Here we are in 2011, what could very well be the greatest or worst year of music history, but will likely end up somewhere inbetween like all the others. By the time we make our year-end lists in December, bands we've never heard will creep into our inner sanctum, while other favorites will have sprung surprise releases on us (looking at you, Newsom and Stevens). So, very much for now, here are our 11 most anticipated New York-bred releases set for this year. more

Behavior, a Brooklyn-based post-punk trio with artistic leanings, might be the perfect thing to try on for winter if you cant afford that new coat. more

Sweet Bulbs, the next in Brooklyn's line of indie pop breakouts, is on a mission to bring some messy melodies to a stage near you. The band is led by songwriter Michael Sheffield, formerly of hardcore band Michael Jordan, yet takes a different route than that act's harsh, youthful noise explosions. Sweet Bulbs is all about creating a feeling that's close to pop music without actually being radio friendly. It could easily fool you. more

Coasting has the sort of sound that could decimate a thousand laptop musicians. The work of two badass ladies, Madison Farmer on guitar and Fiona Campbell on drums, Coasting uses music to explore friendship and how to remain truly DIY in a contemporary music scene that's increasingly controlled by publicists, marketing managers and bloggers who only write about their friends. more

I've always been a secret singer. I walk around late at night reveling in desolate streets and hum melodies to myself. The melodies fall somewhere between spirituals, the blues and Mariah Carey, but I’ve never been able to properly translate my hymns to listenable music. Fortunately, I have Tom Krell and his project How To Dress Well, winner of the “why didn’t someone do this already” honors for mixing R&B, leftfield beats, hazy production and degraded sound quality with some of the more irresistibly sweet vocal melodies to come out of underground music recently. more

About twice a year, the music press collectively decides to invent a new micro-genre. It’s easy enough. Find at least three bands that sound similar by scouring MySpace pages and blogs. Then, write a trends piece that uses their artistry as chum for web hits and temporary influence. Witch House, a bizarre blend of lo-fi shoegaze, chopped and screwed Houston hip-hop, house music and horrifying imagery, is the most recent of these movements. It’s also about to die. more

A familiar scene: The band, usually a bunch of dorks, plays soulful music, but that’s not what you’re watching. It’s those background singers, which, as David Berman once sang, “All come in threes.” Ava Luna, a group from Coney Island, inverts, chops and innovates on this trope. Rolling seven members deep with a triad of female backup crooners, Carlos Hernandez leads the band through maze-like compositions that touch on soul, minimalism, disco, electronic music and TV On the Radio-tinged rock. more

BLISSED OUT IS nestled amongst the strewn sawdust of the in-transition Market Hotel at Broadway and Myrtle Avenue and its sound is perhaps the truest representation of that location put to tape thus far. J trains whiz by with constant industrial screams. The air is stale and the band’s equipment scrappy. Hip-hop beats blast from passing cars. There’s not much sunlight. Mix these elements together, twist a few Optimos and you’re getting the Blissed Out experience. more

MICHAEL GRACE JR., songwriter for The Secret History, is your classic indie pop O.G. As the former leader of defunct cult heroes My Favorite, he’s been demonstrating how to turn somber theatrics into songs for years and shows no sign of letting up. more

IT SEEMS INEVITABLE now. Every year, a relatively unknown band (like 300 fans on MySpace unknown) takes the NYC Popfest stage and captures enough of the weekend’s zeitgeist to get everyone talking. This year’s contender is called Dream Diary. Led by front man Jacob Danish Sloan, a charming and sensitive type, the band splits the difference between jangly twee acts and pure unabashed ’60s pop groups like The Supremes or stuff Phil Spector produced before he became a freakazoid murderer with awesome hair. more