Blk Jks
So you like Vampire Weekend, but you’re a tad queasy about the whole latter-day Paul Simon shtick? Then check out Blk Jks. Their mix of indie and vernacular global styles on After Robots is so Brooklyn, it’s hard to be believe they’re really from South Africa. Sept. 8
Megadeth
Poor Dave Mustaine. Ever since the 2004 documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, he’s better remembered as the guy who got kicked out of Metallica than the leader of Megadeth, his own pretty great metal band. Finally, Mustaine has made an album, Endgame, to change that. A helluva lot better than Anvil, in any case. Sept. 15
Teddybears
Sweden will not stop! The awesome Teddybears have a crackling new single called “Get Mama a House,” and an album that’s due out in Sweden soon and will surely be here before long. Word is that Missy Elliott is among the guest vocalists. Sometime this fall
R. Kelly
You wouldn’t want to introduce R. Kelly to your little sister, but you might want to buy her his new album, Untitled, because, as undeniably corny as he is, he’s the world’s most entertaining dirty old man. Oct. 13
The Raveonettes
When the Raveonettes first appeared on the scene, they sounded good, but you had to wonder how much the world really needed a Danish rip-off of the Jesus and Mary Chain. The Raveonettes proved themselves worthy, however, consistently making strong albums. Their forthcoming In and Out of Control may be their best to date. Oct. 6
Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records
Since their early days, Superchunk always went their own way—even at the risk of humiliation and/or a crowd of seven people. Sometimes they paid the price, like when the staunchly anticorporate rockers decided to play a gig in Virginia Beach, a town their indie peers rarely went to. They found out why. Just before their set, a bunch of young women in skimpy shirts tossed out “tube socks with the Kool cigarettes logo on them,” says singer-guitarist Mac McCaughan. “Then they announced a contest where the girl who can take off her bra under her shirt the fastest gets a free carton of cigarettes.” This is but one of many wonderful nuggets in Our Noise, an oral history by journalist John Cook, in collaboration with McCaughan and Laura Ballance, his partner in Merge and Superchunk. The tale of how this tiny record label stuck to its artist-friendly principles and somehow prospered is thoroughly enlightening and uplifting, a model for how to combine your passion and your profession, without screwing up either. Sept.15
Phoenix and Passion Pit
Summer in New York will officially end a couple of days late this year with a cathartic dance party at Rumsey Playfield. Passion Pit is opening; Phoenix is headlining. Not having a blast is not an option. Live in Central Park, Sept. 25 and 26
Mariah Carey
So Mariah Carey’s label asked her (nicely, we’re sure) to go back and record some new songs for Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. That’s not ordinarily a good sign, but with Mariah, it just adds drama and intrigue to the great hot mess of her career. Sept. 29
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Dirty Projectors
The local acts responsible for a couple of the most lovable records of the year are both coming out with booster-shot EPs to keep the party going. Sept. 22 and 28
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, once a drug-addled vagrant, is the closest thing Williamsburg has to Bruce Springsteen. Aided by TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone, he has made a big, rollicking, soulful rock record, Summer of Fear. Oct. 20
All Tomorrow’s Parties
The ATP festival in Monticello has a mighty stupendous lineup—not just great young bands like Animal Collective and Atlas Sound, not just great old bands like the Melvins and Suicide, but fun, funky stuff like a game room “hosted” by producer Steve Albini, a screening of Jim Jarmusch’s Mystery Train, and a slate of comedians curated by David Cross. The thing we’re looking most forward to, though, is the Feelies ripping straight through their 1980 classic Crazy Rhythms. Sept. 11 and 13