SOUND BITES

ATOMS FOR PEACE Default From: AMOK Released: February 26 Practically an extension of Thom Yorke's solo album The Eraser , the debut album by Atoms For Peace is nonetheless an intriguing listen with lots to offer to Yorke's (and Radiohead's) fans. In fact, many fans (myself included) would rank AMOK higher than Radiohead's 2011 album The King Of Limbs , although that's much more an insult to Radiohead than it is a compliment to Atoms For Peace.

Stream Atoms For Peace's AMOK here , courtesy the group's website. Bear with it, it's a little overrun at the time of posting. Over six years removed from his solo debut The Eraser and two years following Radiohead's last album (the devastatingly underwhelming The King Of Limbs ), Thom Yorke returns next week with AMOK , the debut album from supergroup of sorts Atoms For Peace. The Eraser is a more fair point of comparison for AMOK than the work of Radiohead; comparing it to Red Hot Chili Peppers, despite Flea's involvement with the group, is pretty much pointless altogether. This is very much a Thom Yorke-driven vehicle and, as such, if you've followed his tendencies as a singer and songwriter over the last decade you pretty much know what you're in for. That's not a slight; no one creates an atmosphere quite like Thom. So yes, this album is full of jittery beats, warped synths and deep grooves. It forgoes grabbing you by the throat in favour ...

Usually, this is the time of year when the reflections on the twelve months that were are complete and this place becomes a ghost town for at least a couple weeks because there's nothing interesting being released until April. In fact, if you noticed during my chronologically ordered nominees rollout, you'll find that only 7/50 came out in the first quarter of the year (with five of those being in March, and none in January). Maybe the labels are panicking to get their properties out there before no one cares about albums anymore, maybe my music addiction's spiraled too far out of control. Whatever the case, the first three months of 2013 are logjammed with potentially and guaranteed awesome albums alike. So, we took a look back, and will remember 2012 fondly; now let's dive into 2013 and start devouring more tasty riffs! After the jump are my 15 most anticipated releases coming in the early part of 2013: