Amidst the holly and ivy, head colds and lay-a-way lines of this most wonderful time of the year, music critics of all thoughts and tastes cozy up beside the fire and begin making a list. Was the newest Bruce Springsteen record naughty? Was the Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible nice? Checked over twice or more, he or she comes up with the best 10 or so albums of the past 12 months. It’s not a hard science. Hell, it ain’t even a social science. It is what it is though – one person’s incredibly biased, musically myopic opinion. For the most part (save for the trying-too-hard contrarians and blowing-too-hard panderers), by the time you’ve finished making out with a stranger in the last few seconds of December 31st, we’ve gathered together enough of these single opinions and fashioned them into some sort of representatively definitive “Best Of” list. This is not that list. What follows is one person’s incredibly biased, musically myopic opinion not of what has come before, but rather the (potential?) best of what’s yet to come ‘round:

1. My Bloody Valentine, ? (?) ?/?/??
There’s still a lot of mystery – let’s not call it hype per se – about the first MBV record since 1991’s classic Loveless. Yes, they have played a handful of reunion gigs recently in England and Scotland. Yes, Kevin Shields’s music for 2003’s Lost in Translation was great. No, there’s no title yet. No, they don’t have a label.

2. Guns N’ Roses, Chinese Democracy (Polydor) 2/11/08
For real this time. This can’t be yet another one of Axl’s trademark “made you look” promises because the pre-sale started back in September. He’s had over 14 years to get this one right – better not screw it up.

3. Roxy Music, ? (?) ?/?/??
14 years is nothing really, considering Roxy Music’s last record came out during the Reagan administration. The always elegant Bryan Ferry did a stand-up job doing Dylan on this year’s Dylanesque, and while Brian Eno has unfortunately declined to contribute, there’s still gonna be a new Roxy record soon.

4. Bauhaus, Going Away White (iTunes/Bahaus Musik) 03/04/08
Sadly, this seminal art-punk outfit’s first new disc since 1983’s Burning from the Inside will also be it’s last. You can’t blame the Nazi’s for this one however as the band obliquely cited some interpersonal “incident” for the group’s demise. Two songs, “Adrenaline” and “Endless Summer of the Damned,” have already been confirmed on the track listing.

5. Scarlett Johansson, ? (Atco/Rhino) ?/?/??
So she’s also been working on a record of Tom Wait’s covers – awesome. And she sang with the Jesus and Mary Chain this summer at Coachella – incredible. And this as-of-yet untitled one was recorded in bum fuck Louisiana with help from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio…orgasmic.

6. Morrissey, ? (Polydor/Decca) September
The Moz shows absolutely no sign of stopping in 2008, and now that he’s finally found a home for that absurdly fantastic voice of his, this dap king is set to release both a new studio album in addition to his second greatest hits compilation. Sweet.

7. Magnetic Fields, Distortion (Nonesuch) 1/15/08
In 2004, Stephin Merritt ditched those pesky synthesizers as they were obviously cramping his style, and i eventually proved that he never needed them in the first place. Here’s hoping we learn something else just as interesting about him with these 13 new tracks.

8. The Cure, ? (Suretone/Geffen) Spring
Seeing as how Bobby Smith and his band of pallbearers felt compelled to postpone an entire tour just to make sure everything was a-okay on these two discs, there’s gotta be some gothic gold here.

9. Andrew W.K., ?Young Lord? (?) ?/?/??
Maybe you didn’t know, but Mr. Andrew Wilkes-Krier is something of Renaissance man. This past year saw him do everything from playing bass in Current 93, producing for legendary dub master Lee “Scratch” Perry, drumming with The Boredoms, playing jazz piano with Mike Pachelli, and re-releasing an album on Load. Remember the Boy Scouts when downloading this one – “be prepared.”

10. Coldplay, ? (Capitol) ?/?/??
A lot of bands secretly want to be like Coldplay. Of course, admitting that on the record is a whole other story. Regarding their fourth full-length, Chris Martin went on record stating that one of its songs is so “genius” that everyone needs to hear it “before we die.” Then again, such should be expected when Brian Eno produces your record.