Tony Clayton-Leaon new releases to spend those vouchers on.
BILLY BRAGG: TITLE TBC
For some, Billy Bragg is a voice from the past, an era when people actually cared enough about politics and social issues to make the listener care. His new album is his first in almost six years and continues Bragg's themes of focusing on big and important subjects (war on terror in Oh Freedom) and small yet significant ones (a simple walk on the beach in Beachy Street). Late January
HOT CHIP: MADE IN THE DARK
What's all this about Hot Chip describing new song The Privacy of our Love as a modern-day Lady in Red? Presumably, we can take this with a block of salt as they also describe the first single (Ready for the Floor) from the album as being so good it will cause delirium and/or nausea. February
THE KOOKS
Often thought as throwaway pop, UK band The Kooks have, we are assured, delivered a far grittier album than their 1.5 million-selling 2005 debut Inside In/Inside Out. With songs detailing losing loved ones (Gap, Lonely Cat) and something rather more primal (Do You Wanna), main songwriter Luke Pritchard wants to replace the throwaway tag with something more important. With what we've heard so far we reckon he's done just that. February
NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS: DIG, LAZARUS, DIG!!!
Considering Nick Cave's penchant for all things Biblical, it's no surprise that the title refers to the man who came back from the dead. Not so Cave, of course, who has rarely been out of the frame for 30 years. This record - "an unmitigated masterpiece," boasts Cave - promises to be quite different to previous Bad Seeds albums, despite having virtually the same personnel. February 25
LAURA MARLING: TITLE TBC
Marling is the darling of those who reckon Kate Nash a little too common for them, and Lily Allen something of a washer woman.
COLDPLAY: TITLE TBC
With production by Brian Eno, it seems Coldplay's fourth studio album aims to get the band back on track with charts, fans and critics. Already there are several confirmed tracks (Cemeteries of London, Rainy Day, Poppy Fields, Violet Hill, 42). Late March
DIDO: TITLE TBC
This one is taking its time, as it's been on the release schedules before. Dido, however, wants to get her third album just right. With mixing/producing from Jon Brion and co-writes with Brian Eno and her brother Rollo (from dance act Faithless), what's on the cards is yet another multi-million selling record. Studio guests include Mick Fleetwood. March
THE FEELING: TITLE TBC
While The Arctic Monkeys were reinventing indie, London five-piece The Feeling were aiming to revive the easy-listening if sharp pop instincts of the 1970s. Their admirably clever debut album, Twelve Steps and Home, sold over a million; the follow-up looks set to emulate that commercial success. March
PETER, BJÖRN & JOHN: AT THE SEASIDEThose looking for songs to whistle along to here will be disappointed - At the Seaside is an album of instrumentals that reference African and Brazilian music, Krautrock and pop. Don't worry - an album of vocals/songs will be released later in the year. March
ROBERT FORSTER: THE EVANGELISTFollowing the death in 2006 of Grant McLennan - thereby ending the life of The Go-Betweens - Robert Forster, McLennan's longtime songwriting partner, was unsure if he would ever record another album. Thankfully, the muse struck, and his new 10-track solo album bodes well. March
VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR: TITLE TBCProg rock names from the 1970s who, under the watchful, sometimes baleful stare of leader Peter Hammill, created some of the most intense and impenetrable music of the era. Now regrouped - but hardly reformed - the band's new album is, says, Hammill, "disarmingly simple and tortuously complicated." Caution advised, then. March
Also on the way:
Bloc Party, Boyzone, The Breeders, The Cure, Goldfrapp, Guillemots, The Kills, Metallica, Moby, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Cat Power, Sons and Daughters, Alex Turner
