Spring into some of 2011’s hottest forthcoming indie, hip-hop, pop releases

As they say, April showers bring lots of time spent indoors. So while you’re just sitting around for the next month, here’s some new music to listen and look forward to from artists in their prime.

April 12
“Tomboy” by Panda Bear
Animal Collective helmsman Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox returns from a four-year solo hiatus with “Tomboy,” which he says will be his most guitar-based effort. The title track and lead single is his most urgent-sounding work yet, featuring a pulsing electric guitar riff with a bass-heavy beat. Still, Lennox’s voice, a deep-toned and constantly sustained shout that focuses more on its role as a musical instrument than lyrical delivery, remains his strongest asset.

May 3
“Helplessness Blues” by Fleet Foxes
Only one month remains until the long-awaited sophomore effort from Seattle-based tree huggers Fleet Foxes reaches the world’s ears. “Battery Kinzie” plugs their signature roots-folk sound into a blur of time signature shifts, an intriguing new challenge for a group known to excel within strict parameters.

May 15
“Tha Carter IV” by Lil Wayne
Two mediocre albums and a prison sentence after “Tha Carter III,” Lil Wayne returns in May with something we can believe in again. “TC4” will include Wayne’s latest hit, the “A Milli”-esque “6 Foot 7 Foot,” which features his strongest verses since “TC3” and jaw-dropping similes like the now ubiquitously quoted, “real Gs move in silence like lasagna.”

May 31
“Codes and Keys” by Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab’s last album, “Narrow Stairs,” brushed the surface of arena rock without over-compromising the arresting simplicity of Ben Gibbard’s melodies or surrendering its subtleties, and it seems it liked the way things were going. “You Are A Tourist,” the lead single off “Codes and Keys,” is a prime example of this method done right: Think the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s “Maps” on a slightly grander level.

June
TBA by Bon Iver
After his cult-legendary 2007 debut “For Emma, Forever Ago” and similar follow-up EP “Blood Bank” in 2009, no one could have predicted that acoustically inclined softie Justin Vernon’s next two moves would be playing a central role in Kanye West’s most acclaimed album to date and making a sophomore LP featuring “a Civil War-sounding heavy metal song.” But according to a recent Rolling Stone article, the aforementioned song is very real and the album is due in early June.

Other Notable Releases
April 5 - “Blood Pressures” by The Kills
April 12 - “The Family Sign” by Atmosphere
April 12 - “Nine Types of Light” by TV on the Radio
April 12 - “Wasting Light” by Foo Fighters
April 26 - “King Kong” by Gorilla Zoe
May 10 - “Simple Math” by Manchester Orchestra
May 17 - “Give Till It’s Gone” by Ben Harper
May 23 - “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga
Late May - “Circuital” by My Morning Jacket
June - “Relax” by Das Racist