Archives for December 2010

Just for fun, I've totted up all of our top five albums of 2010 lists - find them all here, with contributions from a selection of BBC radio presenters and critics - to see which record received the most nods. Now, these aren't votes, and there's no scoring system in place. But one album was listed more times than any other - and it's one that I didn't put in my own top five (although it'd be at six).

And that album is High Violet by The National. It's the Brooklyn-based band's fifth long-player, and earned a double-thumbs-up from Zane Lowe, Stuart Maconie and Bob Harris, as well as writers James Skinner and Ben Patashnik. It's also ever so slightly brilliant, but don't take our word alone for that - it won Best Album at this year's Q Awards, and has a score of 85 on Metacritic (external link). Read the BBC review of it, and listen to a preview of every track, here.

A number of albums were listed three times (but not one four times) - these are below, with links to the relevant BBC review where preview clips can be heard.

Drake - Thank Me Later (review/previews)

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (review/previews)

Deftones - Diamond Eyes (review/previews)

Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here (review/previews)

John Grant - Queen of Denmark (review/previews)

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today (review/previews)

Gayngs - Relayted (reviews/previews)

Not a bad array of records at all, there. You can tell us about your favourite(s) of 2010 by commenting below.

Read all Best Albums of 2010 content

He's at the vanguard of Radio 1's ongoing pursuit of the best new music out there, and the last man standing in terms of giving us a top five albums of 2010. And now, he can sit down. Zane Lowe's top five of the year, as follows...

"I know I should relish list-making at the end of every year, but I find it quite a challenging task. To condense all this great music into a short list of great albums is not easy, usually; but this year we've managed to do it with little strain.

"Respect was paid, on my show, to five albums in particular. And they are..."

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Says reviewer Stephen Kelly: "It appears one benefit of tearing your mind apart is being able to put it back together better than before, for this album really is something special."

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Bombay Bicycle Club - Flaws

Says reviewer Paul Lester: "Steadman's vocal stands out - its tremulous quality may be a hangover from, as the story goes, embarrassment at being overheard singing as a kid, but it heightens the sense of an authentically troubled spirit exorcising his demons in the quietly devastating manner of a Nick Drake."

read the BBC review and listen to previews

The National - High Violet

Says reviewer Mike Diver: "Its charms are subtle, its grip soft and easily shrugged by those who choose to pay it only passing attention. Live with it a while, though, and High Violet rewards patience with songs that colour one's waking existence."

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Deftones - Diamond Eyes

Says reviewer Mike Diver: "These 11 tracks flow fantastically, sounding like products of a focused period of writing and recording, completed over a relatively short space of time. And they knock every pretender to the band's throne into the middle of next week."

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Says reviewer Mike Diver: "The Suburbs is the band's most thrillingly engrossing chapter yet; a complex, captivating work that, several cycles down the line, retains the magic and mystery of that first tentative encounter. You could call it their OK Computer. But it's arguably better than that."

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Zane's recently recommended albums

Zane's Radio 1 show pages

Zane's blog

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A fixture on Radio 2, alongside Mark Radcliffe, and on 6 Music, where he presents the Freak Zone and the Freakier Zone, Stuart Maconie is a writer and broadcaster quite possibly without parallel within the field of modern musical critique and contextualising. So it's pretty super indeed to bring you the man's top five albums of 2010...

"You can never be definitive about these things. And just looking back over this I'm immediately thinking, 'But hey, what about Kanye West, These New Puritans, Janelle Monáe, etc'. But as of this winter teatime, these are five beauties, all from across the pond..."



Beach House - Teen Dream

Lovely luminous wintry pop, incredibly simple and poignant.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



The National - High Violet

The gravitas of Joy Division, the muscularity of Joy Division. This album got completely under my skin and I've gone back to it again and again. Raging and sad and dramatic, and Bloodbuzz Ohio is the sexiest record of the year.

Read the BBc review and listen to previews



Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me

She's phenomenal. I can appreciate that her voice is an acquired taste but her sense of melody and space and atmosphere is astonishing.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Timber Timbre - Timber Timbre

I didn't really get this at first. I find self-consciously 'dark' music really tiresome and I'd rather have Chic and Sheila B Devotion than Nick Cave or Tom Waits any day. But then I saw him live and he was mesmerising: weird and primal, with this nugget of obsession and madness at his core.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today

I've loved Ariel Pink for years, ever since those early tunes that sounded like a Hall & Oates cassette that someone had left in a box in a damp garage for 20 years. This is the most conventional thing he's done yet - proper band and everything - but it's still a skewed version of pop, a kind of alternative universe of its own making. And he pretty much invented what they're now calling chillwave.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone

Radcliffe & Maconie recommended albums

Read all Best Albums of 2010 content

Hello there, 

Behold, your quick and easy guide to two weeks of music related festive highlights. Coming up in the next fortnight, cardigans, carols, concerts and clog dancing.

Enjoy;

Thursday 23 December - BBC Four

2000 - 2030: The Andy Williams Christmas Show

The best moments from a number of snowy Christmases between 1962 and 1974 for Andy Williams' annual yuletide songfest. With guest appearances from the Osmond Brothers and the Williams Family.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00phmjh

Christmas Eve - Friday 24 December - BBC Two

1445 - 1745: Mozart's Don Giovanni from Glyndebourne

Jonathan Kent's production of Mozart'sDon Giovanni from the 2010 Glyndebourne Festival stars baritone Gerald Finley as the charismatic but amoral seducer, Anna Samuil as Donna Anna and Kate Royal as Donna Elvira. The production takes its inspiration from Fellini and the Italian cinema of the late 50s and early 60s, creating a world where old certainties are questioned.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wylql

1845 - 2000: Carols From King's

A solo chorister singing Once in Royal David's City begins this traditional celebration of Christmas from the Chapel of King's College, Cambridge. The story of the Nativity is told in the familiar words of the King James Bible together with Christmas poems by Kevin Crossley-Holland, WH Auden and Charles Causley. The famous Chapel choir, conducted by Stephen Cleobury, sings carols old and new.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wylqn

Christmas Eve - Friday 24 December - BBC Four

1900 - 2000: Shanties & Sea Songs with Gareth Malone

Repeated: BBC Four - Monday 2505

Gareth Malone travels Britain's coast to explore our hidden history of shanties and sea songs. In Portsmouth he meets a devoted shanty singer, before continuing on to Tyneside and the Yorkshire coast, where the Filey Fisherman's Choir are determined to keep the tradition alive. He gets an insight into the songs of the Herring Girls in Gardenstown, Scotland, while in Whitby he meets Kimber's Men.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s97c0

2000 - 2100: Sacred Music - A Christmas History

Repeated: BBC Four - Christmas Day 2555

Simon Russell Beale takes a journey through Italy, Britain, Germany and Austria as he explores how the sound of Christmas has evolved in response to changing ideas about the Nativity. His story takes us through two millennia of music, from a fragment of papyrus preserving the earliest known piece of Christian music to the stories behind Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Silent Night and In the Bleak Midwinter.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wvdcj

2100 - 2130: Sacred Music - A Choral Christmas

Repeated: BBC Four - Christmas Day 2655

Simon Russell Beale introduces a programme of choral music for Christmas from across the centuries, featuring full performances of some of the works featured in the accompanying documentary.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00x21sc

2130 - 2230: Soul Noel - Gospel & Soul Stars Singing Christmas

Repeated: BBC Four - Christmas Day 2455

Gospel and soul-tinged Christmas concert featuring UK soul diva Beverley Knight, jazz/blues/soul singer Carleen Anderson, Lagos-born jazz/soul singer Ola Onabule, the Southern blues-singing Golden Gate Quartet, saxophonist Soweto Kinch performing Away in a Manger, and MD Ken Burton leading a stellar choir featuring a range of other top vocalists, backed by a sizzling soul band.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wvcs3

2330 - 2420: Cardigans at Christmas

Repeated: BBC Four - Boxing Day 2710

A feast of old chestnuts from the glory days of Christmases past with this look at the rise and demise of the Christmas light-entertainment spectacular. From Christmas Night with the Stars to Val Doonican and Christmas Snowtime special, the programme revisits a world of snow made from soapflakes, chorus lines sweating in winter woolies and recycled sleighs.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0077dwr

2420 - 2520: Legends - Matt Munro - The Man With The Golden Voice

Neil Pearson narrates a documentary telling the story of Matt Monro, the young Londoner born Terry Parsons who became one of the world's most popular ballad singers. Contributors include Paul Gambaccini, Don Black, George Martin, John Barry and Monro's family.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074rs3

Christmas Day - Saturday 25 December - BBC One

1400 - 1500: Top Of The Pops Christmas 2010

The show returns for Christmas Day, sprinkling the best music over the merry season with a special one-hour show. Hosted by Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates and filmed at BBC Television Centre, this yuletide treat, which has been a festive fixture on BBC One's Christmas Day for decades, features exclusive performances from some of the year's biggest artists, and will reveal the Christmas number one.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wyhsx

Christmas Day - Saturday 25 December - BBC Two

1800 - 1900: Carols for Christmas Day - From Winchester Cathedral

A feast of Christmas carols by candlelight from the Choir of Winchester Cathedral. Also performances featuring mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins and bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu, with readings from Amanda Burton and Joe McGann, who tell the story of the Nativity in the words of the King James Bible. Carols and music include O Come All Ye Faithful, and For Unto Us A Child Is Born.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wyltt

2120 - 2245: Swingin' Christmas

Michael Parkinson presents the sensational John Wilson Orchestra in a celebration of festive musical treats from the golden age of Swing with soloists Seth MacFarlane, Anna-Jane Casey and special guest Curtis Stigers. The Christmas classics include Winter Wonderland, Baby It's Cold Outside, Let It Snow and White Christmas.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wyltw

Christmas Day - Saturday 25 December - BBC Four

1900 - 2000: The Best of European Opera

Operatic highlights from around Europe in 2010, including the Royal Opera's Simon Boccanegra with Placido Domingo, Jose van Dam's farewell performance as Don Quixote from La Monnaie in Brussels, and soprano Diana Damrau singing Mozart in Barcelona. There is also a glimpse of the new opera house in Oslo, Birmingham Opera's Othello and Moses and Aaron' from Germany.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wyq33

Boxing Day - Sunday 26 December - BBC Two

2245 - 2415: Live Aid - Rockin' All Over The World

Documentary telling the story of the day that music rocked the world. Bob Geldof recalls how after 12 weeks of manic preparation, the big day finally arrived. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0078x3p

Wednesday 29 December - BBC Two

2000 - 2100: Les Mis at 25 - Matt Lucas Dreams the Dream

This documentary tells the story of a musical that many thought would fail but which become a worldwide phenomenon with unforgettable songs like I Dreamed A Dream. We follow Matt Lucas as he prepares for the performance of a lifetime, we hear from those involved with the show's creation including Cameron Mackintosh and Michael Ball, and of course we enjoy wonderful moments from the show itself.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wyn0c

Thursday 30 December - BBC Four

2405 - 2530: Lennon Naked

Christopher Eccleston is John Lennon in a drama which charts his transition from Beatle John to enduring and enigmatic icon. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sv451

New Year's Eve - Friday 31 December - BBC Two

1205 - 1305: Legends - The Beverley Sisters - Ticked Pink

Profile of singing trio The Beverley Sisters, charting their rise from their humble beginnings in London's East End to the huge stars they became in the 1950s, at the forefront of the television revolution. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hw49n

2300 - 2515: Jools' Annual Hootenanny

Joining Jools, a host of stars from all walks of British life plus the odd polar bear, a variety of star guest singers sitting in with Jools' Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and some of the star turns of 2010.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wvjdq

2515 - 2615: TOTP2 - 80s Special

Mark Radcliffe presents a look back at some of the most memorable Top of the Pops performances from the 80s including Adam Ant, Kylie and Jason, Culture Club, Bucks Fizz, Yazz, Duran Duran and Wham!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sfz04

New Year's Eve - Friday 31 December - BBC Four

1900 - 2115: Rigoletto From Mantua

Another chance to see this film version of Verdi's tragic opera, starring Placido Domingo as hunchbacked court jester Rigoletto, with soprano Julia Novikova taking the role of his daughter, the beautiful Gilda. The performance was originally broadcast live from locations around the historic Italian city of Mantua that provided the original setting for the opera.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ts068

