The Pitchfork Guide to Upcoming Albums: Spring 2017

Welcome once again to the Pitchfork Guide to Upcoming Releases, our seasonal guide to new music. Four times a year, we round up a list of albums, singles, EPs, reissues, and more arriving in the coming months. This installment covers winter 2017, starting with this Friday, April 7. (Please note that release dates may change.) To start things off, we’ve highlighted a few particularly notable releases, including albums by Kendrick Lamar, Gorillaz, Lana Del Rey, Father John Misty, Fleet Foxes, Lorde, and others. For more about the releases we’re most excited for in 2017, check out our feature from the beginning of the year.

Arca: Arca (April 7, XL Recordings)

The new self-titled album from producer Alejandro Ghersi under his Arca alias is the follow-up to his his 2015 album Mutant and 2016 project Entrañas. It includes the recently released songs “Piel,” “Anoche,” and “Reverie,” and features Arca stepping out in front of the microphone for the first time, singing exclusively in Spanish. 

Father John Misty: Pure Comedy (April 7, Sub Pop)

The irreverent Josh Tillman returns in full force with Pure Comedy, his newest studio album under the Father John Misty name. The announcement of the 75-minute LP came with a 25-minute making-of documentary filmed during the album’s recording as well as a nearly-2000 word explanation. It features a 13-minute song called “Leaving LA,” plus a track that begins with a line about virtual reality sex with Taylor Swift. Read our extensive new interview with Father John Misty here.

Future Islands: The Far Field (April 7, 4AD)

Synth-pop trio Future Islands are set to release their latest album The Far Field, following the breakout success they found on 2014’s Singles. It includes “Ran” and “Cave,” was produced by John Congleton, and includes a guest appearance by Blondie’s Debbie Harry.

Kendrick Lamar: TBA (April 7 [probably], Top Dawg Entertainment)

Ever since the release of To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015, fans have been waiting with bated breath for details on a new album from Kendrick Lamar. Last year, the rapper followed up with a collection of outtakes and demos, untitled unmastered. On his recent track “The Heart Part 4,” Kendrick teased a date in his final verse: “Y'all got ’til April the 7th to get your shit together,” but it hasn't been confirmed if the album will, in fact, be released this Friday. He also released the Mike WiLL Made-It-produced “Humble.” Read our rundown of what Kendrick has been up to since his last album.

Feist: Pleasure (April 28, Universal)

Pleasure marks singer-songwriter Leslie Feist’s first new full-length record in over half a decade. Produced by Feist alongside Mocky and Renaud Letang, the album was recorded “without guile or go-to’s,” the goal being “to pin the songs down with conviction and our straight up human bodies,” according to Feist. She’s thus far released one song, the album’s title track. 

Gorillaz: Humanz (April 28, Parlophone/Warner Bros.)

Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have finally gotten the animated band back together. Humanz features a massive all-star cast, including Vince Staples, Savages’ Jehnny Beth, Noel Gallagher, Grace Jones, Popcaan, D.R.A.M., Mavis Staples, Danny Brown, De La Soul, Pusha T, Kali Uchis, Kelela, and others. It was recorded in London, Paris, New York, Chicago, and Jamaica and produced by Gorillaz, the Twilite Tone of D /\ P, and Remi Kabaka. The album’s announcement was accompanied by four brand new songs as well as a performance of the entire thing in London.

Mac DeMarco: This Old Dog (May 5, Captured Tracks)

Mac is back with the follow-up to 2015’s mini-album Another One and 2014’s regular-album Salad Days. DeMarco recorded the album after he moved to Los Angeles from Queens. “The majority of this album is acoustic guitar, synthesizer, some drum machine, and one song is electric guitar,” he said in a statement. “So this is a new thing for me.” The album’s announcement was accompanied by two new songs: “My Old Man” and “This Old Dog.” Read Pitchfork’s interview with DeMarco about the new album.

Perfume Genius: No Shape (May 5, Matador)

Mike Hadreas has announced the follow-up to his excellent 2014 album Too Bright. His fourth Perfume Genius album features the new single “Slip Away,” as well as the Weyes Blood-featuring track “Sides.” “I think a lot of [these songs] are about trying to be happy in the face of whatever bullshit I created for myself or how horrible everything and everyone is,” he said in a statement. Hadreas will tour this year alongside serpentwithfeet. 

