From Abba to U2, midcentury vocal groups to 00s emo, we highlight songs that clear up the previous year’s party and look to a fresh start

Death Cab for Cutie, David Byrne and the Flaming Lips are among artists reworking Ono’s strange sound and outsider songs into something more palatable

With the uproarious Idles hitting the road, Kamasi Washington play a mind-expanding UK show, and new albums from the Specials, Weezer and AJ Tracey, here are the sounds the new year will be shaking to

The band’s ninth album brings gorgeous melodies and mature lyrics – it’s MOR, in an appealing way

The Death Cab for Cutie singer has rerecorded Bandwagonesque, Teenage Fanclub’s 1991 album. How did an ‘incredibly romantic’ Seattle teenager get hung up on four blokes from Scotland?

The veteran band’s expert recreation of their introspective songs offers the audience a way to revisit their past – which is exactly what they want

Marked by departures, this is an understandably sombre record, and its epic indie rock is occasionally overwrought

This is Death Cab running on all cylinders, even if cruise control is currently engaged, writes Mark Beaumont