By Mita Tate

While the Coldplays and System Of A Downs of the world drop albums that are hyped to the max and destined to sell millions, the vast majority of albums released this summer will go relatively unnoticed by the masses. Despite this, these albums are, in many ways, equal to, if not even better than, their major label funded, chart-topping counterparts. These are 10 of those albums (in no particular order).

-Mice Parade – Bem-Vinda Vontade – Release Date: May 3 – Indie darlings Mice Parade push even more boundaries with their fifth studio release. While what they do can be considered easy by some standards, only Mice Parade can make such endearing and charming music. Also make sure to look out for guest appearances from some of today’s leading artists including Mum’s Anna Valtysdottir who appears on the single “Nights Wave.”

-Fannypack – See You Next Tuesday – Release Date: May 10 – The three girls from Brooklyn are back with a titilating new album that will leave both hipsters in Williamsburg and hip-hop gurus in Flatbush begging for more. This time Jessibel, Melinda and Cat have traded in their retro-Salt N’ Pepa image for titilating lyrics and beats that would make even the Neptunes envious.

-Jane – Berserker – Release Date: May 17 – Jane is Comprised of psych folk weirdos Animal Collective’s Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) and NYC DJ Scott Mou. Berserker clocks in at 54 minutes with a total of only four tracks. More freeform jams combining atonal drones and sparse electronics, rather than traditional composition and structure, Berserker is more of an experiment than an actual album. However, it is a highly successful experiment.

-Skullflower – Orange Canyon Mind – Release Date: May 24 – The UK power electronics scene veteran, Matthew Bower, adds this underrated epic to his vast catalog of weirdness. A hybrid of doom-drone-psych-noise-ambient-metal, Skullflower has all the after effects of Heroin but instead of trackmarks, you’ll be treated to bleeding ears.

-Smog – A River Ain’t Too Much To Love – Release Date: May 31 – Recorded at Willie Nelson’s infamous Perdernales Studios located in Texas, Billy Callahan, aka Smog, continues his journey to distort the image of the lonesome, passionate singer/songwriter with his 12th full length album. While the album is chock full of country and folk influences, it is Joanna Newsom’s contribution on “Rock Bottom Riser” that will stand out most with the younger Indie crowd.

-Billy Corgan – The Future Embrace – Release Date: June 21 – While everyone is busy rocking out to the new Coldplay and White Stripes, that leaves little room for former Smashing Pumpkins’ frontman Billy Corgan. Although, judging by his Livejournal and Myspace entries it seem that everyone’s favorite ’90s Alterna-rocker has gone off the deep end in recent years, the few songs released on a short EP so far are solid. While “Cowboy Bill’s” new album sadly doesn’t come close to living up to his former days as an angsty Pumpkin, it will surely eclipse his efforts in Zwan.

-The Posies – Every Kind Of Light – Release Date: June 28 – Longtime Seattle rockers The Posies are back with their ninth release. Although they won’t be able to re-claim their spot at the top of the “indie rock foodchain,” from the likes of Interpol, Every Kind Of Light is still a fantastic political album that stays true to its AOR roots (whether that be a good thing or bad thing).

-Sufjan Stevens – Illinois – Release Date: July 5 – After taking a detour with the endearing Seven Swans, prolific singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens continues his 50 state journey–a series of albums about each individual state. This time he has chosen to cover the great state of Illinois. While the songs are absolutely beautiful and incredibly haunting, the song titles will definitely grab some attention with quirky track names like “A Conjunction of Drones Simulating the Way in Which Sufjan Stevens Has an Existential Crisis in the Great Godfrey Maze.”

-Goldfrapp – Supernature – Release Date: Aug. 22 – One of the more highly anticipated upcoming album releases includes this album by chaunteuse Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory. While their first release was a mix of cinematic space age pop and trip hop, her second release was pure electro bliss. What the new album will bring, no one is quite sure, but either way it will be one hell of a stylish and sexy ride.

-Foxy Brown – Black Roses – Release Date: Aug. 22 – Yeah, yeah, as you know there are many great hip-hop releases scheduled to drop this summer, but everyone knows Kanye West and Missy Elliot’s new albums will be huge hits. Foxy’s on the other hand, will sadly, probably be overlooked by fans and critics alike. n

Former Smashing Pumpkin, Billy Corgan, is back with ´The Future Embrace´. (Image courtesy amazon.com)