Spring Album Preview: 25 Upcoming Records & The Engineers, Producers and Studios Behind Them

With SXSW kicking off next week, we are finally nearing the end of this epic winter. And looking ahead to the longer days of Spring, we’ve also got our eyes out for an exciting new season of album releases!

First, let’s start with this week which brought: Pharrell Williams’ GIRL (mixed by Mick Guzauski), RAC’s Strangers Pt. 1 for Cherry Tree Records/Universal (mixed by Andrew Maury), Brooklyn band The Men’s Tomorrow’s Hits (produced by Ben Greenberg), Real Estate’s Atlas (engineered/produced by Tom Schick), the debut EP by new Glassnote pop duo Holy Child, this Lorde/Son Lux collab on “Easy (Switch Screens)” for Son Lux’s Alternate Worlds EP (engineering by Alex Overington, Paul Mahern, Tomek Miernowski), and Trust‘s Joyland (production and mixing by Damian Taylor) out on Arts & Crafts.

And here are some we’re looking forward to in the coming weeks…

Those of us won over by The War on Drugs‘ Slave Ambient are ready and waiting for the followup, Lost in the Dream, which comes March 18 courtesy of Secretly Canadian. The album was reportedly “written and recorded by singer/songwriter Adam Granduciel over the course of two years in Philadelphia, New York, North Carolina, and New Jersey.” Nicolas Vernhes (Dirty Projectors, Animal Collective) mixed the album at his Rare Book Room Studios in Greenpoint, where they also tracked many of the final vocals on the album. Greg Calbi mastered the album at NYC’s Sterling Sound.

Check out the video for the first single, “Red Eyes”

Vernhes also produced, recorded and mixed on a few other albums we’re excited about coming this Spring, including the new (“much happier sounding”) Wye Oak album, Shriek, coming out on Merge April 29 (co-produced, recorded and mixed by Vernhes, and mastered by Joe Lambert). Vernhes also mixed the new Avi Buffalo record, which will be released this Spring on Sub Pop.

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Also on March 18, Foster The People will release their sophomore album Supermodel on Columbia Records. Produced by Paul Epworth, Greg Kurstin, Rich Costey, Tony Hoffer and Mark Foster. Calbi mastered the album at Sterling Sound. Costey mixed the single “Coming of Age” – video below…

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The Black Lips will also unveil an album March 18 – Underneath the Rainbow – coming via Vice Records.

Initial tracks were recorded with Dap Kings music director Tommy Brenneck at Dunham Studios in Williamsburg, with a second wave of tracks getting laid down in Nashville, with Patrick Carney of the Black Keys producing. The band rounded out the album with a couple of songs co-produced with longtime collaborator, Ed Rawls, and then had Jimmy Douglass mix the album at his Miami studio known as “The Spot.” Joe LaPorta mastered the record at Sterling Sound.

Listen to “Boys In the Wood” here…

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Liars‘ new album Mess hits at the end of March via Mute Records. The album was produced by the band’s Angus Andrew out of their LA studio. It was mixed by Timothy “Q” Wiles. Stream album single “Mess on a Mission” here.

Baltimore band Future Islands‘ new album, Singles, will come out March 25 on 4AD. It was produced by Chris Coady and mastered by Greg Calbi. Check out the single “Seasons (Waiting on You)” video here.

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UK producer and G.O.O.D Music writer, Evian Christ (Kanye West Yeezus) has a solo EP coming via Tri-Angle Records on March 17. Check out singles “Salt Carousel” and just-released  “Waterfall“.  The EP, Waterfall, was mixed by Noah Rubin and mastered by Heba Kadry at Timeless Mastering in Brooklyn.

Zeke Hutchins from Mick Mgmt, Joe Lambert and Sharon van Etten at Joe Lambert Mastering, DUMBO.

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Sharon Van Etten‘s new LP Are We There will be coming to us March 27 on Jagjaguwar. The album was co-produced by Stewart Lerman (Boardwalk Empire, Patti Smith) at his studio in Weehawken, and mastered by Joe Lambert at Joe Lambert Mastering in DUMBO.

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The Kaiser Chiefs have a new record coming out this month as well – the new Education, Education, Education & War is due out on Fiction Records/Universal on March 31. The album was produced by Ben H. Allen at Maze Studios in Atlanta, mixed by Michael Brauer at Electric Lady Studios, and mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound in NYC.

