Forward Thinking: Music and Albums

This year I have been on a quest to listen to an album a week, a goal I was originally not sure I would be able to meet simply because I never feel like I give the albums I listen to regularly as much time as they truly deserve. Still, I have mostly be able to stick to this schedule - at least as far as final tallies go - in part because of the way the music industry has changed. On a weekly basis many artists choose to stream their newest albums on a website as a way to generate interest in owning the upcoming release. Additionally, many groups such as The-Weeknd have made their own mixtapes available for free on their own domains. Yet still, with the rise of the mp3 purchasing music has never been easier. External download services like Amazon's mp3 cloud service offers a welcome alternative to iTunes's stranglehold on the market. With so many great albums released so far this year, I find myself looking forward to what else is on the near horizon. As the weeks continue to rush by as 2011 starts to draw to a close, here are a few of my most highly anticipated albums.