Last year was certainly a great year for music. Spin.com featured lists of the best of the past year's albums, songs, videos and concerts. Pitchfork and Rolling Stone showcased guest reviews of the year's best in music. In the wake of this inundation of "Best of 2010" lists, it's easy to lose sight of the highly anticipated albums to be released in the beginning of 2011. Here's a breakdown of just a few of these, spanning a wide range of the ambiguous genre known as indie.First, The Decemberists drop The King is Dead today. For fans of the Portland-based indie-rock quintet, The King is Dead is a relief of sorts following 2009's overly dramatic and convoluted The Hazards of Love. The band tried to create a rock opera, presenting a complicated story of the protagonist, Margaret, and her experiences in a mystical world featuring an evil queen and a true love at last. Singer Colin Meloy and company are known for the fantastical elements of their music, such as the dreamy, baroque sound and lyrics about history, myth and legend.

Thankfully, The King Is Dead is more like the band's 2006 album, The Crane Wife, than The Hazards of Love. Both feature inherently listenable tunes, blending folk and roots rock and always allowing Meloy's yearning vocals and pensive lyrics to shine. The rootsy vibe is present throughout, from the sound of dueling fiddles on "Rox in the Box" to the moody, strumming guitars on "January Hymn." Americana singer Gillian Welch joins the band as backing and harmony vocalist on many of The King Is Dead's 10 tracks. Her complementing harmonies help craft the first song, "Don't Carry It All," into a yearning, mid-tempo, folk-country sing-along. The King Is Dead is a triumphant return for the band, stripping back the layers hiding the naturalness that has so endBeared the band to their listeners.

Next comes Kiss Each Other Clean by Iron & Wine, to be released on Jan. 25. Based on the limited previews available online, Kiss Each Other Clean should be both a progression and a continuation of vocalist Sam Beam's usual style. A bearded, mellow folk-rock singer-songwriter, Beam is often grouped with Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, among others. On "Walking Far From Home," the album's first single, he retains his penchant for sensitive, yearning lyrics but leaves behind the whispery backing of acoustic guitars for a more full, fleshed-out sound. Surrounded by drums, backing vocals and chants, his voice is more passionate and powerful than usual. On "Biting Your Tail," Iron & Wine really surprises, featuring an almost dance-electronic backing beat. Kiss Each Other Clean has the potential to please fans and also draw in new listeners who may have dismissed the act as too quiet, folky or mellow.

On Feb. 15, Bright Eyes will release their first album since Cassadaga in 2007. The country-folk group expanded beyond its typically brooding style on Cassadaga, featuring snippets of a more electronic, stylized sound. Still, it remains to be seen what the band has up its sleeve with the forthcoming The People's Key, given lead singer Conor Oberst's recent diversions with other acts. Oberst has performed with Coner Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band as well as The Monsters of Folk, blending his own Bright Eyes elements with other musical styles.

Lastly, Lykke Li is slated to release Wounded Rhymes on March 1. Judging by "Get Some," the album's first single, this Swedish singer-songwriter has progressed beyond the lilting, almost ethereal sound of her first album, Youth Novels. Li now presents a darker, stronger sound, with lyrics to match. Chanting lyrics like "I'm your prostitute, you gon' get some," the song is weirdly anthemic, playing like a moody, postmodern version of girl power. The single's video is dark and flashy, like a trip into a cult-like world in which Li is in charge.

While these upcoming indie releases may not garner the hype or attention of some other upcoming albums, like Lady Gaga's Born This Way or Jay-Z and Kanye West's collaboration, Watch the Throne, they promise a varied and intriguing illustration of the progression of the broad indie style.