2115 - 2215: Rick Stein's Taste of Italian Opera

Repeated: BBC Four - Tuesday 2335

Chef Rick Stein takes a light-hearted look at the role that food played in the creation of Italian opera and shows how music and food are intrinsically linked in Italy. He draws parallels between cooking and composing, noting how both involve the skilful combination of ingredients and how they share the common purpose of bringing pleasure to many. Rick also explains why he thinks the music of Verdi, Rossini and Puccini are linked to the food of the regions where they lived and worked.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sm1g0

2215 - 2340: Swingin' Christmas

Michael Parkinson presents the sensational John Wilson Orchestra in a celebration of festive musical treats from the golden age of Swing with soloists Seth MacFarlane, Anna-Jane Casey and special guest Curtis Stigers. The Christmas classics include Winter Wonderland, Baby It's Cold Outside, Let It Snow and White Christmas.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wyltw

2340 - 2510: The Swing Thing

Documentary telling the story of swing, an obscure form of jazz that became the first worldwide pop phenomenon, inspired the first ever youth culture revolution and became a byword for sexual liberation and teenage excess well before the Swinging Sixties.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00g3694

New Year's Day - Saturday 1 January - BBC Four

1900 - 2100: New Year's Day Concert 2011

Live from the Musikverein in Vienna, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performs their annual celebratory concert of waltzes, polkas and marches, conducted for only the second time in his long distinguished career by Georges Prêtre. To accompany some of the works by the Strauss family and other masters of popular Viennese music, there are performances by the Vienna State Opera and Volksoper Ballet.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00phmv9

2455 - 2555: Come Clog Dancing - Treasures Of English Folk Dance

For conductor and musician Charles Hazlewood, clog dance has become an obsession and he plans to put it firmly back on the map by staging a mass flashmob clog dance. Helped by a team of local enthusiasts led by expert clog dancer Laura Connolly, Charles recruits and trains 140 men and women from across the north east, and one sunny Saturday in a busy square in central Newcastle they ambush the public with a six-minute performance.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wmy5q

2555 - 2655: Still Folk Dancing After All These Years

Young Northumbrian folk-singing siblings Rachel and Becky Unthank take a journey around England from spring to autumn 2010 to experience its living folk dance traditions in action. They lead us through the back gardens and narrow streets of towns and villages from Newcastle to Penzance to discover the most surprising of dances, ceremonies, rituals and festivities that mark the turning of the seasons and the passing of the year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wgrtr

Sunday 2 January - BBC Four

1900 - 2000: The Best Of European Opera

Operatic highlights from around Europe in 2010, including the Royal Opera's Simon Boccanegra with Placido Domingo, Jose van Dam's farewell performance as Don Quixote from La Monnaie in Brussels, and soprano Diana Damrau singing Mozart in Barcelona. There is also a glimpse of the new opera house in Oslo, Birmingham Opera's Othello and Moses and Aaron' from Germany.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wyq33

2000 - 2100: The Vera Lynn Story

Sir David Frost interviews Dame Vera at her home in Sussex and hears about her extraordinary career. She talks revealingly about her childhood in London's East Ham; her days singing with the big bands of the 30s; her role as WW2's Forces Sweetheart and her successful post-war career.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tkxpx

Next year; Mozart, Chopin and Tom Petty.

Take care of yourselves

Rory

Just two more sleeps 'til Christmas, you say? Here's two kings of all things musical to guide your ears the way of starry sonic delights - Radio 1's Rob da Bank and Gilles Peterson, with their top five albums of 2010. Pick your own third king from the pair we've got coming up on December 23 and 24 - Stuart Maconie and Zane Lowe. Now, who's brought the frankincense...

Rob da Bank

Everything Everything - Man Alive

Just the most vibrant indie album of the year, with wit, lyricism and beautiful playing.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Skream - Outside the Box

In the year that dubstep went mental, Skream finally delivered his second album. Amongst the bangers were plenty of thoughtful soundtracks to many a dubstep dawn. Inspiring.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Zola Jesus - Stridulum II

A brave, futuristic record from a very colourful artist brimming with ideas and unexpected symphonies of sound.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



Magnetic Man - Magnetic Man

Alongside Skream's album, the holy trinity of Artwork, Benga and Skream (again) made a corking bass odyssey with just the right amount of dark and light moments.

Read the BBC review



Caribou - Swim

After beavering away for years as Manitoba and now Caribou, this man delivered the train-spotter's album of the year. Amazing layered electronic indie with a splash of pop.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Rob's recommended albums

Rob's Radio 1 homepage

Gilles Peterson

1

Flying Lotus - Cosmograma

His long awaited opus - a majestic, electronic, avant-garde soundclash that will stand tall for years to come.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

2

Scuba - Triangulation

Another producer-led album - this time coming from the UK via Berlin. Scuba's dubstep-teasing techno comes from the label, Hot Flush, that also brought us Mount Kimbie and Sepalcure. Label of the year, perhaps?

Scuba on BBC Music

3

Aloe Blacc - Good Things

Starting off his career more as rapper than singer, Aloe has taken the prize of new soul singer of the year with arrangements by the Dap Kings (Amy Winehouse, etc), and a huge club hit in I Need a Dollar. He also hosts/MCs LA's coolest party, the Do Over.

read the BBC review and listen to previews

4

Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid

I was disappointed with her debut of two years ago, but with The ArchAndroid the former outcast went supersonic and beautifully left - from Afrobeat to Rotary Connection-style folk. A well-taken risk, and she's incredible live too...

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

5

Finn Peters - Music of the Mind

Finn is one of the UK's most incredible musicians - on Music of the Mind he has made a jazz improv album in which he's worked a 'brain computer interface' with flute and sax - hearing is believing!

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Gilles' recommended albums

Gilles' Radio 1 homepage

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It's the last entry from writers today, with Garry Mulholland and ChrisRoberts providing their top five albums of 2010. Over the next few days we'll have top fives from Rob da Bank, Zane Lowe and Gilles Peterson.

Garry Mulholland (reviewed albums)

1

Hot Chip - One Life Stand

The ideal cross between old-school house music, the warm love song and a quintessentially English kind of geek pop. Each Hot Chip album continues to get better than the last.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

2

Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me

A true epic - as if someone took that bit in Kate Bush's Hounds of Love about taking your shoes off and throwing them in a lake and made a triple album out of its infinite implications and dimensions.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

3

The Soft Pack - The Soft Pack

The best back-to-basics Velvets/Richman geek-punk album since The Feelies disappeared.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

4

Grinderman - Grinderman 2

Dirty, funny, noisy old farts at play.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

5

These New Puritans - Hidden

A dark and forbidding world buried 'neath the Essex undergrowth - and the only place where funereal classical music, Jamaican dancehall rhythms and something unmistakably Wicker Man-esque get to hang out and bond.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

GarryMulholland.com (external link)

Chris Roberts (reviewed albums)

The National - High Violet

The Brooklyn band valuing lyricism and dramatic confessionals over lame Soweto rhythms made their masterpiece. Deeper and richer every time you hear it.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Bryan Ferry - Olympia

Several leagues above, the majestic return of the man renowned for stylish effortlessness who actually obsesses over every note, texture and word. He cares more than you think.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Peter Gabriel - Scratch My Back

A covers album with a ban on guitars or drums. Sodden with strings and morbid vocals. Thoroughly bleak and depressing. Happy days!

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Grinderman - Grinderman 2

How does he get away with it? Cave and cohorts continue to rock out with an aversion to political correctness and reams of overcooked midlife poetry. Sassy!

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Drake - Thank Me Later

The year's best hip hop/soul/pop album, with Drake complaining of the perils of youthful fame but doing so with insight, pathos and no shortage of groove.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Chris Roberts on Rock's Backpages (external link)

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He's a brilliant beacon, turning a dazzling spotlight on some of the best new music from home and abroad via his Radio 1 show. He's also a very lovely chap, this Huw Stephens fellow, and he's kindly put together his top five albums of 2010 for you to zoom off and investigate with your ears. So, toodles lugholes - to listen to the acts in question, and also to Huw's Radio 1 pages for all your tracklisting, video, photo and iPlayer needs, here.

"Digging deeper, demanding new music, scratching away from the mainstream, 2010 brought us so much great new music. It was hard to pick, but here are my top five albums of the year..."



Perfume Genius - Learning

A beautiful, personal, heart-breaking album which is simple and subtle. It's one of those rare, once-in-a-lifetime collections of songs that instantly open up the songwriter's soul.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Y Niwl - Y Niwl

From nowhere, a north Wales surf-rock band who blew my tiny little mind with this collection of fun, musical, guitar beauties. What they lacked in lyrics they made up with warmth and character.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



Gonzales - Ivory Tower

Another album to prove that Chilly Gonzales is a musical one-off, a true genius, a man with so much ideas and the ability to pull them off with class, style, panache and classical dexterity. I bow down at his weird altar.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



Pulled Apart By Horses - Pulled Apart By Horses

Confident, bolshy, funny and exciting music from a band who brought an energy and a sense of fun to domestic rock.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



Mice Parade - What It Means to Be Left-Handed

Such a beautiful, individual and glorious album. The instrumentation, the rhythms, the vocals: it lit up a million train trips for me this year.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Read all Best Albums of 2010 content

With less than a week before Christmas, it's inevitable that some readers will still have every last piece of shopping to do. I can relate - though being snowed in rather helps with the excuses. But should the thaw come and the shops become accessible, perhaps a few compact discs will fill the stockings of selected loved-ones, and who better than Jude Rogers - writer and critic for the BBC, the Guardian, Word magazine and more - to lend a guiding hand with her top five albums of 2010. If the picks below appeal, find every review Jude has written for the BBC here.

1

Beach House - Teen Dream

Last January, as the cold bit hard, Victoria Legrand's wild, witchy vocals infected my brain like some peculiar fever. They still do. Teen Dream may have been Beach House's third attempt at making dream-pop sound utterly majestic and gorgeously modern, but good God, I'm glad they tried (and tried, and tried again). Top tip: sounds brilliant with the Christmas lights up after a bit of woozy festive booze.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

2

LoneLady - Nerve Up

Another girl from last winter. Julie Campbell is one of those odd, female avant-pop creatures that crops up all too rarely in the record shops - and her gutsy, bare-bones debut knocked me sideways last January. Never have the spirits of post-punk, acid house, early REM and Kristin Hersh been fused together so perfectly.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

3

Jane Weaver - The Fallen By Watchbird

Another little-known record by an artfully peculiar woman - One Direction's debut isn't out until 2011, so give us a chance, chaps. This will continue to help me bide my time, somehow: a collaborative project led by Manchester's finest folk priestess, bringing together female acid-folk types old and young. Full of beautifully rich instrumentation, magical spoken-word segments, rave-ups and hoedowns. If you ever loved Paddy McAloon's I Trawled the Megahertz, imagine its harp-strumming sister.

Jane Weaver on BBC Music

4

Rumer - Seasons of My Soul

Next to Jane, Rumer isn't peculiar at all. Quite the opposite. But as I feel myself losing whatever edge I had (I am proud of my collection of 80s Kim Wilde singles, so I never had much) do I really want to come in from a day at the coalface of word-whittling to an album that reimagines the dismantling of a fridge in the Eastern Bloc, or a record that reimagines the Carpenters for a new generation? Okay, I have a CD I adore that includes examples of the former - and it's my compilation of the year, the amazing Deutsche Elektronische Musik on Soul Jazz - but I can't get enough of Rumer's gauzy, soft- linen vocals either. Yes, I am turning into my mother. What of it. I'm off to smother myself in it.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

5

Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here

Not wanting to end this top five sounding like a man-ignoring meanie, here's my chap of the year by far - a gent on the nomination longlist for Best International Newcomer at the 2011 Brits, a mere 3,500 years after he was born. This is the sound of ancient man rumbling through the rocks, through your floor, through your speakers, through the soul of the blues and into the dark, modern day.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

JudeRogers.com (external link)

Read all Best Albums of 2010 content

Double the bang for your buck today, as we've another two-for-one on top fives from BBC Album Reviews writers. Lloyd Bradley has been covering music for more years than it would be polite to mention, and was among the first wave of contributors to Q magazine. He's also had work published in Mojo and NME, and his 2001 book Bass Culture is among the most respected tomes on reggae music. Robin Denselow is a regular contributor to the Guardian when his words aren't gracing the BBC site, and is an expert on world and folk music.

