Because the 12 months progresses, we glance to the longer term to guess on the upcoming albums from our favourite artists and hold forth as to what their new sounds will reveal. We hungrily devour press releases to search for producers and collaborators, and our eyes relaxation on the screens as new tune are launched as official singles or lyric movies. Listed here are a non-exhaustive checklist of albums that our editors have been anticipating from the primary a part of this 12 months.
Människobarn by Dina Ögon
Launch Date: February 6, 2026
In 2023 and 2024, Sweden’s Dina Ögon issued again-to-again albums that had been amongst my favourite releases in recent times. The Stockholm quartet are sometimes described as a retro-soul or psych-pop band, however there’s a lot extra nuance happening, notably of their ingenious songcraft. Tucked into their elegant and fantastically recorded grooves are eccentric chord shifts, beautiful harmonies, and melodic particulars which set them in a league of their very own. Additionally, they sing solely in Swedish. Led by its nimble title minimize, Dina Ögon’s fourth LP, Människobarn, got here out February 6. – Timothy Monger
Jazz Gone Dub by Gaudi
Launch Date: February 6, 2026
The multi-instrumentalist/ producer spent years making a fusion that intersects and of explores connections between jazz and dub. – Thom Jurek
The Apple Tree Underneath the Sea by hemlocke springs
Launch Date: February 13, 2026
The early singles and debut EP from hemlocke springs harkened again to a sort of early MTV-era quirkiness that we have not heard a lot of shortly — individuals in contrast the singer to Kate Bush, however I heard extra Toni Basil or Cyndi Lauper. After a short hiatus, she began releasing new singles final 12 months, and a debut album is on the horizon in February. Going by the songs which have come out up to now, the apple tree below the ocean looks as if it will likely be a bit extra mature however no much less theatrical and artistic than earlier tunes like “girlfriend” and “enknee1.” – Paul Simpson
Important Spark [Music Of Kenny Wheeler] by Dave Holland, Norma Winstone, and London Vocal Mission
Launch Date: February 20, 2026
The bassist and vocalist crew with the London Vocal Mission in a program of late composer Kenny Wheeler’s all however underheard vocal music. – Thom Jurek
Freeway to Heavenly by Heavenly
Launch Date: February 27, 2026
Though I used to be admittedly late to the group, I latched onto this pillar of late-’80s/early-’90s indie pop at a degree once I was in an alienated, injured frame of mind, possibly much more so than in my teenagers (after they had been truly making information). Their disarming 1993 anthem “P.U.N.Okay. Woman” went on repeat-play and stays one among my favourite songs. Even nonetheless, I can solely think about the thrill of OG followers and twee folks when it was introduced that they had been returning this 12 months with their first album in 30 years. Regardless of realizing that members remained energetic in different initiatives over the many years, I wanted proof of life, they usually delivered it in spades with lead single “Portland City,” a bop about eager to belong that I ranked as my favourite single of 2025. They’ve since adopted it up with the musically elated and lyrically regretful “Excuse Me,” with its classic “ooh-oohs” and repeated “Tousled once more” additionally hitting residence. The remainder of the album arrives on February 27. As Heavenly chief and Skep Wax Data co-founder Amelia Fletcher wrote on a thank-you notice with my current Bandcamp t-shirt order, “Keep riot twee!” – Marcy Donelson
Of the Earth by Shabaka
Launch Date: March 6, 2026
Written, carried out, produced and combined completely by Shabaka, the recording facilities on the alto flute, whereas additionally returning to saxophone. – Thom Jurek
One thing Price Ready For by Friko
Launch Date: April 24, 2026
Chicago’s Friko stormed their method to the highest of my 2024 year-end checklist with a debut album that burnt brighter than any this decade; it is no shock, then, that their 2026 sophomore, One thing Price Ready For, is high of my watchlist this 12 months. Recorded final summer season with veteran producer John Congleton (Erykah Badu, Lana Del Rey, Swans, amongst others), the set was teased earlier this month through folksy lead single “Seven Levels,” forward of an April launch. The group’s greatest work soars like a seaside flare and is unapologetic in its tenderness; here is hoping they’ve crafted one thing that may dwell as much as its formidable title. – David Crone
13 by White Denim
Launch Date: April 24, 2026
Indie prog jam noodlists White Denim have all the time been a little bit of an outlier in no matter their style is. Their stuff is simply too tuneful and hook-oriented to be strictly a jam band, too technical to be uncooked indie rock, and too electrified to be folks, however someway they make it work. Probably enervated by Geese‘s current avant kookiness, the lead single “Lock and Key” begins with a sound conflict, and evolves right into a brash and wild guitar blast actually harking back to Dr. Tooth and the Electrical Mayhem (and that is in regards to the highest praise I may give anybody). This is to hoping the remainder of the report follows swimsuit with uptempo raves and their precision start-stop tune constructions. – Zac Johnson
In Occasions of Dragons by Tori Amos
Launch Date: Could 1, 2026
There’s just one album I want to listen to this 12 months and it is Tori Amos’ upcoming 18th (!!!) album In Occasions of Dragons. Judging by the out there PR, it is slated to be politically-charged to replicate the present state of the U.S. This is hoping it leans extra towards the anger and chunk of American Doll Posse or the sweeping scope of Scarlet’s Stroll versus the comparatively tempered Native Invader. – Neil Z. Yeung
