The 40 best things in music this year - part one

2010 didn't feel like a vintage year, but then they never do, do they? There were definitely a lot of good records around, but few great ones. As usual, I'm scrambling to catch up on what I missed out on. I don't own the Kanye record, for instance, and the Actress LP barely registered with me when I heard it.
But after spending hundreds of hours listening to the music of 2010, this is what stood out. My list is not ranked, so 1 and 40 are of equal merit in my eyes. It would be better to rank it, but - who am I kidding - I couldn't be arsed.

40. How to Dress Well.

They emerged this year, but were still pretty low key about three months before the hype broke out. Then they started releasing records with people in gimp suits. Think it's just one guy. He has a blog still, which shows you he is "still a chill bro", as Hipster Runoff might say. Fits in to that chillwave sound that was prominent a few months ago, but less retro and more layered.



39. Active Child

The Guardian described this guy as like Fleet Foxes if they had swapped guitars for synths. That doesn't do Active Child justice at all, but there is something very haunting about the delivery of singer Pat Grossi. They are also akin to the chillwave vibe, but again take it in a different direction. Properly speaking, Active Child are an 80s synth band trapped in a fog machine.



38. Baths

Sweet, jumpy electronica probably sums the music of Will Wiesenfeld up pretty well. Lush, lovely singing over blissed out post-trip hop. Sort of thing you might listen to in the bath with the lights low. If you do that kind of thing.



37. Hammock

When I heard Hammock at the start of the year, I thought: this is going to be big. But no-one seems to have talked them up much since. Probably got jumbled together with all the other droney ambient hipsters out there - thanks Oneohtrix! - but their sound is like Eno in his heyday or Stars of the Lid. Genuinely thrilling.



36. Space Dimension Controller
It's going back a while, but I think this came out in 2010. Which is good, because it's on my list. Disco mixed in with the music to a perfect French porno. Perhaps. Again, amazing. And probably no-one bought it either, so that bumps up the alt factor.