Lloyd Bradley (reviewed albums)

Tom Caruana Presents Wu-Tang Vs The Beatles - Enter the Magical Mystery Chambers

Fab Four samples taken to beyond any logical conclusion.

Wu-Tang Clan on BBC Music

The Beatles on BBC Music

Jammer - Jahmanji

Grime grows up, but still stays snotty.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig

A modern take on traditional African-American fiddle music.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

The Jolly Boys - Great Expectation

Rock classics done over in Jamaican mento, showing the roots of ska and rock steady.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



UB40 - Signing Off: 30th Anniversary Edition

DVD footage, bonus tracks, remastering... a timely reminder of how important this group is.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

(Yes, it's a reissue... but I'll let it stand - Ed)

Robin Denselow (reviewed albums)

1

Bellowhead - Hedonism

This folk big band is brilliant live, but until now had failed to capture the exhilaration of their concerts on a recording. They got it last at right with this album: it's brave, clever and enormous fun.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

2

Eliza Carthy and Norma Waterson - Gift

Eliza and her mother Norma have worked together in the past, often with the family group Waterson: Carthy, but this is their first-ever release as a duo, and it's remarkable both for the quality of their singing and the range of material they cover - anything from shanties and spirituals to the wonderfully emotional Bunch of Thyme.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

3

Hanggai - He Who Travels Far

Rousing and inventive Asian folk-rock from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, from a band who use traditional horse-hair fiddles as well as guitars and electronics, and specialise in growled 'overtone singing', in which two notes are produced at the same time.

Hanggai on BBC Music

4

Robert Plant - Band of Joy

A new band and a new departure for the Led Zeppelin star. After his massive success working with country star Alison Krauss, he now switches to a more rootsy country-blues-folk fusion, with songs by Los Lobos and Richard Thompson, and magnificent help from the likes of guitarist Buddy Miller.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

5

Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté - Ali and Toumani

Recorded in 2005, just a few months before Ali Farka Toure's death, but only released this year, this is the final album featuring Mali's legendary guitarist and his compatriot, the world's finest kora player, Toumani Diabaté. It's as subtle and exquisite as you would expect.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Read more Best Albums of 2010 content

A double-header of (ranked!) top fives today, from esteemed BBC Music critics James Skinner and Daniel Ross. Young bucks compared to some of the review team's more senior figures, these two are names to watch over the coming years - both can already be found contributing to other sites and publications including DrownedinSound.com and The Fly. Both were long-listed in the Record Reviewer of the Year category at 2010's Record of the Day Awards, too, so you know they're on the ball. On the BBC Music Blog in the coming days: top five lists from writers including Jude Rogers, Lloyd Bradley and Robin Denselow, and DJs including Huw Stephens.

James Skinner (reviewed albums)

1

Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago

Shearwater's latest took in weighty themes - the havoc we wreak on the environment; solitude; the furthest-flung corners of our planet - but the band sounded more accessible, more beautiful and warmer than ever before. A magnificent, benevolent work that only becomes more enticing with each listen.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



2

Anaïs Mitchell - Hadestown

A modern-day retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth featuring Mitchell and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon as the doomed lovers, Hadestown is a massive, ambitious, beautifully scored, genre-hopping work that pretty much consumed me this spring.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



3

Titus Andronicus - The Monitor

Just the most enormously fun, literate, scrappy, loud, anguished, wonderful, endlessly re-playable LP, and further proof that 'concept' albums needn't be joyless, highbrow affairs.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

4

The National - High Violet

Is it as good as Alligator? Better than Boxer? Ask me again in a couple of years. It is absolutely brilliant, either way, exhibiting a bruised, nuanced majesty all its own.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



5

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - I Learned the Hard Way

The latest from Sharon Jones is more soulful, more tuneful and even more brilliant than her and the Daptones' previous records, if such a thing is possible.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Daniel Ross (reviewed albums)

1

John Grant - Queen Of Denmark

The wonderful Midlake provide a glorious soft-rock background to John Grant's songs of relations, prejudices and science fiction - the whole is not overbearing, but perfectly judged semi-baroque brilliance. It won't so much make you laugh and cry as it will make you howl and sob.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

2

Avi Buffalo - Avi Buffalo

The brainchild of one precocious, bumbling guitarist very much in his youth (he's not even 20), this is an incredible debut. The lead single, What's In It For, is easily the pop song of the year, but the rest of the record shows as much compositional ingenuity and flair as records by people three times Avi's age.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

3

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today

It's been said before that Ariel Pink had a classic pop album in him somewhere, hiding underneath layers of stormy feedback and sun-soaked scuzz. Before Today is that classic pop album, and then some - beaten pop-punk, full-blooded soul and basslines so pointed you could stub your toe on them.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

4

Women - Public Strain

Canada's Women are now officially on hiatus after a reported altercation on stage, but hopefully that won't detract from what a superb album Public Strain is. They balance noise and melody artfully and carefully, taking care not to stray too far into either territory, the result being a blissfully visceral experience from incomprehensible start to thrashing finish.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

5

Gayngs - Relayted

The term 'indie supergroup' has been bandied about rather too liberally with this 23-strong Canadian bunch, which has detracted from what a special record they've made. Relayted is as gloopy as they come, menacingly distant and street-sounding, but it never loses sight of the finished product - a slick, dark hybrid of soul, soft-rock and pure pop.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Read our Album Reviews Q&A with Gayngs

The Best Albums of 2010 - all content (including top fives from Steve Lamacq and Gideon Coe)

Journalist and author Kevin Le Gendre is one of the UK's foremost authorities on jazz. As well as appearing in a critical capacity on Radios 3 and 4, he regularly contributes to the BBC Album Reviews. He has previously written for titles including the Guardian and the Independent. Find his BBC reviews here, and his favourite five albums of 2010 below...

Claudia Quintet - Royal Toast

Its unusual line-up (drums, bass, vibraphone, accordion, clarinet/tenor sax) makes for fresh, idiosyncratic textures. But above all the composing and arranging, which square the circle between Steve Reich, Soft Machine and Ornette Coleman, are both bracing and blissful.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Steve Coleman and Five Elements - Harvesting Semblances and Affinities

Great return to the studio of one of the significant figures of 80s jazz. Backed by younger players, Coleman unveils typically idiosyncratic compositions and plays vigorous, edgy alto saxophone.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Jason Moran - Ten

Tenth anniversary celebration of a piano great in contemporary jazz. The empathy between Moran and co-pilots, bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits, has brought strikingly personal inflections to both the blues and the avant-garde.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Robert Mitchell & Panacea - The Cusp

Possibly the British pianist's strongest offering to date. The addition of strings and percussion gives the sound palette grace and dynamism, as Mitchell negotiates classical, Afro-Latin and funky fusion with aplomb.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Jacob Anderskov - Agnostic Revelations

A thrilling exponent of Danish jazz, pianist Anderskov leads a grade A US group (drummer Gerald Cleaver, bassist Michael Formanek, saxophonist Chris Speed) through a set of original music that is both poignant and tense.

(No BBC profile available)

MySpace (external link)

Read all of our Best Albums of 2010 content (including entries from Steve Lamacq, Gideon Coe, Mike Harding and Bob Harris)

The music tv schedules are heating up for the festive season just as the rest of the UK chills in another cold-snap. Enjoy highlights this week from Pulp and Radiohead at Glastonbury, Abba and Coldplay on TOTP2 and Ray Davies on Imagine.

Thursday 16 December - BBC Four

1930 - 2030: Come Clog Dancing: Treasures of English Folk Dance

At the height of the industrial revolution in the last decades of the 19th century there was a dance, now rarely seen, that resounded through the collieries and pit villages of the north east of England - the clog dance. For conductor and musician Charles Hazlewood, clog dance has become an obsession and he plans to put it firmly back on the map by staging a mass flashmob clog dance. Helped by a team of local enthusiasts led by expert clog dancer Laura Connolly, Charles recruits and trains 140 men and women from across the north east, and one sunny Saturday in a busy square in central Newcastle they ambush the public with a six-minute performance. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wmy5q

Friday 17 December - BBC Four

1930 - 2030: Diva Diaries

Documentary which follows one of today's hottest young sopranos, Danielle de Niese, as she makes her sensational debut as Susanna in Mozart'sthe Marriage of Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sjlxy

2030 - 2100: The Highland Sessions

Repeated: BBC Four - Monday 1900

This edition features the Dublin-based duo of piper Mick O'Brien and fiddle-player Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh, plus Donegal's favourite Australian, series music director Steve Cooney, once a backing guitarist to Chuck Berry.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074ryb

2100 - 2230: Festivals Britannia

Repeated: BBC Four - Sunday 2345

The story of the emergence and evolution of the British music festival through the mavericks, dreamers and dropouts who have produced, enjoyed and sometimes fought for them over the last 50 years. Featuring rare archive and interviews with Michael Eavis, Richard Thompson, Acker Bilk, Terry Reid, the Levellers, Billy Bragg, John Giddings, Melvin Benn, Roy Harper, Nik%20Turner, Peter Jenner, Orbital, amongst others.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wmdqs

Read Sam Bridger's blog post about the making of Festivals Britannia.

2230 - 2330: Pulp at Glastonbury 1999

Back in June 1995, The Stone Roses were booked to headline the main stage at Glastonbury but pulled out at the last minute. Pulp stepped in and their performance is widely regarded as one of the best in the festival's history. The set features many of the songs that made them one of the darlings of Britpop, including Do You Remember the First Time, Sorted for E's & Wizz, Babies and, of course, Common People.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wv3j8

2330 - 2430: Legends - Herb Alpert, Tijuana Brass and Other Delights

Repeated: BBC Four - Monday 2325

Herb Alpert is probably best known as the trumpet player who created the Tijuana Brass and sold America, and the world, the sound of Mexico. Or the crooner that made the ladies swoon when he sang This Guy's in Love With You. From his first job working with soul legend Sam Cooke to creating A&M records, Alpert's life reads like a wonderful story of dreams come true. This profile follows him today and platforms his music and artwork as he exhibits his sculptures for Hollywood's art elite.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tr86l

Saturday 18 December - BBC Four

2000 - 2100: Fire and Ice - The Christmas Session

BBC Four celebrates merry midwinter in unique style, with an exhilarating blend of folk tradition and burlesque fun. Energetic 11-piece Bellowhead and Mercury-nominated alternative folkies The Unthanks get together with the impressive young singers Thea Gilmore and Lisa Knapp, plus other special guests. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pcnsp

2345 - 2445: Tom Jones at the BBC

An archive celebration of Tom Jones' performances at the BBC from the start of his pop career in the mid-60s to Later...with Jools Holland in 2010 and all points in between, including Top of the Pops and the Dusty Springfield Show. A chronological celebration of Sir Tom through the years that is also a history of music TV at the BBC over most of the past 50 years.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vz5ml

2445 - 2545: Mark Lawson Talks to Tom Jones

Mark Lawson talks to the iconic singer Sir Tom Jones about his life in and out of the limelight. Jones reflects on his modest upbringing in a coal mining community from the early pub tours in his native south Wales to achieving international acclaim - and the accompanying pressures of fame.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vz5mj

Sunday 19 December - BBC Four

1900 - 2000: Ten Best Sacred Christmas Classics

From Bach'sChristmas Oratorio and Handel'sMessiah to much-loved carols, ten memorable performances from the archives are introduced by a starry line-up of musicians and music lovers, including Katherine Jenkins, Billy Bragg, Michael Portillo and David Soul.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gd0q9

2000 - 2100: The Truth About Christmas Carols

There could be nothing more sweet and sentimental than the sound of traditional carols performed by a velvet-voiced choir at Christmas. Or so you would think. Composer Howard Goodall uncovers the surprising and often secret history of the Christmas carol. Far from being accepted as part of the celebrations of Jesus' birth, over the centuries carols have been banned by both church and state. The carols we sing seem set in stone and yet they can have up to 400 regional variations. Individual carols have caused controversy - While Shepherds Watched had to be cleaned up by the Victorians for being too crude and there's a suspicion that O Come All Ye Faithful was a call to 18th century Jacobites to rebel.

