Upcoming attractions: 15 albums from the second half of 2011

If you're feeling like there's not been that many great new albums released in the past few weeks, you're absolutely right: July has been a lean month and no mistake. But the schedule explodes come August, with highly anticipated discs stretching from there until the darkness of winter descends again. Here is a selection of forthcoming long-player platters to keep an ear open for.

Nero - Welcome Reality

Released: 15 August

This dubstep duo from London were on the BBC's Sound of 2011 list at the start of the year, and has enjoyed chart success with their singles Me & You and Guilt. Signed to Chase & Status' MTA Records, the pair will be hoping that their dancefloor hits translate into a debut album to savour.

Watch: the official video for forthcoming single, Promises (external YouTube link)

Previous album: N/A

Wretch 32 - Black and White

Released: 22 August

Another artist to have made this year's Sound of... list, and also tipped by MTV to make waves in 2011, 26-year-old Tottenham rapper Wretch 32 has enjoyed mainstream success with his singles Traktor and Unorthodox, both of which have been top five hits. Black and White is actually his second album, but is certain to reach a far wider audience than his 2008 debut, Wretchrospective.

Watch: the official video for Unorthodox, featuring Example (external YouTube link)

Previous album: Wretchrospective (not reviewed on the BBC)

Other Lives - Tamer Animals

Released: 29 August

Other Lives could well be set to be this year's Fleet Foxes: an indie-folk act from across the Atlantic whose sublime sounds are tailor-made for mainstream audiences. Hailing from Oklahoma, the five-piece's music has already decorated several stateside television shows, ranging from Ugly Betty to Grey's Anatomy. Darlings of the music press before their new collection has landed, expect Other Lives to fill the weirdie-beardie-shaped hole in your collection in the second half of 2011.

Watch: the official video for For 12 (external YouTube link)

Previous album: N/A

Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind of Fix

Released: 29 August

This Crouch End outfit were unlikely stars of 2010 as their second LP, Flaws, racked up the plaudits and broke into the UK top 10. Their third collection hasn't wasted its time in coming together, emerging just 13 months after its predecessor. A Different Kind of Fix will see the four-piece return to their electric roots after the mellowed-out acoustic vibes of Flaws. Will the public be as receptive? We shall see, soon enough.

Watch: the official video for Shuffle (external YouTube link)

Previous album: Flaws (review)

Lil Wayne - Tha Carter IV

Released: 29 August

The release date of this set has moved around more times than hands and feet in a game of Twister, but it now looks like the final Monday of August will bear witness to the long-awaited follow-up to Lil Wayne's globe-conquering Tha Carter III, released in 2008. Said set sold over a million copies in its first week of release in the US alone, and combined amazing commercial success with a phenomenal critical reception. The rapper's albums since - misjudged rock LP Rebirth and the mixed-bag affair of I Am Not a Human Being, both released in 2010 - haven't matched the brilliance of Tha Carter III, so the pressure is on for Lil Wayne to deliver an overdue classic. Has a prison spell dulled his edge? Don't bet on it.

Watch: the official video to 6 Foot 7 Foot (external YouTube link, features content and language which may offend)

Previous album: Rebirth (review)



Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You

Released: 29 August

Studio album number 10 from the funk-rock veterans sees guitarist John Frusciante replaced by new member Josh Klinghoffer, and the band's double-disc monstrosity of 2006, Stadium Arcadium, forgotten for a leaner 14-track collection. Lead single The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie might have a curious title, but it's purely Peppers-by-numbers stuff. Not that their millions of fans around the world will mind, as any return to the mass-appeal sounds of their By the Way LP will be welcomed.

Watch: N/A

Previous album: Stadium Arcadium (review)

DJ Shadow - Less You Know, the Better

Released: 5 September

In the year that his highly influential (and frankly unprecedented) debut Endtroducing... celebrates its 15th anniversary, Californian samples-and-beats master DJ Shadow finally releases his fourth long-play set. Arriving five years after the too-many-cooks misstep of The Outsider, Shadow fans will be hoping for something a little more in keeping with the ambitious instrumental hip hop that made the man's name.

Watch: N/A

Previous album: The Outsider (not reviewed on the BBC)

St Vincent - Strange Mercy

Released: 12 September

St Vincent is Annie Clark, a Dallas-born artist who has been involved in both the Polyphonic Spree and as part of Sufjan Stevens' touring band. Her two solo LPs to date, 2007's Marry Me and 2009's Actor, were both met by great critical acclaim, and this third set could be the one to take a truly alluring talent into the mainstream. It's about time.

