The Musical Advent Calendar - The Overall Top 10

Merry Christmas!

And welcome to the final door of the 2010 Musical Advent Calendar...the overall top 10. Using our patented, multi-layered and highly sophisticated rating system (one point for a No. 24 nomination, 24 for a No. 1, and everything else in between), we've calculated what the panel rated as the best 10 albums of the year. You can see just how many points each one got under the album name.

And here, without further ado, they are.

1. The National - High Violet (4AD)

150 points

Track - England



It didn't appear on the calendar at all until door number 20, but once it had arrived, it came in a flood - seven nominations in all making High Violet our runaway No. 1 of the year.

"High Violet is a world weary, intellectual record, battered by the pressures of modern middle class life and perfect for a faceless commute across the city" - Steve Pill

"This is an era defining band, who continue to outshine their peers with effortless ease and deserve a place in everyone's life" - Guy Atkinson

"High Violet is not Alligator. But it is damn close, and it reminds me what I fell for in the first place, the aloofness, the quiet power, and the assuredness of touch" - Ian Parker

"Each time I listen to High Violet I seem to discover something else lovingly stashed down there in the thicket of the mixing desk and the onset of the English winter seemed to place the whole thing in its aptest context" - Rory Dollard

"The National could release their shopping list rapped over a soundtrack of Elmo bashing his bin lids together and be hailed as the saviours of rock" - Matt Collins

"Tender but still forceful, downtrodden but also euphoric, it is an unrelenting triumph and sits proudly amid the lineage of sweeping blue collar rock that Americans tend to do so well, while we get stuck with The Enemy and some other such rubbish" - Dom Farrell

2. Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)

90 points

Track - I Speak Because I Can



Like the National, she left it late, but Marling's sophomore effort came steaming through with a string of high nominations.

"I love everything about this album; the wider issues such as her transformation from delicate nu-folk flower to devastating, Greek-mythology-steeped heroine, to smaller nuances like the “We will keep you” refrains of Goodbye England that sound like the Bagpuss mice" - Andy Welch

"She played a part in one of 2009's stand-out records when her break up with Noah from Noah and The Whale resulted in the latter's uncomfortably heartbreaking The First Days Of Spring. But Marling's response smacks more of an unflinching defiance, assurance and no little devilment" - Dom Farrell

"The switch in backing bands from Noah and the Whale (no going back there now, of course) to Mumford & Sons is clearly in effect, with Mumford's pounding rhythms powering these songs along (except, that is, for Goodbye England) and creating a very different sound, but what stands out is Marling's own songwriting, establishing her as an artist to be reckoned with" - Ian Parker

"It’s a definite step up from Alas I Cannot Swim, and there are some absolute stunners here – the huge Alpha Swallows, the exquisite Goodbye England and breakup track Blackberry Stone, which could teach Charlie Fink a thing or two about restraint" - Ali Mason

3. Best Coast - Crazy For You (Wichita)

64 points

Track - When The Sun Don't Shine



"Surf-rock, doo-wop and smirk-inducing dorky teenage lyrics are a fun mix, though they may not hint at longevity" - Rory Dollard

"Best Coast make that sort of breezy, lo-fi west-coast pop that I pretty much find it impossible not to like" - Ian Parker

"With the nursery rhyme lyrics of social media junkie Bethany Cosentino to the fore, elements of surf and sixties girl group chic are also thrown into the mix to produce a honey-sweet debut effort" - Dom Farrell

"Bethany Cosentino knows good love. Whether it’s for her cat, her boyfriend, or her weed, she’s either smitten or she’s smarting. And if you can tolerate those lyrical obsessions, you’re halfway to going crazy for Best Coast" - John Skilbeck

"Bethany Consentino sounds like a simple character – she’s heartbroken and she likes smoking weed, but nowhere on this record does she get boring" - Andy Welch

4. The Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (Mercury)

63 points

Track - Month of May



"The Suburbs is Arcade Fire's most varied effort to date, although the lack of a common thread over a sprawling 16 track collection is sometimes to its detriment" - Dom Farrell

"The Suburbs has a handful of tracks that still set the pulse racing and would be highlights of any Arcade Fire collection. Month of May still burns with a little of the old righteous fire, The Suburbs takes a stab at Kinks-ian pop and even Rococo manages to be irritatingly addictive" - Steve Pill

"If Arcade Fire’s career had gone in reverse, they’d probably be the best band in the world: you’d’ve been impressed by the ambition of their sprawling debut The Suburbs, you’d’ve noted the definite improvement and increased coherence of follow-up Neon Bible and seen The Funeral as a perfect, glorious realisation of their potential" - Ali Mason

"Yes, it’s about four songs too long. Yes, it’s got some filler. Yes, it’s not as good as Funeral. But when the tunes are this good who the hell cares?" - Guy Atkinson

"I admire the passion, the energy and thought that’s gone into this album. I admire that Arcade Fire show they’re keen to recognise the album as an art form as opposed to a mere collection of tracks. The marketing and execution was inspired (different album covers, a Google chrome video, interactive download). It could be a handful of tracks shorter, but it’s a grand folly of an album featuring my favourite closing track of the year" - Pranam Mahavalli

5. = LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening (EMI)

61 points

Track - Home



"LCD Soundsystem make me pull shapes so obtuse they’d even be disowned by Ann Widdecombe. So while those who associate with me might be heartened to hear that this album could be LCD’s swansong, me and my malcoordinated limbs will miss them dearly" - Pranam Mahavalli

"Following Sound of Silver was never going to be an easy task and so it proves because only rarely does James Murphy touch upon those dizzying highs again. But when he does, he shows the countless imitators how this 'dance-punk-electro' shit is done" - Guy Atkinson

