ALUNAGEORGE
TITLE TBC
(ISLAND)

The establishment have swung firmly behind Aluna Francis and George Reid – BBC’s Sound Of 2013 Poll and the Brits Critics Choice panel have both fingered them as unit-shifters in waiting. Their savvy, chart-ready pop is two parts Shlohmo, one part LuckyMe, and their debut LP should be one of the more interesting released to trouble the mainstream this year. – June

ARAABMUZIK
ELECTRONIC REALITY (WORKING TITLE)
(LABEL TBC)

Following a false start, Dipset’s MPC whisper will release the follow-up to last year’s incendiary trance/trap collision Electronic Dream. Some of the advance signs aren’t exactly auspicious – a Skrillex collab, anyone? – but Araab’s already proven himself a dab hand at turning trash into treasure, so don’t rule out the fellow yet. Diplo and Zeds Dead also feature. – expected Spring

ARCA
TITLE TBC
(HIPPOS IN TANKS)

For more adventurous beat music fans, 22 year old Venezeuelan producer Arca was one of 2012’s MVPs. The Baron Libre and Stretch 1 EPs showed an ear for seriously twisted instrumental hip-hop, and his Stretch 2 collection for UNO NYC was a remarkable statement of intent – a magmatic collection of haptic hip-hop, left to steep in boric acid. His next full-length, due on Hippos in Tanks, should turn/melt heads in the new year.

ARCADE FIRE
TITLE TBC
(LABEL TBC)

Arriving three years after the world-beating The Suburbs, the Arcade Fire’s fourth album has a lot to live up to, but only a fool would bet against them. James Murphy is in the producer’s chair for at least a portion of it.

A$AP ROCKY
LONG.LIVE.A$AP
(RCA / POLO GROUNDS)

The full debut album by Harlem golden boy A$AP Rocky and the follow-up to 2011’s magnificent LIVE.LIFE.A$AP mixtape quite publicly leaked in December. Featuring production by Skrillex, Hit-Boy and more, it’s a punchier listen than the tape that preceded it, but on early listens certainly stands up to Rocky’s billing as the potential next king of a city that could do with a new one. – January

ATOMS FOR PEACE
AMOK
(XL)

The narrative around Radiohead’s Kid A owed a debt to singer Thom Yorke’s relationship with Warp Records; this time around, it’s his love of contemporary dance music that’s in the news (see his recent DJ slot at Boiler Room and appearance on Benji B’s Radio 1 show). Fans will be excited to see how it affects Amok, the debut album by Yorke and Nigel Goodrich’s Atoms for Peace. – February

AUTECHRE
EXAI
(WARP)

The redoubtable Rob Brown and Sean Booth return with Exai, their eleventh album of electronic research and development, boasting such typically evocative track titles as ‘nodezsh’ and ‘runrepik’. Though it’s bound to be challenging and at times simply frustrating, it remains impossible not to be excited about a substantial new Ae offering. – February

AZEALIA BANKS
BROKE WITH EXPENSIVE TASTE
(INTERSCOPE)

The planned release date for Azealia Banks’ debut album seems to change each month, but here’s what we do know: she’s recorded two tracks with Lady Gaga that could either feature on Broke or Gaga’s own ARTPOP (or, of course, neither), the first single from Broke is a currently unheard track titled ‘Miss Amor’, and recent leak ‘BBD’ will probably feature somewhere too. – expected Spring

BEN UFO
FABRICLIVE67
(FABRIC)

Mix CD throwdown from the Hessle Audio co-pilot and fabled DJ, with a bias towards the work of stablemates like Pearson Sound, Elgato, Blawan, Pangaea and Joe, but finding room for curveballs and classics from the likes of Minimal Man, Mr Fingers, Gesloten Cirkel and Herbert. – January

BLACK SABBATH
TITLE TBC
(LABEL TBC)

The British metal icons dust themselves down to deliver their first studio album since ’95’s decidedly creaky Forbidden. This wouldn’t be cause for even the most cautious optimism were it not for the fact that Rick Rubin is handling production duties. – expected Autumn

BROADCAST
BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO
(WARP)

Peter Strickland’s macabre meta-thriller of 2012 was scored by Broadcast – and as anyone who’s seen the film or is evenly broadly familiar with its content will know, it simply had to be. Alas there’s a real sadness attached to these recordings, as they constitute the last project that Trish Keenan worked on before her tragic and untimely death in 2011. – January

THE BUG
ANGELS AND DEVILS
(NINJA TUNE)

Though his Acid Ragga 7″s have been a pleasing diversion, we’re on tenterhooks to hear Kevin Martin’s follow-up to the brilliantly stroppy London Zoo. Interestingly, he’s enlisted the vocal services of Liz ‘Grouper’ Harris in his pursuit of the dread soundsystem sublime.

CANNIBAL OX
TITLE TBC
(IRON GALAXY RECORDS)

Indie rap returned with renewed vigour in 2012, with El-P, Big Juss and Aesop Rock all releasing spirited LPs – and 2013 promises the second coming of Def Jux’s prodigal sons Cannibal Ox. It’s been 12 years since the Harlem duo released backpack rap Rosetta Stone The Cold Vein, but Vast Aire and Vordul Mega are finally gigging and recording again. El-P might not be on board, but the pair’s latest should offer more slanted hip-hop for outsiders and oddballs.

CAS
COMMERCIAL
(SELF-RELEASED)

The drip-feed of videos from grime ghoul Cas accounted for some of the genre’s best music of 2012, and the signs are good for his debut mixtape, Commercial. Here’s hoping it’s more in the vein of ‘Drugs Don’t Work’ than regrettable party cut ‘Slags’. – expected early 2013

CHARLI XCX
TITLE TBC
(IAMSOUND)

The British singer-songwriter has spent the last few years carving out her place in the world of twisted synth pop. After a string of strong singles, we’ll see if she delivers on her promise of “a pop record with substance” as she prepares a debut featuring production by Clams Casino, Ariel Rechtshaid, and Miike Snow’s Andrew Wyatt. – expected February

COLD CAVE
TITLE TBC
(LABEL TBC)

Having spearheaded the gothic synth-pop revival with 2009’s stunning Love Comes Close, Wes Eisold’s Cold Cave ended up sounding more like The Killers on 2011’s disappointingly over-produced and rudderless follow-up, Cherish The Light Years. It will be interesting to see if Eisold can win back the favour of the fans he lost in that transition, especially now now that trusted collaborator Dominick Fernow has left to devote more time to his own enormously fertile Prurient and Vatican Shadow projects. – expected Summer

DAFT PUNK
TITLE TBC
(VIRGIN)

So, the tour’s off – we think – but the latest album from the dance music Gods still appears on, with Nile Rodgers, Paul Williams and Girgio Moroder all confirming their involvement.

DANNY BROWN
OLD
(FOOLS GOLD)

“If people are just looking for dick-sucking jokes, there isn’t too many of them this time”, Detroit rapper Brown told Pitchfork in a recent interview. Production spots for Skywlkr, Paul White, Darq E Freaker and Rustie should more than make up for that. – expected Spring

DARKSTAR
NEWS FROM NOWHERE
(WARP)

Following North, their sombre Hyperdub debut, Darkstar prepare to unload their second full-length via Warp. Entitled News From Nowhere (presumably after William Morris’s utopian novel of the same name), the album is apparently “more optimistic” than its predecessor. – February

DEAN BLUNT
THE REDEEMER
(HIPPOS IN TANKS)

Having hopped over to Hyperdub for frowzy delight Black Is Beautiful, Hype Williams’ Dean Blunt returns to Hippos In Tanks with his first official solo LP. If The Redeemer is anything like Blunt’s excellent The Narcissist II suite, we’re in for a heady brew of psych-pop, trip-hop and unvarnished hiss’n’crackle – and maybe, just maybe, another James Ferraro team-up. – expected Spring

DEPECHE MODE
TITLE TBC
(LABEL TBC)

Martin Gore has described the ‘Peche’s new record as a cross between Violator and Songs of Faith and Devotion, which sounds like a rather meaningless statement but will doubtless have the band’s legion fans salivating. Gore is co-producing the record with Ben Hillier. – expected March

