"Tuned Into Pop Culture" guest contributor Nick Carrabine is a News-Herald staff writer.

It’s 2010 and the music industry is in pure shambles.

Record labels are losing money left and right, people like Justin Bieber, Kesha and Miley Cirus are inexplicably today’s biggest pop stars and Nas hasn’t released an album in almost two years.

I’m sure you can imagine the horror.

Last January, I posted a list of 11 albums that I anticipated for release in 2009.

Eight of them were released while three of them were pushed back until 2010. In a age of iTunes, illegal downloading, file sharing and cd burning, albums are constantly being pushed back as many artists or bands are completely scrapping leaked songs and albums and creating new material causing setbacks.

So, here is a list of albums I anticipate in 2010. Don’t blame me when they get pushed back.

Nas and Damian Marley: Distant Relatives
Tentative Release Date: April 20, 2010. (although this has already been pushed back several times)
I’ve talked enough about this project and refuse to say anything else about it until I actually see it hit store shelves. I’ve been waiting a year for it. Enough is enough.

Lupe Fiasco: Lasers
Tentative Release Date: Spring 2010
Originally supposed to be a three-disc album released in the fourth quarter of 2009, Lupe scrapped plans on LupE.N.D. and started working on Lasers. Again, nothing really new to say about my anticipation for this album as its been in the works for almost a year.

My Chemical Romance: currently untitled
Tentative Release Date: Spring/Summer 2010
Another album originally intended to be released in 2009, but pushed back. According to Wikipedia (lead singer) Gerard Way said in a November 2009 interview with Rock Sound that the fourth album would be their defining work. “A friend who heard the record recently said he now had no interest in listening to our older work anymore, that we had made all our old material redundant. I took it as a compliment, the next thing you do should always make the last thing seem unimportant and I think that will happen when we finally release this album.”

Dr. Dre: Detox
Tentative Release Date: When pigs fly
Let’s face it, I have a better chance of releasing an album before Detox ever sees the light of day. Dre’s peers such as Eminem and 50 Cent promised this to be released in 2009 and it wasn’t. However, I’ll still include it on this list just in case hell freezes over so I don’t look like a buffoon.

Joe Budden: The Great Escape
Tentative Release Date: April 2010
Budden had a very impressive year in 2009 releasing two solo albums and a collaboration album with his new group, Slaughterhouse. He looks to keep the momentum going with The Great Escape which follows the appropriately titled Halfway House (2008) and 2009s Padded Room and Escape Route.

Jimmy Eat World: currently untitled
Tentative Release Date: Summer/Fall 2010
This band came up being compared to Weezer in the 1990s, however at this point in their careers, they blow Weezer out of the water and have been for the past half decade. They hit the spotlight in 1999 with the release of Clarity, which is considered by many to be their masterpiece, and their three albums following have gained both critical and commercial success.

Bayside: currently untitled
Tentative Release Date: Fall 2010
One of my favorite bands of the decade, Bayside had a rather quiet 2009 after releasing new material in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Lead singer Anthony Raneri took some time off to go on a solo tour and work on an acoustic solo record that may or may not ever see the light of day. Nonetheless the band is back in the studio and preparing their fifth studio album.

Stone Temple Pilots: currently untitled
Tentative Release Date: Spring/Summer 2010
One of my all-time favorite bands, STP will release their first album in almost 10 years this upcoming spring/summer. This will be the band’s first album since breaking up in 2003. In the winter of 2008, Scott Weiland released a criminally underrated double solo album that went by almost completely unnoticed. Guitarist Robert DeLeo stated that the overall sound of the band’s new album will have a 1960s vibe, according to Wikipedia.

Slaughterhouse: currently untitled
Tentative Release Date: 2010
This hip hop group released the best rap album in 2009 and look to do it again in 2010, this time on a major record label. It’s been confirmed that the group has been in many discussions with Eminem’s Shady Records label and the group said they look to have a new album out this year.