"This Is Happening apparently marks the end of James Murphy’s indie-dance monster. If so, it all goes down in a stunning blaze of glory. From Bowie to Byrne, the influences are all worn proudly on a vibrant sonic sleeve that is euphorically invigorating throughout" - Dom Farrell

"James Murphy is a guy who loves downbeat British music but comes from uber-cool New York, who frequently stumbles over his words but regularly finds genuine poetry, who loves dumb frat-rock but can’t play guitar, who fronts a hip dance band but whose age and waistband passed the mid-30s mark some time ago. The combined effect is by turns exhilarating, nostalgic, romantic, reckless and righteous" - Rory Dollard

= Anais Mitchell - Hadestown (Righteous Babe)

61 points

Track - Hey, Little Songbird



"The whole thing also works as a pin-sharp allegory of the financial crisis, with a sub-textual caution against isolationism in times of hardship - but I think that sounds a bit pretentious coming from my mouth. So here’s a cock joke. It is brilliant, though. The album, not the cock joke" - Rory Dollard

"At once huge, sprawling, almost boundless, and yet also delicate, almost reserved, Hadestown is a rich album of many layers" - Ian Parker

"Hadestown, Anais Mitchell’s folk opera transporting the Orpheus myth to depression-era America, is a truly impressive achievement. It boasts a variety of influences and styles - evoking speakeasies and jazz bars as well as the wild American outdoors - but coheres wonderfully, it’s allegorical without being preachy and it captivates from start to, well, almost finish" - Ali Mason

7. Foals - Total Life Forever (Warner)

58 points

Track - Total Life Forever



"Brimming with heart swelling tunes, introspective lyrics and typically spine-tingling denouements" - Guy Atkinson

"Like Bloc Party before them, some of the lyrics are cringeworthy, over earnest 6th Form nonsense on paper but they win you over through the sheer force of the band's collective attack, while cribbing from The Lemonheads showed they did have a sense of humour after all" - Steve Pill

"From opener Blue Blood onwards the arrangements are bold and the musicianship strong, while the high-energy songs positively bristle" - Rory Dollard

8. = Beach House - Teen Dream (Bella Union)

56 points

Track - Take Care



"It’s a little puzzling why Teen Dream put the Baltimore duo on the map to the extent it did. Perhaps the key lies in Norway, easily one of the best songs of 2010. Whatever the reason, Teen Dream is a magical album" - Andy Welch

"Beach House’s trade is a combo of one-setting synths, dreamy girl vocals and drum machines churning out chilled out beats, and it is beguiling" - Matt Collins

"I love this album as a whole and its combined effect as one long, occasionally mournful, dream sequence" - Rory Dollard

"Teen Dream, Beach House's third full-lengther but the first to have come to my attention, is a truly spellbinding piece of work" - Dom Farrell

= The Smoke Fairies - Through Low Light And Trees (V2)

56 points

Track - Morning Blues



"Seductive and bewitching, the Smoke Fairies create a world you can sink in to, that you may not have a choice but sink in to as their hypnotic compositions swirl about your ears. Don't fight it. Let yourself go" - Ian Parker

"It’s rural and eerie and lonely and, even when the country guitar kicks in on Strange Moon Rising, peculiarly British" - Ali Mason

"Drawing on the English folk tradition, reverb drenched guitars weave a beguiling pattern behind harmonies that are as haunting as they are beautiful" - Dom Farrell

10. Grinderman - Grinderman II (Mute)

54 points

Track - Evil



"There are no pretensions towards the poetry or piousness of the Bad Seeds so instead it’s guitars set to warp speed, rabid sexuality fit for the offenders’ register and Cave in his wild-eyed, scenery-chomping pomp" - Rory Dollard

"Ah, more high-kicking, finger-pointing, no-pussy, apocalypse-preaching blues from Cave and co. Noisy, funny and occasionally appalling – I found it a well-needed blast of high-octane fun" - Pranam Mahavalli

"Never has four randy old goats trying to relive their promiscuous youth sounded so triumphant, repulsive and down right sexy. His worm is not for taming" - Steve Pill

"Lean, primal and full of delicious insults, there are far too many highlights to list, but mocking an ex’s children sticks in my mind as particularly malicious" - Andy Welch

"When he sneers “you think you’re government will protect you, you are wrong” in Heathen Child, you find yourself marching, grizzled, right behind him" - Dom Farrell

- And that brings the 2010 Musical Advent Calendar to a close. Thanks for reading, and a Merry Christmas to all.

The Musical Advent Calendar - Door Number Twenty-Four

And so we reach the promised land, the No. 1s, where we find that, after a good amount of pontificating, Ali eventually talks himself into liking his favourite album of the year...

Pranam Mavahalli

Caribou - Swim (Co-operative Music)

Track - Sun



I read somewhere that Dan Snaith set out to make an underwater dance record with this album. Well if that was his aim, then he’s executed it beautifully. An album that smuggles in some of the most gorgeous melodies I’ve heard this year and shows that electronic music can be just as emotive as that played on other instruments. Laibela is the standout track for me, but works much better in the context of the rest of the album. So here’s another album highlight – the rather unseasonal, but utterly glorious, Sun.

John Skilbeck

Allo Darlin’ - Allo Darlin’(Fortuna Pop)

Track - The Polaroid Song



It was on a rainy Cambridge day in August that I concluded it must be love. Sheltering in a convenient record shop, the soft voice of Elizabeth Morris poured through the speakers. I was soaked through, peeved the weather had ruined a day of sight-seeing, but all of a sudden calm descended over me. I might just have found a quiet corner and sung along a little. Just three weeks earlier I’d watched Allo Darlin' play a swoonsome late-evening set at Indietracks, since when I’d kept a distance from an album I had grown much too close to. But it was the unexpected chance meeting which confirmed I harboured more than a crush for this band. There’d been an instant attraction to the early EPs and then came the LP, its 10 hot-to-trot flirty pop songs which managed to live up to all expectations. Some might have found it as wet as that Cambridge day, the NME reckoned it sounded like “the Beautiful South playing for an early ‘90s Christian book fair”, and yes, sure, it was twee, but so was Tigermilk, and for me this belongs up there with that very great debut.

