I don’t know about you, but I’ve always found late December/early January to be a dead zone for music.  Aside from a few stray finds, it’s typically just a time for me to reflect upon the previous year, look at others’ year-end favorites, and see if I can augment my musical collection with their discoveries.  That’s not a bad thing though, as the process often results in some of my most highly-rated records (see: The World is a Beautiful Place’s Harmlessness).  So if that’s the route you’re used to taking, then I fully encourage you to continue.  However, if you’re a little bored with 2015’s leftovers, it’s often fun to turn the page and peak ahead at what 2016 has in store.

Offering a glimpse into the future is nowhere near as good as what we already know rocked the socks off 2015.  I suppose that it goes without saying that hindsight is 20/20, thus it is important not to hold this playlist to the same standard as a “year best” list.  Plus, as much as I’d love to know every album that 2016 will bring us, the truth is that I typically play things pretty nonchalantly and just wait to see what comes my way as the months roll by.  As a result, the below playlist is merely an appetizer sampler.  You’ll probably like a few tracks and hate the rest, but that’s okay because the point is to just see what’s out there.  Also, I was kind of limited to pre-releases that already have tracks floating around Spotify.  With that said, my personal favorites are tracks 2, 3, and 5 – all of which have me fairly amped up for their respective upcoming releases.

All of these songs are on albums that have not yet been released.  Give it a listen, skip around, or just scroll to the comments and troll me for having an awful musical outlook on the upcoming year.  Or, better yet, let me know what your most anticipated album of 2016 is.  If you all start including some hyperlinks, we can make this the official hype thread of 2016!

https://open.spotify.com/user/sowingsputnik/playlist/2muLufn9oQzGS9HVVeKW05