DIAMOND VERSION
TITLE TBC
(MUTE)

Carsten Nicolai and Olaf Bender have promised five EPs leading up to their debut album release as Diamond Version, which seems a little ambitious to us. Assuming they stick to that promise and are able to keep up the pace, that full-length of Kraftwerkian techno-pop will arrive on Mute before 2013 is out. – expected late 2013

DINOS CHAPMAN
LUFTBOBLER
(THE VINYL FACTORY)

Artist Dinos Chapman makes his first foray into recorded music with the release of a solo album of itchy electronica, Luftbobler, inspired by “insomnia, horror movies and boredom”, not to mention TG, Stockhausen and Squarepusher. – February

DJ Q
TITLE TBC
(LOCAL ACTION)

After years spent making clubs bounce, and in one notable case (crossover hit ‘U Wot’), making the charts shake, DJ Q will release his first artist album this year, following last year’s retrospective The Archive. – expected Autumn

DOWNLINERS SEKT
TITLE TBC
(INFINÉ)

The aphotic Barcelona duo return with their first full album in half a decade. Last year’s Trim/Tab EP traded some of the grandeur of previous releases for mournful machine music in hock to Mount Kimbie, and their forthcoming LP for InFiné could well prove to be the breakthrough release they’ve long deserved. – expected early 2013

THE-DREAM
LOVE IV
(DEF JAM)

Unfortunately shortened from its working title of Love IV MMXII: Diary of a Madman, The-Dream’s fourth solo album (not counting 2011’s Terius Nash mixtape) is still one of r’n’b’s most antipated. Let’s hope that early leak, the incredible ‘Fuck My Brains Out’, still features. – expected Summer

EARL SWEATSHIRT
DORIS
(TAN CRESSIDA / COLUMBIA)

Of all the members of Odd Future, Earl Sweatshirt’s short career has been the most discussed and dissected, and thanks to a brief stay in Samoa, he only has one mixtape and a handful of features to his name. He has already said that he “anticipate[s] a loss of fans” with his new album, which is expected to feature contributions by his Odd Future compatriots, The Neptunes, and Thundercat, among others. – expected Spring

FACTORY FLOOR
TITLE TBC
(DFA)

Despite a brace of documentary mini-albums that emerged in 2009-2010, Factory Floor have yet to commit to an LP proper, despite having been on the scene for nigh-on five years. Certainly they’ve given themselves plenty of time to hone their craft, but will their debut album, finally slated for release on DFA in 2013, be worth such an extraordinarily long wait? – May

FREDDIE GIBBS & MADLIB
COCAINE PINATA (WORKING TITLE)
(LABEL TBC)

The unlikely partnership of Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs and crate-digger supreme Madlib has proved fruitful on their past EPs: Cocaine Pinata is the current working title for their full album together, but this is Freddie Gibbs we’re talking about – don’t be surprised to see it change. – expected Summer

GROUPER
THE MAN WHO DIED IN HIS BOAT
(KRANKY)

Not a new album proper, alas, but still reason to be excited: Liz Harri’s latest consists of previously unreleased tracks recorded during the sessions for her 2008 masterpiece Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill (which is also being reissued by Kranky). – February

GUNPLAY
MEDELLIN
(DEF JAM/MMG)

The controversial Miami madman opens 2013 on house arrest, which — in the old school world of hip-hop promotion — should only help the release of Medellin. Kendrick Lamar aside, most mixtape-bred rappers have found trouble channeling unbridled street prowess into something that can carry an album, but Gunplay’s vicious bombast seems too strong to be watered down by major label machinations. – expected Spring

THE HAXAN CLOAK
TITLE TBC
(TRI ANGLE)

Classically-trained doom-monger Bobby Krlic caused quite a stir with his 2011 debut album, demonstrating a musical depth and sophistication entirely at odds with his Scooby Doo-ish moniker. The big question is whether the hugely anticipated follow-up – signed, perhaps surprisingly, to Tri Angle – will find Krlic refining his already distinctive sound or stalking out new territory altogether. His tense, drone-oriented live sets of recent times suggest a more electronic approach this time around. – expected Spring