Steve Pill

Steve Mason - Boys Outside (Double Six Records)

Track - Am I Just A Man



I interviewed Steve Mason in 2006, a fortnight before the release of Black Gold, his first post-Beta Band solo album as King Biscuit Time. The following week, his record label revealed he was quitting music. Now, this might say something about my interviewing skills but in truth it was just one of many self-sabotaging acts, following on from his denouncing of the first Beta Band album and Mason's general struggles with depression and an apparent lack of confidence. Never in the history of pop music has one man damaged his own reputation on quite so many occasions and never has one man's sheer talent brought himself back into contention again and again. Stripped down by Richard X’s production and proud in his declarations of his own failings, this is every bit the equal of Three EPs. Even better, call it an electro-tinged Blood On The Tracks for the 21st century. It's that good.

Matt Collins

The National - High Violet (4AD)

Track - Anyone's Ghost



The National could release their shopping list rapped over a soundtrack of Elmo bashing his bin lids together and be hailed as the saviours of rock. Essentially, this is more classic National. They never really get out of third gear, but with songs as broodingly intense as Anyone's Ghost, Lemonworld or the epic England, who cares? The guitars are unique, the production prevents repeat listens being anything but repetitive and Matt Berninger’s baritone vocals bring the endlessly sexy brooding to indie.

Andy Welch

Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)

Track – Rambling Man



After Laura Marling released Alas, I Cannot Swim, the general consensus seemed to be that it was a lovely album, but the real excitement lay in this outlandish talent’s potential, kind of ‘this is good, but she’s going to be GREAT.’ To fulfil that promise two short years later with I Speak Because I Can, rather than, say, four or five albums into a long career, is mind-blowing. I love everything about this album; the wider issues such as her transformation from delicate nu-folk flower to devastating, Greek-mythology-steeped heroine, to smaller nuances like the “We will keep you” refrains of Goodbye England that sound like the Bagpuss mice. Above all, as with that debut, and despite the Leonard Cohen-esque levels of gravitas on display, I love the idea that we still haven’t heard the peak of this incredible young lady’s talents.

Guy Atkinson

Deftones - Diamond Eyes (Warner Bros)

Track - Sextape



When considering that Diamond Eyes was set against the backdrop of bassist Chi Cheng's near-fatal car crash (he's still in a coma) it makes this even more jaw-droppingly stunning than it already is. Scrapping a full album's worth of material and starting again after the accident, this album is a triumphant 'fuck you' to all those who had written them off after 2006's Saturday Night Wrist, which JUST failed to live up to the ridiculous standards set by their first four albums. The atmosphere is as brooding and ethereal as ever and the riffs as crunching as you've come to expect from the band with the most distinctive guitar sound in metal. Long live Deftones.

Dom Farrell

The National - High Violet (4AD)

Track - Bloodbuzz Ohio



I really hate Q magazine. You see, I actually really used to like it. Then the television station happened. All objective journalism was placed on the back-burner so any old piece of tripe could be awarded three stars and the rubbish artist's corresponding video aired on the publication's sister channel. Then there's the sodding awards. This year they doled out "Idol", "Inspiration", "Hero" and "Icon" awards. The only solace I take in not being able distinguish between this shower of guff is the entirely pointless nature of the whole thing. Imagine my horror, when the very same awards proclaimed The National's High Violet as the best album of 2010. In darker moments, this has made me question the very point of my existence. Good thing that at such times I can simply stick High Violet on and immerse myself in all its sweeping, majestic, life-affirming grandeur. Tender but still forceful, downtrodden but also euphoric, it is an unrelenting triumph and sits proudly amid the lineage of sweeping blue collar rock that Americans tend to do so well, while we get stuck with The Enemy and some other such rubbish. Next year The National should be poised to received the "These Lot Are Really Proper Good and Stuff" award from Q.

Ian Parker

The Smoke Fairies - Through Low Light And Trees (V2)

Track - Summer Fades



Just think, I was actually worried about the Smoke Fairies' debut album. When I saw they'd chosen not to include a single track from any of their outstanding EPs (which I spent all of the year before this thing was released utterly addicted to), I figured it was going to be a let down. They'd take a different direction, and it wouldn't be as good. How could it be as good? But from the first time I heard the opening bars of Summer Fades, I was in love. Seductive and bewitching, the Smoke Fairies create a world you can sink in to, that you may not have a choice but sink in to as their hypnotic compositions swirl about your ears. Don't fight it. Let yourself go.

Rory Dollard

Anais Mitchell – Hadestown (Righteous Babe)

Track - Way Down Hadestown



I’m not going to pretend this is an easy sell, but here goes. Hadestown is a concept album based on the ancient Greek Orpheus myth, relocated to a post-apocalyptic America and told in the form of a ‘folk opera’. It is also, perhaps improbably, the boldest, brightest and best realised album of 2010. Anais Mitchell has crafted the story expertly, honing a welter of cracking songs and set-pieces and balancing them off beautifully against the narrative demands of simply telling the story. The cast list who’ve signed up to play parts – Bon Iver, Ani DiFranco, Ben Knox of the Low Anthem among them – are testament to the calibre of the songs, while the musicians move effortlessly between genres. The whole thing also works as a pin-sharp allegory of the financial crisis, with a sub-textual caution against isolationism in times of hardship - but I think that sounds a bit pretentious coming from my mouth. So here’s a cock joke. It is brilliant, though. The album, not the cock joke.