The documentary celebrates the enduring power of the carol with a variety of performances from folk singer Bella Hardy to the choir of Truro Cathedral.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gbgt3

2100 - 2200: Soul Noel - Gospel & Soul Stars Singing Christmas

Warm yourself on a winter's night with gospel, soul, reggae, ska and soca versions of classics such as Silent Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Jingle Bells, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and many more. Filmed at the Porchester Hall in west London, it features UK soul diva Beverley Knight, the multi- talented jazz blues soul singer Carleen Anderson, Lagos-born jazz soul singer Ola Onabule and Birmingham-born Bryn Christopher in a unique celebration of Christmas. Special guests include the legendary original Southern Blues-singing Golden Gate Quartet, a truly radical jubilee quartet, bringing the swing and groove of jazz into gospel music. Formed in the 1930s, the group still feature two orginal members. Mercury-nominated Londoner Soweto Kinch performs a unique version of Away In a Manger, and MD Ken Burton leads a stellar choir featuring a range of other top vocalists, all backed by a sizzling soul band.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wvcs3

2515 - 2615: Radiohead at Glastonbury 1997

Arguably one of the greatest sets at the Glastonbury Festival in its entire 40 years started when Oxford's Radiohead took to the Pyramid Stage on Saturday June 28th 1997. They had released their seminal album OK Computer two weeks earlier to huge acclaim and this performance features many of its tracks, including Paranoid Android, Karma Police and No Surprises, as well as earlier songs such as The Bends.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wyn9g

Tuesday 21 December - BBC One

2235 - 2355: Imagine - Ray Davies - The Imaginary Man

As the creative powerhouse behind hugely influential band The Kinks, Ray Davies was responsible for writing some of the best-loved songs of the 60s, including pop classics `You Really Got Me, Tired of Waiting For You, Dedicated Follower of Fashion and Sunny Afternoon'. Alan Yentob meets Davies, a unique talent who describes with rare candour his troubled relationship with fame and the vicissitudes of his career.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00x21y4

Tuesday 21 December - BBC Two

1830 - 2000: TOTP2 Christmas 2010

Repeated: BBC Four - Christmas Day - Saturday 25 December 2500

Mark Radcliffe digs deep into the `Top of the Pops' archives to bring some festive performances from the likes of Slade, The Pogues, Elton John, Take That, Coldplay and Abba.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wyhgr

Don't miss your chance to look back at some of the finer moments of this year's I'm In A Rock n Roll Band series with our Rock 'n' Roll DNA collection on the BBC Music Showcase



Next week; a bumper two week Christmas post with highlights from Mozart, Andy Williams, Jools Holland and JLS.

Take care of yourselves, 

Rory

CD Review presenter Andrew McGregor is a fellow in a rare position - not only does he front a show featuring some of the finest classical sounds to his ears, he also contributes reviews to BBC Music. You can listen to his show every Saturday morning on Radio 3, at 9am, and find the show's pages (for listening again purposes - there's also an archive for Building a Library) here; Andrew's written reviews, those you can find here. Whether there are any "brick walls of semi-quavers" amongst his top releases of the year, below, only a listen for yourself will reveal.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute)

(Cast / Freiburg Baroque Orchestra / René Jacobs)

A Mozart masterpiece re-imagined, the dialogue re-integrated - and filled to the brim with colour and fantasy. You can believe that Mozart himself, directing from the keyboard, might have inspired such an effervescent account, and even if you know the opera backwards, this may still surprise and delight you. Beyond refreshing.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

David Briggs - Messe de Notre Dame (Notre Dame Mass)

(Choir of Trinity College Cambridge / David Briggs)

Briggs is a phenomenal improviser, and his mass shows you how fluently he's able to speak the language of the great French romantic organists and composers, taking the harmonic conversation places even Langlais, Dupré or Duruflé might not have dared. Outrageously rich harmonies, glorious singing, a spectacular organ sound, and a recording that's out of this world.

David Briggs on BBC Music

Hugo Wolf - Italienisches Liederbuch (Italian Songbook)

(Julia Kleiter, soprano / Christoph Prégardien, tenor / Hilko Dumno, piano)

Just when I'd despaired of a decent new recording of Wolf's songs in his 150th birthday year, this one saves the day...fully revealing the startling originality and strange intensity of Wolf's settings. Kleiter and Prégardien are emotionally compelling, and Dumno's pianism is a revelation.

Hugo Wolf on BBC Music

Richard Strauss - Great Strauss Scenes

(Christine Brewer, soprano (with Eric Owens, bass-baritone) / Atlanta Symphony Orchestra / Donald Runnicles)

If the first notes of this disc don't raise the hairs on the back of your neck, then you may need urgent medical attention. From the unhinged savagery of Elektra to the ecstatic insanity of Salome, here's one of the great Straussian sopranos at the top of her game, luridly accompanied and recorded. And if you want Brewer in a complete Strauss opera, try 'Ariadne on Naxos', from the Opera in English series on Chandos. Outstanding.

Richard Strauss on BBC Music

Dmitri Shostakovich - The Preludes and Fugues Op. 87

(Alexander Melnikov, piano)

Shostakovich's response to Bach's '48', brilliantly interrogated and inhabited by this thoughtfully virtuosic young Russian. There seem to be new rewards and fresh insights at every turn, and it's a forceful reminder of the quality of Shostakovich's inspiration.

Dmitri Shostakovich on BBC Music

Read all of our Best Albums of 2010 content

I can (almost) fully remember the best weekend of my life. It was the summer before I got my first job at the BBC and it mainly involved walking around lost in the Glastonbury mud, wondering why life couldn't be like this every day.

The making of 'Festivals Britannia' took Assistant Producer/Cameraman John Williams and I on a journey around Britain, hearing the stories of the various festival organisers, musicians and veterans who had all experienced that 'eureka' moment.

Whether it was Michael Eavis telling us about sneaking into the 1969 Bath Festival of Blues and catching the festival bug, or Nik%20Turner recalling playing with Hawkwind at the Windsor Free Festival, it became increasingly apparent how much festivals have meant to people over the last 5 decades.

We had the pleasure of spending time with festival veterans such as Sid Rawle and Roger Hutchinson for whom festivals had become a cause and a way of life as much as a source of entertainment. Both Sid and Roger sadly passed away very shortly after telling us their stories. It was a real privilege to have been able to spend that time with them.

But as well as some sadness, the 3-week shoot had its lighter moments too. As a result of not finishing our days shoot until well after most places to eat had closed, John and I would often find ourselves in the local curry house at 11pm, sampling the local Indian cuisine. This British spice odyssey became a bit of a running joke and, for those who would like to know, it was Leicester that finished top in the Festivals Britannia curry cup.

From the Rainbow Camp in Gloucestershire, to Glastonbury, Reading, the Isle of Wight and V Festival the shoot was an intense and (often literally) organic journey of discovery. We trudged from tent to tent as festival goers told us who we should speak to, who might have great home movie footage of past festivals and perhaps most unusually, how to fashion a good cast iron sword.

The task of editing over 60 hours of filmed interviews could have been a daunting one. But with editor Andrew Quigley and archive producer Jeannie Clark on board, a clear line quickly emerged through all the wonderful stories and archive we had accumulated.

From first to last, Festivals Britannia was a fascinating journey and a real treat to make. Whether it was 50's jazzers or 90's ravers, everyone we met had experienced that life altering festival magic. And it's heartening to know that somewhere out there in the mud next summer, a whole new generation of kids will look around and wonder why life cant be like a festival every day.

Friday 17 December - 9pm

BBC Four - Festivals Britannia

Sam Bridger celebrates the history of the British music festival this Friday at 9pm on BBC Four. Featuring interviews with Michael Eavis, Melvin Benn, Billy Bragg and Orbital it tells the story of how festivals have evolved from the free fayres of the 1950's to today's major cultural events.

Another day, another double dose of top fives for you, reader. Today, the pairing of Andrew Mueller - journalist, critic, author - and Everett True - formerly of NME and Melody Maker, latterly Plan B editor-in-chief and currently the core force behind Australian blog Collapse Board. Interestingly, both are writers who have dabbled in playing and recording music of their own - Mueller is vocalist with The Blazing Zoos, while True has released as The Legend! and fronts a couple of Brisbane bands. Find the albums they have covered for the BBC via the links next to their names.

Andrew Mueller (reviewed albums)

Bruce Springsteen - The Promise

Springsteen's studio-floor sweepings circa Darkness on the Edge of Town are collated into something approaching masterpiece status with almost enraging insouciance. His version of Because the Night is better than Patti Smith's, as well.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Drive-By Truckers - The Big To-Do

Great rock'n'roll album by the world's greatest rock'n'roll band. Drive-By Truckers' quest to meld a thoughtful conscience and historical perspective with unreconstructed southern boogie is one of the more spectacular experiments of our age.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Corb Lund - Losin' Lately Gambler

Impeccably wrought old-school country by the scandalously under-rated Canadian songwriter. Lund's vignettes of people beaten hard by love, politics and/or circumstance are sparsely yet richly illustrated by the Hurtin' Albertans, his supremely articulate backing group.

The Corb Lund Band on BBC Music

Merle Haggard - I Am What I Am

Umpty-seven albums into his half-century-long career, Hag is increasingly infusing his impeccable instinct for deceptively simple songs with a sharp-witted orneriness. A baleful, hawk-eyed survey of the view from beneath a battered hat.

Merle Haggard on BBC Music

Paul Kelly - How to Make Gravy

Career-spanning book and box set by Australia's pre-eminent songwriter, a man whose name would be as well known as that of Springsteen if he'd been born American. Kelly's eye for the telling details of his country and the people who live in it is acute, his ear for the ringing tune peerless. A deserved monument.

Paul Kelly on BBC Music

AndrewMueller.net (external link)

The Blazing Zoos on MySpace (external link)

Everett True (reviewed albums)

Agent Ribbons - Chateau Crone

Texan two-piece Agent Ribbons are the band of your dreams. A little bit of 50s doo-wop style, a whole lot of passion, a truck-load of genius harmonies, a smattering of Gothic ennui and a voice to call down the ghost of Johnny Ray with. Home-made. Hand-knit. Intimate. They tour vigilante-style in a Chevy Astro. They like to play dress-up. They love The Boswell Sisters and The Shaggs. They write songs about Pinocchio ('The Boy With The Wooden Lips'). They swoon like Clara Bow. Dame Darcy draws their covers.

(No BBC profile available)

MySpace (external link)

My Disco - Little Joy

There is the one simple trick that this Melbourne three-piece pull on their third album, repeatedly - and it's a devastating one. Restraint. Repetition. Repetition. My Disco understand that a wig-out isn't a wig-out until it's been pummelled into the ground, unmercifully - the longer the better.

My Disco on BBC Music

kyü - kyü

Songs engage with a fierce pop sensibility, all the while throwing in a mesmerising diorama of sounds and musical instruments: fluttering wing-movements and stuttering synth breaks and fluting woodwind and those stunning voices, cajoling and caressing and crying and begging and enticing.

(No BBC profile available)

MySpace (external link)

Mountain Man - Made the Harbor

Remember the scenes in Cold Mountain with the white Southern a cappella church choirs block singing, the cadences more important than the melodies? That approach resonates through the voices of Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Randall Meath, yet with something added. It's a solemn joy - you feel privileged to be listening.

Mountain Man on BBC Music

Tunabunny - Tunabunny

The greatest band from Athens, Georgia since Pylon; Tunabunny's half-songs are fuller than most songs around for the simple reason that they haven't had the spirit and imagination and inspiration bashed and bullied out of them.

(No BBC profile available)

MySpace (external link)

Collapse Board (external link)

Read more Best Albums of 2010 content

If you're reading the BBC Music Blog and don't know who Steve Lamacq is, well, that's a worry. You'll find pages for the man's 6 Music show here, and for his Radio 2 show here. Steve is the latest recommender to provide a top five albums of the year - you'll find contributions from Gideon Coe, Bob Harris and more here; coming soon, top fives from Rob da Bank, Huw Stephens and more, as well as more from the Album Reviews writing team.