Slowdive: Slowdive (May 5, Dead Oceans)

The shoegaze originals return 22 years later with Slowdive, their self-titled follow-up to 1995’s Pygmalion. Despite the lengthy gap, the band’s principal songwriter, Neil Halstead, said, “When you’re in a band and you do three records, there’s a continuous flow and a development. For us, that flow re-started with us playing live again and that has continued into the record.” So far, we’ve heard “Star Roving” and “Sugar for the Pill.”

Girlpool: Powerplant (May 12, Anti-)

Girlpool are back with the follow-up to Before the World Was Big, their debut. Powerplant, which has been preceded by “123” and its gruesome video, sees them step up to Epitaph sister-label Anti-. Catch them on tour behind the record.

Planetarium (Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, James McAlister): Planetarium [June 9, 4AD]

Back in 2011, Nico Muhly, the National’s Bryce Dessner, percussionist James McAlister, and Sufjan Stevens set out on a project that would encompass the breadth of the solar system. The resulting album, Planetarium, will finally be released in June. The record, led by Sufjan’s voice, features songs about “Halley’s Comet,” “Black Hole,” and “Mars”—as well as the previously released “Saturn.”

Fleet Foxes: Crack-Up [June 16, Nonesuch]

Fleet Foxes’ long-awaited follow-up to Helplessness Blues follows a six-year disappearance in which songwriter Robin Pecknold studied at Columbia University. The first single, a nine-minute epic called “Third of May / Ōdaigahara,” addresses Pecknold’s relationship with bandmate Skyler Skjelset—“the feeling of having an unresolved, unrequited relationship that is lingering psychologically,” Pecknold told Pitchfork. Read more about the album in the full interview, and see their upcoming tour dates.

Lorde: Melodrama [June 16, LAVA/Republic]

Lorde returns with her highly anticipated sophomore album, following 2013’s Pure Heroine. It includes her new single “Green Light,” which details her “first major heartbreak,” as well as the stark piano ballad “Liability.” Lorde performed both tracks on “SNL” earlier this year. The album was produced with Jack Antonoff.

Vince Staples: TBA [Def Jam]

Vince Staples’ upcoming album is the follow-up to 2015’s Summertime ’06 and last year’s Prima Donna EP. Earlier this year, he released the new song “BagBak” and announced that VIP packages for his Life Aquatic Tour would include a free copy of the upcoming record. Staples also collaborated with Gorillaz on “Ascension,” from their upcoming album Humanz.

Lana Del Rey: Lust for Life [Polydor/Interscope]

Lana Del Rey announced her new album Lust for Life with a wonderfully mysterious black-and-white clip that found her wondering aloud, “What shall I cook up for the kids today?”. The first taste of her upcoming Honeymoon follow-up arrived with “Love,” a new single released earlier this year. The album will also likely include a collaboration with the Weeknd, following her appearances on “Party Monster” and “Stargirl Interlude” from his 2016 release Starboy. 

LCD Soundsystem: TBA [Columbia]

It’s been seven years since LCD Soundsystem released This Is Happening, their excellent third album. In the time since, the group disbanded, reformed, and embarked on a reunion tour. (They will headline Pitchfork Music Festival this summer). In early 2016, the band announced that they had signed to Columbia Records, with plans to release new music, but nothing has materialized yet. James Murphy offered an update on the album this January, saying he was “still working” on it, but “winter tends to mess with [his] voice.” Hopefully, the warmer weather will bring new LCD Soundsystem music with it.