Ali Mason

Avi Buffalo – Avi Buffalo (Sub Pop)

Track - Summer Cum



I’m not going to claim Avi Buffalo was the best album released this year - it probably wasn’t. I’m not even 100% sure it was my favourite. But it was the only one which evoked in me a palpable sense of excitement. It’s sunny and breezy and serious and weird, but mostly it just pulses with youthful energy. Try to ignore the fact that frontman Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg has given two of the most infectious songs of the year, Five Little Sluts and Summer Cum, two of the most unfortunate names and just let the sunny, fuzzy soundscapes wash over you. Even Remember Last Time, which, clocking in at seven and a half minutes, is pure youthful self-indulgence, sounds tremendous. In fact the more I think about, the more I think this really was the best album released this year.


- And there we go. Don't forget, tomorrow, we'll be revealing the overall top 10, based on an elaborate* scoring system that tallies up the all the panel's votes.

*Not remotely elaborate.

The Musical Advent Calendar - A Quick Recap

Yep, we made it. Or almost, anyhow. Join us tomorrow for our overall top 10, but in the meantime, here's a quick recap of all the top 24s so you can mock those that missed off the essentials, and congratulate those who threw in the hidden gems.

Pranam Mavahalli
1. Caribou ­­– Swim (City Slang)
2. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (Mercury)
3. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest (4AD)
4. Gonjasufi – A Sufi And A Killer (Warp)
5. Vampire Weekend – Contra (XL Recordings)
6. Bob Dylan – Bootleg Series Volume 8: The Witmark Demos 1962-64
7. LCD Soundsystem – This Is Happening (EMI)
8. Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me (Drag City)
9. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach (Parlaphone)
10. Phantom Band – The None of One (Chemikal Underground)
11. Flying Lotus – Pattern And Grid World (Warp)
12. Medicine Show 1 – Ode To The Ghetto (2010 Now Again Records)
13. Warpaint – The Fool (Rough Trade)
14. Neil Young – Le Noise (Reprise)
15. Huun Huur Tu – Ancestor's Call (World Village)
16. Charanjit Singh - Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat (Bombay Connection)
17. Liars – Sisterworld (Mute)
18. Janelle Monae – The Archandroid (Atlantic)
19. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti – Before Today (4AD)
20. Tame Impala – Innerspeaker (Republic of Music)
21. Grinderman – Grinderman II (Mute)
22. Ali Farke Toure – Ali and Toumani (World Circuit)
23. Konono No.1 – Assume Crash Position (Crammed Discs)
24. John Adams - I Am love OSM (Nonesuch)

John Skilbeck
1. Allo Darlin’ - Allo Darlin’ (Fortuna Pop)
2. This Many Boyfriends - Getting A Life With EP (The Sheffield Phonographic Corporation)
3. Best Coast - Crazy for You (Wichita)
4. Shrag - Life! Death! Prizes! (Where It's At Is Where You Are)
5. The School - Loveless Unbeliever (Elefant Records)
6. Sleigh Bells - Treats (Mom & Pop Music)
7. Lucky Soul - A Coming of Age (Ruffa Lane)
8. Neverever - Angelic Swells (Slumberland Records)
9. Summer Camp - Young EP (Moshi Moshi)
10. Quasi - American Gong (Domino)
11. Male Bonding - Nothing Hurts (Sub Pop)
12. Nina Nastasia - Outlaster (FatCat Records)
13. Warpaint - The Fool (Rough Trade)
14. MGMT - Congratulations (Columbia)
15. Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart (Jagjaguwar)
16. Betty & The Werewolves - Tea Time Favourites (Damaged Goods)
17. Standard Fare - The Noyelle Beat (Melodic)
18. Marnie Stern - Marnie Stern (Souterrain Transmissions)
19. The Corin Tucker Band - 1,000 Years (Kill Rock Stars)
20. Robyn - Body Talk pt 1 (Island)
21. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be (Sub Pop)
22. Rose Elinor Dougall - Without Why (Memphis Industries)
23. She & Him - Volume Two (Double Six Records)
24. Shonen Knife - Fun! Fun! Fun! (Tomato Head)

Steve Pill
1. Steve Mason - Boys Outside (Double Six)
2. Caribou - Swim (City Slang)
3. The Foals - Total Life Forever (Warner)
4. National - High Violet (4AD)
5. Yeasayer - Odd Blood (Mute)
6. Washed Out - Life of Leisure (Mexican Summer)
7. !!! - Strange Weather, Isn't It? (Warp)
8. Houses - All Night (Lefse Records)
9. Julian Lynch - Mare (Olde English Spelling Bee)
10. The War On Drugs - Future Weather (Secretly Canadian)
11. How To Dress Well - Love Remains (Lefse)
12. Aloe Blacc - Good Things (Epic)
13. The Album Leaf - A Chorus of Storytellers (Sub Pop)
14. Hot Chip - One Life Stand (EMI)
15. Four Tet - There Is Love In You (Domino)
16. Morning Benders - Big Echo (Rough Trade)
17. Toro Y Moi - Causers Of This (Carpark)
18. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (Mercury)
19. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record (City Slang)
20. Grinderman - Grinderman II (Mute)
21. Walls - Walls (Kompakt)
22. The Walkmen - Lisbon (Bella Union)
23. Maximum Balloon - Maximum Balloon (Polydor)
24. I Am Kloot - Sky At Night (Shepherd Moon)