HETEROTIC / μ-ZIQ
LOVE & DEVOTION / SOMERSET AVENUE TRACKS (1992-1995)
(PLANET MU)

It may be only January 3, but Planet Mu boss Mike Paradinas has already announced two albums for release in 2012. The first, Somerset Avenue Tracks, is a vinyl-only compilation of music made by Paridinas as µ-Ziq, selected by collaborator and wife Laura Rix-Martin. The second, Love & Devotion, also finds the two collaborating, this time under the Heterotic banner. – March / February

HIEROGLYPHIC BEING
IMAGINARY CONCEPTS
(MATHEMATICS)

Jamal Moss releases come thick and fast: last year saw the excellent The Lost Transmission EP for Morphine, plus one of his customary CDR full-lengths, distributed through his Mathematics imprint. Still, it’s worth making the effort to keep up with the present master of deshabillé house, and new LP Imaginary Concepts – a selection of old Soundcloud cuts, ranging from the winsome to the walloping – looks to be one of his stranger collections. – February

HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS
TITLE TBC
(COLUMBIA)

Over two EPs, Trent Reznor’s other band has mostly been content to tweak the Nine Inch Nails formula — an approach which isn’t necessarily without its merits. Only time will tell if the band can “expand the boundaries” of their early catalog. At the very least, a full length effort from Reznor and company should help fill the gaping void left when NIN broke up. – expected Spring

ICEAGE
YOU’RE NOTHING
(MATADOR/ESCHO)

The world could really do with a game-changing, or at least game-scrambling, punk band right now. Are Copenhagen pups Iceage it? Their sleeper hit debut New Brigade was full of snotty promise, if little in the way of true originality; whether they grow from cult concern into major players will be largely decided by the success or failure of the imminent You’re Nothing. – February

ILLUM SPHERE
TITLE TBC
(NINJA TUNE)

Manchester beatmaker Illum Sphere has served a long apprenticeship, hopping from Tectonic to 3024 to Young Turks for a series of 12″ (not to mention keeping a firm hand on the tiller of his excellent Hoya:Hoya club night). He’ll make his debut full-length statement with an album for Ninja Tune in 2013 – anticipate hip-hop, boogie and ambient pieces, all shot through with dystopian pomp.

INC.
NO WORLD
(4AD)

The debut album from r’n’b session musicians turned 4AD-signed two-piece Inc. has been one of FACT’s most anticipated for a while – since stunning single ‘Millionaress’, in fact – and with the pair’s first London live show receiving rave reviews in December, the signs are good for No World. – March

JAMES BLAKE
TITLE TBC
(UNIVERSAL)

The sophomore album from James Blake is likely to drop in late 2013, and contrary to our news post of April 1, 2012, it’s unlikely to feature tracks called ‘Needs And Wants (Student Debt)’ and ”I’m Sorry I Lost My Temper’, or indeed to feature a blurred portrait of his dog on the cover. – expected Autumn

JAMIE LIDELL
JAMIE LIDELL
(WARP)

The follow-up to 2010′s Compass, this album marks the singer and producer’s first since relocating from New York to the slower pace of Nashville, and in label Warp’s words, showcases “his ability to upend expectations of the ways man and machine can make music together.” – February

JAY ELECTRONICA
ACT II: PATENTS OF NOBILITY (THE TURN)
(ROC NATION)

The cult rap favorite is finally expected to release his debut album this year in the form of a sequel to his acclaimed 2007 mixtape Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge). Adding to the anticipation is a tracklist released last year that included Jay-Z, Kanye West, Erykah Badu, The-Dream, and both Serge and Charlotte Gainsbourg. The four years since his last proper release is an eternity in the hip-hop world; Jay Electronica’s greatest challenge will be proving that his debut has been worth the wait. – expected Summer

JOHNNY MARR
THE MESSENGER
(WARNER BROS./SIRE)

After 30 years onstage, the former Smiths guitarist admits that “it is late in the day to making [his] debut.” His long career has found Marr contributing to albums by the likes of Modest Mouse and The The, but this will be the first proper look at what the Britpop/rock legend can do on his own. – February

