10. The Shins – T BA

    The Shins are reportedly workingon a new album to be released next year. As I mentioned with Broken Bells in my top albums of 2010, definitely excited to hear new Shins material.

9. Death Cab for Cutie – TBA

    Death Cab have plans to be in the studio to record their follow up to Narrow Stairs. Can’t really go wrong with Ben Gibbard, so this was an obvious choice. The band says to expect the album in the spring.

8. Taking Back Sunday – TBA

    John Nolan and Shawn Cooper have rejoined the band, bringing it back to the “Tell All Your Friends” line-up, which is exciting for anyone who followed them back then. If John Nolan can forgive, I can too. I am a little worried about how the album will turn out, especially since they haven’t written music together in half a decade, but it’ll be a definite purchase regardless.

7. Bright Eyes - The People’s Key

    This album is due out early next year, 2/15. Conor Oberst has apparently ditched his folk/country/Americana habits of late to work on some more classic Bright Eyes material. He released a couple songs already and I’m on the fence about them but it’s still Bright Eyes, an undeniable contender.

6. Bon Iver – TBA

    Justin Vernon took the music industry by storm with his releases under the alias Bon Iver, rightfully so in my opinion. His previous releases were enough to get him a collaboration with Kanye, let’s hope this new found fame doesn’t ruin such a wonderful creative mind.
 
5. The Weakerthans – TBA

    The Weakerthans are rumored to be releasing a new album next year, which I trust will be remarkable. I’ve found their discography has gotten better with each release so I anticipate this album to the best and so on. Previous Weakerthans albums have still been in heavy rotation for me this year.

4. Explosions In The Sky – TBA

    Is an explanation really even needed?

3. La Dispute – TBA   

    This band is just on another level. When they announced their Australian tour dates they said they would be heading to the studio soon as well. They’ve been keeping quite busy and I don’t expect them to slow down anytime soon.

2. Moving Mountains – TBA
   

    Moving Mountains just signed to Triple Crown Records and is planning a release for next year. They provided fans with frequent updates from the studio as well as streaming their sessions. From what I could gather the album is going to be just as amazing as I hope it will be. The band is once again self producing the album, but with a bigger label behind them I’d imagine there will be more tools at their fingertips to really make the most of the record.

1. Athletics?

    We’re working pretty hard. Shameless promotion maybe, but it’s the only release I’m actually involved in, so obviously it’s my most anticipated.