Groove your way into 2018 - New Album Releases
2017 gave us CHIC on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, British musician NAO released her debut album, GALA Festival brought a shitload of disco to Brockwell Park...it was a wonderful year for music. Thankfully, 2018 has an awesome array of offerings we already know about - so here's a few of our upcoming highlights from the artists that are releasing new albums in 2018. Over the course of January we'll be sharing other groovy things to look forward to, from unsigned and upcoming artists to gigs and festivals, there's almost too much to choose from...
Album Releases - Who's Back in 2018?
Here's the big name releases to keep an ear out for. There's plenty of new music to sink your teeth into, with albums by both the new guard groovers and the living legends:
CHIC featuring Nile Rodgers with It's About Time - At the top of our list is new material from the Godfather of Disco himself, incorporating some old demos to include the original band members (including Bernard Edwards); along with an incredible guest list with Elton John, Lady Gaga, and Chaka Khan all set to feature. We interviewed Folami and asked her what to expect, the CHIC singer told us that 'this is Nile Rodgers we’re talking about and he doesn’t let anybody know about it [...] I’ve recorded so many different parts of songs, I don’t even know what’s what'. The record has been delayed by nearly 4 years since an announcement, as well as a cracking single called 'I'll Be There' (see video), simply because Mr. Rodgers is a perfectionist. It is indeed About Time Nile.
The 1975 with Music for Cars - initially an indie pop band loved by teenagers across the UK, on their second album's release they became successful around the globe. With their 80s inspired sound and delightful use of synths, there's a lot of hype as to the direction of this final part in the trilogy, rumoured to premiere in June. No pressure...
Franz Ferdinand with Always Ascending - Now these guys are the original indie rock band, 'Take Me Out' and everything else they've done since has been strong work (Tonight is extremely underrated in my opinion). Their latest single has that classic Franz Ferdinand song style, with a slightly disco flare from the guitar and rhythm. This record could be right up our street.
Kylie Minogue - Rumoured to have a country sound, but still with her pop tinged style. We'd love to see Kylie return to some proper disco but country is bigger than ever in America, so this could be an interesting new direction.
MGMT with Little Dark Age - the new album is slated for release early in the year, whilst they have been quiet since 2013, this could see them return to form. The title track shows some progression in song-writing but with their 80s electronica influence still in tact, could MGMT be back with another game-changer? The 3rd single below implies a soulful sound...
Anderson. Paak & The Free Nationals - the soon-to-be superstar teased us that an album, together with his band The Free Nationals, was to come out in 2017, so will we finally hear this in 2018? Let's hope so, because they are next level good.
Arctic Monkeys - Their last album AM (2013), saw the Alex Turner fronted band achieve more success than ever before, so there's a lot of big expectations for fresh material. There is very little info around what to expect, but I have a lot of faith in them.
Christina Aguilera - Guests include Lianne La Havas, Janelle Monae, Thundercat, and Anderson .Paak, as well as having Mark Ronson collaborate on some of the album. After her song from The Get Down with Nile Rodgers, 'Telepathy', and such a stellar line-up like this, Aguilera may end up being the grooviest album to hit the charts.
Frank Ocean - There's not much to go on here, apart from the fact that Mr. Ocean (no relation of Sir Billy) posted on Instagram: "If you liked two thousand and seventeen then you'll love two thousand and eighteen". How typically vague, if there's going to be any new material it will probably be released unexpectedly, time will tell...
Justin Timberlake with Man of the Woods - The man who is one half of the modern world's Michael Jackson (with Bruno Mars forming the other half) is putting a new album out after bloody-well ages (over 4 years to be precise). Timberlake has apparently gone-and-done a Kylie, favouring the country route; The Neptunes and Timbaland also play a big part in writing/production duties for Man of the Woods. JT is a master of his craft and he ticks all of the boxes, so for him to explore new genres (with great collaborators) is something to be excited about. Although, the first single 'Filthy' suggests an electronic funk sound (as opposed to country), plus the music video is like a high-budget stage version of Black Mirror, see the video below...