In no particular order ....

Anais Mitchell et al - Hadestown Folk Opera
Black Crowes - Croweology
Black Tempest - Proxima / Ex-Proxima
Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
El Trío De Omar Rodríguez-López - Ciencia De Los Inútiles
Eno - Lovely Bones Unreleased Score
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part Two (Return Of The Ankh)
Jim Moray - In Modern History
Mushroom - Naked, Stoned, & Stabbed
Omar Rodriguez Lopez Quartet - Sepulcros De Miel
Robyn - Body Talk Vol 1
Rufus Wainwright - All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu
Samuel Katarro - The Halfduck Mystery
UNITE - A Gathering Of Strangers

Not really had the spare disposables to pick that much up but i've enjoyed...

Electric Wizard - Black Masses
Wolf People - Steeple
Black Angels - Phosphene Dream
Book of Shadows - Chichen Itza

Glad they're still making music but not albums of the year section:

Hawkwind - Blood of the Earth (but ffs, stop covering yourself!)
Brian Jonestown Massacre - Who Killed Sgt. Pepper?
The Fall - Your Future Our Clutter

Pretty underwhelmed and prefer the earlier versions of the old stuff but glad he's getting some money out of it:

Roky.

In alphabetic order:

01. Belle and Sebastian - Write About Love
02. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Advance Base Battery Life
03. David Sylvian - Sleepwalkers
04. Jeremy Jay - Splash
05. Lula Pena - Troubadour
06. Maria Gadú - Multishow ao Vivo
07. Nina Becker - Azul
08. Perfume Genius - Learning
09. The Divine Comedy - Bang Goes The Knightwood
10. The Divine Comedy - Live At Somerset House

I supose.

I usually find out my favourites of the year long after it's been and gone. Mo' powah to the guys swooping up every new release and filtering out the good from the bad, but I'm pretty finicky about not subjecting myself to too much stuff I probably won't like. It's far easier (and safer, I guess) to only hear the gems in retrospect. The "right now is the place and time" element doesn't interest me too much, either. That said, I do listen to a fair bit of new stuff all the same.

Here's a rough Top 10, in no particular order:

Big Blood - Dark Country Magic
Won James Won - Corpus Unhearmeticum
Hamid Drake & Bindu - Reggaeology
Lil B - Rain in England
Circle - Rautatie
Little Women - Throat
Gigi - Maintenant
Kemialliset Ystävät - Ullakkopalo
Prince Rama of Ayodhya & The Great Valley - Divine/Journey
Tsigoti - Private Poverty Speaks to the People of the Party
Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid
Pan Sonic & Keiji Haino - Synergy Between Mercy and Self-Annihilation Overturned
Midori - Shinsekai

Putting up a comprehensive list next week on me blog.

But here's a few of my fave albums of the year.

Archie Bronson Outfit – ‘Coconut’

Beach House – ‘Teen Dreams’

Besnard Lakes, The – ‘The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night’

Dear, Matthew – ‘Black City’

Foster, Josephine & The Victor Herrero Band – ‘Anda Jaleo’

Higamos Hogamos – ‘Sorcery’ & ‘Atomized Pt.1’

People Like Us and Wobbly – ‘Music For Fire’

Sultan, Mark – ‘$’

Various – ‘Cloud Cuckooland: Choice picks from German label Kuckuck’

Various – ‘Nigeria Special Vol.2: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds and Nigerian Blues 1970-76’

Dom Valvona

Absolutely fantastic year, imo.

I've been keeping track of the best releases this year w/ a list on RYM.

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Eye_Shaking_King/best_of_2010

It's currently 75 albums long, so I'll just post the link instead of the list itself. I'll post a shorter top 25 or something when I have more time.

Without thinking too much Ariel Pink, Joanna Newsom and Alva Noto are amongst my favourites.
Now will go off for a think...

x

I might have to edit and add to this list, because I've heard so many great new records and CDs this year. I think this has been a truly vintage year for music - I can't remember a year for a long time where I've listened almost excusively to new recordings as opposed to digging into the archives.

Demdike Stare - Forest of Evil
Serpentina Satelite - Meccanica Celeste
Imaginary Softwoods - S/T
White Hills - S/T
Gnod Drop out With White Hills
Solus 3 - The Sky Above the Roof
Wolf People - Steeple
Eleh - Observations and Momentum
Eleh - Location Momentum
Expo 70 - Where Does Your Mind Go?
Teeth of the Sea - Hypnoticon
Arp - The Soft Wave
Sun Araw - Off Duty
Skjolbrot - Maersk
Mark McGuire - Tidings/Amethyst Waves
High Wolf - Shangri L.A.
Endless Boogie - Full House Head
Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?
Double Leopards - Halve Maen

A big end-of-year shout to the wonderful Apollolaan Recordings for some simply great releases. My only regret is that I didn't buy more of them before they sold out! The ones I was lucky enough to get included:

Carol Anne McGowan - Songs From The Cellar
Spaceship - Out Of Time's Abyss
Stormhat - From The Moat
Susan Matthews & Clutter - Silence Alight

And heartfelt thanks to the couple of you who have mentioned Proxima and Ex Proxima, I'm chuffed. I never thought I'd be in a top ten list 8-)

TOMMY SANTEE KLAWS - Rakes
*MATTHEW O'NEILL - The Harbor's Delight
*ZACKERY STARHEARTMOON - Rockstar Fuckup: The Hodge Podge Results Of Hours Spent Stoned

um

NEIL YOUNG - Le Noise
*RANGDA - Falsa Flag
SUN CITY GIRLS - Funeral Mariachi

um

(did any music actually come out this year? really?)

*NELS CLINE SINGERS - Initiate
*best reissue: HeENd archive ... http://neonbrown.com/heendarchive.html
*(I'll bet the new Marc Ribot is brilliant, too, but I haven't heard it yet)

um

SOLUS3
OMAR RODRIGUEZ-LOPEZ - not sure the titles, there were a few that were good ...

um

*MORIS TEPPER - A Singer Named Shotgun Throat
*DOGWEED - Lone Dog

JOHN NORWOOD - Music From The Motion Picture Awesome
(but I'm on that one, so maybe not qualify)

uh

(c'mon, culture, you can do better than this!!)

*edit ... gradually remembering or acquiring more and more that I liked from this year

A good year for musick this one... my list -

Wolf People/ Steeple

Sabbath Assembly/ Restored to One

Circle/ Rautatie

Teeth of the Sea/ Your Mercury

Grasscut/ 1 Inch/1/2 Mile

Black Angels/Phosphene Dream

Sun City Girls/ Funeral Mariachi

Electric Wizard/ Black Masses

Sleepy Sun/ Fever

Black Tempest/ Ex Proxima

Moon Duo/ Escape

Hawkwind/ Blood of the Earth

Arp/ The Soft Wave

White Hills/ ST

Endless Boogie/ Full House Head

Emeralds/ Does it Look Like I'm Here

Probably a couple others I'm forgetting but are worthy.

Disappointment of the year was the album Pharoah Overload issued in '10... its ok overall I suppose, a bit disjointed, but has nothing of the signature PO sound left. A radical departure that left me a little bummed.

think I'll bugger off and become a Q reader, not heard of half the bands mentioneed here, must be getting old

my rather pedestrian list

Black Tempest -Proxima/Ex Proxima always liked your music Mr S but you really hit the nail on the head with these two, most anticipated cd of 2011 is the next one

Spaceship - Out Of Time's Abyss surprised this didn't make more peoples list, an absolute stormer

Neil Young - Le Noise glad I stuck with this, first listen decided it was a bit of a worthy but dull experiment, luckily I got stuck with this 1cd and a long journey and repeated listens made me fall in love with it

Robert Plant - Band of JOy probably too dadrock for your average HH punter but I love this to bits

Faust Is Last thanks to Keith A for pointing me at this one, the fact that I think this rates with the best of Faust shows how good it is

Swans -My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky matches with the Children Of God period, a welcome return and addition to the Swans catalogue, supposedly the live shows were even better

Mono - Holy Ground having lived in the postrock second division for a while they finally acheived a premier div place with this gem

Pantha Du Prince - Black Noise I have no idea what this is, some kinda minmal dance music, but it's beautiful, I keep meaning to open a thread to inquire about what bthis is and is there anything else like it

Crippled Black Phoenix - I,Vigilante this years no1 postrock Floyd impersonators

Current 93 - Baalstorm,Sing Omega also voted as this years worst CD by the rest of mu family who seem to loathe David Tibet with a vengeance

Max Richter - Infra short but sweet, I've heard a fair bit of mainstream but slightly alt modern classical type thing, but on a tunes vs time scale this is a winner

Cathedral - Guessing Game the purists moan about Cathedral no longer being Doom incarnate, but who cares with music this goos, far better than the Trytykon cd

Buzz or Howl - Turquoise Studded Child of the 8 Armed Elephant Bride title of the year, sprawling 3cd set of varied ambient guitar drone, another Lotus House winner

Feels like a fantastic year for music, though I may have just been paying a little more attention recently - and being active again on HH has made a big difference, some great recommendations.