Matt Collins
1. The National - High Violet (4AD)
2. The Climbers - The Good Ship (Willkommen Records)
3. I Am Kloot - Sky At Night (Shepherd Moon)
4. Larsen B - Musketeer (Old Radio Tunes)
5. Rufus Wainwright - All Days Are Nights (Songs For Lulu) (Polydor)
6. Jonsi - Go (EMI)
7. First Aid Kit - The Big Black And The Blue (Wichita)
8. The Acorn - No Ghost (Co-operative Music)
9. The Miserable Rich - Of Flight & Fury (Humble Soul)
10. Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks (Fat Cat Records)
11. Anna Kashfi - Survival (Little Red Rabbit)
12. Beach House - Teen Dream (Bella Union)
13. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (Parlaphone)
14. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record (City Slang)
15. James Yuill - Movement In A Storm (Co-operative Music)
16. Kathryn Williams - The Quickening (One Little Indian)
17. Paul Weller - Wake Up The Nation (Island)
18. Caitlin Rose - Own Side Now (Names Records)
19. Tired Pony - The Place We Ran From (Fiction)
20. Sea of Bees - Song For The Ravens (Crossbill Records)
21. Lone Wolf - The Devil And I (Bella Union)
22. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms (Columbia)
23. Allo Darlin' - Allo Darlin' (Fortuna Pop)
24. The Mystery Jets - Serotonin (Rough Trade)

Andy Welch
1. Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can (EMI)
2. Janelle Monae – Archandroid (Atlantic)
3. Best Coast – Crazy For You (Wichita)
4. The Coral – Butterfly House (Deltasonic)
5. Warpaint – Exquisite Corpse (Manimal Vinyl)
6. Paul Weller – Wake Up The Nation (Island)
7. Tame Impala – Innerspeaker (Republic Of Music)
8. Grinderman – Grinderman 2 (Mute)
9. Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma (Warp)
10. Rose Elinor Dougall – Without Why (Memphis Industries)
11. Manic Street Preachers – Postcards From A Young Man (Columbia)
12. Laura Veirs – July Flame (Bella Union)
13. Gorillaz – Plastic Beach (EMI)
14. Stornoway – Beachcomber’s Windowsill (4AD)
15. Darwin Deez – Darwin Deez (Lucky Number)
16. Gold Panda – Lucky Shiner (Notown)
17. Sarah Blasko – As Day Follows Night (Dramatico)
18. Belle & Sebastian – Write About Love (Rough Trade)
19. Band Of Horses – Infinite Arms (Columbia)
20. Goldheart Assembly – Wolves & Thieves (Fierce Panda)
21. First Aid Kit – The Big Black And Blue (Wichita)
22. Beach House – Teen Dream (Bella Union)
23. Toro Y Moi – Causers Of This (Carpark)
24. Tracey Thorn – Love And Its Opposite (Strange Feeling)

Guy Atkinson
1. Deftones - Diamond Eyes (Warner Bros)
2. Pulled Apart By Horses - Pulled Apart By Horses (Transgressive)
3. The National - High Violet (4AD)
4. Foals - Total life Forever (Warner Bros)
5. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (Mercury)
6. Circa Survive - Blue Sky Noise (Atlantic)
7. Against Me! - White Crosses (Sire)
8. Blood Red Shoes - Fire Like This (V2)
9. The Hold Steady - Heaven is Whenever (Rough Trade)
10. The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang (Side One Dummy)
11. Alkaline Trio - This Addiction (Hassle)
12. Los Campesinos - Romance is Boring (Polydor)
13. 65daysofstatic - We Were Exploding Anyway (Hassle)
14. Your Demise - The Kids We Used To Be (Visible Noise)
15. Yeasayer - Odd Blood (Mute)
16. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening (EMI)
17. Les Savy Fav - Root For Ruin (Wichita)
18. Tokyo Police Club - Champ (Memphis Industries)
19. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles II (Polydor)
20. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record (City Slang)
21. Errors - Come Down With Me (Rock Action)
22. Sky Larkin - Kaleide (Polydor)
23. Interpol - Interpol (Soft Limit)
24. Jonsi - Go (Parlophone)

Dom Farrell
1. The National - High Violet (4AD)
2. Dangermouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul (Parlaphone)
3. Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)
4. Beach House - Teen Dream (Bella Union)
5. The Smoke Fairies - Through Low Light And Trees (V2)
6. The Coral - Butterfly House (Deltasonic)
7. Neil Young - Le Noise (Reprise)
8. Grinderman - Grinderman II (Mute)
9. Massive Attack - Heligoland (Virgin)
10. The Morning Benders - Big Echo (Rough Trade)
11. LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening (EMI)
12. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach (Parlaphone)
13. The Family Band - Miller Path (Family Band)
14. Broken Bells - Broken Bells (Columbia)
15. The Chemical Brothers - Further (Parlaphone)
16. The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards (Third Man Records)
17. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Beat The Devil's Tattoo (V2)
18. Dum Dum Girls - I Will Be (Sub Pop)
19. The Strange Death of Liberal England - Drown Your Heart Again (The Strange Death of Liberal England)
20. The Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (Mercury)
21. Paul Weller - Wake Up The Nation (Island)
22. Belle & Sebastian - Write About Love (Rough Trade)
23. Best Coast - Crazy For You (Wichita)
24. I Am Kloot - Sky At Night (Shepherd Moon)