Goldheart Assembly - Wolves and Thieves

A deftly constructed album from a band we've followed for nearly two years now. Lush with melodies, some great intricate guitar and the best vocal harmonies in Britain at the moment.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Fang Island - Fang Island

Born in a place where MGMT and Flaming Lips become overwhelmed by the spiritual power of 1970s metal riffage, Fang Island also provided one of the best gigs of the year at London's Old Blue Last.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Prince Fatty - Super Size

Definitely my favourite old-school-sounding reggae album of the year, including a must-not-miss cover version of Cypress Hill's Insane In the Brain.

Prince Fatty on BBC Music

Sleigh Bells - Treats

Zeitgeist pop, with crashing guitars and crushing beats.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Mystery Jets - Serotonin

A very good follow-up to their previous album Twenty One, Mystery Jets (along with The Maccabees) remain one of the most underrated pop bands in the country, I think. Why this wasn't bigger I don't know. Lyrically touching, the songs are zingy and fresh and romantic, with just a hint of escapism.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Check out Steve Lamacq's recommended albums

Read more Best Albums of 2010 content

Today's top five comes from writer David Stubbs. Familiar to readers of Melody Maker during the 1980s and 90s, Stubbs is perhaps best known for his rather less-than-serious Mr Agreeable column - a rather sweary way of addressing the pop heavyweights of the time. He's also contributed to titles including Uncut, The Times, The Wire and Vox, and has written books on Jimi Hendrix and Eminem. Find the albums he has reviewed for the BBC here, among them collections from Air, Mount Kimbie and Pigbag.

Toro Y Moi - Causers of This

Although influenced by the likes of J Dilla, Ariel Pink and Flying Lotus, the debut of Chaz Bundick, aka Toro Y Moi, is the most sun-blazed, joyful and epiphanic album of 2010; classic pop subjected to a battery of filters, fades and radiation treatments. Glorious.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Gayngs - Relayted

Operating around the 69bpm mark throughout, Gayngs is epic MOR pop miraculously reinvented for the 21st century, steering like a galleon through electropop, deep soul and avant-rock along its majestic way. The cover of Godley & Creme's Cry is the cherry on the cake.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Read our Album Reviews Q&A with Gayngs

Philip Jeck - An Ark for the Listener

Liverpool-based sound artist Jeck is renowned for working with discarded junk vinyl and semi-obsolete technology. The results soar way beyond kitsch - like its predecessor Sand, this album weaves vast and silken skyscapes from its humble material.

Philip Jeck on BBC Music

Eleven Tigers - Clouds Are Mountains

Lithuanian producer Jokubas Dargis' debut embarks on what you might call a post-Burial adventure, operating in the space he opened up but replacing Burial's elegiac bleakness with a multiverse of colour, kinetic joy and finely ground detail.

Eleven Tigers on BBC Music

Mount Kimbie - Crooks & Lovers

The first album proper by the duo Dominic Maker and Kai Campos is a wonderfully bipolar affair, blessed-out and dreamlike, but studded with vigilant, cattle prod jolts of contemporary electronica.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Read more Best Albums of 2010 blog posts

It might well be the weekend, but that's not going to stop our series of top fives from writers and recommenders - indeed, another entry will appear here tomorrow. Today we've a double-header from writers Ben Patashnik - features editor at Rock Sound magazine when he's not bringing the rock to the BBC Album Reviews - and renowned scribe Ian Wade. Among those contributing their top albums of 2010 next week: a certain Steve Lamacq.

Ben Patashnik (reviewed albums)

1

Deftones - Diamond Eyes

A fluent declaration of power and a reminder of what made Deftones such a joy a decade ago. As an album it's phenomenal but as a reintroduction to a band thought lost in a fug of drugs it's nigh-on flawless.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Read our Album Reviews Q&A with Deftones

2

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis

There's no point in trying to explain why Dillinger's fourth album is so good because any description falls short. Instead, look out of the window. Isn't the world lovely? THAT's what listening to this is like.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

3

Comeback Kid - Symptoms + Cures

A frenzy of punk fury and exhilarated ecstasy that sounds as breathless and fun as having a fight with your best friend on a bouncy castle. Punk rock is a much-maligned genre, but when legends such as CBK can reinvent themselves this confidently it's a lesson to all the youngsters out there.

Comeback Kid on BBC Music

4

Bring Me the Horizon - There Is a Hell...

Brash, snotty and arrogant - that one of the most hated bands in the UK came up with a third album as stunning as this must seriously annoy a lot of messageboard dwellers. The missing link between metalcore, electronica and bottom-heavy dubstep.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

5

The National - High Violet

Like watching a mushroom cloud unfold in slow motion, The National's latest best album (what other band improves measurably with every release?) is affecting in myriad ways. But what's most impressive is that it makes every other album released this year seem crass in comparison.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Rock Sound (external link)

Ian Wade (reviewed albums)

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

Well if this is to be their final album - although they're not splitting, apparently - James Murphy and chums have certainly bowed out in style. Having already released a masterpiece in Sound of Silver, This Is Happening had its work cut out trying to follow it. Fortunately it was amazing.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

The Chemical Brothers - Further

While their one-time contemporaries were reforming to spin out the oldies, disco veterans and equipment abusers Tom and Ed made a stupendous audio visual leap-forward with Further. Remember to fall in love (again) indeed.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Plan B - The Defamation of Strickland Banks

Or The Reinvention of Ben Drew, as one-time potty mouthed herbert transformed Bowie-ly like a chameleon into a soul-pop sensation. Hearing the builders in the flat below sing along badly to She Said suggests he's well and truly arrived.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

John Grant - Queen of Denmark

A sort-of Rufus Wainwright without the opera, instead with a beard and a darker sense of humour. Kinda. This album has crept up on me through the year to the point of becoming inescapably classic.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Scissor Sisters - Night Work

In which the Scissors inject a bit of sauce back into proceedings after the slightly bloated Ta-Dah period, head off to Berlin in a pair of perv-breeks and get Ian McKellen banging on actor-ly about "sexual gladiators'", reimagining Vincent Price's Thriller monologue down The Hoist. WIN.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Read more of our Best Albums of 2010 content

Another day, another entry in our continuing series of Best Albums of 2010 posts. Today, Mike Harding (find his Wednesday night Radio 2 show here) picks his favourite five albums of 2010. Over to the man himself for an introduction.

"As a general note I can say it was very hard to pick a top five - there were so many great albums produced this year, and some are still to come. I've never known the folk scene to be in such great heart and health."

Chumbawamba - ABCDEFG

All the notes in the musical scale are there in the title and this is an album all about singing and music and why we do it and how we do it and the whole CD is chock full of great songs sung with absolute meaning and total craft.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Coope, Boyes & Simpson - As If...

Great voices in harmony with a brilliant collection of songs. A world-class album from the depths of the tradition... English folk music at its very, very best.

Read the BBC review

Danú - Seanchas

One of the greatest Irish bands ever with a brilliant collection of music and songs. Everything flows, nothing jars; there are no bulky seams, yet there is also nothing slick or insincere about this album. A brilliant piece of work.

Danú on BBC Music

Emily Portman - The Glamoury

A terrific young English singer with a majestic voice and a skewed and compelling look at the ballad as a vehicle for magical and mysterious stories. A great CD.

Emily Portman on BBC Music

Pete Carberry - Traditional Irish Music from Co. Longford

Box and banjo player Pete Carberry has produced an album of deeply rooted and unhurried glorious sets of great Irish music - this will be a classic forever. I've played it over and over and over again.

(No BBC profile available)

Read more Best Albums of 2010 entries

Hello again, 

More pre-Christmas highlights this week, including another chance to see last year's excellent Christmas session.

1930 - 2030: What Makes A Great Tenor?

The great tenor Rolando Villazon takes us inside the world of the sexiest and most risky of all operatic voices. It's a journey which includes some of the great names of the past, such as Caruso and Lanza, and some of the brightest stars performing today, like Domingo, Alagna and Florez. We hear how they tackle their most famous roles and what the risks and rewards are. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sm1js

2030 - 2100: The Highland Sessions

The episode opens with Da Mihi Manum (Give Me Your Hand), performed by Steve Cooney and Kathleen MacInnes. Rona Lightfoot performs canntaireachd, an oral music form traditionally used to teach and pass on pipe tunes that Rona has made her own, elevating it to a kind of Gaelic scat singing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074rx7

2100 - 2200: Still Folk Dancing After All These Years

Repeated: BBC Four - Sunday 2535, Wednesday 1930

Young Northumbrian folk-singing siblings Rachel and Becky Unthank take a journey around England from spring to autumn 2010 to experience its living folk dance traditions in action. They lead us through the back gardens and narrow streets of towns and villages from Newcastle to Penzance to discover the most surprising of dances, ceremonies, rituals and festivities that mark the turning of the seasons and the passing of the year. On their journey the Unthanks learn about the evolving history of the dances, whether connected to the land and the cycles of fertility or to working customs and practices in industrial towns. The girls talk to local historians and visit Cecil Sharp House to explore the dances' 20th century revival and codification through archivist Sharp and others, and we get to enjoy extraordinary film archive of the dances through the decades which show that although the people have changed, the dances have often remained remarkably constant.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wgrtr

2200 - 2300: Fire and Ice - The Christmas Session

BBC Four celebrates merry midwinter in unique style, with an exhilarating blend of folk tradition and burlesque fun. Energetic 11-piece Bellowhead and Mercury-nominated alternative folkies The Unthanks get together with the impressive young singers Thea Gilmore and Lisa Knapp, plus other special guests.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pcnsp

2300 - 2400: Folk at the BBC - The 50s & 60s

Repeated: BBC Four - Sunday 2435

A compilation of folk performances from the 1950s and 60s, news items on the folk movement from the vaults and newly-shot performances. Featured artists include Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl, Lonnie Donegan, Martin Carthy, A L Lloyd, the Coppers and Bob Davenport.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074s5l

Saturday 11 December - BBC Four

1900 - 2000: Come Clog Dancing - Treasures of English Folk Dance

Repeated: BBC Four - Sunday 2335, Thursday 1930

At the height of the industrial revolution in the last decades of the 19th century there was a dance, now rarely seen, that resounded through the collieries and pit villages of the north east of England - the clog dance. For conductor and musician Charles Hazlewood, clog dance has become an obsession and he plans to put it firmly back on the map by staging a mass flashmob clog dance. Helped by a team of local enthusiasts led by expert clog dancer Laura Connolly, Charles recruits and trains 140 men and women from across the north east, and one sunny Saturday in a busy square in central Newcastle they ambush the public with a six-minute performance.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wmy5q

2000 - 2100: Folk at The BBC: The 60s & 70s

Compilation of archive performances by some of the 60s folk boom's biggest names, quirky factual items from the vaults and some newly shot performances from the 60s folk stars. Featuring Donovan, Richard Thompson, Pentangle, Sandy Denny and an Alan Whicker cameo from 1960.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074s6b

Next week; Festival Britannia, Ray Davies, Soul Noel.

Take care of yourselves

Rory

Today, Jazz on 3 presenter Jez Nelson gives us his top five albums of 2010. Jazz on 3 goes out (on Radio 3, funnily enough) on a Monday night - find its pages, and listen again, here.

Charles Lloyd - Mirror

A masterpiece from a truly spiritual saxophone player, with a superb quartet featuring pianist Jason Moran.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Wyatt, Atzmon, Stephen - For the Ghosts Within

Robert Wyatt in romantic form, taking on lush ballads alongside the rich-toned Atzmon and strings. The Christmas present for people you really love.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Steve Coleman and Five Elements - Harvesting Semblances and Affinities

More unfathomable mathematics and symbolism gives rise to some of the most original and groovy jazz of our times.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Django Bates - Beloved Bird

When most children had Action Men, Django was building Plasticine models of Charlie Parker. The love affair bears fruit on this superb trio LP.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Jason Moran - Ten

Perhaps the greatest piano player of his generation, Moran delivers a superb set of intricate yet accessible tunes and virtuosic soloing.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Read more Best Albums of 2010 entries

We've another double-header for you today, with two of the BBC Album Reviews team's finest providing their top fives. These guys know what they're talking about - Paul Lester's New Band of the Day column for the Guardian has helped break a number of artists, and Martin Aston has penned celebrated articles for titles including Mojo and Q - so do check out their picks of 2010.