Would have struggled to come up with a top ten for most years of the 00s, but for 2010, ten isn't enough:

1) These New Puritans - Hidden
2) Field Music - Measure (I reckon their baroque pop-prog would actually appeal to quite a few HHers - strong elements of Hammill and 80s King Crimson in here)
3) Magic Lantern - Platoon
4) Jane Weaver - The Fallen By Watchbird
5) Anta - The Tree That Bears The Equine Fruit (thanks in particular to whoever recommended this in the modern prog thread - a real grower)
6) Sun Araw - On Patrol
7) Klaxons - Surfing The Void
8) Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth (technically 2009, but only got an official UK release this year)
9) Crippled Black Phoenix - I, Vigilante
10) Forest Swords - Dagger Paths
11) Motorpsycho - Heavy Metal Fruit
12) Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
13) Dungen - Skit I Allt
14) Voice Of The Seven Thunders - S/T
15) Majeure - Timespan

Plus honourable mentions for MGMT - Congratulations & Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma.

No doubt changes to this order and additions will be made over the coming months... have the new Eno, Third Eye Foundation and Salem albums on the way for Christmas

where can i find this:

---->>>Eno - Lovely Bones Unreleased Score

Here goes...

Young Gods - Everybody Knows
UNKLE - Where Did the Night Fall
Underworld - Barking
Yann Tiersen - Dust Lane
Tame Impala - Inner Speaker
PVT - Church With No Name
Phantom Band - The Wants
Our Broken Garden - Golden Sea
The National - High Violet
Massive Attack - Heligoland
Jonsi - Go
Holy Fuck - Latin
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
Eno - Small Craft on a Milk Sea
Cherry Ghost - Beneath This Burning Shoreline
The Besnard Lakes - Are The Roaring Night
Beach House - Teen Dream
Ólöf Arnalds - Innundir Skinni
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Amiina - Puzzle

Reissues:

Bowie - Station to Station
Various - Deutsche Elektronische Musik (Soul Jazz comp)
Neu! - Box Set
Iggy & The Stooges - Raw Power

Not a bad year as it goes.

Hmm, tough one this year, but here's 10 in no particular order, But got a lot of return spins.

1: Liars - Sisterworld
2: Little Claw - Spit & Squalor Swallow The Snow
3: Caribou - Swim
4: O Children - O Children
5: FNS - FNS
6: ARP - The Soft Wave
7: People Of The North - People Of The North
8: The Dead Weather - Sea Of Cowards
9: Four Tet - There Is Love In You
10: Holy Sons - Survivalist Tales

Notable Mentions...

Woven Hand - The Threshing Floor
Johnny Dowd - Wake Up The Snakes
Charlotte Gainsbourgh - IRM
These New Puritans - Hidden
LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
The Hundred I The Hands - S/T
Stereolab - Not Music
Wolf People - Steeple
Warpaint - The Fool
Voices Of The Seven Thunders - S/T

Yeah, some good stuff's come out this year, even i can come up with a few from memory....

Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
Motorpsycho - Heavy Metal Fruit
Magic Lantern - Platoon
Mugstar - Lime
Gnod Drop Out With White Hills 2
Jane Weaver - The Fallen By Watch Bird
High Wolf - Ascension
Sun Araw - On Patrol / Off Duty
Tame Impala - Innerspeaker
MGMT - Congratulations
Grinderman - 2
Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
JG Thirlwell - Venture Bros

Comps...

In Search Of Hawkwind
An Enormous Psychedelic Bubble 3
Deutsche Elektronische Musik

Reissues...

The Fall - Wonderful & Frightening World Of ( 4CD )
Iggy & the Stooges - Raw Power
David Bowie - Station To Station
Motorpsycho - Timothy's Monster

Would love to hear the new Sandy Denny boxset too, hmm, but need to get a PS3 to play Gran Turismo 5, sadly the vicarious thrills of the game will likely win out.

Er, and have probably forgotten a few things that should have been included in the above too ( and apologies if any of them were 2009 releases ! )

Edit - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today - haven't heard this but looking at your lists it seems that i probably should.

LCD Soundsystem - The London Sessions
Frightened Rabbit - The Winter Of Mixed Drinks
The Phantom Band - The Wants
Chew Lips - Unicorn
Edwyn Collins - Losing Sleep

:o)

Just found out that the stage times for Frightened Rabbit and Edwyn Collins clash at ATP this weekend. Not good. Also, Best Coast play at 6:00 on Friday! Also not good!!

My top 10 though in no particular order:

Teeth of the Sea – Your Mercury
Teeth of the Sea – Hypnoticon
The Goner – Behold a New Traveller
White Hills – S/T
Barn Owl – Ancestral Star
David Wrench – Spades & Hoes & Plows
Master Musicians of Bukkake – Totem 2
People of the North – Deep Tissue
Rangda – False Flag
To Blacken the Pages & Korperschwache – A Way Dark (may be 2009 actually!)

And still quite a few I’d like to hear from previous stuff I have or recommendations on here e.g. Wildildlife, Sun Araw, Korperschwache, Voice of the Seven Thunders, Holy Sons etc.

In terms of old music new to me this year, a big thanks to Rob Young’s book Electric Eden for Comus (First Utterance), Incredible string band and late Talk Talk/Mark Hollis stuff.

in no particular order...