Ian Parker
1. Smoke Fairies - Through Low Light And Trees (V2)
2. The Mynabirds - What We Lost In The Fire We Gain In The Flood (Saddle Creek)
3. Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)
4. Admiral Fallow - Boots Met My Face (Lo-Five)
5. The National - High Violet (4AD)
6. The Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards (Third Man Records)
7. Dylan LeBlanc - Pauper's Field (Lost Highway)
8. Anais Mitchell - Hadestown (Righteous Babe)
9. Karen Elson - The Ghost Who Walks (Third Man Records)
10. Mary Gauthier - The Foundling (Proper)
11. The Duke & The King - Long Live The Duke & The King (Silva Oak)
12. Best Coast - Crazy For You (Wichita)
13. Warpaint - The Fool (Rough Trade)
14. Caitlin Rose - Own Side Now (Names Records)
15. Johnny Flynn - Been Listening (Transgressive)
16. The Dave Rawlings Machine - A Friend of A Friend (Acony)
17. Allo Darlin' - Allo' Darlin' (Fortuna Pop)
18. She & Him - Volume Two (Double Six)
19. Frazey Ford - Obidah (Nettwerk)
20. Neil Young - Le Noise (Reprise)
21. Titus Andronicus - The Monitor (Merok)
22. Chief - Modern Rituals (Domino)
23. Pete Molinari - A Train Bound For Glory (Clarksville)
24. Dan Michaelson & The Coastguards - Shakes (Editions)

Rory Dollard
1. Anais Mitchell - Hadestown (Righteous Babe)
2. Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me (Drag City)
3. Bruce Springsteen – The Promise (Columbia)
4. The National – High Violet (4AD)
5. LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening (EMI)
6. Beach House – Teen Dream (Bella Union)
7. She and Him – Volume Two (Double Six)
8. Massive Attack - Heligloland (Virgin)
9. Jenny and Johnny – I’m Having Fun Now (Warner)
10. Foals – Total Life Forever (Warner Bros)
11. Tunng - ...And Then We Saw Land (Full Time Hobby)
12. Dylan LeBlanc – Paupers Field (Rough Trade)
13. Tallest Man on Earth – The Wild Hunt (Dead Oceans)
14. Grinderman – Grinderman II (Mute)
15. Tricky – Mixed Race (Domino)
16. Gold Panda – Lucky Shiner (Notown)
17. The Roots – How I Got Over (Def Jam)
18. Janelle Monae – The Archandroid (Bad Boy)
19. Chemical Brothers – Further (Virgin)
20. Best Coast – Crazy For You (Wichita)
21. Black Keys – Brothers (V2)
22. Meursault – All Creatures Will Make Merry (Song, By Toad)
23. Big Boi – Sir Lucious Leftfoot Son of Chico Dusty (Def Jam)
24. Bonnie “Prince” Billy and the Cairo Gang – The Wonder Show of the World (Domino)

Ali Mason
1. Avi Buffalo – Avi Buffalo (Sub Pop)
2. She & Him – Volume Two (Double Six)
3. Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)
4. Mountain Man – Made The Harbor (Bella Union)
5. Anais Mitchell – Hadestown (Righteous Babe)
6. Peggy Sue – Fossils And Other Phantoms (Wichita)
7. The National – High Violet (4AD)
8. Fyfe Dangerfield – Fly Yellow Moon (Polydor)
9. Warpaint – The Fool (Rough Trade)
10. Sleigh Bells – Treats (Columbia)
11. Sky Larkin – Kaleide (Wichita)
12. Bombay Bicycle Club – Flaws (Island)
13. Smoke Fairies – Through Low Light And Trees (V2 Coop)
14. Kate Nash – My Best Friend Is You (Polydor)
15. Broken Records – Let Me Come Home (4AD)
16. Broadcast 2000 – Broadcast 2000 (Groenland)
17. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (Mercury)
18. Caitlin Rose – Dead Flowers (Names)
19. Los Campesinos! – Romance Is Boring (Wichita)
20. Pearly Gate Music – Pearly Gate Music (Bella Union)
21. Dark Night Of The Soul (Parlophone)
22. Eliza Doolittle – Eliza Doolittle (Parlophone)
23. Belle & Sebastian – Write About Love (Rough Trade)
24. Curl up with a cup of tea and a good book

The Musical Advent Calendar - Door Number Twenty-Three

So close, and yet so far. They wanted to be number one, but instead these are our number two albums of the year.

Pranam Mavahalli

Arcade Fire – The Suburbs (Mercury)

Track - The Suburbs (Continued)



I admire the passion, the energy and thought that’s gone into this album. I admire that Arcade Fire show they’re keen to recognise the album as an art form as opposed to a mere collection of tracks. The marketing and execution was inspired (different album covers, a Google chrome video, interactive download). It could be a handful of tracks shorter, but it’s a grand folly of an album featuring my favourite closing track of the year.

John Skilbeck

This Many Boyfriends - Getting A Life With EP (Thee Sheffield Phonographic Corporation)

Track - Three Year Itch



“We are fine purveyors of self-deprecation...,” This Many Boyfriends professed on Trying Is Good, “... You won’t hear our records on any radio station.” Well quite, Getting A Life With was hardly devised by the Leeds band as a clarion call to local dunderhead Chris Moyles. Its seven tracks of whip-smart fuzz-pop were influenced by The Pastels (for Getting A Life With, see Up For A Bit With) and Beat Happening among others, with the lyrics laced in wit so dry they could have fallen from Jarvis Cocker’s jotter. This was released in July on Sheffield’s tiny Thee SPC label, which brought you early records from the Long Blondes among others, and was just bags of fun from its tongue-in-cheek opener I Don’t Like You (‘Cos You Don’t Like The Pastels) to its closing lullaby lament It’s Lethal. And I won’t like you (if you don’t like This Many Boyfriends).

Steve Pill

Caribou - Swim (Co-operative Music)

Track - Leave House



Following my math rock crush at number three comes an album made by an actual mathematician. Numbers aside, Dan Snaith is something of a pop chameleon, making psychedelic noises on 2003's Up In Flames and perfect sunshine pop on 2007's Andorra before dropping this masterpiece. Swim is packed with naggingly catchy, atmospheric dance tunes that it is okay for indie kids to like and Leave House tops a throbbing bass with a chant that sounds not unlike a fey man saying "chicken steak" over and over again. This is maddeningly addictive.

