Taylor Swift, Dinosaur Jr., and 20 more albums we can’t wait to hear in April

Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner returns for her second full-length outing as Flock Of Dimes, the musician’s solo project that sees her incorporating her multifarious musical styles into a bright fusion of organic, dreamy rock and electronic pop. And whereas she did everything herself on Flock’s 2016 debut, here she’s enlisted the aid of Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn as producer, along with an eclectic mix of other guest artists, to create a more expansive vision. [Alex McLevy]

Four years after building Luciferian Towers, Godspeed You! Black Emperor lobs another Molotov cocktail with G_d’s Pee AT STATES END! The official teaser for the album consists of two minutes of ambient static and radio interference, so we only have the track listing to go on to try to predict what G_d’s Pee AT STATES END will sound like. But considering that it contains two epic 20-minute compositions and two more intimate six-minute ones, and came with a manifesto calling for prison abolition, taxing the rich, and an end to American imperialism, we assume it’s the same exhilaratingly dynamic instrumental protest music we’ve come to expect from the post-rock legends. [Katie Rife]

Well, shit. Character actor Leslie Jordan is coming out the other side of lockdown a household name, having channeled his Southern charm into straight-to-camera musings that have delighted millions on Instagram. With the newfound attention, Jordan is finally making his passion project: Company’s Comin’, an album of the hymns and standards he was raised on as a Southern Baptist in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Joining him are fellow “Hunker Downers” like Dolly Parton and Brandi Carlile, making this the duets album of every gay country fan’s dreams. [Cameron Scheetz]

For its debut album, Chicago’s Moontype tapped into a potent mine of influences: swirling shoegaze, Teenbeat-style indie pop, jangly Liz Phair guitar swing, and the sunny harmonies and melodies of everyone from New Pornographers to illuminati hotties. In other words, it’s a sturdy blend of indie rock’s past and present, with just a hint of oddball folk to keep listeners on their toes. Moving from angular starts and stops to gently swaying rhythms, Bodies Of Water looks to be the all-purpose soundtrack to our upcoming very weird summer. [Alex McLevy]

Eternal rock band Cheap Trick returns with its 20th studio album. The first single for In Another World, “The Summer Looks Good On You” was released back in 2018, but could be a great anthem for the (hopeful) relief of summer 2021, aided by a “Dream Police”-esque orchestral flourish. Tracks like the stadium-ready “Light Up The Fire” and the irrepressibly hooky “Boys & Girls & Rock N Roll” prove that the magnetism of Robin Zander’s vocals and the charisma of Rick Nielsen’s guitar chops have no right being as amazing as they still are. [Gwen Ihnat]

Francis Of Delirium may hail from Luxembourg, but the group’s insistent, hyperactive indie guitar swing on its debut EP, Wading, sounds like it could be bubbling up from the basement DIY venues of anywhere, so thoroughly does it capture the wanderlust and worry of youthful minds everywhere. Sounding almost like Maggie Estep fronting a grunge-tinted indie-rock act—albeit with a knack for rapid-fire melodic vocal hooks à la The Beths—19-year-old Jana Bahrich’s sunny-sweet voice masks raw and brutal lyrics. It’s a promising opening salvo for the group. [Alex McLevy]

The acclaimed pianist and composer for everything from The Leftovers to Ad Astra returns with a sequel to his moving 2020 album, Voices. And whereas that album’s thematic focus on the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights was a stirring if blunt confrontation with pre-existing words, Richter has described the follow-up as being about new beginnings—“the future we wish to write.” If the typically gorgeous single “Mirrors” is any indication, he’s once again succeeded. [Alex McLevy]

It’s the mid-’90s all over again with the crackling, distorted but sweet emo rock of Milly, a band that fuses the wall-of-guitar sounds of Hum and Catherine with early emo like Sunny Day Real Estate and minimalist beauty à la Belly, resulting in a warm bath of fuzzed-out indie rock that nonetheless balances the riffing with gentler moments of airy shoegaze. The band’s debut EP, Wish Goes On, only contains five tracks, but what it lacks in length and scope, it makes up for in potential. [Alex McLevy]

Elements of The Go-Gos, The Muffs, Weezer, Imperial Teen, and other such purveyors of power-pop (with just a hint of punk) run through the music on TV Baby, the new album from Toronto-based band Pony. The group has located that precise blend of distorted riffs and sunny melodies that makes it stand out from the legion of like-minded bands, an alchemy that—like Justice Potter Stewart’s famous definition of obscenity—you only know when you hear it. Put it this way: Whatever magic the Josie And The Pussycats soundtrack captured, so does Pony, only with a lot more heart and lyrical punch. [Alex McLevy]

It’s been three and a half years since Spirit Of The Beehive’s breakthrough album , which saw the band mastering its push-and-pull between art-rock provocations and soulful composition, resulting in a near-Platonic ideal of the band’s sound. Entertainment, Death looks to further evolve the group beyond the Joan Of Arc-style post-rock experimentalism on which it made its name, into something even more distinctive, without losing the knack for songs that disassemble and reassemble themselves over the course of a single track. [Alex McLevy]

Taylor Swift wants everyone to party like it’s 2008 with her first re-recorded album, Fearless (Taylor’s Version). Recorded with new vocals, this album includes all 19 Fearless tracks as well as her Valentine’s Day soundtrack single “Today Was A Fairytale.” Most importantly, and for the first time ever, listeners will get to hear six “from the vault” songs that were scrapped from the original album, including the ballad “You All Over Me,” which she released last week. [Saloni Gajjar]

