So the first six months of 2015 have drifted away, and we find ourselves at the halfway point of the year. And even though a lot of fantastic music has already been released this year, there’s still much more to come. So we bring you NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION’s guide to some of the most anticipated releases due to light up the second half of the year. Of course, music has a tendency to happen all the time, so there’s far too many potentially amazing albums set to be released in the latter half of 2015 for us to write about, without several weeks’ worth of time and several thousand words of space. So instead, we’ve gone for a mix of new bands, big names and one or two that may have flown under the radar.
01. The new BEACH HOUSE record ‘Depression Cherry’
It always feels like far too long whenever BEACH HOUSE have been away, so luckily they’re almost back. New album Depression Cherry (which is a really good album title, by the way) is out on August 28th (with nothing less than a velvet cover) and has been preceded by lead single Sparks. Sparks is heavier and hazier than anything on 2012’s Bloom, with fuzzy guitar squall slicing through the foggy atmosphere created by blurry synths and Victoria LeGrand’s slowburn vocals. It all bodes well for album V.
02. The first BLOC PARTY album with a new line-up
Line-up changes are always a tough thing for each and every band. BLOC PARTY are the next in line to face that problem. Following the departure of drummer Matt Tong two years ago, bassist Gordon Moakes also declared earlier this year that he won’t be part of the band’s fifth album. No words yet on who will replace the two gentlemen but sooner or later KELE OKEREKE and guitarist Russell Lissack will have to make an announcement. After all the band scheduled a first live performance next month so expect the announcement of the follow-up to 2012’s Four soon. Hopefully, it won’t destroy the legacy of the legendary Silent Alarm.
03. The first LIBERTINES album in 11 years
With THE LIBERTINES’ most recent revival, the story has tended to focus on Pete Doherty getting over his drug troubles, leaving the music as an afterthought. And for the fans, it might well be enough that Doherty seems to be happier and healthier these days after a decade of heavy addiction. But aside from all that, putting together a new album is going to be a major challenge for the band. A lot of THE LIBERTINES’ appeal was built on their youthful glamour and charisma, and Doherty and Carl Barat can’t really expect to trade on that as they push forty. Returning at a time when guitar music is deeply unfashionable makes things more difficult too, as well as the fact that it’s been several years since Doherty or Barat wrote anything memorable. Anthems for Doomed Youth is out on September 4th, and has to prove there’s more to their return than just a feel good story.
04. That mysterious new CHROMATICS album
There are clubs all around the world, bathed in a soft neon, that are currently silent except for a constant murmur running through the background… Dear Tommy…Dear Tommy…Dear Tommy… It feels like without a new CHROMATICS album, a little part of the music scene is desperately lacking something, and the release of a few outstanding singles from Dear Tommy (I Can Never Be Myself When You’re Around, In Films and Just Like You) only made the delay worse. About time Johnny Jewel gets on with it and treats us to the follow-up to 2012’s Kill For Love. No release date yet (although originally planned for a March release), but hopefully it will surface before the year ends.
05. A new full-length by GRIMES
GRIMES put out a single called Go, with a considerably high-budget video and major build-up campaign, in 2014. It wasn’t great. She then casually dropped an album cast-off called REALiTi that was really, ridiculously good. This kind of fragmented build up to her fourth album makes it impossible to know what it will actually sound like, or whether it’ll be any good. Regardless, it’s probably fair to bank that an artist with a back catalogue like hers will produce something special-if she ever releases the thing. It’s been three years and counting since Visions.
06. The sophomore SAVAGES studio album, produced by TRENTEMØLLER
SAVAGES’ ability to punch holes though people’s consciousness with their music was established on their debut Silence Yourself, a record full of aggressive, razor-sharp punk that sounded more punishing and tense than any other current band. They’ve taken steps to mix it up for album two, by working with Danish electronic producer TRENTEMØLLER (as well as long term collaborator JOHNNY HOSTILE), and JULIAN CASABLANCAS even mentioned that they’d been working on music together. That album is currently being mixed in Copenhagen and should be out in the next few months.
07. KANYE WEST’s ‘Yeezus’ follow-up
It feels like humanity has probably split into two camps on the question of KANYE WEST by now, something the dramatically different views of his Glastonbury set confirmed. But really, aren’t utterly bulletproof confidence, wild creative oscillation and an endless capacity to generate headlines and controversy exactly the qualities a rockstar is supposed to possess? And when you take into account that with his last outing Yeezus, WEST put what was essentially an electronic hardcore album into the charts, and that his preview single, All Day, of the new album sounds like a pop single being thrown into a black hole, it’s pretty difficult not to get excited about his upcoming release.
08. A promising new longplayer by EDITORS
Okay, we weren’t that satisfied with the last EDITORS album, to say the least. 2013’s The Weight of Your Love left mixed feelings and felt a bit as if the band still needed to find a new sound after the line-up changes that happened prior to its recordings. But now it looks like the five-piece finally came together for the group’s fifth studio record. The first two teasers in the form of No Harm and Marching Orders are an epic bridge between the darkness of early EDITORS and the stadium ambitions of Tom Smith and his gang. And the new record will also feature SLOWDIVE-singer Rachel Goswell. This should work as enough argumentation to get us all excited.
09. The new record by up and coming band GIRLS NAMES
Putting out an eleven minute long song is a very ambitious way to announce your new album, but that’s exactly what Belfast band GIRLS NAMES did when previewing Arms Around A Vision with long-length Zero Triptych. That track and its follow-up Reticence sees them adding new influences, like NEU!-esque metronome guitars and SMITHS-ian jangle to the austere post-punk sound they explored on previous album The New Life, and it’s out on Tough Love Records on October 2nd.
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