New Year! New Music Releases! 2013! Another Odd-Numbered Year!

Judas Priest hints at new music. Fleetwood Mac are said to be reuniting. Albums by Backstreet Boys, Alice In Chains, Cher, Pearl Jam, Rage Against The Machine, The Black Keys, Eminem, AC/DC, Beyonce, Black Sabbath with Ozzy Osbourne, Katy Perry and Mariah Carey are all said to be coming very soon or soon enough. This is the music business, folks! Everything is subject to change!

With that in mind, I've searched high and mostly low for the albums that have tentative names and nearly firm release dates! The first quarter of 2013 looks to be a great time for people who enjoy illegally downloading albums! Though, I should point out, it would be much better for the continuance of the music industry and your favorite artists' careers if you actually shelled out some cash for their records! After all, they didn't illegally download their instruments!

Note: albums are listed by release date.

25) Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals and Warbeast -- War of the Gargantuas (split album), 1/8:

This is a split album from everyone's favorite singer, the lovable Philip H. Anselmo, with yet another band that isn't Pantera, and Warbeast, who have been touring with Anselmo's other side project, the supergroup Down, which at this point could be his official group. Busy hands are also the devil's playthings? Sheesh!

24) Yo La Tengo -- Fade, 1/15: Despite looking like former record store employees, Yo La Tengo make a sound that sparkles and feeds back and generally covers for the fact that no one in the band is a singer in the conventional 'rock' sense. Rumors that David Lee Roth was to join the band are just that -- rumors. Made up here. On the spot.

23) Mumford & Sons -- The Road To Red Rocks, 1/22:

Both a film and an album with several different editions to choose from, The Road to Red Rocks was shot live at Colorado's historic outdoor venue, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, before the legalization of the pot. Listen to the band get low at high altitudes. Feel the thin air breeze through your hair!

22) Camper Van Beethoven -- La Costa Perdida, 1/22: Ten songs recorded at Jonathan Segel's home studio in Oakland are said to be "steeped in their connection to Northern California, specifically the areas where the band members nurtured their musical talents -- Redlands, Santa Cruz and San Francisco." So, expect this music to quake!

21) Adam Ant -- Adam Ant Is The Blueback Hussar In Marrying The Gunner's Daughter, 1/22: "Completely different from anything else I've done before," says Mr. Ant, whose last album of new material was 1995's acoustic-based Wonderful. Said to include 17 songs, with collaborations with Boz Boorer, Andy Bell of Oasis and Beady Eye, 3 Colours Red guitarist Chris McCormack and longtime Ant conspirator Marco Pirroni, the album sports a title worthy of Fiona Apple at her most succinct.

20) Darius Rucker -- True Believers, 1/22:

The third solo album from Darius "I'm Not Hootie" Rucker continues in the country music vein, with a cover of Old Crow Medicine Show's "Wagon Wheel" that features Lady Antebellum. Sheryl Crow and Mallary Hope also guest on the album, which is said to include 12 complete songs.

19) Bad Religion -- True North, 1/22: Longtime running punk rock 'n' roll band Bad Religion return with an album named after the record label that released albums by Canadian folkie Bruce Cockburn. But don't think the band has gone folk. In fact, 15 of the album's 16 songs are under three minutes and are full of "fast and concise punk." First single? Something called "F*** (Forget) You." Oh, such cheeky oldsters!

18) Colton Dixon -- A Messenger, 1/29:

Despite finishing seventh during season 11 of American Idol, Colton Dixon will release his new album to reach the infidels who need to get right with G-d. As for his less than stellar finish, one internet chat board said, "I think Colton's problem was that his words didn't match his actions. He preached G-d but dressed like the anti-christ." Whoa! People on chat boards aren't very nice!

17) Tegan and Sara -- Heartthrob, 1/29: Everyone's favorite twin sisters from Canada are back with another album! The deluxe version of the album will add two songs. Or you could say the standard album will deduct two songs! It all depends how you look at it. Fans are sure to be disappointed by the song, "I Couldn't Be Your Friend." I mean, don't they even want to try?

16) Ashanti -- BraveHeart, 1/29:

This poor album has had its release date pushed back many times. Two singles have already been aired, including "That's What We Do," featuring R. Kelly. Producers such as Alex da Kidd, Danja, Rico Love, Cool & Dre, Warryn Campbell, Carvin & Ivan, Common, Darkchild and Tank are said to have collaborated with Ms. Ashanti. For once, we'd like to see that "Too Many Cooks" adage proven to be overrated and wrong! No mention of a Mel Gibson cameo.

15) Eels -- Wonderful, Glorious, 2/5: Mark Oliver Everett's ditched the Unabomber look and decided to rejoin society ever so slightly. His new album features his road band writing the songs with him and recording with the notoriously meticulous and secretive solo performer in the studio!

