Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

2010 seemed like as good as any for Mark E. Smith and The Fall to make a creative comeback. Your Future, Our Clutter seemed to suggest that Smith had become inspired in his time working with Damon Albarn and Gorillaz, as Your Future, Our Clutter is possibly the most danceable record The Fall have ever made. From the lo-fi creaky march of "Bury Pts. 1-3" to thick seductive rumble of "Mexico Wax Solvent" this is the best The Fall have ever sounded as a band. While Mark E. Smith and co. have been more essential and more revolutionary in the past, we've rarely seen them being this accessible and this cutting edge. The result is a record that sounds at home in the mix at sleek avante garde club, blasting out of a trendy indie disco or, in true Fall fashion, blaring aggressively and awkwardly out of your local battered old boozer. Rough, urgent, and groovy; Mark E. Smith should try this more often, the dance floor suits him better than you'd think.

KT Tunstall and Amy MacDonald must have been left scratching when their high profile 2010 returns were met with little more than a drawn out sigh and a shake of the head. After all just a few years ago the folk-pop fanbase was desperate for any glimmer of hope to cling to, but in 2010 they suddenly find themselves reveling in abundance. Taylor Swift has become strangely credible, Joanna Newsom is the queen of the art house folk, and Laura Marling has set her sights on world domination. It feels then, sacrilegious, to pick anyone above Marling. Yet for all Marling's demure pent up carnal rage I just couldn't look beyond Lissie's rollicking Catch A Tiger. In many ways it appears to be a label bosses dream; it has sultry soul ("Everywhere I Go"), catchy pop ("Loosen The Knot"), Tom Waits inspired folk waltzes ("Record Collector"), and stylish country-rock re-fits ("In Sleep"). While Lissie may lack originality at times, she compensates by bringing a propulsive sense of earnestness that drives Catch A Tiger forward. Lissie appears to be having a ball as she hops from one style to the next perfecting them with ease and a down to earth panache.

"Angel Echoes" placed highly in my tracks of the 2010 countdown, it was a ethereal piece characterized by a beautiful looped vocal sample that encouraged the listener to drift away with it for four unnervingly tranquil minutes. As There Is Love In You's opener it set an impeccably high standard for the rest of the LP to live up to. Remarkably, Keiran Hebden manages to maintain not only the quality but also the haunting emotional resonance of "Angel Echoes" creating forty seven minutes of minimalist ambient majesty. Occasionally, as on the sprawling "Love Cry", Keiran will introduce a chunky groove, complete with skipping beats, and layered samples but he always manages to maintain a distinct and somehow tragic atmosphere. While the overriding sensation arising from There Is Love In You may be that of shimmering beauty; the record aways feels on edge, placing a twinge of doubt in the listener's mind. Whether it's the squeals of an ancient decaying modem or a beat that rotates a little to quickly for comfort this is more than just a pretty album, this is a record with genuine bite. 2010 may have been a year where young Mr. Blake grabbed the headlines but Four Tet reminded us that ambient music's veterans are still streaks ahead of their mainstream competitors.

Few were predicting great things from Corinne Bailey Rae in 2010, her debut was the kind of bland radio friendly soul-lite that sells well but excites few. If few were predicting great things from Rae, then even fewer were predicting a bleak emotive power house of a record, but that's exactly what she delivered. It may on the surface of things appear like a stark change of direction, but in the four years since her self titled debut a lot changed in Rae's life. In 2008 her husband overdosed on methadone and alcohol, overcome by grief Rae became a recluse and didn't re-enter the studio until 2009. Not only did Rae return with a bleak but fiery attitude she also embarked on a series of bold stylistic alterations.

Vocally she began to smoulder on verses, while offering up dynamic variation of tone in the chorus; playing with blaring tonal contrasts. In the studio she said goodbye to isolation and introduced a live band to play at her side. The resulting record was tremendous. The playing felt loose and free. Tracks like "The Blackest Lily" sees the band jamming, letting rip when they feel like it, and generally having a good time. The result is a more organic feel. Of course when it comes time to be precise, as on the tragic but enticing "Love's On It's Way", the arrangements swell beautifully creating emotive peaks and troughs. Rae's ultimate evolution, however, comes as a songwriter. The Sea is dominated by tracks that just breathe, there are no short sharp hooks on tracks "Are You Here", instead mood and texture prevails as Rae finds herself happy to let emotional poignancy triumph over immediacy.

Sumach Ecks emerged in 2010, not only as one of the year's most exciting and forward thinking musicians, but as one of the year's great voices. As the hype machine cranked into action in January and February we quickly became prepared for some of the slickest and sexiest beats of the year. The gorgeous lo-fi, chilled, psychedelic hip hop beats that inspire on Am And A Killer draw comparisons as far a field as Bradford Cox, Raekwon and Goerge Harrison, or some on holy hybrid of the three (and hundreds of others), yet it was that cracking haunting vocal that really steals the show on Am And A Killer. Ecks is just fascinating, he captivates, one minute he's crooning like a soulful sage and next second we find him manically rambling like Tom Waits stampeding his way through Hyrule. Of course before you can settle down on an 8-bit groove he'll suddenly switch things up and introduce a barmy folk stomp. Trying to sum up the scope of Am And The Killer in just one paragraph is an impossibility. This is a record that if you dig deep enough will contain an element or a link to each and every record on this 100, and amazingly, despite these wildly contrasting influences,Ecks still manages to create some perfect pop moments, just try to resist "Deut", I dare you.

