A belated happy new year, everyone; I trust the new issue of Uncut, with David Bowie on the cover, is easing you into 2015 in a relatively optimistic way. Not least, of course, because there’s a hefty preview of some of the next 12 months’ key albums, with plenty of quotes from the artists involved; Paul Weller, New Order, Laura Marling, My Morning Jacket, Matt White, Alabama Shakes, The Pop Group, Giorgio Moroder and so on.

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As a complementary piece here, I’ve put together a playlist of 26 forthcoming albums that I’ve been especially enjoying. Many will be familiar to regular readers of this blog, but I’ve hunted down as much music that I can find to give you a taste of these mostly excellent records. I put something similar together last year, to some degree as clickbait, but I think it turned out to be pretty useful, one way or another. Apologies for the craven title.

I’ve had to leave out a few things to respect record company embargoes, while I’ve included the Blake Mills album, that some of you will already have, because it doesn’t get an official UK release until February. Also the Crying Lion LP erroneously figured in my Best Albums Of 2014 list, but I got the release date wrong, so I’ve thrown it back into the mix for 2015. I’ll try and write about as many of these as I can over the next few weeks. For a start, I’ve contributed 1,000 words on Natalie Prass’ debut to the current Uncut.

Loads of things I’ve forgotten, for sure; please remind me in the comments below, and also let me know what you’re most anticipating in 2015.

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1. Badbadnotgood & Ghostface Killah – Sour Soul (Lex)

2. Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Just Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit (Anxiety/Marathon)

3. Sir Richard Bishop – Tangier Sessions (Drag City)

4. Crying Lion – The Golden Boat (Honest Jon’s)

5. M Dwinell – Golden Ratio (Amish)

6. Elephant Micah – Where In Our Woods (Western Vinyl)

7. Duke Garwood – Heavy Love (Heavenly)

8. Rhiannon Giddens – Tomorrow Is My Turn (Nonesuch)

9. Steve Gunn & The Black Twig Pickers (Thrill Jockey)

10. Liam Hayes – Slurrup (Fat Possum)

11. Houndstooth – No News From Home (No Quarter)

12. Howlin Rain – Mansion Songs (Easy Sound Recording Co)

13. Laura Marling – Short Movie (Virgin)

14. Blake Mills – Heigh Ho (Verve)

15. Moon Duo – Shadow Of The Sun (Sacred Bones)

16. Áine O’Dwyer – Music For Church Cleaners Vol. I & II (MIE)

17. Panda Bear – Panda Bear Vs The Grim Reaper (Domino)

18. Natalie Prass – Natalie Prass (Spacebomb)

19. Jessica Pratt – On Your Own Love Again (Drag City)

20. Alasdair Roberts – Alastair Roberts (Drag City)

21. Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love (Sub Pop)

22. Samba Toure – Gandadiko (Glitterbeat)

23. The Unthanks – Mount The Air (Rabble Rouser)

24. Ryley Walker – Primrose Green (Dead Oceans)

25. Matthew E White – Fresh Blood (Spacebomb/Domino)

26. Various Artists – Imaginational Anthems 7 (Tompkins Square)