30. Pantha Du Prince
Techno - nobody listens to that anymore, do they? Well, maybe some people have lost interest, but Pantha Du Prince's Hendrik Weber has done as much as anyone to change things with his dark, subtle, transformative soundscapes. Weber's Black Noise has been showered with garlands already this year - although surely its placing on this list will be the thing that pleases him most.
29. Ariel Pink
2010 was the year Ariel Pink went viral. They had been knocking about for a while when I first heard them some seven years ago. This year they seemed to go from alt hipster nobodies to the 21st century's answer to the Beach Boys. Neat trick.
28. Games
Does Daniel Lopatin ever relax for a minute? At the moment, he's probably the most productive man in the drone/ambient vibester scene. In fairness, Games is only half his work, with co-author Joel Ford taking on joint duties somewhere in the studio. After all the bleepy 70s synth odysseys from the Rifts albums, Games is very much light relief - like an Alexander O' Neal mixtape done by DJ Screw.
27. Memoryhouse
These guys might have a contender for song of the year with the hazy, lazy, dreamy trippiness of To The Lighthouse. Probably what people who sail yachts and live in white houses on the beach would listen to if they checked this website. Next year this band will either vanish tragically into the oblivion, or release the next White Album. You heard it here first.
26. Gigi
Forty people were involved in the making of the debut Gigi record earlier this year. That's right - 40. There are fewer people in the Chelsea squad. But Maintenant is not a raucous mess, nor a confirmation that too many cooks spoil the broth. Instead, Canadians Nick Krgovich and Colin Stewart almost pulled off what they seemed to be trying to do - become the next Phil Spector. Maintenant is a charming jumble of classic 60s pop. And who could see anything wrong in that?
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