The new years is almost upon us and while we’re pouring over our favorite music of 2014, there’s a lot of artists of note that have been toiling away in the background, hopefully concocting releases that we’ll be excited to sink our teeth into for 2015. There’s tons of artists that should be on the slab for a new record for next year, but here are ten that we have a most watchful eye on. Will they deliver, and if they do, will we still have the same old spark? We can only sit and dream, so come and dream with us.

Radiohead

With a reputation for out-of-nowhere releases, any year could potentially be a Radiohead year, and being that that this March will mark the four year anniversary of The King Of Limbs, the boys are just about due. According to some posts last September, production for the record is a few months in, which is typically not a lot of time for Yorke and company, but with any luck, next autumn might spring up something just when you’ll be starting to forget about them again.

Beach House

What is it about Beach House that is so irresistible? Sure they make dreamy landscapes on warm analog synths with trebly guitar arpeggios, meditating on heavy love and loss, but isn’t a large chunk of indie rock founded on this combination? Yes, pretty much anything you’ve ever called “dream pop” is made up of this but for some reason Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have a lock that no one can match. Their 2012 masterwork Bloom hits its third birthday this year and having just completed a tour of Canada, a new release feels imminent although there have yet to be any reports of studio time. Let’s hope it comes our way in time for a visit to a beach house.

Father John Misty

For J. Tillman, 2015 may prove to be his big year. 2012’s Fear Fun showed a new awakening for the singer/songwriter as the newly christened Father John Misty. While that record had moments of dryness mixed with moments of brilliance, I Love You, Honey Bear is showing early signs of the man being capable of outshining his Fleet Foxes brethren.

Modest Mouse

Has it really been eight years since the last Modest Mouse record? It seems like just yesterday that Johnny Marr blew everyone’s mind by joining up as the group’s guitarist and turned out the exceptional We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank along with the string of seven-inch singles that made up the No One’s First and You’re Next disc. That line-up was the group’s largest ever, but it appears (according to Wikipedia, anyway) that founding member Eric Judy has quit the band, leaving Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and multi-instrumentalist Tom Peloso as the group’s only official members. Seems disheartening, but lead single “Lampshades on Fire” is pretty decent, so this new era might prove itself yet, whether or not Big Boi actually ended up working on the album or not.

Grimes
Since her 2012 breakthrough Visions, fans have been trying to predict which direction Claire Boucher will go. Will she take her new found fame to take chances with her more experimental side, or will she take a stab at the pop world, following the lead of her 2014 Rihanna reject single “Go.” Since she recently stated that song will not be on her next record, all bets are currently off.

Blood Orange

Cupid Deluxe only just passed its one year anniversary last month, but Devonté  Hynes is never one to sit still, devastating fires or not. In 2014, Hynes continued promoting the record with a Gia Coppola-directed clip for “You’re Not Good Enough” and has co-writes on both Jessie Ware and Kindness’ latest albums. Always the studio hound, it’s likely he will be cooking up something sweet in the oncoming year, whether its for himself or taking on a new ingénue.

Run the Jewels
Since their chance meeting in 2011, EL-P and Killer Mike have been inseparable, having made three records together between Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music and the galvanizing pair of Run the Jewels records. According the NME, volume three will start production in January 2015, with potentially new music with Rage Against the Machine’s Zach De La Rocha in tow.

Metz

Metz came on the scene in 2012 and left us all bruised and battered up with a stellar half hour of teeth-grit punk of their self-titled debut. Considering how simplistic their attack is, it’s surprising that we’re still waiting for a follow-up, but as we turn over into 2015, these dudes have to be hitting us with something.

Savages

On Silence Yourself, Savages turned post-punk back to black-and-white with a chalky, hard hitting feminist rock record. The songs on that album felt important, but also hinted at something more. The group has shown a dedicated interest in experimentalism with their lengthy, vamping single “Fuckers” and their two-stage performance album with Bo Ningen, Words to the Blind, but the time has come for the band’s next big solo statement, and when it comes, hopefully it will come with another caps-locked mission statement front cover.

Purity Ring

When Purity Ring started dropping singles in 2011, their unique, voice-manipulating Gothic synth pop seemed fairly fresh. Now in 2014, all the kids re doing it. Purity Ring basically were the poptimist approximation of the Knife’s Silent Shout, and it’s a sound that has made its way into the indie mainstream’s vernacular since then, most particularly on FKA twigs’ much-loved LP1. Will they be able to keep up with the monster they helped spawn? Recently released track “Push Pull” seems to indicate yes.