Anticipated: 2014 Q1 Releases

By Tom Aylott

You’ve probably had enough of end-of-year lists now, so what better time to look forward to 2014’s first quarter releases than right now? January, February and March are already looking fantastic, so ignore the weather and get stuck in with this fine crop of exciting records in release order:

Canterbury – ‘Dark Days’

[January 13]
Ever since ‘Heavy In The Day’, we’ve been excited to see how Canterbury might develop for album number 3. Needless to say they have come a long way, as you can see in our review of ‘Dark Days’. This could be the album to really push them into the big leagues… whatever the big leagues are.


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Against Me! – ‘Transgender Dysphoria Blues’

[January 21]
We’ve had our hands on this one for a while so it’s probably a little bit of a cheat to call it something we’re anticipating, but we’re looking forward to seeing if people agree with our review of the new one from Against Me!, and also what it means for the band over 2014. We’re hoping there’s some European dates in the pipeline as well, so this is a very exciting time to be an Against Me! fan!

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The Hotelier – ‘Home, Like No Place Is There’

[February 02]
Formerly known as The Hotel Year, The Hotelier have an album due next month through Tiny Engines, and considering the strength of its predecessor, this could be one of our favourites of 2014. Check out a track from the release below, and get as excited as we are!

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Modern Baseball – ‘You’re Gonna Miss It All’

[February 11]

This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise addition to the list. A fantastic band with the world at their feet, Modern Baseball bring all kinds of Indie and Punk together to make a melodic, bouncy update on Weezer and The Get Up Kids, and the release of their ‘You’re Gonna Miss It All’ album should get them right out people’s noses in 2014. Check out a track from the releases below, and start agreeing with us… about now.

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Bayside – ‘Cult’

[February 21]
The return of Bayside is long overdue – with the first song of the release apparently “out there” (though we’re just guessing that as the personnel in the video and the band won’t confirm whether it’s on the album or not), there’s plenty to keep fans guessing about the release. It arrives through Hopeless in February, and it’s one to keep an ear out for this Winter. To get yourself even more in the mood for the release, check out this article we did on the history of the band.

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Nai Harvest – ‘Hold Open My Head’

[March 03]
Nai Harvest are one of our favourite upcoming UK bands, and their signing to Topshelf shows just how on-the-pulse the label is with the UK scene. They’ve teamed up with Dog Knights productions for this, and though the band have posted only the title track from ‘Hold Open my Head’ online so far, we’re stoked to hear the rest of it and see what else they get up to this year.

Brawlers – ‘I Am A Worthless Piece Of Shit’

[March 05]
It’s always great when new bands get picked up on by labels that can do wonders for them, and our two time Punktastic Reader Award winning label Alcopop! Records are absolutely suited to making the most of Brawlers’ potential. Their EP ‘I Am A Worthless Piece Of Shit’ (kudos on the name, really) arrives in March, and you can check out a song from the release below.

Great Cynics / Muncie Girls Split

[March 10]
Specialist Subject Records are releasing a split from two of our favourite UK punk bands, with three new songs apiece from Muncie Girls and Great Cynics arriving on 12″ this March. It’s a great pairing of bands, and we can’t wait to check it out.

Elder Brother – ‘The Holy Head’

[March 11]
Elder Brother was started by Kevin Geyer of The Story So Far and Dan Rose of Daybreaker, and they’ll be releasing a debut album, ‘Heavy Head’, in March through Pure Noise Records. ‘Throw Me To The Wolves’ from the release has been posted online, and we think it sounds absolutely amazing.

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I Am The Avalanche – ‘Wolverines’

[March 17]
Hot off the press just earlier this week, I Am The Avalanche have announced that they’ll release a new album called ‘Wolverines’ in March. We loved the band’s first two records to bits, and the first cut from this release sounds fantastic so we’ve got high hopes!

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La Dispute – ‘Rooms Of The House’

[March 17]
Within the Punktastic staff La Dispute are highly regarded, and the news that their new record will arrive via Big Scary Monsters in March was a fantastic present in news form over the festive period. The band visit Europe to coincide, and though there’s no music from the release to froth over yet – we’re fucking excited.

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The Hold Steady – ‘Teeth Dreams’

[March 25]
It’s been a while since we’ve heard new material from The Hold Steady, so the rather-hot-off-the-press news that they’ll be releasing a new record is music to our ears (literally). ‘Teeth Dreams’ arrives via a new imprint called ‘Washington Square’ in March, with Deaf Havana amongst the signings on the new label.

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