Besides featuring the hottest concert festival in the country in Coachella and the last full month of academia for beleaguered students everywhere, April also has some legitimate album releases to boot. Everyone from Rascal Flatts to Depeche Mode are looking for sales this spring, but below are THE POP FIX’s four best the industry has to offer before sweet, sweet summer.

The Thermals – Now We Can See

April 7

Kill Rock Stars

Portland-based indie rockers garnered mass critical acclaim and the best sales of their career with 2006’s biblical The Body, The Blood, The Machine, and the upcoming Now We Can See is the band’s first on legendary independent label Kill Rock Stars. With a new drummer and a, shall we say, morbid outlook on life (the album is narrated from the perspective of a corpse), the record has already received rave reviews from publications such as Spin.

Rick Ross – Deeper Than Rap

April 21

Maybach Music Group

One would think that Miami kingpin Ross rules the cocaine trade solely from his past two record’s lyrical content, and his third album (and first on his own label) promises to maintain his gangbanging facade. Sample song titles include “Valley of Death” and “Murder Miami” with guests such as recent felon T.I. look like a sure bet to improve Ross’s image after his recent legal troubles involving organized assault.

Tinted Windows – Tinted Windows

April 21

S-Curve Records

There’s not much to say about the amalgam of madness that is Tinted Windows that hasn’t already been said, but the band’s recent successful turn at music festival South by Southwest has raised their profile and accompanying hype noticeably. Check out this Spin/Myspace interview with the “mega-group” at the festival: Tinted Windows Interview w/Spin & MySpace

Bob Dylan – Together Through Life

April 28

Columbia

The folk singer of all folk singers will release his highly-anticipated 33^rd (!!!) album at the end of the month, less than two months after the enigmatic Dylan announced it. Self-produced under the pseudonym Jack Frost, Dylan has stated that the record will be much more focused on “struggling love songs” than the previous Modern Times. Interesting factoid: Dylan, at age 67, has released an album virtually every other year of his life, not counting compilations or live records.