Paul Lester (reviewed albums)

1

Drake - Thank Me Later

This could have been a self-indulgent whinge-fest from the young Canadian rapper, but his regrets about fame and celebrity disorientation, thanks to the production of Timbaland, Swizz Beatz and someone called Kanye West, made for the most endlessly listenable album of the year.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

2

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today

Don't be fooled by titles such as Hot Body Rub and Butt-house Blondies; this was Pink's most accessible album yet, minus the trademark hiss and crackle that made his name but with lashings of luscious MOR melodies.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

3

Toro Y Moi - Causers of This

For some, chillwave was a fad, a 2009 thing, but Toro Y Moi - and Neon Indian and Memory Tapes - hinted that there was longevity, and considerable beauty, in this lone-boy-and-his-laptop lark.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

4

DJ Nate - Da Trak Genious

They call it juke, or footwork, but really it's just frenetically polyrhythmic music based on RnB samples subjected to extreme chopping and editing from a 19-year-old Chicagoan who just might be as clever as that title suggests.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

5

Gayngs - Relayted

A conglomerate of musicians, including Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, record an album of tracks, all apparently 69bpm, based on a mutual love of 10cc's I'm Not in Love. The result is a languid classic with moments as lacerating as they are lovely.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Read our Album Reviews Q&A with Gayngs

New Band of the Day (external link)

Martin Aston (reviewed albums)

1

John Grant - Queen of Denmark

Backed by Midlake's vintage 70s empathy, Grant bypasses the inhibitions that traditionally airbrushed soft rock and channels a life's worth of self-loathing and self-deflating humour into an intense masterpiece of catharsis and bittersweet balladry.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



2

Avi Buffalo - Avi Buffalo

The most hotwired guitarist in a generation, 19-year old Avi Zahner-Isenberg also tangles up The Shins, Galaxie 500 and Crazy Horse to make a heavenly noise. New band of the year.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



3

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

No riffs on the Chinese Zodiac or American states, just love, sex, angst, et al, with a more intricate mosaic of folk-avant-classical-choral than before, plus more shaded, glitchy beats and rhythmic cut'n'thrust. Over the top, perhaps, but the boy's a genius.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



4

Villagers - Becoming a Jackal

Shapely, painstaking melodic/narrative smarts from Dubliner Conor O'Brien and chums' debut, like a songwriting masterclass held by Paddy McAloon, Paul Simon, Roddy Frame and Mark Linkous, but with added strains of Dublin sea air and Allen Poe gothic tremors.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Read our Album Reviews Q&A with Villagers



5

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest

A more subtle, beguiling and sometimes despairing and even anthemic record than 2008's Microcastle, and still the best psych-rock adventure on the planet.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Read more Best Albums of 2010 entries

Bob Harris is a BBC presenter who should need no introduction, given his long history with the corporation. But, just in case (and in a nutshell): Bob started on Radio 1 in 1970, presented The Old Grey Whistle Test throughout the 70s, rejoined Radio 1 in 1989 after a period in commercial radio, and today presents two shows for Radio 2. You can find pages for his Sunday night show here, and for Thursday's Bob Harris Country here. Below are Bob's five favourites of the year, with a few words on each from the man himself.

Paul Weller - Wake Up the Nation

With a nod to 60s psychedelia, Paul Weller produces a powerful, swirling masterpiece.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Robert Plant - Band of Joy

Robert continues his creative and heartfelt musical journey with help from some of Nashville's finest musicians.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

The National - High Violet

Brooklyn-based band come of age with melancholy and atmospheric fifth album.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews



Cherry Ghost - Beneath This Burning Shoreline

Intensely musical and beautifully produced, this is a very special album by a truly wonderful British band.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Carolina Chocolate Drops - Genuine Negro Jig

Organic and authentic, the Carolina three-piece bring the jug band sound into the 21st century.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Read more Best Albums of 2010 entries

Today we've another double-header for you, with a pair of the BBC Album Reviews' finest critical types compiling their favourites of 2010, for you to seek out and enjoy. When she's not writing for the BBC, Wendy Roby can be found reviewing the singles every week on DrownedinSound.com, and she also recently popped up on Radio 1's Review Show with Nihal; freelancer Natalie Shaw, meanwhile, is among the experts whose votes made up this year's BBC Sound Of... poll. Chances are you just might have heard of a couple of the albums they've picked as favourites. Check out all of our Best Albums of 2010 blog entries here.

Wendy Roby (reviewed albums)

1

James Blake - CMYK EP

Many people want to wake the town and tell the people about James Blake, but I think CMYK is my favourite of his work to date. The brass stabs on 'Postpone' are strangely arousing. Also, beautiful. (Yes, this is an EP, not an album... let it go.)

James Blake on BBC Music



2

Gonjasufi - A Sufi and a Killer

Gonjasufi is King of the Hippies and his album is a maddening, swirling and dense artefact that I keep going back to. Kowboyz&Indians is the standout for me.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

3

Timber Timbre - Timber Timbre

This is the slinkiest album I heard all year, full of deeply troubling references to mistreated children, hanging ropes and absurdly dark conversations with a God you can't satisfy. It's the sort of album you can drown in, and it completely obscures the modern world when you listen to it.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

4

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

Damon Albarn's cast of a thousand takes in everyone from Mark E. Smith to Bashy. But I think it's The National Orchestra for Arabic Music who make the finest contribution, on White Flag's dizzying The King & I-style strings.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

5

Yeasayer - Odd Blood

I always thought Yeasayer were the sort of band I admired rather than loved, but Odd Blood changed all that. It's a proper pop album, it's absurdly funky and, at times, sort of euphoric.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

DrownedinSound.com (external link)

Natalie Shaw (reviewed albums)

1

Field Music - Field Music (Measure)

A sprawling and magnificent double-album, deliberately fragmented and richly produced - an anxious, self-doubting display of public disarray. And the album that finally pushed Field Music to the heights they so deserved.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

2

Everything Everything - Man Alive

A pop-loving masterpiece, and one that's never afraid to take chances that, without fail, pay off. Everything Everything condense around three albums' worth of ideas into one, producing a big, brash, brightly-coloured debut with a huge heart.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

3

The-Dream - Love King

Somehow not reaching UK superstar status, The-Dream's third album is seedy, profane and so meticulously crafted. Comm-place cat-and-mouse chasing of a lady feels new and exciting as Love King is over in a flash, unusually for the genre.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

4

Robyn - Body Talk Pt. 1

The first of three albums in a year, and a super-powered eight tracks. Body Talk Pt. 1 is commercial to a tee, charged with emotion and blessed with the perfect popstar at its helm. This album set a new benchmark for pop music.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

5

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

It didn't seem possible that Kanye West could meet his own hype but this is a firm flash in the face of the doubters. 808s & Heartbreak was strategy, and this is a masterpiece - intense and exhausting but oh-so-ambitious, a capitulation of the genius that's come before him.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Coming later this week: contributions from Mike Harding and Bob Harris, as well as writers including Paul Lester and Lloyd Bradley.

The hotly anticipated Sound of 2011 longlist was announced this morning. Radio 1 and 1Xtra's head of music George Ergatoudis shares his thoughts on the list:

The BBC’s ‘Sound Of’ survey first emerged in 2003, the brainchild of BBC entertainment news reporter Ian Youngs. It has one purpose: to find the best up-and-coming artists to watch out for in the following year. There are many lists of hotly tipped acts, but I believe the BBC’s ‘Sound Of’ list now stands out as the definitive one, thanks to the rigor applied to its compilation and its comprehensive range of contributors including taste makers from radio, TV, newspapers, magazines and online.

Over the years it has helped music fans discover some fantastic artists and while some have disappeared without a trace there have also been notable successes including Dizzee Rascal, Keane, the Kaiser Chiefs, Plan B, Adele and Florence And The Machine, to name just a few.

Of course the future is always cloudy and the list has to be taken for what it is: a snapshot of predictions from one moment in time. In reality the job of identifying and supporting exciting new artists is never-ending and the presenters and production talent who work on the BBC’s music services (online, radio and TV) are always tirelessly seeking out the next big thing. But, as a music fan, I personally get very excited by the annual unveiling of the Sound Of list. There are always entries that I personally take issue with and of course omissions, but at least it inspires passionate debate. Music is an art form and there’s simply no way every one is going to agree, no matter how many so-called experts have been involved.

So the Sound Of list is great fun for music fans, but of course it’s a serious matter for the artists themselves. It increases the pressure of expectation, but equally it presents a brilliant opportunity to get widespread exposure. The secret is not to rush. Sure, a nod on the list is great, but my advice to artists and labels is to make sure you’re genuinely ready with the best material you can possibly deliver. Timing is everything. Rushing a project just to capitalize on the exposure is nearly always going to prove fatal in the long run.

2011 looks like another exciting year for music, with some significant changes set to shake up the whole business. At the end of the year it will be fascinating to take stock and see what has happened to the 15 talented artists who made the final long list. I wish them all the best of luck.

George Ergautoudis is the Head Of Music at BBC Radio 1 & BBC 1Xtra

Find out which 15 artists made the Sound of 2011 longlist at our dedicated website.

Today's best-of-2010 top fives come from a pair of writers who, it's safe to say, are moonlighting rather when contributing to the BBC Album Reviews. John Doran is editor of the award-winning website theQuietus.com, and Matthew Bennett is deputy editor over at the similarly gong-laden Clash magazine. Here are their favourites of the year (neither five is ranked).

John Doran (reviewed albums)

Swans - My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky

After 30 years of plugging away at the fringes of no-wave, industrial and alternative rock, this is hardly the moment that Michael Gira gets welcomed in from the cold but one can almost sense a thaw of sorts. After 14 years leading Angels of Light, he chose 2010 to revive his Swans moniker. Instead of a retread of old nihilistic noise landscapes, he has presented a selection of Americana songs ramped up with hypnotic guitar drones, tolling bells and the noise seeping in from lumber yards. A beautiful and disquieting album.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Liars - Sisterworld

When the avant-rock trio Liars relocated to LA, frontman Angus Andrew's encounters with housebreakers, pornographers, drug fiends and the homeless inspired a concept album of sorts. Sisterworld is like their version of Brazil or Blade Runner, with the only escape from modern urban life being one of daydreaming escapism or perhaps even madness. It would be a stretch to say that this is 100% accessible, but it is a 100% satisfying mix of their leftfield roots and the more approachable rock of their 2007 self-titled album.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Salem - King Night

While this album seems to have split the vote entirely, I find its mix of gothic keyboards, shoegaze, lo-fi, juke drum programming and chopped and screwed vocals entrancing. And, they've stumbled on a sound which is completely unique, something that should be celebrated rather than criticised. Its murky and reverberating soundscapes contrasted with clean beats speak of unspecified trouble and illness. An album for the times.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son Of Chico Dusty

Given that Big Boi's disc was the most satisfying side of Outkast's 2003 Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, it's been frustrating to have to wait seven years for his follow-up album. But it can be said now that it was worth it. From the scratched-up occidental rap of Daddy Fat Sax to the menacing cough syrup stumble of You Ain't No DJ, more than anything it's a real pleasure to hear Big Boi having such a ball right across the board.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Cathedral - Guessing Game

It was hard to see where English doom revivalists Cathedral would go after The Garden of Unearthly Delights in 2006, given that it seemed to bookend their entire career. But Guessing Game - a philosophical double metal album with hints of prog, psych and assorted esoterica - was so rich with original ideas and, more importantly, killer riffs that it seems to have revitalised them completely.

