The Dummy guide to the best new albums: January 2012

New year, new series: a list of the best records to hit the shelves in the coming month to help you plan your shopping or downloading trips. Taste is, as ever, the key, and we’ve narrowed down the endless hundreds out each week to just a handful of ones to watch.

January is traditionally a quiet time for record releases after the Christmas best-ofs bonanza, but that’s what makes this coming month such an interestingly mixed bag – from the big second or third records to the slip-them-out reissues to a clutch of promising debuts.

January 9th
Trailer Trash Tracys – ‘Ester’ [Double Six]
The three Ts, after first catching ears the year before last, release their debut exploring the outer-reaches of shoegaze and pop melodies.
Sunn O))) / Nurse With Would – ‘ØØ Void’ [Southern Lord]
Re-release of drone-rock high priests’ second album, re-packaged with full remix album by Nurse With Wound.
The Maccabees – ‘Given To The Wild’ [Fiction / Mercury]
Third album by Brighton-London art-pop band promises epic swoons.
The Cramps – ‘File Under Sacred Music: Early Singles 1978-81’ [Munster]
Collection of tracks from the early years of the pyschobilly crew.

January 16th
The Big Pink – ‘Future This’ [4AD]
Second record by Dalston industrial band promises big, pinker feelings.
Expensive Looks – ‘Dark Matters’ [Group Tightener]
Looped tracks and delicate psyche from New York native and Dummy Mix survivor Alec Feld.
Pinch – ‘FabricLive 61’ [Fabric]
Mix of industrial-grade dubstep from Bristol bass Prometheus.
Canyons – ‘Keep Your Dreams’
Australian duo and Nite Jewel collaborators’ punchy, drunk disco full-length.

January 23rd
Porcelain Raft – ‘Strange Weekend’ [Secretly Canadian]
Sweet-voiced Roman singer-songwriter-composer Mauro Remiddi breaks the boho mould with looped folk singalongs for scratched souls on debut album.
Francois & The Atlas Mountains – ‘E Volo Love’ [Domino]
Second album by southern French band who sing sweetly of the weight of the world on their shoulders.
Leila – ‘U & I’ [Warp]
IDM survivor Leila’s follow-up to her earlier triptych, an album-length collab with Berliner Mt Sims.
Chairlift – ‘Something’ [Young Turks]
New Yorker duo who took a bite of the big Apple pop and shimmer on revivalist second record.

January 30th
Lana Del Rey – ‘Born To Die’ [Polydor]
Famous, interesting singer Lizzie Grant’s foreclosure blues gets full release.
Loops Of My Heart – ‘And Never Ending Nights’ [Magazine]
The Field’s even loop-ier side-pj for reliable neo motorik label Magazine stretches out into new, brazenly abstract territory.
We Have Band – ‘Ternion’ [Naive]
Brit electro-pop trio plans sparks for second album.
Various – ‘Voguing And The House Ballroom Scene Of New York City 1989-92’ [Soul Jazz]
Sounds of New York’s underground gay catwalk dance style, diva booty for camp juke fans.