Top 10 Albums To Look Forward To In 2011

A few years back, Dave Grohl announced that the Foo Fighters would take a much needed break; They had just played at Wembley Stadium and had reached their peak. In 2011, the band is going back to their roots, but further back than one might expect. Dave Grohl is channeling his Nirvana days by teaming up with producer Butch Vig (who worked on Nirvana's Nevermind).  He is also recruiting former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic to play some bass lines and accordion on their seventh studio album. The result, according to Dave, is a much more raw sounding record than we would expect from Foo. The album is expected to hit in late spring/early summer 2011.

Radiohead's last album, In Rainbows, was one of the band's best, winning several awards including a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album. They were one of the first major bands to release a record under the "pay what you want" model and they are looking at recreating their success with their follow up. Radiohead's eighth album will once again be released as an internet download but the pricing details are unknown. In the meantime, don't forget to check out their free HD concert video.

It's hard to believe but Lady Gaga's 2011 album Born This Way is actually only her second full length release. She quickly rose to fame with, the appropriately named record, The Fame in 2008 but has since then only released a few EPs. It won't be about wigs, lipstick, and costume changes this time around according to the pop star. Singer-Songwriter Akon was treated to an early sample of Born This Way and claims that Gaga has taken her music to a new level. Look out for the first single in February 2011 with the rest of the album being released soon after.

With Butch Vig busy producing Grammy winning albums and Shirley Manson frightening audiences as a Terminatrix on television, Garbage was stuck in limbo for a while. The two have reunited with the rest of Garbage once more. Shirley announced on her Facebook page that a new album and tour are in the works. 2010 found Shirley on stage performing with No Doubt, Kings of Leon, The Pretenders and Iggy Pop but not under the Garbage moniker. It's unknown with which label, if any, they have signed with.

Richard David James, a.k.a Aphex Twin, is also working on new material for 2011. Unlike the rest of the artists on this list, Richard has a whopping six albums that are already completed with the first releasing in March 2011. While Aphex has been releasing tracks here and there, his last proper album was 2001's Drukqs. According to Richard, two of the new albums are very non-commercial, while the rest are old songs redone or work in progress that has changed many times.