Ten Albums We Wanna See in 2010

Okay! So after a month of looking back on great cultural moments from the last 10 years, we’re ready to look ahead to next year. Maybe one day we’ll learn to sit still and enjoy the present. Until then…

1. Amy Winehouse
To put it mildly, the neo-soul queen has endured a trip through personal hell since 2007, when she released her stupendous sophomore disc Back To Black. We’d love to see her back in top form.

2. Sufjan Stevens
So maybe his much-ballyhooed 50 states project isn’t gonna happen. We can deal with that. We’re open to other projects, too! Perhaps a seven-disc ode to major highways? One down!

3. Bon Iver
We sure did like Justin Vernon’s debut album. And we await the follow-up, in hopes that his hiatus is short-lived.

4. Gillian Welch
To tide us over, we have a fine new David Rawlings album. And yet we are greedy for a Gillian record, too. She hasn’t released one in nine years, after all. Even ol’ Dave Rawlings says the record will come out “on the happiest day of my life.”

5. Arcade Fire
Their first and second discs made our Best of Decade list. Can they keep the streak alive?

6. Kanye West
Will he sing? Will he rap? Will he collaborate with Taylor Swift? So many possibilities.

7. The Byrds
Just imagine: Roger McGuinn gathers David Crosby and Chris Hillman, and makes a ’60s-style record of jangly beauty.

8. Neutral Milk Hotel
On one hand, we’re gung-ho to hear any scrap of new music that Jeff Mangum makes. On the other, this piece kinda convinces us to maybe leave well-enough alone.

9. Fleming & John
This one may actually happen (Ben Folds producer John Mark Painter sent us a new song a few weeks back). We’ve been waiting since the magazine launched, back in 2002.

10. OutKast
To nudge the guys in the right direction, we’ve even got a title and a concept. The new disc is called Fishguts & Handcuffs, a whimiscal concept album (and proper follow-up to Speakerboxxx/The Love Below) that finds Dre and Big Boi returning to their rap roots while exploring the dichotomy bewtween the anguish of prison life and the joys of fishing.