JUICY J
STAY TRIPPY
(COLUMBIA)

The Memphis legend and former Three 6 Mafia member has spent the last several years entreating listening to get high and visit strip clubs, acting as a trippy spirit animal for a new generation of rap fans. ‘Bandz A Make Her Dance’ was one of 2012’s most memorable hip-hop tracks, and Juicy J will look to build on his career-reinvigorating Rubberband Business mixtapes with help from some of the most prominent rappers and producers around. – expected March

JULIA HOLTER
TITLE TBC
(DOMINO)

Following the critical acclaim afforded her second album, Ekstasis, Domino have added Julia Holter to their roster, reissuing that record and providing a launchpad for full-length no.3, due some time in 2013. – expected Autumn

KATY B
TITLE TBC
(COLUMBIA / RINSE)

Katy B’s transition from UK Funky vocalist-for-hire to commercially viable solo star, culminating in the success of her debut album On A Mission, was mightily impressive to behold. With the likes of Jessie Ware and AlunaGeorge clipping at her heels, she’ll need to have her wits about her if she wants to hold onto her crown as the UK’s favourite dance-pop diva. – expected Summer

THE KNIFE
SHAKING THE HABITUAL
(MUTE / BRILLE)

The first full Knife album since 2006′s Silent Shout (though 2010 saw the release of a collaborative album with Mt. Sims and Planningtorock, and both members of the group have released solo records – Karin as Fever Ray, and Olof as Oni Ahyun), will be released this April, via Mute / Brille. Light Asylum’s Shannon Funchess has contributed to it. – April

LADY GAGA
ARTPOP
(SONY)

Remember when albums were albums? Lady Gaga doesn’t. So far, we’ve heard that ARTPOP is to be released as an interactive app, a la Bjork’s Biophilia, and that Gaga is contemplating splitting it into one commercial record and one more experimental one. One thing we do know is that the EDM quota’s likely to increase on ARTPOP: Zedd and Madeon have both been added to the production team. – expected Summer

L.PIERRE
THE ISLAND COME TRUE
(MELODIC)

The return of Aidan ‘Arab Strap’ Moffat’s melancholic (of course), ambient-leaning solo project. Due out on January 4, Island Come True is apparently ”overridden by the hissing of tape tracks and drones.” – January

LIL WAYNE
I AM NOT A HUMAN BEING II
(YOUNG MONEY / CASH MONEY / INTERSCOPE)

It’s Wayne’s second to last album – so long as his promise to retire after the next Carter is kept – with a perfectly fine lead single (though let’s face it, would you miss Wayne if it was just Future, Mike Will and Drake?) and Kanye West allegedly handling artwork duties. Will he step things up, or continue to sleepwalk through the final years of his music career? – February

LOW
THE INVISIBLE WAY
(SUB POP)

The chilly, unhurried and evidently durable rockers will toast their 20th anniversary as a band with a new album produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. – March

MAJOR LAZER
FREE THE UNIVERSE
(DOWNTOWN MUSIC / MAD DECENT)

Diplo’s cartoonish carnival juggernaut bogles back into view, with a supporting cast that numbers Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, Shaggy, Busy Signal, Vybz Kartel and Peaches, among others. – February

MATMOS
THE MARRIAGE OF TWO MINDS
(THRILL JOCKEY)

Drew Daniel and M.C. Shmidt’s latest is part record, part thought experiment: the pair played white noise embedded with “the concept of the new Matmos record” to a host of volunteers, then used their reactions as compositional starting points for the record.

MAYA JANE COLES
TITLE TBC
(LABEL TBC)

The London starlet’s debut album is one of house music’s most anticipated for 2013 – Miss Kittin and ex-Hercules & Love Affair vocalist Kim Ann Foxman are both confirmed to feature.