Cathedral on BBC Music

theQuietus.com (external link)

Matthew Bennett (reviewed albums)

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

Poly-rhythmic rave jazz that belongs to another universe as Alice Coltrane's great-nephew goes next level in a homage to the spirit of his recently passed mother.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Actress - Splazsh

The producer's producer? Actress sculpts rough sounds into beautiful ideas of rhythm and shade. Neither post-dubstep, neo-house nor part of the new burgeoning industrialism, Actress operates in a grey area that can only be described as ahead of any forming genre.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz

A warped, occasionally formless folk album made with synthesisers which sounds more like this chamber-pop troubadour is juggling galaxies than flanking Animal Collective.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Nedry - Condors

Sounding like a starry eyed Björk meeting PANTyRAiD in the sky above Fritz Lang's Metropolis, this is dystopian disco for your widescreen.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here

Drenched with more life in his opening monologue than most of us can fit into an entire lifetime, Gil Scott-Heron is back from 16 years of homelessness, drug addiction, federal jail and severe illness. Teaming up with XL's Richard Russell he bridges the gaps that separate numerous generations to forge one of the most personal listening experiences of 2010.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Clash magazine (external link)

Today's top five comes from 6 Music's Gideon Coe - his picks appear below as submitted, but are not 'ranked' as such. Tomorrow it's the turn of two of our writers, John Doran and Matthew Bennett - editor of theQuietus.com and deputy editor at Clash magazine respectively (so you know they know what they're on about).

Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here

It came out at the beginning of the year and it's been haunting me ever since. A wonderful return, including an inspired Bill Callahan cover as the title-track. How many of the other songs are GSH confessionals? Possibly none of them. Frankly I don't care.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Perfume Genius - Learning

Out of nowhere (okay, it arrived in the post) comes this beautiful record. Properly lo-fi. Heartbreaking in places.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Caitlin Rose - Own Side Now

The song Learning to Ride has been the soundtrack to me falling off my bike in the latter part of this year. She's a great singer and this collection of songs manages to be wistful and tender but at the same time not in any way wishy-washy. I'd have played this more often on the programme, but Marc Riley always gets there first.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Tracey Thorn - Love and Its Opposite

Without wishing to turn myself into a stereotype, Everything but the Girl's Eden, along with The Smiths' debut, was as pretty much my soundtrack to being 16/17. It would be contrived to say the songs on this record ring true in the same way, but she does manage to take the themes of being 40ish and express them cleverly, tenderly, without it ever descending into anything resembling schmaltz. The songs are really good. The Lee Hazelwood cover with Jens Lekman is pretty wonderful, too.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner

I do find it difficult to talk about electronica without sounding like a t***pot (mind you, see above), so I'll simply say this is an excellent record. All sorts of noises, sounds and melodies, from all sorts of places. And, perhaps most importantly, it hangs together really well as an LP.

Read the BBC review

Check out Gideon's recently recommended album releases and Music Showcase collection of Interview Classics

Act:Deftones

Albums:Diamond Eyes (2010), White Pony (2000)

Recommended by:Zane Lowe, Rock Show with Daniel P Carter

Looking likely to have the most acclaimed rock release of 2010 under their belts in the form of Diamond Eyes (it's in my top five), Californian five-piece Deftones have enjoyed one of their best years yet, with sell-out shows complementing a veritable cavalcade of commendations for their recorded wares. But the album, their sixth studio affair, emerged from a very dark period in the band's history - founding bassist Chi Cheng remains in a minimally conscious state since a car accident in November 2008, a situation which led many to assume Deftones would never regroup. But with ex-Quicksand bassist Sergio Vega drafted in, they have produced their strongest set since 2000's perspective-shifting White Pony, now celebrating its 10th anniversary. Frontman Chino Moreno (pictured, centre) took time out from the band's recent UK tour to answer our questions.

Diamond Eyes seems to keep rolling and rolling - great reviews around its release, and now it's appearing in a number of year-end lists. Just how pleased are you with how it's been received?

Well, there's been a lot of ups and downs over the last, say, eight years of our existence, especially when the thing happened with Chi. But I think that acted as an awakening in a way, as it meant we all had to step back and properly look at where we'd been, and where we were going. For one, our foundation was damaged with what happened to him, so we had to rebuild; but when we started to do that, to search for the band, we looked at it from a perspective of counting our blessings - we appreciated that we had each other, and we were still able to do this. I think that mentality, of acknowledging what we had, carried over into when we began making this album. We had a very strong mindset going into it. Which was important, as we'd already been working on Eros (the album the band were recording with Chi prior to his accident, currently unfinished) for a year and a half, and we knew we didn't have much time or money to make a record from scratch. So if we were going to do it, we needed to be really focused. So we locked ourselves in a rehearsal spot, and worked really hard. But we also really enjoyed it, as we were all happy to be together, working on something we knew was going to be special to us.

From the very first listen it's quite clear that this record has a spark to it, a vibrancy, that was perhaps missing in your last couple of albums. I guess this comes from the speed with which it was recorded?

That was a big part of it. The one, I guess, joint idea we had when we went in to record this album was to capture lightning in a bottle, to capture an energy. We'd done this sort of thing before, but that was 12 years or so before, so we really weren't sure how things would work this time, especially as the chemistry was different with Sergio involved. But the first day he was there we started writing and everything felt really natural - it didn't feel like we were trying too hard, and it felt good. Once we realised it was going to work with Sergio we fell into a groove, and from that point on we set about capturing that. I think if we dragged it on longer than we did, perhaps things would have been different - I don't doubt we'd have dragged our feet about it. But the little time and money we had actually worked in our favour.

So it was important not to over-analyse the material too much?

That was a huge part of it. We'd been stuck in that circle before - on previous albums I'd been trying to second-guess reaction to the material, and adjust it accordingly. The label, on the last couple of records, also seemed to want to get more involved at the songwriting stage - I'd send a track to them, and they'd come back with a list of what they thought should change. I wasn't so comfortable working like that, and I ended up having to second-guess myself. Ultimately it took a lot of the fun away, out of making music. But this time we could shut everyone else out and just play together in a small room, writing music until we felt it was right, and until we had them memorised to the extent we could play them all live. We didn't really waste any time at all - we went straight into the studio when the songs were there, and we were really well rehearsed.

I think it's very important that you mention fun, as there must be many bands out there for whom making a new album has become a routine. I wonder how many still get the same satisfaction they did with their first or second records?

I think the energy of this record does hark back to our first two albums - I compare it a lot to our second, Around the Fur. To me, that record was one we never thought we'd be able to make. After the first album, I never thought people would like us as much as they did. So when we got the opportunity to go in and make a second record, the level of confidence we had was really high. And we recorded that album really fast, too - in four months, which for us is really fast! There was definitely an element of fun involved in that process, and we would look forward to going into the studio. And I think Diamond Eyes is definitely comparable to Around the Fur, in that respect.

I'd like to touch upon White Pony, your third album. It's one of those albums that seems to have grown in status as the years have passed, becoming widely cited as influential by a raft of newer bands. But I recall at the time not everyone was particularly positive about it. Was it always destined to be one of those records you have to stick with a while to properly 'get'?

Yeah, I did think that to an extent. I knew we were going a little left of centre, away from what people probably expected of us. We'd become tagged with the nu-metal label, and everything that came with that, and our first instinct was to run away from that. We wanted to dodge it, and I think we did as well as we could. We knew some fans would not get it straight away, but we knew the songs were good and that we'd put a lot of hard work into it. Whether it'd be an album that's stood the test of time, as it has, that was something I didn't know. It's great to see it being talked about to this day, and even if people don't get it straight away, it's got its qualities which I think do emerge. At the time of writing it, Stephen (Carpenter, guitarist) and I were constantly trying to outdo one another. He'd write something which I'd think was cool, so then I'd have to do something better. That went back and forth, back and forth, with us putting great ideas over great ideas, so come the end of the day we had all this material that was all across the board, but I think every style that's on there has had a lot of thought put into it. Looking back now, I'm very proud of it.

White Pony seemed to open up new audiences to you, too - fans that weren't into metal exclusively were attracted to its rich textures, its ambient passages, its experimentation. The way the band is able to gain, and hold, a wide range of listeners is a quality that I don't think can be overstated.

Well, I don't really think about that too much - it's not like we ever have a plan that says we need to appeal to a particular market, or anything. But all of us are fans of a very wide range of music, and if we were to press ahead and make music that only ticked certain boxes or was clearly designed to satisfy very specific tastes, then we'd be putting walls up around ourselves. There are no boundaries now, though I can't quite imagine us dabbling in techno just yet. I mean, I listen to that music though, so perhaps it can seep through as an influence, into a riff or another element. But we really do appreciate a wide variety of music, so when we make records these influences are always at work, subconsciously.

Looking back at 2000, another band took a pretty radical left turn with an album that year. What did you make of Radiohead's Kid A?

That's a great, great record. And at the time it was a real leap for the band. I mean, OK Computer was a massive step on for them, but when Kid A came out I was like, "what is THIS?". People would hear it and have no idea who it was - it wasn't the Radiohead they knew. But I think that was great. And why not? Why not experiment? You can get a little too self-indulgent at times, but I don't think Radiohead were at all. I commend them for that record, and any other artist who reaches outside of their comfort zone. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't - but to try it is one of the most fun parts about being a musician. If you've worked out a formula, it's important to step away from it.

Okay, finally then, what have been your favourite albums of 2010?

Well, I've not been very good at keeping up with new stuff. I know it came out last year but I love the Fever Ray record, and have played that a lot this year. The sounds in it... I love it. I really like Black Noise by Pantha du Prince, too - I guess that's sort of techno, in a way. It's very organic, though - the sounds in it are beautiful, and I listen to that album almost every day. It's very peaceful, but there are strong beats in it too. I guess those are the top two records I can think of, off the top of my head. Pantha du Prince is almost background music in a way, but when you listen closer there's so much going on. The samples and the sounds aren't traditional, it's really in a space of its own. It really isn't a typical dance record at all.

Read the BBC reviews of Diamond Eyes and White Pony

Visit Deftones on MySpace

Read previous Album Reviews Q&A articles (featuring Magnetic Man, Big Boi, Foals and more)

Hello again, 

More musical highlights this week, including an Arena documentary on Dave Brubeck and and Imagine special on Thom Zimny's documentary of Bruce Springsteen's Darkness On The Edge Of Town.

Enjoy;

Friday 3 December - BBC Four

1930 - 2030: Opera Italia

Three-part series tracing the history of Italian opera presented by Antonio Pappano, conductor and music director at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The series features sumptuous music, stunning Italian locations and some of the biggest names in opera as contributors. The final episode is devoted to Puccini, the worthy successor to Verdi. Puccini's operas are cinematic in their scale with ravishing, passionate and clever music, as he took Italian opera into the 20th century.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00spgk8

2030 - 2100: The Highland Sessions

Six-part series celebrating the historical and contemporary links between Scottish and Irish Gaelic song by bringing together top exponents of both traditions to sing and play together with no audience except themselves, using a house band of their peers. This edition features Liam O'Maonlai of the rock band Hothouse Flowers, Scots Gaelic diva Margaret Stewart and James Graham.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074rwf

2100 - 2230: Arena - Dave Brubeck - In His Own Sweet Way

This Clint Eastwood co-produced documentary tells Dave Brubeck's personal story, tracing his career from his first musical experiences to the overwhelming success of the Dave Brubeck Quartet and the iconic status he and his varied forms of musical expression have achieved.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wbp64

2230 - 2330: Krautrock - The Re-Birth Of Germany

Documentary which looks at how a radical generation of musicians created a new German musical identity out of the cultural ruins of war.

Between 1968 and 1977 bands like Neu!, Can, Faust and Kraftwerk would look beyond western rock and roll to create some of the most original and uncompromising music ever heard. They shared one common goal - a forward-looking desire to transcend Germany's gruesome past - but that didn't stop the music press in war-obsessed Britain from calling them Krautrock.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nf10k

2330 - 2430: Quincy Jones - The Many Lives Of Q - part one

In a career spanning six decades, American jazz musician, composer, arranger, record producer and entrepreneur Quincy Jones has won more Grammy awards than any other artist. His list of other honours includes an Emmy for his work on the seminal American television series Roots and an Oscar for his humanitarian work. This two-part documentary celebrates the life and career of the man who helped make Michael Jackson the king of pop, arranged Frank Sinatra's Fly Me To The Moon, wrote the score for The Italian Job, produced the world's top selling album and single and helped launch the careers of Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith.