Watch: teasers for Strange Mercy on 4AD's official YouTube channel (external link)

Previous album: Actor (review)

Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know

Released: 12 September

Brit-winner and Mercury Prize-nominee (twice) Laura Marling has gone from indie-folk outsider to a seriously hot commercial property in the past 18 months or so. Her previous album, I Speak Because I Can, is certified gold in the UK, and all concerned will be expecting this third collection to fare better still. Initially announced for a 2010 release, this album has seen its release date moved almost as many times as Lil Wayne's new disc - but it's unlikely anybody's going to mix the two up on the high street.

Watch: a video preview of A Creature I Don't Know (external YouTube link)

Previous album: I Speak Because I Can (review)

Kasabian - Velociraptor!

Released: 19 September

Britain's biggest band - so says their PR blurb - have again worked with Dan the Automator, who manned the mixing desk for their previous LP, 2009's psychedelia-meets-stadium-rock effort West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum. If the sound of their fourth disc's lead track, Switchblade Smiles, is anything to go on though, this is going to be a rather more adventurous affair, the Leicestershire four-piece embracing electro alongside a smattering of classic rock references (and a smidge of mariachi sonics, no?). Reportedly heavily influenced by hip hop, too, Velociraptor! could well be the set to make this band's doubters of the past eat their dismissive words.

Watch: the official video for Switchblade Smiles (external YouTube link, contains flashing images)

Previous album: West Rider Pauper Lunatic Asylum (review)

Ed Sheeran - +

Released: 12 September

Britain's brightest new pop talent - and not just because of his hair ("best ginger ever" reads one YouTube comment) - Ed Sheeran's already tasted success as his debut single for the Atlantic label, The A Team, reached number three on the domestic chart in May. His flexibility is quite remarkable, able to switch from almost-folk acoustic fare to gritty grime lyricism, and + seems sure to be the first entry in a catalogue of compelling long-players.

Watch: the official video for The A Team (external YouTube link)

Previous album: N/A

Björk - Biophilia

Released: 26 September

More than just an album, Björk's Biophilia is a multi-platform, multi-media project which will be released as a series of apps, as well as on conventional formats. She premiered material from this collection at the Manchester International Festival earlier this year, to great acclaim. Its lead single, Crystalline, recalls classic electro-organic Björk, albeit with a fantastic jungle breakdown at the track's close. There's no other artist like her, and this album is sure to be one of a kind in 2011.

Watch: the Biophilia app intro, as narrated by David Attenborough (external YouTube link; the video to Crystalline will be online on 26 July)

Previous album: Volta (review)

Nicola Roberts - Cinderella's Eyes

Released: 26 September

Cheryl Cole aside, no member of Girls Aloud has really made an impression in a solo guise - and even Cole's hold on the charts has loosened of late. But Nicola Roberts could well deliver the best GA-alumni album yet with Cinderella's Eyes, a collection that's been shaped by contributors including Metronomy's Joseph Mount and Frenchman Dimitri Tikovoi (whose credits include The Horrors and Goldfrapp). On duty for this set's lead single, Beat of My Drum, is feted Philly producer Diplo, and the results are expectedly upbeat, twitchy and percussion-savvy. Holy Moly called the track "a barnstorming British pop moment", and the Guardian named it one of 2011's best singles. A few more like it and Cinderella's Eyes will be an album that even the biggest indie snob will find impossible to ignore.

Watch: the official video for Beat of My Drum (external YouTube link)

Previous album: N/A

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Released: 17 October

The self-titled debut from Noel's new project is, inevitably, one of quarter-four's most-anticipated releases. Recorded in London and Los Angeles, the 10-track set features material that might have one day made the Oasis cut, had the brothers Gallagher not fallen out with each other so dramatically. Can Noel trump Liam's Beady Eye and deliver the better of the two post-Oasis projects? As he was the creative heart of the Britpop legends, it's certainly a possibility. Interestingly, Noel has also mentioned that he's a second album on the horizon, too, which is a "far out" collaboration with experimental electro duo Amorphous Androgynous. Double the bang for your buck...

Watch: the High Flying Birds press conference from 6 July (external YouTube link, contains language which may offend)

Previous album: N/A

Drake - Take Care

Released: 24 October

Drake's Thank Me Later was my favourite album of 2010, and the Canadian rapper's down-tempo debut certainly wasn't short of fans come the best-of rounds at the end of last year. With production talent including Kanye West, Q-Tip, The Neptunes and Dr Dre involved in the making of this second collection, it's certain to be a very big deal indeed. While new songs have surfaced in 2011, Drake is yet to confirm the tracklisting for Take Care. Bated... breath...

Watch: the official video for Marvin's Room (external YouTube link, contains language which may offend)

Previous album: Thank Me Later (review)