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Psych-pop band TEEN, led by NYC-based Teeny Leiberson (Here We Go Magic), has been making their new album with producer/engineer Daniel James Schlett. They tracked up at Outlier Inn in upstate NY, and then additional recording and mixing happened at Strange Weather Recording in Williamsburg. The album, The Way and Color, is coming April 22 on Carpark Records.

…Not to be confused with Tweens the Cincinnatti three-piece on Frenchkiss. Their self-titled debut comes April 8, and was produced/engineered by Eli Janney: tracked at Saltlands in DUMBO and mixed and Janney’s Pillbox studio.

Watch the video for single, “Be Mean” below…

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Kelis returns with her David Andrew Sitek-produced album, Food, on Ninja Tune in April. Produced and recorded out of Sitek’s LA studio, the album was then mixed by Michael Brauer, and mastered by Joe LaPorta. Watch the video for “Jerk Ribs” here.

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The new album by Miniature Tigers, Cruel Runnings, was produced/engineered by Chris Zane (Passion Pit, The Walkmen) — recorded at Geejam Studio in Jamaica with more recording and mixing at Zane’s Gigantic Studios in Tribeca.  Stream the first single “Swimming Pool Blues” below… album comes out May 27.

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The Walkmen singer Hamilton Leithauser will release his solo album, Black Hours, May 5 via Ribbon Music. The album was principally recorded at the awesome-looking Vox Studios in Los Angeles with Paul Maroon (The Walkmen), Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend), Richard Swift (The Shins/ solo), and Morgan Henderson (Fleet Foxes). Batmanglij co-wrote and produced the first single “Alexandra” (video below). Emily Lazar and assistant Rich Morales mastered the album at The Lodge.

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New tUnE-yArDs record is coming May 6 on 4AD. Production on the album, Nikki Nack, was handled by frontwoman Merrill Garbus and  features co-production from John Hill and Malay, and mixing from Eli Crews, Mark Allen-Piccolo, Chairlift’s Patrick Wimberly and Merrill along with the band’s bassist Nate Brenner. Joe LaPorta mastered. The album was produced at several studios including Electric Lady, Improved Recording (Oakland), Sonora Recorders (LA) and Ham Radio Hobby Room (Brooklyn) and is due out in May on 4AD.

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Lily Allen‘s new album Sheezus will come out this Spring. The album features recently released singles “Air Balloon” (co-written by Swedish songwriter/producer Shellback), and L8 CMMR (co-writer/producer Greg Kurstin).

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Parquet Courts at Outlier Studios (J. Schenke giving bunny ears)

A new album by Chairlift is in the works, being engineered by Jake Aron and Yale Yng-Wong (of Doctor Wu’s) with the band’s Patrick Wimberly at Chairlift’s personal studio in Queens.

Also out of the Doctor Wu’s camp, Jonathan Schenke just finished the new Parquet Courts record for What’s Your Rupture. This one was recorded in sessions at Outlier Inn in upstate NY and The Seaside Lounge in Park Slope, and was mixed back at Doctor Wu’s. Joe LaPorta mastered the album at Sterling Sound.

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There’s a new Interpol album in the works, recorded with engineer/producer James Brown at Electric Lady and Atomic in Red Hook, and mixed by Alan Moulder at Assault and Battery in London.

Theophilus London has been working on a new album, which was previewed on the recently dropped mixtape “Lovers Holiday II“. Engineer/producer Paul Falcone been working with London out of Germano Studios.

A$AP Rocky has started to deliver on his promise of an instrumental album, with the release of the first song and video “Riot Rave” — co-produced by ASAP Rocky and Daniel Lynas, Alex Dadras and Frans Mernick.

Looks like we’ll see a new album by Kimbra coming soon on Warner Music. Rich Costey is said to be producing and mixing, and the impressive list of collaborators includes Dave Longstreth of the Dirty Projectors, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Deantoni Parks of the Mars Volta, Ben Weinman of the Dillinger Escape Plan, John Legend, Bilal, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, and Van Dyke Parks. Also Damien Taylor co-wrote, produced and mixed a couple tracks for the album up at his “Golden Ratio” in Montreal.

Finally, Chicago rock band The Orwells will have an LP coming out on Atlantic Records. Recorded with producer Chris Coady at Dreamland Recording Studios and Chicago’s Soma Electronic Music Studios, and recently mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound. New video for their track “Righteous One” is below…

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