY, and many, many more. When I was trying to make my top ten albums of 2017 list, I actually couldn’t bring myself to narrow it down any shorter than a top 20. Now that 2018 has arrived and we’re all eager to see what will become our favorite albums of this year, here’s what I’m looking forward to:
The 1975
I can’t possibly begin to convey how excited I am about new music from The 1975. They’ve been one of my favorite bands for nearly five years now, and ever since the I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It tour ended, I’ve been desperately craving more. So far the band as well as their manager Jamie have confirmed an EP, titled What A Shame, as well as a full length, Music For Cars. The band are known for being super vague and mysterious when it comes to new music, but there are some dates in question. An obvious one is June 1st, the birthday of the band, and the date that previous announcements have been made. Another, more recent one, is April 27th, as accidentally reported by The Guardian. All I know is that whenever we do finally hear some new music, it’s bound to be amazing.
The Wombats
In a few short weeks we’ll be hearing some new music from The Wombats – February 9th, to be exact. This will be the band’s fourth studio album, after 2015’s beloved Glitterbug. The tracklisting for the album (titled Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life) has already been released along with two singles, Turn and Lemon to a Knife Fight. It sounds good to hear Matthew Murphy’s instantly recognizable vocals on some new tracks – and they definitely don’t disappoint. The tracks feature the band’s signature electro-pop but also channel a more relaxed, laid-back feel. You can bet I’ll be listening to this in full at 12:01 AM on February 9th.
The Neighbourhood
The Neighbourhood is back, and they’re doing great – they actually just released an EP titled To Imagine at midnight this morning, only announcing it a few hours before. This is the second EP they’ve released recently, a follow up to Hard, which was released in late 2017. This latest EP features the two singles the band released in mid-2017, Stuck With Me and Scary Love. A full length album hasn’t been confirmed for this year yet, however the band is slated to play some major festivals this year, including Coachella. They’ve also released their first batch of tour dates for April and June. I have a feeling there will be many more exciting announcements to come from this band in 2018!
Arctic Monkeys
Every time I remember that Arctic Monkeys are making a return this year, I get into a really good mood. It’s been a whole five years since the release of AM… five years! AM is an album that I can vividly remember the release of. I was thirteen, and I had just discovered the band and fell in love. It was all I listened to for the next few months, it was one of the first albums I ever purchased on vinyl, and it remains one of my favorite albums to this day. The band just announced they’ll be one of the headliners at Firefly music festival, which will be their first tour date of 2018. These guys never disappoint when it comes to their releases, and I have no doubt that this time will be no different.
COIN North American Tour + New songs/album
COIN is coming to a city near you – buy your tickets! I had the pleasure of finally seeing these guys live at Music Midtown last year, and they put on a fantastic live show. And if their energy and sound don’t win you over, their awesome fans definitely will. The quartet have hinted at new music to come as well in 2018, tweeting “is it okay if we play some new songs on tour?”. COIN’s first two albums are two of my favorite albums of all time, so I can’t wait for what’s to come.
Wallows North American Tour
I talked about Wallows in my first post on the Melodic Mag site! (https://melodicmag.com/2017/12/13/five-bands-for-december/). They only have four songs released to date, so I’m hoping they’ve got some new songs to play so their set won’t only be 20 minutes long. I can’t get enough of this band. Tickets are a steal – get them now!
Some other releases I’m looking forward to this year…
Bastille
Moose Blood
Børns
Pale Waves
Vampire Weekend
…and tours…
PVRIS North American Tour
