Rock, Alternative and Indie Music's 5 Most Anticipated Albums for 2010

December doesn't just mean that the music year is coming to a close and that all music lists should be retrospectives of the best music released that year, or in the case of this December, the best music released this decade. It's also a time to look forward to the new year. In this case, looking at the rock, alternative, and indie releases of 2010, it seems clear that there it will be a great year for new music. The hotly anticipated releases start as early as January 12, 2010, not allowing much time to get acclimated to 2010 before listening to what is projected to be some of the best music of 2010. Judging by this list, 2010 is kicking off a new decade in rock music the right way.

1. Vampire Weekend, Contra (January 12, 2010 - XL Recordings): Everyone seems to be interested to see how the Brooklyn based quartet follows up such an acclaimed debut album. Thankfully, with a release date of January 12, we don't have to wait much longer to find out. Judging by already released tracks "Horchata" and "Cousins" the band will be adding new sounds to their repertoire. While this is an early release, I'm expecting Contra to be a fixture on "Best of 2010" lists next December.

2. MGMT, Congratulations (Spring - Columbia/Sony): The newly minted Grammy nominees, Brooklyn based MGMT, have had a busy couple of years. Their hit songs appeared pretty much everywhere, they toured the world, collaborated with Jay-Z and are even rumored to have collaborated with Paul McCartney. Their new album, Congratulations, due out this coming spring, experiments with new sounds.

3. Hot Chip, One Life Stand (February 9, 2010 - Astralwerks): UK based electronic dance crew Hot Chip has plans to release a new LP, One Life Stand, in early February, then tour the US and the UK this spring. Streaming audio of track "Take It In" are already circulating the Internet, and the song is bound to be a great dance hit.

4. Interpol (Early 2010, Capitol): After all the Interpol side projects that have emerged of late, including 2009's Paul Banks performing as Julian Plenti, the New York based post-punk band is ready to hopefully trump their major label debut. In moving forward, the band is looking to their old sounds, because, as drummer Sam Fogarino tells PASTE, "In trying to move forward, there was an unspoken realization that you can't let go of your sonic-defining tag."

5. Beach House, Teen Dream (January 26, 2010 - Sub Pop): Judging by tracks like "Norway" and "Used to Be," Beach House's third album, Teen Dream, is very beautiful and ephemeral sounding, showing growth in a very positive direction from their past albums. Stereogum is already raving at length about the caliber of this album, which, I feel is poised to sit atop "Best of 2010" lists in a year's time.

Stereogum's 25 Most Anticipated albums of 2010