20 albums for 2013

Or at least a cross-section of those we're excited about and have information on, followed by a big list of everyone else whispered about/for whom dates are confirmed...

The Acorn
Responsible for two luscious, detailed emotional charges of albums, Rolf Klausener put The Acorn on hiatus for a year and then, with a reworked lineup, started work on a new record in the autumn.

Arcade Fire
Jeremy Gara told an Ottawa radio station in October that they were in the studio and should have something out some time in 2013, probably towards its end. Their manager then let slip to Music Week that while usual collaborator Markus Dravs is working on the bulk of the album James Murphy has produced some tracks.

British Sea Power
Having sharpened new songs in a year of running their club night Krankenhaus, a new album has recently been mastered and all concerned are currently suggesting an April release. Before then the DVD of From The Sea To The Land Beyond, the found footage with BSP score documentary shown on BBC4 in November, is out in January.

Camera Obscura
While never engaged in the most frenzied of release activity it's longer than usual - three and three-quarter years as it stands - since Tracyanne and co swooned our way. They've been esconsed in Portland for the last month, from various Twitter clues it seems with Tucker Martine (Sufjan, Decemberists, My Morning Jacket, Laura Veirs) producing.

Daughter
The now trio finished off their debut towards the end of 2012 with Ken Thomas (Sigur Ros, M83, Clinic) and his son Jolyon producing.

Edwyn Collins - Understated
Described by Collins as "northern soul crossed with punk" - the usual, then - Richard Hawley contributes to a couple of songs. Due 25th March. There's also a documentary film being made about him.

Everything Everything - Arc
Still seeming like they have more ideas then they really know what to do with and more time than they think to get them all in, the second album is again produced by David Kosten and is released 14th January.

Foals - Holy Fire
Out 11th February, choosing Inhaler as the first single seems a scattershot decision but Yannis claims it's fairly unrepresentative, though the choice of Flood and Alan Moulder as producers would suggest a heavier sound all round.

Los Campesinos!
As well as announcing their December London gig as their last before making their fifth album, interviewed late in 2012 Gareth revealed Tom had written the bulk of the music for it already, describing it as "more ambitious still and there are a lot more textures".

Low - The Invisible Way
Produced by Jeff Tweedy! The trio's tenth album was recorded in Wilco's studio, sounds in bits like this and is released 18th March.

Lucky Soul
After time off due to Ali's motherhood they've been back in the studio putting what's clearly perfectionist craft to their third album for a little while now - indeed there were photos on Facebook in mid-2011, an update suggested they were mixing it in June and yet Ali's Christmas message on the self same platform came from within confines near a mixing desk.

Mew
Busy "speaking with instruments and listening with body and throwing knives", as Silas put it in a website post in November, news that bodes well is the new record, nearly four years on from its precedessor, is being overseen by Michael Beinhorn, responsible for And The Glass Handed Kites.

My Bloody Valentine
New album mastered 21st December! So they say, and who are we the public to disbelieve them until we see evidence? *checks* Oh. OK. Anyway, apparently Kevin's actually got to a point he's happy with, with the classic line-up all contributing, and word is it might just be put out online one day and that there will be the climax of 21 years of hope.

The National
They reported studio business as brisk in September and played four new songs at their ATP last month.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away
That difficult fifteenth album, released 18th February. Nick? "Well, if I were to use that threadbare metaphor of albums being like children, then Push The Sky Away is the ghost-baby in the incubator and Warren (Ellis)'s loops are its tiny, trembling heart-beat."

Savages
The band most likely to reported via Facebook 'WE ARE RECORDING THE ALBUM' on 29th November and 'LAST DAYS' on 14th December. Rodaidh McDonald (Adele, Daughter, King Krule, XX mixing) and one Johnny Hostile (who may or may not be the other half of John & Jehn) do the button pressing.

Sky Larkin
There'd been breakup rumours, especially when Doug left and Katie went off to tour as an auxiliary Wild Beast for the best part of fifteen months, but they recently decamped to Seattle for recording which presumably means a third hookup with John Goodmanson and Harkin has let slip they have two new, as yet unnamed members.

Summer Camp
Elizabeth told DIY last month "I'm finding it difficult to work out what I want it to sound like, and whether we want it to be like the first album but hopefully a bit better, or to just try something totally different... We don't want it to be concept-y. We want it to be more personal, and about us and our experiences of being in a band". Summer-ish, she reckons.

Warpaint
Long in hibernation after 2010's breakout - indeed they were talking new album advanced plans during 2011 festival season - they played SS Coachella just before Christmas with a set heavy on new songs.

Wild Beasts
Talking to the New Statesman in October Hayden Thorpe claimed they were already writing, though he couldn't tell yet regarding the shape it'll take. He has said it may arrive late in the year.


AND ALSO... (at least maybe so in some cases): And So I Watch You From Afar - All Hail Bright Futures (18/3), Atoms For Peace - Amok (25/2), The Avalanches, Ballboy, Blonde Redhead, Blue Roses, Broken Records, Calories, Eels - Wonderful, Glorious (4/2), Esben & The Witch - Wash The Sins Not Only The Face (21/1), The Flaming Lips, Franz Ferdinand, Haiku Salut - Tricolore (11/3), I Am Kloot - Let It All In (21/1), Jetplane Landing, Joe Gideon & The Shark - Freakish (7/1), John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts (11/3), The Knife, Laura Marling, Let's Buy Happiness, Local Natives - Hummingbird (28/1), Lord Huron - Lonesome Dreams (14/1), Lykke Li, Marques Toliver, MIA, Modest Mouse, Napoleon IIIrd, No Age, Okkervil River, Other Lives, Owen Pallett, The Pastels, Peggy Sue, Portishead, Primal Scream, PVT - Homosapien (11/2), Queens Of The Stone Age, Rose Elinor Dougall, Spectral Park - Spectral Park (28/1), Spoon, Still Corners, The Thermals, Tigercats, tUnE-YarDs, Vampire Weekend, Veronica Falls - Waiting For Something To Happen (4/2), The Victorian English Gentlemens Club, Widowspeak - Almanac (11/2), Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yo La Tengo - Fade (14/1)