April:

04-07

• Allan Kingdom: Lines [So Cold/Empire]
• Allred & Broderick: Find the Ways [Erased Tapes]
• Annie Hardy: Rules [Full Psycho/American Primitive]
• Anthony Naples: Us Mix EP [Proibito]
• Arca: Arca [XL]
• Aye Nako: Silver Haze [Don Giovanni]
• The Chainsmokers: Memories...Do Not Open [Disruptor/Columbia]
• Clark: Death Peak [Warp] 
• Cold Beat: Chaos by Invitation [Crime on the Moon]
• Cory Branan: Adios [Bloodshot]
• Diet Cig: Swear I’m Good At This [Frenchkiss]
• Ecstatic Vision: Raw Rock Fury [Relapse]
• Father John Misty: Pure Comedy [Sub Pop]
• Fuoco Fatuo: Backwater [Profound Lore]
• Fujiya & Miyagi: Fujiya & Miyagi [self-released]
• Future Islands: The Far Field [4AD]
• Guided by Voices: August by Cake [Rockathon]
• Joey Bada$$: ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$ [Pro Era/Cinematic Music Group]
• Karen Elson: Double Roses [H.O.T.]
• Lil Ugly Mane: Mista Thug Isolation [Hundebiss] [reissue]
• Michelle Branch: Hopeless Romantic [Verve]
• The New Pornographers: Whiteout Conditions [Collected Work/Concord]
• Sam Gellaitry: Escapism III [XL]
• San Fermin: Belong [Downtown/Interscope]
• Soundwalk Collective: Before Music There Is Blood [Apollo]
• Sweet Spirit: St. Mojo [Nine Mile]
• Timber Timbre: Sincerely, Future Pollution [Arts & Crafts/City Slang]
• Vanbot: Siberia [Lisch Recordings]
• Various Artists: Resistance Radio: The Man in the High Castle Album [30th Century]
• White Reaper: The World’s Best American Band [Polyvinyl]

04-14

• Actress: AZD [Ninja Tune]
• Fionn Regan: The Meetings of the Waters [Abbey]
• John Mayer: The Search for Everything [Columbia]
• Little Dragon: Season High [Loma Vista]
• Mary Lattimore: Collected Pieces [Ghostly] [compilation]
• Sam Outlaw: Tenderheart [Six Shooter]
• Talib Kweli & Styles P: The Seven [Javotti Media/3D]

04-21

• Artificial Brain: Infrared Horizon [Profound Lore]
• The Black Angels: Death Song [Partisan]
• Charly Bliss: Guppy [Barsuk]
• Foreseen: Grave Danger [20 Buck Spin]
• GAS: NARKOPOP [Kompakt]
• Ghosts: Crash Ensemble [Bedroom Community]
• Harriet Brown: CONTACT [Innovative Leisure]
• Hisato Higuchi: Kietsuzukeru Echo [Root Strata]
• J Dilla: Motor City [Dillatronic]
• Joe Goddard: Electric Lines [Greco-Roman/Domino]
• Kamaiyah: Don’t Get It Twisted [self-released]
• Mr. Mitch: Devout [Planet Mu]
• Ray Davies: Americana [Legacy]
• Real Life Buildings: Significant Weather [Lauren]
• Robyn Hitchcock: Robyn Hitchcock [Yep Roc]
• Tara Jane O’Neil: Tara Jane O’Neil [Gnomonsong]
• Valgeir Sigurðsson: Dissonance [Bedroom Community]
• Vampire: With Primeval Force [Century Media]
• Various Artists: Thank You, Friends: Big Star’s Third Live... And More [Concord Bicycle]
• Woods: Love Is Love [Woodsist]

04-22

• RECORD STORE DAY: See list of releases here

04-28

• ANAMAI (Egyptrixx & Anna Mayberry): What Mountain [Halocline Trance]
• BNQT: Volume 1 [Dualtone/Bella Union]
• Colin Stetson: All This I Do For Glory [self-released]
• The Cranberries: Something Else [BMG]
• Feist: Pleasure [Universal]
• Gorillaz: Humanz [Parlophone/Warner Bros]
• John Mellencamp: Sad Clowns & Hillbillies [Republic]
• Juliana Hatfield: Pussycat [American Laundromat]
• Lone: Ambivert Tools Vol. 1 [R&S]
• Mark Lanegan Band: Gargoyle [Heavenly]
• Mary J. Blige: Strength of a Woman [Capitol]
• Mew: Visuals [Play It Again Sam]
• The New Year: Snow [Undertow]
• Ryuichi Sakamoto: async [Milan]
• Shugo Tokumaru: Toss [Polyvinyl]
• Sophia Kennedy: Sophia Kennedy [Pampa]
• Sufjan Stevens: Carrie & Lowell Live [Asthmatic Kitty]
• Swans: The Great Annihilator [Young God/Mute] [reissue]
• Sylvan Esso: What Now [Loma Vista]
• Thurston Moore: Rock n Roll Consciousness [Caroline International]
• WALL: Untitled [Wharf Cat]
• Willie Nelson: God’s Problem Child [Legacy]