Who would have though the year's finest hip hop bassline would come courtesy a deep blast of Czech horn compliment by a thundering percussive attack by These New Puritans? Okay, so "Three Thousand" might not literally be a hip hop beat, but even Mr. West would have to concede that it was one of the year's most innovative and sexiest beats. Hidden as an album is full of contradictions, gimmicks and most importantly it was full of ambition. These New Puritans seemingly decided to go hard or go home with this effort; as they combine the smashing rhythmic attack of Sleigh Bells, with a full orchestra, a range of vocal harmonies, and some goofy quasi-rapped, quasi chanted vocals. The resulting sound was surprisingly groovy, intriguingly dark and oddly accessible.

Outside of "We Want War" and "Attack Music" there are little in the way of traditional singles to be found on Hidden (and it's not like either of those tracks are dance floor smashes) but for all the experimentation and all the counterintuitive lines of attack this is still and album that is fundamentally listen-able. While These New Puritans may have been aiming for the air of a maniacal religious cult, and they do achieve that goal, at times Hidden sounds genuinely hilarious. There is a wonderful playful humour to the brass arrangements and this is at heart a very cheeky LP. Big, bold, ambitious, artsy, accessible and charming Hidden is all these things, and more, and that accomplishment is not to be sniffed at.

Each year it seems an album comes out of left field to capture the world's attention. Records like Ali & Toumani, the type that stick out like a soar thumb in list's such as mine, are always impossible to place. Ali & Toumani is not representative of any scene, or a particular movement in popular culture (in fact it's almost by chance that his record ever came into existence), instead Ali & Toumani is the kind of record that leaves you transfixed. On your first listen you are struct by the gorgeous textures, the light and delicate instrumentation and the control of mood. On subsequent listens you begin to feel inspired, you mind becomes filled with possibilities, you draw connections, you see which artists have been inspired by the Mali sound, and you begin to wonder what the likes of Erza Koenig could create if he got his hands on a Malian Kora.

Credit must go to Nick Gold, as a producer he captured this session and persevered to secure the record's release. What he captured was the work of two season professionals just clicking together perfectly. Even in ill health Ali's bass work and timing were not diminished, while Toumani's flamenco back ground comes to the fore as he supplies some wonderfully vivid flourishes. Ali & Toumani is ultimately one of the year's airest and most inspiring offerings, a slew of final soundtrack offers doubtlessly await.

2010 saw the Roots not only come out of a retirement that no one quite believed in in the first place, but it saw the collective return in prolific form. One minute they were beefing up Duffy's sound on her comeback single "Well, Well, Well" the next they were teaming up with John Legend on the Wake Up. In amongst all this activity their actual return, How I Got Over, almost got lost in the shuffle. Excellence is expected when ever Questlove gets the gang together, so when they dropped what is effectively "just a Roots record" the music world seemed underwhelmed. Of course, while How I Got Over may not have pushed the boundaries of Hip Hop or offered anything particularly new, it instead settled for producing a string of brilliantly producer and precisely executed slices of divine hip hop.

Thoughtful and tight, those are the two words that best define How I Got Over. The Roots as a band are an incredibly slick unit. The beats and soft grooves flow effortlessly as you drift from one track to the next/ There is a breezy and engaging charm to The Root's music. Even as the vocalist and rappers change they manage to maintain a wonderful sends of tonal harmony, even as they switch from cutting political critiques to soulful introspection the overall work never fragments. You feel The Roots could do this in their sleep. How I Got Over is so calming and so considered, it has the feel of a mature work by an assortment of level headed deep thinkers. This approach may lack visceral punch but it more than compensates with bags full of heartfelt soul.

How To Dress Well is ghostly debut from R'n'B artist Tom Krell. Love Remains represents one of 2010's finest debuts as he married the more mediative and ethereal movements that have emerged from within baroque pop, indie and ambient music to his graceful R'n'B vocal tones. It irks me, and feels inaccurate, to label How To Dress Well, or any of his peers, Chillwave but it is the closest approximation to the sound he achieves on Love Remains. Krell is careful on this record to keep his vocals always slightly out of reach, there is a sense of distance between the performer and the consumer. We hear Krell speak in half heard whispers and on occasions, as on the beautiful "You Hold The Water" Krell's vocal will pierce the sonic fog that surrounds him creating the record's most poignant moments. There are clear shoegaze parallels in Krell's work, but he feels too at home with his on hazy sonic textures for that comparision to be apt. It is as if he's been overtaken by the soundscapes themselves. The skipping vocal samples that anchor "Ready For The World" occupy the foreground alongside screaming blasts of electro noise while Krell and the rhythm section appear adrift. Only on the album's one live track ("Walking The Dumb") does Krell appear to take the centre ground. Instead on the vast majority of Love Remains the listener is forced to revel in this sense of dislocation. The effect, while not always entirely clear, is continuously intriguing and surprisingly touching making Love Remains one of the year's most fascinating debuts.