What To Look (and Listen) For in 2015

By John Schaefer

Now that we’ve gotten all the year-end review stuff out of our system, it’s time to look ahead at some potential highlights for 2015. Because we don’t know all the joys the year will bring, this list of 10 early highlights includes eight events you can depend on… and a couple that might just be wishful thinking.

Until The Ribbon Breaks

The London-based group’s single “Pressure” — which was released on an EP in 2013 — will be on its upcoming album, A Lesson Unlearnt (out Jan. 20), along with collaborations with New York rapper (and Soundcheck fave) Homeboy Sandman and the hip-hop duo Run The Jewels (who’ve appeared on many of those year-end lists for 2014). But keep an ear out for tracks “Romeo” and “Goldfish,” which cut the spare, high-gloss R&B sheen with streaks of darkness. And starting on Jan. 21, Until The Ribbon Breaks will embark on a North American tour with fellow electro-R&B band London Grammar.

Bob Dylan

You may be thinking that the last thing the music world needs now is another old-timer releasing an album of standards. Especially an old-timer who’s been famous for his songwriting, not for the beauty of his singing voice. And maybe Dylan’s Shadows In The Night, (out Feb. 3) will in fact turn out to be unnecessary. But somehow I doubt it. For one thing, after years of being covered in various guises, these covers are now being “uncovered,” to use Dylan’s term — stripping away the strings and choirs and getting back to the bare bones of the songs. Dylan and his touring band have already provided a teaser with a version of “Full Moon And Empty Arms,” and it bodes well for what may be Dylan’s most quixotic non-Christmas-themed album yet.

Alex Winston

This young Detroit/New York singer-songwriter told us she had never heard of Kate Bush until people started telling her how much she sounded like the veteran British art-rocker. I thought her album King Con was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2012, full of rich, dark-hued rock with neat call-and-response vocals and surprising touches of instrumental color. Winston has a new album due in the Spring — no title yet, apparently — but recently-released latest song, “Careless,” suggests her follow-up album will be a must-hear.

The Decemberists

With The Decemberists’ next album, What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World (out Jan. 20), Colin Meloy and his band of Portlandia residents will once again impress us with their trademark blend of polysyllabic vocabulary and progressive folk-rock — in part because there is often a hint of a wink in Meloy’s lyrics. In the new music video for the first single, “Make You Better,” The Decemberists allow its sense of humor to come to fore in the “found footage” of the band on a 1977 German TV show, hosted improbably by Nick Offerman (a.k.a. Ron Swanson on NBC’s Parks and Recreation).

The Who

Yes, the band that hoped to die before it got old is now celebrating a half-century of classic rock screaming, smashed guitars, and probably more of Roger Daltrey’s chest than you really need to see. “The Who Hit 50” is the name of their 2015 two-leg, nation-wide tour. Long gone are Keith Moon and John Entwhistle, the band’s original (in both senses of the word) drummer and bassist, respectively. But as long as Pete Townsend can windmill his way through “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and Daltrey can hit those high notes on “Love, Reign O’er Me” — though he occasionally opts for a lower pitch that also fits the melody —The Who will remain one of the great live music phenomena.

Ed Pastorini

Who? Pastorini is a New York singer-pianist-songwriter who does all three of those things well. What he does not do well is put himself out there. He will play with his band, 101 Crustaceans, from time to time, but I’ve always found his solo piano songs to be extraordinary little works of art, and he rarely performs them live. Strange Lures finally collects some of these pieces — from poignant, sepia-toned family snapshots to snarling lyrics buttressed by startling chord sequences to the title track’s stunning evocation of madness and suicide. It’s a long time coming, and predictably for him, the release date is unsettled. But it will happen sometime in 2015.

Matana Roberts

A brainy, brawny sax player and composer, Matana Roberts has spent the past few years exploring the black American experience through the lens of her own long, convoluted, and consistently intriguing family history. Coin Coin Chapter 3: River Run Thee (out Feb. 3) is, as the title implies, the third album in this series. And if the first two are any indication, expect a bracing mix of melodies, often based on folksong, blues, and early gospel or jazz, with expansive improvisations that veer from the abrasive to the spiritual.

Yo-Yo Ma And The Silk Road Ensemble

Next year, 2015, marks the 15th anniversary of the Silk Road Ensemble, a world music band formed by the famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma and originally intended to follow the movement of musical and cultural influences from Venice, Italy, to Japan through the fabled Silk Road in Asia. The band has spawned other important ensembles — like the string quartet known as Brooklyn Rider — but for the 15th anniversary, the Silk Road Ensemble be touring with everything from traditional Central Asian music to original works commissioned for the band, with its unique blend of Western, Asian, African, and South American instruments. On Feb 19–21, they’ll be performing in a mixed program with the New York Philharmonic and conductor Alan Gilbert.

Joanna Newsom

No, I haven’t heard anything. But her on-screen turn as the narrator in the Paul Thomas Anderson film Inherent Vice reminds us that she’s still around. It’s been years since her last record, and would it be too much to ask for something new from this gifted harpist and songwriter at some point during 2015? (I’ve had good success asking that question — at the end of 2012 NPR asked me what I was looking forward to in 2013 and I asked if it’d be too much to expect something, anything, new from David Bowie. Two days later came the surprise release of his song “Where Are We Now” and the announcement of a whole new album on the way.)

David Bowie

Yeah, I’m going there again. David Bowie released the unexpected and brilliantly-colored “Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)” with the Maria Schneider Orchestra this past November. And while I don’t think that one song with a big jazz band hints at a new direction, it does indicate that the reclusive Bowie is still writing, still taking chances, and probably (hopefully?) due to release a long-player at some point in 2015.

John Schaefer hosts WNYC’s @Soundcheck . If you like what you’re reading, you should definitely subscribe to the podcast.