May:

05-05

• The Afghan Whigs: In Spades [Sub Pop]
• Alice Coltrane: World Spirituality Classics 1 - The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda [Luka Bop] [reissue]
• At the Drive In:  in•ter a•li•a [Rise]
• Big Walnuts Yonder: Big Walnuts Yonder [Sargent House]
• Bill MacKay: Esker [Drag City]
• Black Lips: Satan’s graffiti or God’s art [Vice]
• Blondie: Pollinator [BMG]
• Bonnie “Prince” Billy: Best Troubador [Drag City]
• Brother Ali: All the Beauty in This Whole World [Rhymesayers]
• Forest Swords: Compassion [Ninja Tune]
• Full of Hell: Trumpeting Ecstasy [Profound Lore]
• The Grateful Dead: May 1977: Get Shown the Light [Rhino]
• Hoops: Routines [Fat Possum]
• Ian William Craig: Slow Vessels EP [Fat Cat]
• Jesu/Sun Kil Moon: 30 Seconds to the Decline of Planet Earth [Caldo Verde]
• Joan Shelley: Joan Shelley [No Quarter]
• John Moreland: Big Bad Luv [4AD]
• Juana Molina: Halo [Crammed Discs]
• Logic: Everybody [Visionary Music Group/Def Jam]
• Mac DeMarco: This Old Dog [Captured Tracks]
• Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Lovely Creatures: The Best of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 1984-2014 [Mute]
• Nightlands: I Can Feel the Night Around Me [Western Vinyl]
• Niia: I [Atlantic]
• Nite Jewel: Real High [Gloriette]
• Penguin Café: The Imperfect Sea [Erased Tapes]
• Perfume Genius: No Shape [Matador]
• Pond: The Weather [Marathon Artists]
• Robin Trower: Time and Emotion [V-12]
• Slowdive: Slowdive [Dead Oceans]
• Tall Juan: Olden Goldies [BUFU]
• Tiny Vipers: Laughter [Ba Da Bing]
• Walter Martin: My Kinda Music [Family Jukebox]

05-12

• Eyedress: Manila Ice [Lex]
• Girlpool: Powerplant [Anti-]
• PWR BTTM: Pageant [Polyvinyl]
• Slackk: A Little Light [R&S]
• Todd Rundgren: White Knight [Cleopatra]
• Various Artist: The Bob’s Burgers Music Album [Sub Pop]
• Will Stratton: Rosewood Almanac [Bella Union]

05-19

• !!!: Shake the Shudder [Warp]
• Alex G: Rocket [Domino]
• B Boys: Dada [Captured Tracks]
• Coldcut x On-U Sound: Outside the Echo Chamber [Ahead of Our Time]
• Demen: Nektyr [Kranky]
• Do Make Say Think: Stubborn Persistent Illusions [Constellation]
• Faith Evans/The Notorious B.I.G.: The King & I [Rhino]
• George Michael: Listen Without Prejudice/MTV Unplugged [Legacy] [reissue]
• Heather Trost: Agistri [LM Dupli-cation]
• Helium: The Dirt of Luck/The Magic City/Ends With And [Matador] [reissue]
• Jlin: Black Origami [Planet Mu]
• Land of Talk: Life After Youth [Saddle Creek]
• Lord RAJA: Amadeus EP [Ghostly International]
• Loss: Horizonless [Profound Lore]
• Man Forever: Play What They Want [Thrill Jockey]
• The Mountain Goats: Goths [Merge]
• The Radiophonic Workshop: Burials in Several Earths [Room 13]
• Roger Waters: Is This the Life We Really Want? [TBA]
• Sam Amidon: The Following Mountain [Nonesuch]
• She-Devils: She-Devils [Secretly Canadian]
• Tigers Jaw: Spin [Black Cement]
• T.RAUMSCHMIERE: Heimat
• Wavves: You’re Welcome [Ghost Ramp]