MOUNT KIMBIE
TITLE TBC
(WARP)

Kai Campos and Dominic Maker have signed to Warp for the follow-up to the extraordinarily well-received Crooks & Lovers, and Steve Beckett’s label is a natural home for their emotive, richly textured electronica. “I think it’s still quite delicate material,” Maker told FACT back in October, “but it has a bigger sound compared to the last album, and I think that must be informed really greatly by what we’ve spent the last two years doing – playing live.” – expected Summer

MOUNTAINS
CENTRALIA
(THRILL JOCKEY)

Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp have been releasing slow-building, beautiful music as Mountains for several years now: Centralia, their latest for Thrill Jockey, should be no different. – January

MY BLOODY VALENTINE
TITLE TBC
(LABEL TBC)

How do you follow up an album as perfect and as powerful as Loveless? Well, Kevin Shields and co have had well over 20 years to grapple with that question. Let’s hope their motivation isn’t merely pecuniary and that their new LP, reportedly mastered last month, is motivated by creative and not pecuniary thirst. – expected Spring

NICOLAS JAAR
TITLE TBC
(LABEL TBC)

Nicolas Jaar had a busy twelve months, releasing the Essential Mix Of The Year, piloting his Clown + Sunset label and single-handedly changing music forever with The Prism (well, two out of three isn’t bad). Still, despite his work with side gigs Just Friends and Darkside, Jaar’s suggested that we can expect a new album before 2013 is out. On the agenda? “Esoteric, atmospheric, sad, diabolic 14th-century baroque church music.” – expected Autumn

OMAR-S
TITLE TBC
(FXHE)

The maverick Detroit house producer’s full-length follow-up to 2011′s It Can Be Done But Only I Can Do It will be preceded by two 12″ releases on his FXHE label, one of which is a collaboration between Aaron Fit Siegel and Kassem Mosse. – expected early 2013

PANTHA DU PRINCE AND THE BELL LABORATORY
ELEMENTS OF LIGHT
(ROUGH TRADE)

Never one to take himself too seriously, techno auteur Hendrik Weber weighs in with a three-track “symphony” performed with synthesizer, percussion and a bell carillon — a three-ton instrument with 50 bronze bells. – January

PERE UBU
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI
(FIRE)

The forthcoming Lady from Shanghai will be the first full studio album from David Thomas’s troupe since 2006′s I Hate Women (though there has been both a live album, and their interpretation of Alfred Jarry’s “Ubu Roi”, Long Live Pere Ubu, released in that time). – January

PHOENIX
TITLE TBC
(GLASSNOTE)

Back in 2009, Phoenix’s fantastically exuberant battlecruiser Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix destroyed just about every other indie pop record in its wake. The Versailles outfit will return in Spring with their latest assault on the adrenal glands, and have promised a record with more experimental flourishes than its big-hearted predecessor. – April

PRODIGY & ALCHEMIST
ALBERT EINSTEIN
(LABEL TBC)

Producer Alchemist spent 2012 on rich form, teaming up with Action Bronson and Domo Genesis on a pair of replayable mixtapes – on Albert Einstein, scheduled for an early 2013 release, he prepares to buck heads with regular collaborator Prodigy (of Mobb Deep) once again. – expected early 2013

PUSHA T
MY NAME IS MY NAME
(GOOD MUSIC / DEF JAM)

The GOOD Music strongman will release his proper debut this year, after toiling for more than a decade as part of brotherly duo The Clipse. With a title borrowed from The Wire’s Marlo Stanfield, My Name Is My Name promises to be a return to the wheelin’-and-dealin’ street rap that Pusha has been pushing for years. – expected early 2013

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
TITLE TBC
(LABEL TBC)

The stakes have been firmly raised for the desert rock royal family’s sixth album to date. Not only is Nine Inch Nails and How to Destroy Angels’ Trent Reznor confirmed as contributing, but drum duty is taken by returning QOTSA-er Dave Grohl and disgraced former bassist Nick Oliveri is back in the fray – meaning that we’re one Mark Lanegan away from a reunion of that Songs for the Deaf dream team. – expected Summer

SALLY SHAPIRO
SOMEWHERE ELSE
(PAPER BAG)

The elusive Swedish duo will follow-up 2009’s saccharine My Guilty Pleasure with Somewhere Else. Along with their trademark harmonies and disco feel, the pair have incorporated a wide range of influences and a host of collaborators on an album that finds the duo moving behind the confines of Italo disco. – February