Paul McCartney dropped his third solo album, McCartney III, late last year to mainly admiring reviews (including ). Now the songwriting icon revisits that record in III Imagined by collaborating with some of the brightest lights in the current music world, including St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, Blood Orange, and Damon Albarn. While “Find My Way”’s groovy mashup with Beck sounds just what you’d expect a McCartney/Beck song to sound like, Dominic Fike goes toe-to-toe with the legend, offering an illuminating look at “The Kiss Of Venus,” firing up the lovelorn lament with a spirited passion. [Gwen Ihnat]

Last year was a wash, so one can forgive Sharon Van Etten for celebrating the 10th anniversary of her striking sophomore album, , seven months late, especially when said celebration means inviting a few of her contemporaries to cover each of the LP’s seven tracks. In retrospect, these songs brim with the raw energy of a singer-songwriter stepping into her power, and the excitement of epic Ten lies in how this —including Bon Iver and Justin Vernon’s Big Red Machine and Fiona Apple—harness that energy for themselves. [Cameron Scheetz]

was one of the best albums of 2020, a multilayered and heartbreaking collection of icy electronic loops, skittering synths, and soulful melody, held together by Ryan Lott’s fragile vocals. Tomorrows III is the conclusion of the group’s musical triptych, and it looks to make some notable divergences from its predecessor, including guest appearances from artists like Kadhja Bonet, Holland Andrews, and Kiah Victoria, all contributing to a more expansive feel than the haunted and claustrophobic intensity of the previous installment. No matter the changes, it’ll be one of the year’s must-hear releases. [Alex McLevy]

Suicide frontman Alan Vega died in 2016, but Sacred Bones Records is ensuring that he’ll continue to alienate and captivate listeners for years to come with what it calls the “Vega Vault.” Mutator is the first in a planned series of 11 albums, and is pulled from an archive of unreleased material Vega recorded in his home studio between 1996 and 1998. Inspired by the NYC hip-hop scene and Vega’s obsession with industrial acoustics, Mutator is a dark and danceable record that reflects both the era in which it was made and Vega’s singular musical worldview. [Katie Rife]

Plenty of hip-hop artists cite jazz as a formative influence; few incorporate the challenging rhythms and arrangements of its avant-improvisatory potential as fully as Alfa Mist. The U.K. musician is the rare artist who can lay claim to being as much a jazz maestro as he is dextrous rapper, delivering both complex instrumental tracks and deft lyrical flow with ease, a musical polymath whose latest record combines elements of folk, classical, R&B, and more into his heady genre-hopping stew. [Alex McLevy]

Dinosaur Jr. is back with the band’s first album in five years, Sweep It Into Space, co-produced by Kurt Vile. First single “I Ran Away” finds J Mascis et al. veering on the twangy side of the band’s signature sound, almost into tepid territory until the band opens it up with a typically scathing solo. The rest of Sweep’s songs await release (J has said in interviews he was listening to a lot of Thin Lizzy at the time of recording), but the title of the second track, “I Met The Stones,” definitely sounds intriguing. [Gwen Ihnat]

If the title track of Sour Widows’ new EP is anything to go by, there’s a newfound quiet and intimacy taking the forefront on this latest release. Turning down the guitars (a little, anyway; it’s not like 2020’s EP was exactly a noise-fest) and focusing on the nuances of their melodies and lyrics is a smart move with material this strong; the four-song EP isn’t the full-length we’ve been waiting for, but it retains the band’s knack for dark, anthemic Americana. Plus, the criss-crossing harmonies between Maia Sinaiko and Susanna Thomson are better than ever. [Alex McLevy]

Singer-songwriters rarely come across quite as go-for-broke exuberant as Carsie Blanton. Musically, she’s pure old-school cabaret showman, delivering spritely, soulful grooves with retro instrumentation and arrangements that would be at home in jazz clubs and revival tents alike. Love & Rage tackles some of the dark and turbulent times endured over the past year, but filtered through that same shiny, infectious hoedown spirit that smuggles bleak, angry material in through the back door. [Alex McLevy]

Guided By Voices is slacking: Earth Man Blues is the first full-length album that the stalwart Dayton, Ohio five-piece has released this year. The momentum of bandleader Robert Pollard’s songwriting is unstoppable, however, striding into 2021 with infectious hooks and delirious guitars on lead single “Free Agents.” But although it’s composed of unfinished demos that Pollard rescued from digital oblivion, Earth Man Blues is an album rather than a collection of B-sides, held together by loosely autobiographical lyrics inspired by Pollard’s childhood. [Katie Rife]

More than 15 years on, Superwolf becomes Superwolves: Singer-songwriter Will Oldham, a.k.a. Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and guitarist Matt Sweeney reunite for their first full-length album together since their first time out, in 2005. The two initially worked separately, with Oldham sending lyrics to Sweeney, who then quickly wrote melodies, which he sent back to Oldham, before the two came together to refine and finalize each song. (Though anyone who’s ever seen Oldham live knows the songs will continue to morph.) The result is an album that alternately slinks menacingly, shines with sunny folk tenderness, and bursts with exuberance, as in the rousing zydeco stomp of “Hall Of Death.” [Laura Adamczyk]

“There’s something comforting about knowing Teenage Fanclub is out there, keeping alive the spirit of old-school pop-rock with the best of them. As the band has matured, its throwback sounds have shifted somewhat—there’s more Preservation-era Kinks than Big Star in there, now—but the fundamentals remain as engaging as ever: The sweetly jangling guitars, winsome and romantic lyrics, and easygoing rhythms that mark its best work are in full force on Endless Arcade.” [Alex McLevy]