Matt Collins

The Climbers - The Good Ship (Wilkommen)

Track - Uncommon



A kind of supergroup comprising members of Brighton-based Wilkommen collective, The Climbers are the brainchild of Nick Hemming, supported by various Wilkommen musiciains. The songs are simple, melodic and colourful affairs, delivered by a variety of sweet and inviting then dark and brooding vocalists. The Line of Best Fit summed it up best - “The Good Ship sweeps, soars and dives, delicately tip-toes, weeps and rejoices.”

Andy Welch

Janelle Monae – Archandroid (Atlantic)

Track – Locked Inside



As I said about the Gold Panda album, sometimes you love music because you fully understand how the artist arrived at that point. Other times, the sheer otherworldliness of the music bowls you over, and that’s how I feel about Janelle Monae. She’s clearly listened to a lot of Prince and old funk, but after that, I’m pretty stumped by her influences. Nevertheless, from the first time I saw her performing Tightrope on Letterman, I’ve been fascinated by this sci-fi-obsessed, James Brown / Audrey Hepburn hybrid, looking, behaving and sounding like a complete star. No artist has excited me quite as much as Janelle Monae this year, and Archandroid is a modern masterpiece.

Guy Atkinson

Pulled Apart By Horses - Pulled Apart By Horses (Transgressive)

Track - Yeah Buddy



Leeds' premier purveyors of hook-sodden hardcore punk do a better job of describing their irresistible sound than any muso ever could with Meat Balloon's delicious refrain of "awesome, radical, awesome, totally bodacious". That is all.




Dom Farrell

Dangermouse & Sparklehorse - Dark Night of the Soul (EMI)

Track - Revenge (ft. The Flaming Lips)



The conclusion of a torturous, drawn out legal dispute with EMI finally saw Dangermouse and Sparklehorse's opus Dark Night of the Soul benefit from general release. That Mark Linkous was no longer around to witness this was, like his untimely demise, genuinely tragic. In such circumstances it is easy to overplay the "genius" of the dead guy and read even more into what a generally troubled character was getting at when he wrote Dark Night of the Soul. If at all possible, such a highly accomplished album should be allowed to speak for itself. Linkous' genial songcraft and Dangermouse's slick, icy production mean Dark Night of the Soul has a vital silver thread running through it and avoids falling into the trap of so many projects featuring guest vocalists. Wayne Coyne, Gruff Rhys, Jason Lytle, Julian Casablancas, Frank Black, James Mercer, David Lynch, Iggy Pop, Nina Persson and (bizarrely) Suzanne Vega all sound like they are dutifully serving a superb record rather than their own egos. Coyne kicks things off with typically empowering fragility on the wonderful Revenge and the quality rarely lets up by the time the title track brings proceedings to a stark and eerie conclusion.

Ian Parker

The Mynabirds - What We Lost In The Fire We Gained In The Flood (Saddle Creek)

Track - Numbers Don't Lie



Before there was a Buffalo Springfield or a Crazy Horse (though after there had been The Squires), Neil Young was briefly in a band called the Mynah Birds, who were signed to soul label Motown. Only a handful of tracks were ever recorded before lead singer Rick James was arrested for going AWOL from the Naval Reserve, and only two of them have ever been released, albeit on a rather obscure compilation. Laura Burhenn has apparently decided, quite rightly, that the unrealised idea of Neil Young doing Motown was too great a loss for music, so she’s taken it upon herself to make the album they might have done. That’s right, Neil Young doing Motown. Sign me right up to that idea. And while this, of course, is not Neil himself, Burhenn’s best approximation about what it might all have sounded like is pure delight. Let The Record Go and Numbers Don’t Lie stomp along at a rollicking pace, while tracks like Ways of Looking and We Made A Mountain recall Dusty Springfield. Outstanding.

Rory Dollard

Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me (Drag City)

Track - In California



Having wowed the critics with Ys, a five-track song cycle of wandering epics featuring an orchestral Van Dyke Parks score and a lyric sheet that would have had Doctor Johnson scrabbling for his notepad, logic dictated the only route left open for harpist Joanna Newsom was to downgrade her ambitions. But you don’t make an album as staggeringly, daringly unclassifiable as Ys – or, for that matter, Have One On Me – by following logic. Instead she produced an outrageously proportioned triple album, featuring an even more ambitious set of ideas crammed tight into 18 mind-blowing compositions. No theme, refrain or melody outstays its welcome as the songs dissolve into endless new directions at the drop of a hat. A remarkable achievement.

Ali Mason

She & Him – Volume Two (Double Six)

Track - Lingering Still



For a movie star to make one good album could be a fluke – to make two begins to look like talent. Zooey Deschanel returns with M Ward and another enchanting bunch of songs which take inspiration from the past but still manage to feel of their time. This is a more consistent album than Volume One, and it’s testament to the quality of both the songwriting and the arrangements that the two cover versions nestle in nicely. The moment in Home where Zooey goes “...and I could be sweeter” might be the best pop moment of 2010. If she keeps this up she might one day reach the heights of Dogstar and 30-Odd Foot Of Grunts.

The Musical Advent Calendar - Door Number Twenty-Two

As we reach the top three, it's tempting to call this Laura Marling Day. See if you can figure out why...