This first part, From the Jazz Age to Hollywood: 1933-1974, spans Quincy's childhood in Chicago, reveals how he discovered music almost by chance and features his first professional engagement at the age of 18, playing trumpet in the Lionel Hampton band. It also charts his Hollywood career writing music for some of the most iconic films of the 1970s and concludes with his life-threatening brain aneurysm.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00c18jl

2430 - 2530: Quincy Jones - The Many Lives Of Q - part two

Charting Quincy's recovery from a brain anyeurism and looks at how he went on to produce the biggest selling album of all time, Michael Jackson's Thriller. He also produced and conducted 1985's We Are the World - the American music industry's response to the Ethiopian famine - which is still the biggest selling single of all time. That same year he ventured into new territory, turning Hollywood producer for The Color Purple.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00c517s

2530 - 2630: Originals - Dinah Washington - Evil Gal Blues

Dinah Washington was perhaps the best American blues singer of the 1940s, jazz singer of the 50s and pop singer of the early 60s, and has been called the female Ray Charles. Raised on gospel and blues in black Chicago, she had just crossed over into the white mainstream with songs like What a Difference a Day Makes and Mad About the Boy when she died at just 39. It was a life of excess - too many pills, parties, mink coats and husbands. In this film, her life and music are assessed by people who knew her well and singers who love her, such as Amy Winehouse.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074hkn

Saturday 4 December - BBC Four

2000 - 2130: Choir Of The Year

The best of British choirs battle it out for the ultimate accolade of Choir of the Year 2010. Just six choirs have made it through to the grand final at London's Royal Festival Hall after months of tough qualifying rounds. Aled Jones and Josie d'Arby present all the excitement and thrills of Britain's best-loved choral competition.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wgn3h

Sunday 5 December - BBC Four

2100 - 2230: Stephen Fry on Wagner

Repeated: BBC Four - Monday 2400

Stephen Fry explores his passion for history's most controversial composer in an extended feature-length version of a film first broadcast in Spring 2010. Stephen is Jewish and lost family in the Holocaust - can he salvage Richard Wagner's music from its dark associations with Hitler and anti-semitism? Stephen's quest takes him behind the scenes at the legendary Bayreuth Festival Theatre, where he eavesdrops on rehearsals and discovers its backstage secrets. He also travels to the other landmarks of Wagner's extraordinary life and career in Germany, Switzerland and Russia. Finally, he confronts the composer's dark side, investigating how Hitler appropriated Wagner's music and meeting a cellist who played in the prisoners' orchestra at Auschwitz, where some of Stephen's relatives died. What does she think of Stephen's passion for Hitler's favourite artist?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wpvb2

Tuesday 7 December - BBC One

2235 - 2340: Imagine - Bruce Springsteen - Darkness Revisited

Alan Yentob presents this special edition of Thom Zimny's documentary in which Bruce Springsteen describes his attempts to create a sequel to one of the most popular albums of all time, sealing his legendary status in the tortured, but ultimately triumphant, process. Darkness on the Edge of Town was Springsteen's make-or-break follow-up to the classic 1975 album Born To Run - the recording that made him a superstar. In the period before the album was made, Springsteen was mired in a protracted legal battle that thwarted his desire to produce an album that would surpass his previous achievements. Zimny's film shows the young Springsteen driving himself, his band and his manager almost to distraction in his search for perfection, as he writes and records new compositions and produces ground-breaking work in song after song. Zimny's film features reflections from Springsteen, manager Jon Landau and members of the all-important E-Street Band on the extraordinary process of making this crucial rock 'n' roll album. It includes visceral, previously-unseen black-and-white footage shot between 1976 and 1978 from the rehearsals that took place both at Springsteen's home and at the Record Plant recording studio in New York.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wmx2t

Wednesday 8 December - BBC Four

2200 - 2325: Lennon Naked

Christopher Eccleston is John Lennon in a drama which charts his transition from Beatle John to enduring and enigmatic icon.

Writer Robert Jones articulates the burden of genius, as well as issues of fatherhood and fame, covering a period of wildly fluctuating fortunes for Lennon from 1967-71. When the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein died unexpectedly in 1967 it was a turning point in Lennon's life and the film focuses on the turbulent and intense period of change that followed, and how John was haunted by his troubled childhood.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sv451

2325 - 2355: TOTP2 - John Lennon Special

Yoko Ono introduces a special edition originally screened to mark what would have been John Lennon's 60th birthday. With anecdotes and reminiscences, Yoko introduces classics such as Give Peace a Chance, Power to the People, Instant Karma and Imagine.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00747qb

Next week; The Christmas Session and Folk at the BBC.

Take care of yourselves.

Rory

Welcome to the first part in a series of blog entries (running until Christmas Eve) presenting some of the best albums of 2010, from a host of writers and presenters involved with the BBC's Album Reviews service. In the coming days you'll find top fives from the likes of Gideon Coe, Bob Harris, Mike Harding and Steve Lamacq, as well as many from a selection of our great critics. But since it's muggins who commissions all of this coverage, I thought we'd kick off with my own top five. Anyone saying 2010 has been a bad year for music is clearly spouting pure poppycock, as cutting a list of 50-plus albums down to five was, to say the least, tough (but lots of fun). Enjoy...

1

Drake - Thank Me Later

Drake's debut is an album you either get to the extent where its content infects many a moment of your waking hours, or dismiss as a lightweight collection compared to his harder-hitting mixtapes. But to overlook this superbly articulate and brilliantly produced set is to pass on a record that takes male rapper braggadocio and pulps it, presenting instead a new talent with a wonderfully realised tender side. And he can actually sing, too.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

2

Deftones - Diamond Eyes

That Deftones' comeback after so much misfortune over the past few years was certain to be the subject of much scrutiny was never in doubt, but few expected such a fantastic summarisation of everything the Californian outfit have stood for to date. Diamond Eyes squirms and screams, wriggles with alluring discomfort and rocks harder than anything by its makers' peers. It is, simply, the best return of 2010, and proof that great art can emerge from the darkest places.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

3

The Roots - How I Got Over

The Philadelphia crew proved with their ninth studio album - one of two released in 2010 (Wake Up!, with John Legend, is the other) - that they're head-and-shoulders the most lyrically engaging outfit in their field. But dissections of modern society's various ills, and adventures in existentialism, would count for nothing if the music didn't hit the sweetest of spots - and How I Got Over's mix of jazz, blues, hip hop and soul is an intoxicating brew indeed.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

4

Big Boi - Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

With a new OutKast album hardly hurrying its way into the release schedules, it fell to one-half of the Atlanta rap duo to deliver the goods, and Big Boi did so in spectacular fashion. A long-player every bit as colourful, playful and (frankly) brilliant as anything the rapper's released alongside Andre 3000, Sir Lucious... is the hip hop record of the year for those who like their beats hefty, their themes relatively relaxed and their sax fat.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

5

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

A latecomer, but what a latecomer. Kanye's latest has been much-hyped, courtesy of its $3 million budget and plethora of high-profile guest turns, but the man's delivered a grand vision that occupies a singular space on the rap scene. It's not the perfect-marks classic some corners of the press have painted it to be - Kanye's too average a rapper for that to be the case - but it does sound like nothing else released in 2010. Its production is from Venus, its verses from Mars, but somehow the two elements gel fantastically.

Read the BBC review and listen to previews

I'm keeping things brief this month, for two very good reasons. Firstly, November's typically when the music industry begins to slow down for Christmas and its accompanying slew of seasonal compilations and unnecessary best-ofs, so brand-new albums of quality are in short supply. And secondly, we're starting our year-end round-ups later on today on the BBC Music Blog, taking the shape of a series of top fives from writers and presenters alike. Click back this way over the coming weeks for entries from a number of contributors as well as the likes of Gideon Coe, Steve Lamacq, Bob Harris and Huw Stephens. Every weekday there will be new content here, so be sure to swing by frequently.

But before we get stuck into the very best of what 2010 has had to offer, album wise, here are my picks of last month.

Editor's Album of the Month

Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

(Roc-a-Fella, released 22 November)

Recommended by: Zane Lowe, 6 Music Album of the Day

"This album really is something special - something that scales heights of ambition barely touched not only by his previous work, but by 2010 in general. Don't let the reported $3 million price tag and plethora of A-list guest spots fool you, as this is no vacuous shell: its depth, detail, ideas and sheer scope of vision is staggering."

Read the full review and listen to previews

The Best of the Rest

Neil Diamond - Dreams

(Sony, released 1 November)

Recommended by: Radio 2 Album of the Week, Another Country with Ricky Ross

"There is a world of difference between Diamond singing Hallelujah and an X Factor contestant wobbling their scales. Neil sounds like he means it. What in lesser hands might come across as cheese incarnate broods beautifully on Dreams, a splendid showcase for that evergreen, emotive voice."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Listen to Neil Diamond's version of Hallelujah on YouTube

Devlin - Bud, Sweat & Beers

(Island, released 1 November)

Recommended by: Zane Lowe

"Devlin is a razor-sharp addition to the UK rap scene. Every song here is shot through with such a furious intensity that there's a relentlessness to Bud, Sweat & Beers which can be utterly knackering. But in small doses, the Dagenham MC does nothing but impress."

Read the full review

Watch the video for Brainwashed on YouTube

Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer

(Warner Bros., released 8 November)

Recommended by: Nick Grimshaw, Gilles Peterson, Dermot O'Leary

"When you've a voice as powerful as Atlanta-born Thomas Callaway's, it's not going to stay unheard for too long. And with material of a standard to match his fantastic pipes - number one single Forget You is just the tip of the iceberg - with The Lady Killer he has crafted his finest Cee-Lo long-player yet."

Read the full review

Watch the video for Bright Lights Bigger City on YouTube

Brian Eno - Small Craft on a Milk Sea

(Warp, released 15 November)

Recommended by: 6 Music Album of the Day

"The more you listen and synchronise with its rhythms, the more rewarding navigating by its obscure landmarks becomes. Sounds that seemed incidental, like Complex Heaven's piano strokes or the chimes percolating out of the sub-aquatic drone of Calcium Needles, become resonating hooks."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Watch an unofficial video for the track Lesser Heaven on YouTube

Bruce Springsteen - The Promise

(Columbia, released 15 November)

Recommended by: Another Country with Ricky Ross, 6 Music Album of the Day, Radio 2 Album of the Week

"The Promise is as compelling an advert for the Boss's beautiful, blue-collar soul as you're likely to find outside of the hits; an indispensible portrait of an artist at the top of his game. File this one under American Greats."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Watch an excerpt from an accompanying The Promise documentary on YouTube

Take That - Progress

(Polydor, released 15 November)

Recommended by: Radio 2 Album of the Week

"Taking in bombastic stadium rock, sleazy funk, up-tempo RnB, operatic techno, Bowie-esque whimsy and demented disco, Progress is most definitely not the sound of a wildly popular act playing it safe and raking the millions in. It's more of a fresh start than a final destination."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Watch the video for The Flood on YouTube

Twin Shadow - Forget

(4AD, released 15 November)

Recommended by: 6 Music Album of the Day, The Late Show with Stuart Bailie

"George Lewis - AKA Twin Shadow - makes synth-led bedroom music that sounds at once thoroughly new wave and thoroughly fresh. Forget is an album to let your senses play over and, all in all, it is a magnificently accomplished debut."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Watch the video for Castles in the Snow on YouTube

Buddy Guy - Living Proof

(Jive, released 22 November)

"The legendary pioneer of the Chicago blues turned 74 in July this year, and he's determined to show that he's still in fine voice. He proves that he's still one of the most exhilarating and inventive guitarists in the world, and here he has recorded what is surely the blues album of the year."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Watch the video for Stay Around a Little Longer, plus behind-the-scenes footage, on YouTube

Teeth of the Sea - Your Mercury

(Rocket, released 22 November)

Recommended by: Tom Ravenscroft

"Teeth of the Sea are the best thing to come out of Manor House since, um, ever. This is the start of an odyssey built on crap lager, British sitcoms and noise rock that looks set to build menacingly in the future, and one that you would be daft to ignore. Play very loud."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Listen to the track A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. on YouTube

Rumer - Seasons of My Soul

(Atlantic, released 1 November)

Recommended by: Radio 2 Album of the Week, Edith Bowman's Album Show

"Rumer's debut is an immediately engaging, gently engrossing set. It wears its cracked heart on a neatly stitched sleeve of the most luxurious fabric, strong and elegant despite the hardships that sit of the centre of every song."

Read the full review and listen to previews

Watch the Video for Slow on YouTube

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