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As we eyeball the final stretch, it’s never easy to tell whether the year in music is speeding up or slowing down. In Tinsel Town, we all know the Oscar hopefuls will be coming soon to a theater near us as summer fades and fall settles in. Music’s different, though. Forget a barrage of holiday releases. If your favorite artist doesn’t drop an album by November, you’re likely not getting what you want for Christmas. That doesn’t mean there can’t be some late-in-the-game surprises, but let’s focus on what we know — or at least have been led to believe. Below are 25 promised albums from artists young and old, up-and-comers and bar-setters, some of whom are capable of not only shaping our thoughts on the year in music but maybe even on 2017 in general. Just check out the slate below, and you’ll see what we mean. And if you blew all of your hard-earned record money chasing sounds of the summer, better start raking leaves and shoveling snow in a hurry. You no doubt still have some wax to add to your stacks before 2018 hits.
–Matt Melis
Editorial Director
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25. Melkbelly – Nothing Valley
Release date: September 29th
Chicago-based Melkbelly has become a staple of the city’s DIY scene. The punk quartet is finally set to release a full-length debut album, Nothing Valley, on October 13th via Sadie Dupuis’ Wax Nine Records. Nothing Valley is Melkbelly’s first release since 2014’s Pennsylvania EP. The album’s first single, “Kid Kreative”, is wonderfully fuzzy and brash. Layers of noise and voice come together to create a dance-y, rough track. (You can watch the music video — chock-full of breakfast food, grubby hands, and psychedelia — here.) Melkbelly is heading on tour in September with fellow punks Protomartyr, making stops in Raleigh, Cincinnati, and Baltimore. They’ll play a hometown show to debut Nothing Valley at Chicago’s The Hideout. If the album’s music is anything like its artwork, Nothing Valley is sure to be bright and buzzing. –Carly Snider
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24. Torres – Three Futures
Release date: September 29th
MacKenzie Scott aka Torres, admittedly, showed up on our radar an album later than should’ve been the case. So, you can forgive us if we doubled-down on 2015’s Sprinter, not only lauding the album all year long but curating a Chicago event with Torres as headliner. Courageously candid in her songwriting and some inspired hybrid of PJ Harvey and Kurt Cobain onstage, she’s proved far too compelling for us not to look anxiously ahead to September’s Three Futures. And her first two singles, “Skim” and the title track, have done nothing to dampen that curiosity. If anything, they show a songwriter finding new muscles as strong as her soft-loud dynamics without sacrificing any of her unflinching intensity. –Matt Melis
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23. Kamaiyah – Don’t Ever Get It Twisted
Release date: TBA
Kamaiyah burst onto the scene in 2016 with the retro-fueled, yet incredibly present A Good Night in the Ghetto, and quickly shot up the rap charts. Considering how massive that debut mixtape reached and how unavoidable it felt, it’s hard to believe that she’s only just now been named on XXL’s Freshman Class. The Oakland native already feels like a classic, and it’s not just because she mines the best of ‘90s West Coast hip-hop. The promise of a follow-up in April was tantalizing, and yet Don’t Ever Get It Twisted has thus far failed to materialize — supposedly due to sample clearance issues. Her pinned Tweet still says it’s #comingsoon, so don’t mind us as we continue to sit and click refresh, waiting for it to drop. –Lior Phillips
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22. Converge – The Dusk In Us
Release date: November 3rd
After five years without a full-length release, Converge are making a powerful return with their upcoming album, The Dusk in Us, due November 3rd via Epitaph/Deathwish. Two singles from the album, “Under Duress” and “I Can Tell You About Pain”, have already been released and made it abundantly clear that Converge has not lost one bit of their signature sonic intensity since 2012’s All We Love We Leave Behind. Major hype was built around The Dusk in Us last month when Converge dropped a 7” EP, which featured a track entitled “Eve” in addition to “I Can Tell You About Pain”. The latter was accompanied by the release of a music video, in which the ominous hallway footage is visually reminiscent of The Shining. Converge have given listeners many reasons to buzz with anticipation regarding their comeback — all there is left to do is wait. –Lindsay Teske
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21. Noel Gallagher — TBD
Release date: TBA
Brothers and former Oasis bandmates Liam and Noel Gallagher have uncovered a new weapon in their ongoing feud: album release dates. In spring, it was announced that Noel was expecting a November release for his anticipated third solo album — a mere month after Liam’s. The Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds frontman has kept fans anxiously waiting with baited breath for details surrounding the forthcoming record, but did reveal that one of the tracks will be named “Instrumental Number Three”. The album will follow up the warmly received Chasing Yesterday and reunites Gallagher with producer David Holmes, who shared with Gigwise that he believes “people are going to be surprised” by the new record. No matter what Gallagher has in store for November, it’s sure to be something fresh. –Lindsay Teske
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