Pranam Mavahalli

Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest (4AD)

Track – Revival



About halfway through this record is a track called Desire Lines. It starts innocuously enough – a charming pop song graced with a lovely descending guitar line over a languorous baritone vocal. Then three minutes in, it unexpectedly shifts up several gears, engages a motorik beat, vocals are despatched with, guitars chime and the song rides blissfully on, and on, and on, and on, and on... It’s a magical moment. Almost equally magical is the middle eight of Revival, where the bass drops out about 1 minute 20 seconds in, turning a good song into a great one. It gets me every time.

John Skilbeck

Best Coast - Crazy for You (Wichita)

Track - Bratty B



Bethany Cosentino knows good love. Whether it’s for her cat, her boyfriend, or her weed, she’s either smitten or she’s smarting. And if you can tolerate those lyrical obsessions, you’re halfway to going crazy for Best Coast. It was an audacious move of Cosentino to take the plunge and record an all-new LP, disregarding the run of singles and EPs she and band-mate Bobb Bruno had released in a prolific first year together. There were some fine songs there, but only the blissful When I’m With You made the eventual cut, as a bonus track. Astonishingly she carried it off, the album contained no filler and was crammed with polished pop songs. Cosentino has a beguiling charm and a rich, confident voice tailored for surf-pop. Her songs might appear simplistic but they carry emotional baggage, similar in that respect to The Ronettes. And she’s not always the girl getting the guy, sometimes she’s doing the begging. On Bratty B she’s left heartbroken, promising not to "be such a brat", and all alone.

Steve Pill

Foals - Total Life Forever (Warner Bros)

Track - Blue Blood



The first Foals album was lumped in with the whole math rock scene and it certainly sounded like the work of men more comfortable juggling complex equations, all awkward moves and cryptic lyrics. Total Life Forever is a revelation though, more intimate and yet more expansive too. Blue Blood begins, like the album, with a meek vocal before it bursts into life with encouraging baselines and chiming guitars. Like Bloc Party before them, some of the lyrics are cringeworthy, over earnest 6th Form nonsense on paper but they win you over through the sheer force of the band's collective attack, while cribbing from The Lemonheads showed they did have a sense of humour after all.

Matt Collins

I Am Kloot - Sky at Night (Shepherd Moon)

Track - Lately



I Am Kloot abandoned the acoustic guitars that made their ramshackle folk so loveable and unique ten years ago, and decided to rock out over a series of anonymous albums. Finally, Johnny Bramwell has dusted off his busker’s guitar and come back with another collection of delightful and lyrically razor sharp observations on a life spent overindulding, including the reworked classic Proof from their second album.

Andy Welch

Best Coast – Crazy For You (Wichita)

Track – Our Deal



I love the scuzzy sounds of Jesus & Mary Chain almost as much as the sugar-sweet Spector-inspired girl groups of the early Sixties. It’s no surprise that I fell for Best Coast’s Crazy For You so hard earlier this year, an album that combines both influences so fantastically. Bethany Consentino sounds like a simple character – she’s heartbroken and she likes smoking weed, but nowhere on this record does she get boring.

Guy Atkinson

The National - High Violet (4AD)

Track - Lemonworld



It is testament to the strength of The National's back catalogue that High Violet would only feature third in my list of their best albums. It's probably a better all-round piece of work then Alligator and Boxer but it just lacks the sheer quantity of stand out tracks that were present on those two. However, this is an era defining band, who continue to outshine their peers with effortless ease and deserve a place in everyone's life.

Dom Farrell

Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)

Track - Devil's Spoke



As enjoyable as Laura Marling's debut Alas, I Cannot Swim was, the overwhelming impression of another pleasant, twee and unobtrusive English singer-songwriter meant it could happily be left in the CD rack for months. By contrast I Speak Because I Can demands attention and demonstrates Marling's boundless potential. She played a part in one of 2009's stand-out records when her break up with Noah from Noah and The Whale resulted in the latter's uncomfortably heartbreaking The First Days Of Spring. But Marling's response smacks more of an unflinching defiance, assurance and no little devilment.

Ian Parker

Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)

Track - Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)



It would be unfair to describe Marling's debut, Alas I Cannot Swim, as the sound of a young artist finding her way - it was much better than that - but the leap from that promising opener to the powerful and assured I Speak Because I Can is immense. The switch in backing bands from Noah and the Whale (no going back there now, of course) to Mumford & Sons is clearly in effect, with Mumford's pounding rhythms powering these songs along (except, that is, for Goodbye England) and creating a very different sound, but what stands out is Marling's own songwriting, establishing her as an artist to be reckoned with.

Rory Dollard

Bruce Springsteen – The Promise (Columbia)

Track - Ain't Good Enough For You



How much do I love The Boss? I love him enough to risk a highly unedifying skirmish with my bank manager by purchasing the deluxe package The Promise. I can’t include any of the archive materials in my ratings here, just the double album of previously unreleased tracks from Bruce’s Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions, spruced up and spring cleaned for release 32 years down the line. Luckily it’s a treasure chest of Springsteen’s most playful and pop savvy anthems. Most of the material here eschews the taut, downtrodden ethic of the album that did see the light of day in favour of an old school billboard chart feel. Hit single Hungry Heart used to be viewed as an anomaly in the Springsteen canon but apparently he had dozens of breezy three-minute romps just waiting in the vault.

Ali Mason

Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)

Track - Alpha Swallows



Because Laura Marling is so young, it’s tempting to think: “It’s amazing how good her songwriting is given she’s so young.” But really that does her a disservice because, basically, it’s just amazing how go her songwriting is. It’s a definite step up from Alas I Cannot Swim, and there are some absolute stunners here – the huge Alpha Swallows, the exquisite Goodbye England and breakup track Blackberry Stone, which could teach Charlie Fink a thing or two about restraint. Perhaps her ex still has something to teach her too, though – just a touch of the emotional rawness that characterised The First Days Of Spring might make this a truly exceptional album.