SPACE DIMENSION CONTROLLER
TITLE TBC
(R&S)

Leopard-print-loving techno-funk talent Space Dimension Controller’s billed last year’s 11-track Pathway to Tiraquon6 as merely the prelude to a new album proper, but he seems to have gone quiet since. Nonetheless, we expect that said LP will materialise in the first half of 2013 and make a lot of people of very happy indeed. – expected Summer

TORO Y MOI
ANYTHING IN RETURN
(CARPARK)

Chaz Bundick shoots for “sincere pop music that’s not all processed and bubblegum” on the follow up 2011′s Underneath the Pine. – January

TROPIC OF CANCER
TITLE TBC
(BLACKEST EVER BLACK)

Following a string of celebrated EP releases over the past three years, most recently the wonderful I Feel Nothing on boutique Belgian imprint Sleeperhold Publications, 2013 will see California-based Camella Lobo release her debut album as Tropic of Cancer. Fans of stark, stygian but achingly romantic pop will be counting the days to its unveiling. – expected Summer

TRUS’ME
TREAT ME RIGHT
(PRIME NUMBERS)

It’s hard to imagine Trus’me ever topping his genius 2007 debut, Working Night$, but he’s given it his best shot on the excellent Treat Me Right, due out next month. – February

TYLER, THE CREATOR
WOLF
(XL)

The Odd Future mastermind will attempt to bounce back from his disappointing 2011 effort Goblin with his third album. Will Odd Future’s post-hype period allow Tyler to recapture the incendiary mania of 2009’s Bastard? Here’s hoping: his baritoned contributions to The OF Tape, Vol. 2 were some of that album’s finest. – expected Summer

VAMPIRE WEEKEND
TITLE TBC
(XL)

Ezra Koenig describes the as-yet-untitled album as “darker” and “more organic” than their last effort, 2010′s Contra, and claims that it “really does feel like the third chapter in a book” (it’s the group’s third album to date). – expected Spring

VOIGT & VOIGT
DER ZAUBERERHAFTE WELT DER ANDEREN
(KOMPAKT)

Wolfgang Voigt and perennially underrated brother Reinhard reunite for a new LP. Their previous teams-up have tended towards epic big-room techno, but this latest is reportedly a groggier, more experimental set. – February

VONDELPARK
SEABED
(R&S)

R&S dream-pop outfit Vondelpark will follow up 2011’s feather-light NYC Stuff And NYC Bags with debut full-length proper Seabed. If lead track ‘Dracula’ is anything to go by, we’re looking forward to lilting soft-rock spotted with static and wreathed in tapers. – expected Spring

THE WEEKND
TITLE TBC
(REPUBLIC)

Having repackaged his game-changing mixtapes from 2011 as 2012’s Trilogy, ’13 will see Abel Tesfaye release an album of new material. – expected Autumn

WIFE
TITLE TBC
(TRI ANGLE)

James Kelly, also of Altar of Plagues, will release his debut album as WIFE on Tri Angle this year, following a well-received 2012 EP on Left_Blank. – expected early 2013

WILEY
THE ASCENT
(WARNER MUSIC GROUP)

The Godfather of Grime returns to the major label circuit for The Ascent, his ninth album in total and the one that, as he told FACT last year, he wants “to do right”. – February

WU-TANG CLAN
TITLE TBC
(LABEL TBC)

Another year, another rash of Wu-Tang releases: Ghostface Killah will drop Supreme Clientele Presents… Blue & Cream: The Wally Era at some point in the year; Raekwon will return with some “2013 FLY SHIT” on F.I.L.A; and there’s a strong chance that GZA’s album-cum-physics-lecture Dark Matter will see the light of day too. Most exciting of all? The very real possibility of a final Wu-Tang album to mark 20 years since Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). – expected late 2013

YEAH YEAH YEAHS
TITLE TBC
(LABEL TBC)

Almost a decade into the game, Karen and the boys return with a highly anticipated fourth LP. 2009’s It’s Blitz! saw the band reconfigure themselves as an synthetic modern disco outfit; will their latest effort herald another volte-face? – expected Spring