14) Josh Groban -- All That Echoes, 2/5:

"This album makes me feel good, and I hope others feel the same way," says Josh Groban at this website. His new album, his sixth, was produced by Warner Brothers chairman Rob Cavallo, so you can rest assured the label is satisfied with the results. "We both took risks we wouldn't have taken without one another," says Cavallo. Would your parents let you hang out with these guys?

13) Jim James -- Regions of Light and Sound of God, 2/5: My Morning Jacket's lead beard Jim James has announced his first full-length solo album. He plays all the instruments and engineered the album himself. Inspired by Lynd Ward's 1929 graphic novel God's Man, which "chronicles an artist's struggle with temptation and corruption, along with finding true love," Regions sounds like it could be this year's Dianetics!

12) Coheed and Cambria -- The Afterman: Descension, 2/5: Considering C&C Cola have already issued The Afterman: Ascension, it only makes sense that what comes up must come down. Descension will continue the tale of Sirius Amory as he explores the energy source holding together the Keywork… The album will be released with a coffee-table book to help along those of us who didn't pay attention in school.

11) LL Cool J -- Authentic Hip-Hop, 2/12:

"I'm not trying to compete with 17-year-olds on the radio, but I am talking directly to the folks who came up with me," Cool told Essence. "We may not be teenagers anymore, but we do still like to have fun." The album is said to include 15 tracks, which seems a little long for us oldsters who need to be in bed by 10 p.m.

10) Bullet For My Valentine -- Temper Temper, 2/12: The follow-up to 2010's Fever, Temper Temper features the band in medically-sound form. Guitarist Michael "Padge" Paget underwent back surgery and is now well enough to stand on stage again, while singer Matt Tuck has finished touring his side-project Axewound in time to begin touring to support the new album. The future is healthy as hell.

9) Azealia Banks -- Broke With Expensive Taste, 2/12: Harlem rapper and authenticity-enthusiast Azealia Banks pushed her new album to 2013, after over-promising in 2012. "The vision and vibe that I have for Broke with Expensive Taste is just for it to be stylish and authentic like anything I do," Ms. Banks told Beats TV, "There isn't a genre I'm trying to go for or a specific vibe I'm trying for. I'm going for authenticity."

8) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds -- Push The Sky Away, 2/19:

Old goths got the best news in five years when Nick Cave announced that he and the Bad Seeds will issue their first album in -- get this -- five years with Push the Sky Away. Of course, Cave's been busy with the critically-lauded Grinderman for much of recent time, which features several Bad Seeds. Sadly, longtime Cave cohort Mick Harvey will not be included. Surely, though, the album will sound like everything else Nick Cave has done. It's not like he's going electro-clash or anything.

7) 50 Cent -- Street King Immortal, February 26: The album is already a year late, but Mr. Cent is looking to get his new album out near the ten-year anniversary of his debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin'. The new album has already seen the singles, "New Day," featuring Dr. Dre and Eminem, "First Date," with Too $hort, and "My Life," with Eminem and Adam Levine, released to the airwaves and is named after his Street King energy drink and is, according to Mr. Cent, "more personal than the albums in the past."

6) Johnny Marr -- The Messenger, 2/26: Tired of guesting on everyone else's albums, Johnny Marr decided to put his own name on something for a change. Marr returned to Manchester, the place of his youth, and told Rolling Stone the new album is inspired by "the New Wave shows I used to sneak in to see when I left school…in terms of the energy, the shadow of the memory of that."

5) Jimi Hendrix -- People, Hell and Angels, 3/5:

He may be dead, but he's still Jimi Hendrix. Featuring 12 previously unreleased recordings, the album "follows Hendrix in 1968 and 1969 as he works on material apart from the Jimi Hendrix Experience and suggests new experimental directions," says the press release. "Hendrix toys with horns, keyboards, percussion and a second guitar." Proof you don't need to be alive to still have a recording career.

4) Akon -- Stadium, March 2013: Considering the album's lead single "Angel" was released to radio stations on September 14, 2010!!!, it seems Stadium is the banned-from-Sri Lanka's singer's loooongggg-awaited new album. Surely, the public can hardly wait to hear what new potential ringtones the singer has in store for them!

3) Bon Jovi -- What About Now, Spring 2013: Having been busy with planning the 2013 Because We Can World Tour, the band have apparently remembered to issue a new studio album as well. What About Now is the chosen title and it surely will feature new songs!

2) Nicki Minaj -- Pink Friday: The Pinkprint, Spring 2013: Nicki Minaj reported on the Twitter that she will release another album called Pink Friday. That makes three albums with the same name. This one is to be subtitled The Pinkprint. No word on how many of her alter egos will be present this time.

1) Lady Gaga -- ARTPOP, Spring 2013: Word is that Ms. Gaga is looking to expand her creative reach with her next album ARTPOP. The fully-capitalized album is said to be potentially split into a "Commercial" album, with all the radio-friendly hits and stuff, and an "Experimental" album six months later that will be for the music fans who like their music less radio and more weird. Let's just hope they each come with a poster!

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