05-26

• The Charlatans: Different Days [BMG]
• Justin Townes Earle: Kids in the Street [New West]
• Martin Rev: Demolition 9 [Atlas Réalisations]
• New Order: NOMC15 [Mute]

June:

06-02

• Alt-J: Relaxer [Canvasback Music]
• Beach Fossils: Somersault [Bayonet]
• Benjamin Booker: Witness [ATO]
• Chastity Belt: I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone [Hardly Art]
• Coldplay: Kaleidoscope EP [Parlophone]
• Dan Auerbach: Waiting on a Song [Easy Eye Sound]
• Kacey Johansing: The Hiding [Night Bloom]
• Marika Hackman: I’m Not Your Man [Sub Pop]
• Mavis Staples: I’ll Take You There—An All-Star Concert Celebration [Blackbird Presents]
• Pixx: The Age of Anxiety [4AD]
• Saint Etienne: Home Countries [Heavenly]
• TOPS: Sugar at the Gate [Arbutus]
• U2: The Joshua Tree [30th Anniversary Edition] [Interscope] [reissue]
• Whitney: You’ve Got a Woman/Gonna Hurry (As Slow As I Can) [Secretly Canadian] [12” single]

06-09

• Agent Blå: Agent Blue [Kanine/Luxury]
• Cigarettes After Sex: Cigarettes After Sex [Partisan]
• Planetarium (Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, James McAlister): Planetarium [4AD]

06-16

• Chuck Berry: Chuck [Dualtone]
• The Drums: “Abysmal Thoughts” [Anti-]
• Fleet Foxes: Crack-Up [Nonesuch]
• Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: The Nashville Sound [Southeastern]
• Kevin Morby: City Music [Dead Oceans]
• Lorde: Melodrama [Republic/Lava]
• Ride: Weather Diaries [Wichita]
• Royal Trux: Platinum Tips + Ice Cream [Drag City]

06-23

• Banditos: Visionland [Bloodshot]

TBA

• Alice Glass: TBA [TBA]
• Amber Coffman: City of No Reply [Columbia]
• Arcade Fire: TBA [TBA]
• Beck: TBA [Capitol]
• Bleachers: TBA [RCA]
• Cashmere Cat: 9 [Mad Love/Interscope]
• Chic: It’s About Time [TBA]
• Chromatics: Dear Tommy [Italians Do It Better]
• CyHi the Prynce: No Dope on Sundays [Brooklyn Knights/Sony RAL]
• Danzig: Black Laden Crown [Evilive/Nuclear Blast]
• Earl Sweatshirt: TBA [TBA]
• Fischerscpooner: SIR [TBA]
• Grizzly Bear: TBA [TBA]
• GZA: Dark Matter [TBA]
• Haim: TBA [TBA]
• Halsey: Hopeless Fountain Kingdom [Astralwerks]
• The I.L.Y’s: Bodyguard [TBA]
• Katy Perry: TBA [Capitol]
• Kelela: TBA [TBA]
• King Krule: TBA [TBA]
• Kendrick Lamar: TBA [Top Dawg Entertainment]
• The Killers: TBA [TBA]
• Lana Del Rey: Lust for Life [Interscope/Polydor]
• LCD Soundsystem: TBA [Columbia]
• Lil B: Black Ken [self-released]
• Major Lazer: TBA [TBA]
• Post Malone: Beer Bongs & Bentleys [Republic]
• Queens of the Stone Age: TBA [TBA]
• Sky Ferreira: Masochism [TBA]
• SZA: CTRL [TDE]
• Vampire Weekend: Mitsubishi Macchiato [TBA]
• Vince Staples: TBA [Def Jam]
• Wolf Parade: TBA [TBA]
• Zack de la Rocha: TBA [TBA]

via Sheldon Pearce, Sam Sodomsky, Noah Yoo, and Jazz Monroe