Panic! at the Disco: currently untitled
Tentative Release Date: Spring 2010
The group is now just lead singer Brendon Urie and drummer Spencer Smith following the departure of guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker. I liked this band after their first release but didn’t start taking them seriously until their incredible sophomore album, Pretty. Odd. With Ross being the main inspiration behind Pretty. Odd., I honestly have no idea what to expect with the duo’s third album. But at the very least, I’m interested.

The Young Veins: Take a Vacation
Tentative Release Date: Summer 2010
Speaking of Ross and Walker, this is the band they went on to create after quitting Panic. Again, I have no idea what to expect from this duo, but I think they’ll be worthy of at least checking out.

Bright Eyes; currently untitled
Tentative Release Date: Fall 2010
My heart skipped a few beats when Conor O’Berst said this would be the band’s final album (although to be fair, Oberst pretty much is the band. It contains two other members but mostly a variety of rotating guests round out each album. So I’m not entirely sure what this means.) Oberst, over the past five to six years, has taken a more folk/country route in his past several releases. No idea, what genre this album will fall under.

Sum 41: currently untitled
Tentative Release Date: Summer/Fall 2010
I look forward to hearing the follow-up to 2007s Underclass Hero, which I thought was the band’s best work. Lead singer Deryck Whibley was recently divorced from Avril Lavigne, so I’m sure this album will be a big F you to her.

Cake: currently untitled
Tentative Release Date: Summer 2010
While never releasing a album that is great front to back, this band does have plenty of extremely great material. A few years ago, I made a mix of their 20 greatest songs from their first four albums and it’s one of my favorite CDs of all time. By the time this album comes out, it will have been six year since their last release and lead singer John McCrea describes the album’s sound as “very different” from previous Cake records, also indicating that he will be playing piano much more than usual.

Red Hot Chili Peppers: currently untitled
Tentative Release Date: Late 2010
Not much is known about this album, other than the group went into the studio in October without guitarist John Frusciante, who left the band last fall for the second time in the bands 20 plus year career. However, the formula with the past three albums over the past 11 years has been the same, and I hope they stick to it.

Linkin Park: currently untitled
Tentative Release Date: 2010
It’s hard to believe that not only has this band stayed relevant since their debut 10 years ago, but the fact that they are still one of, if not the most popular bands on the face of the planet. The reason I say that is because 1.) there style is so vastly different from anything else that has been around in the past few decades and 2.) they take so much time off in between records that it’s hard to believe people just don’t forget about them. Regardless their fourth studio album is slated for a release this year and the band’s emcee, Mike Shinoda said it will be more experimental and cutting-edge. It will also be produced by my favorite producer, the legendary Rick Rubin, who also also produced their last album, Minutes to Midnight.

Blink 182: currently untitled
Tentative Release Date: Late 2010
A year after announcing their reunion and four months after touring for the first time in six years, the band is back in the studio working on their first release since breaking up in 2004. Little is known about the project as they did not debut any new material on the summer tour but guitarist Tom Delonge has this to say about it on a trailer that was released online for a future Blink 182 documentary: “No one really knows what to expect from the next Blink record, but I don’t think anyone thinks it’s going to be a straightforward rock record. I think everyone expects it to be the work of our life and probably the most ambitious song writing and art that we’ve ever made. I think that now we’re ready for it.” Delonge also said it’s possible the record won’t come out until 2011.

Eminem: Relapse 2
Tentative Release Date: 2010
As I said last May when Relapse came out, I won't judge Eminem's comeback until I hear this album. I thought Relapse was OK, but nothing extraordinary by any means, which by all accounts his first three albums were. This album was supposed to be released near the end of 2009, but instead, the rapper opted to release a deluxe version of the original Relapse with seven additional songs.

It’s only January, throughout the next few months, many more releases will be announced. Aside from that, I can only hope 2010 is a better year musically than 2009, which I thought was very weak.

I simply cannot stomach another year listening to Justin Bieber, Kesha and Miley Cirus.