Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

Few were predicting Spanish synth pop to take off in 2010 and well it didn't, but that didn't stop Delorean from producing one superb ablum and one delightful slice of sun drenched synth serenity called "Stay Close". As is the way with these things "Stay Close" was unleashes on the UK in the midst of a frozen January but it didn't detract from the tracks innocent charms. "Stay Close" remains proof positive that given the chance the rest of mainland Europe can compete with the Scandinavians for the pure pop crown.

You just knew Ceo-Lo wouldn't drop just any old lead single to hype the release of The Lady Killer but "Fuck You" still managed to exceed all expectation. Not just because of the salacious chorus but because of the sheer melodrama of the track. The ludicrous cries of "Why!" where Ceo-Lo transforms himself into a giant blubbering baby are just unbelievable; when performed live you're left with a visual that's simply impossible to forget. "Fuck You" may not be revolutionary but it was totally unpredictable, imagine trying to envision this track in 2009; I'm still amazed it exists, and what's more, it's a hit!

Next summer just can't come fast enough. Seriously, can you imagine the reaction when Daft Punk drop this beat into the mix? It already feels like a natural transition between "Television Rules The Nation" and "Robot Rock". Sorry, I should describe the track, but with Daft Punk it's never about the one minute and forty four seconds of the single, it's about the possibilities, and "Derezzed" is a Pandora's box of pandemonium ready to be loosed on 2011's festival fields.

Go may have been a bit too safe and Sigor Ros like for some, but behind it's relative conservatism laid some works of staggering beauty and limitless scope. "Tornado" is such a busy track, while Jonsi's vocals and the strings soar, cymbals crash, and subtly rattle while flourishes of piano punctuation key phrases. Then there's that fabulous percussive blasts that brings the track to it's conclusion. Grand, epic, imaginative, gorgeous; what else did you expect from Jonsi?

Owen Pallett will always draw comparisons to Sufjan Stevens, so it was a relief in 2010 to see both men release two sublime and completely different LPs. "Lews Takes Off His Shirt" was one of the stand out moments on Heartland as the track marries electro burbles with classic woodwind instrumentation and deep oozing horns. The track has real life, colour and a wonderful sense of excitement to it. For a song that cries "I'm Never Gonna Give It Too You" Pallett has in fact given too much, creating a lush soundscape that you can lose yourself within for hours at a time.

MGMT scared the holy hell out of a lot NME readers when this track leaked on line in early 2010. The boys from MGMT said they were willingly trying to make the silliest track they could imagine, and while it might not be the silliest track ever released it's certainly a surrealist's paradise. "Flash Delirium" is exploding with ideas, and has more sublime hooks laid into it's incredibly dense four minutes than there were to be found on the entirity of Congratulations, and that ladies and gentlemen, was no mean feat.

Everything about Spoon has always been in the pocket; this is a band who are tight, sharp, controlled and most of all streamlined. Well that's the bad Spoon were, but that all when out the window on Transference; a record that in many ways was just another sublime Spoon record, but in another sense was a grand departure. Rough and ready guitar work, blaring levels, wayward choruses; Transference was less a precise bite and more of a big soaring hay-maker. "I Saw The Light" contains all these elements while managing to seamlessly drop back into classic Spoon midway through, with a gorgeous piano break over-layed with some unseemly distorted burbled vocals. Will Spoon ever put a foot wrong? Even when it's rough it still feels right.

After supplying 32 minutes of sublime precision engineered pop Vampire Weekend decided to end their glorious second album Contra with the uneasy beauty of "I Think Ur A Contra". Erza's vocals remain picture perfect through almost oblivious to the twisting turning labyrinth of instrumentation that exists behind him. The way the band meld patted drums, melancholic strings and ethereal synths together is heavenly. I'm still not sure how they got there but Vampire Weekend somehow managed to end up with one densely layered calypso beat. You've got to give them credit, they'll find away to fit calypso riffs and African drums into anything, and more impressively they always seem to make it work.

When the faintly sexy disco funk of "Come Tomorrow, Come Today" kicks in you almost forget you're listening to Edwyn Collins, not because this is out of his comfort zone, but just because his affable vocal never quite sits with the beat. Surprisingly, that's one of the track's great strengths. It feels as though Edwyn is doing his very best just to keep up, he has a lovely local pub singer charm, especially when he starts earnestly crooning. However, the happy go lucky pop teeters from pleasant to perfect when that brief sawing Johnny Marr guitar line slides in, it's brief, but it completes that track adding a helpful dose of bite.

Few could have conceived that the short, sharp and essentially meaningless "Telephone" would spawn a bloated cinematic epic of a video. It did of course, and sadly it distracted from what is actually a masterfully arranged slice of pop ecstasy. "Telephone" is densely layered from softly strummed guitars, to ringing phones and staggering blasts of synths, every inch of this track has been masterfully orchestrated and carefully written. It's hard not to love that pulsating finale and the big woofing bass that accompanies Beyonce's verse. Like it or not, this is the hottest pop on the planet, and you know what, you should like it.