Voice of the Seven Thunders
Grinderman 2
Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks
Bo Ningen
Mono - Holy Ground
65 days of static - we were exploding anyway
roky
faust is last
jim jones revue - burning your house down
killing joke - absolute dissent
white hills
isobell campbell/mark lanegan - hawk

It's been an od year, lots heard but no complete album that really made me swoon, despite some rather fine electronica in particular. Here's a provisional list of 25 though:

1. School of Seven Bells - Disconnect From Desire
2. Rowland S. Howard - Pop Crimes
3. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
4. Brian Eno - Small Craft On A Milk Sea
5. Heligoland - Massive Attack
6. Peter Gabriel - Scratch My Back
7. Interpol - Interpol
8. Darkstar - North
9. Underworld - Barking
10. Autechre - (Oversteps)
11. Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner
12. Luke Abbott - Holkham Drones
13. The Parks Dept. - No/Noise
14. Grasscut - 1 Inch: 1/2 Mile
15. Skjolbrot - Maersk
16. Edwyn Collins - Losing Sleep
17. Grinderman - Grinderman 2
18. Blood Red Shoes - Fire Like This
19. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be
20. Four Tet - There Is Love In You
21. The Fall - Your Future Our Clutter
22. Emma Pollock - The Law Of Large Numbers
23. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
24. Cathal Coughlan - Rancho Tetrahedron
25. A Certain Ratio - Mind Made Up

Soundtrack:
The The - Tony

Re-issue:
Koner box set or The Cure's Disintegration probably. The Madness re-issues have been very well done as well. Haven't got the Orange Juice box set yet though...

Disappointment:
Freebass' awful album (not a surprise as such) and the Goldfrapp album, after how good their last one was.

Andreas Brandal " Sunken Gardens "
All Apollolaan
Alexander Hacke " Doomed "
Allerseelen " Rauhe Schale "
Alva Noto & Blixa Bargeld " Mimikry "
Billy Bao " Urban Disease " : http://www.mediafire.com/?nzlknyzmunz
Cyclobe " Wounded Galaxies Tap at The Window "
David Wrench with Black Sheep " Songs Of Insurrection, Defiance & Rebellion "
Der Schlaeger " Blogs "
Joxfield ProjeX & Guests " Numbers & Letters " : http://www.archive.org/details/ca408_jp
Neil Young " Le Noise "
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart " Complete Works " ( brilliant classics )

Don't think I've bought many new of this year albums as such, and there's some on the Xmas list to come possibly. But, so far, in no particular order...

Wolf People - Steeple (And Tidings if that was this also year?)

Solus 3 - Sky Above the Roof

Black Tempest - Proxima/Ex Proxima

Annihilator - S/T

The Shining - Blackjazz

Robyn - Body Talk I & II

Periphery - S/T

Probably some more to come!

FOM - Close to the Fridge

Delete everyone else

fnff.

Some albums i've been enjoying this year

MOTORPSYCHO Heavy Metal Fruit
US CHRISTMAS Run Thick In The Night
GRINDERMAN 2
ELECTRIC WIZARD Black Masses
GRIDS Kansas
EMERALDS Does It Look Like I'm Here?

I have a very soft old school spot for the Black Country Communion album too

Enjoying this thread, listening to a lot of stuff I would never otherwise hear via your mentions and youtube.

My (rather conservative) votes go to

Monster Magnet - Mastermind
Dragontears - 2000 Micrograms from home
Motorhead - The World Is Yours
Hawkwind - Blood of the Earth

Best Reissue
Uriah Heep - Salisbury

I found out about Dragontears from a mention on these boards.

Kinda like a "Monster Magnet" Lite - crap description, but I don't know what else to say

their myspace is here
http://www.myspace.com/dragontears2000

Album of the year for me was 'Here Lies Love' by David Byrne (ably assisted by Fat Boy Slim and a host of vocalists). If anyone could pull off a double-album of dancey tracks relating the story of Imelda Marcos, it's Byrne.

Other notable releases this year from my point of view...

Brian Eno - "Small Craft on a Milk Sea"
Arcade Fire - "The Suburbs"
David Bowie - "Reality Live"
The Legendary Pink Dots - "Seconds Late For The Brighton Line"

Also really enjoyed Atticus Ross & Trent Reznor's soundtrack to The Social Network (though haven't seen the film) and Warren Ellis & Nick Cave's soundtrack to The Road (which I did see and thought was excellent though flawed).

Probably forgetting some others, but in truth 2010 was very much a year in which I listened to more old favourites than new releases.

Best new release Black Country Communion a stunning old school release that highlights exactly why Glenn Hughes should have been Deep Purples lead vocalist not Coverdale (although I do like DC's work with Purple)
Best reissue Come Taste the Band

All the best
Joolio