Ambient music in particular made a fairly healthy return, often popping up in well known DJ's podcasts and charts. My chart isn't in order and I emitted digital only releases from my top 10.
1)Thomas Köner - Nunatak • Teimo • Permafrost [Type]
Apologies for including a reissue in my chart but these three early releases from Köner have that timeless quality which sound like no other ambient from the early to mid nineties, no movie samples, twiddling bubbling synth sequences, water or whale samples, just pure unidentifiable drones shifting and morphing with hauntingly beautiful results..
2) A Guy Called Gerald - Tronic Jazz The Berlin Sessions [Laboratory Instinct]
Manchester's finest returns with another stunning collection of techno tracks with that unique Gerald slant, alien afro future funk of the highest order which truly separates him from the rest of the techno clones..
3) Bvdub - The Art Of Dying Alone [Glacial Movements]
Brock Van Wey, has been gathering a rather large underground following with his CDR releases on labels like Quietus and Styrax etc, with his brand of stunning soundscapes, The Art Of Dying Alone is truly breathtaking from beginning to end a modern ambient classic..
4) Anodyne - corrosion [Psychonavigation]
Ireland's answer to Aphex, Muziq etc returned after a lengthy hiatus with his blistering sonic assault of breakbeats and techno with a rather apocalyptic flavor throughout, 2010 also saw the release of the remixes 12" featuring remixes from Autechre and the Black Dog which really put Anodyne and Psychonavigation on the electronica map..
5) The Black Dog - Music For Real Airports [Soma]
The Black Dog venture into the ambient arena with a title that got tongues wagging about it being a statement to Brian Eno's "Music For Airports" while Eno's concept was more about creating a calming mood for the traveller while waiting to depart the black dogs approach was more about creating a soundtrack using field recordings, drones, and emotive compositions that captured all the emotions which can be experienced in such places, from anticipation, stress, sadness, anger etc.
6) Mark Van Hoen - Where Is The Truth [City Centre Offices]
A beautiful collection of deep shoegazing inspired songs and instrumentals with dubby and glitched electronics and warm synths with touches of Marks avant garde edges. The album also features Neil Halstead of Slowdive amongst other guest performers.
7) Pete Namlook and Lorenzo Montanà - Labyrinth [Fax]
Another prolific year for Pete Namlook and his Fax label, with great collaborations between Pete and Move D and solo works like his "Pearl" series and the melodic "Permutations" but his collaboration with Italian IDM producer Lorenzo Montana really stood out with Lorenzo's intricate beats and soulful melodies and Pete's trademark ethereal synths made this a serious contender for album of the year..
8) Loscil - Endless Falls [Kranky]
I'm not sure what it is about the seductivness of Scott Morgans music, but he really is a master of subtlety, the tracks slowly evolve to reveal a haunting beauty and this is probably Loscil at his very best ?
9) Atom™ - Music Is Better Than Pussy [Rather Interesting]
Uwe Schmidt returned to top form after the disappointing digital scrap book of "Muster" with a tongue in cheek look at minimal techno, minimal yet deeply funky and experimental techno tracks with often hilarious lyrical content. also worth mentioning was his experimental ambient Li3835tra3um3 which featured some great ambient tracks which returned to similar terrain explored in "Dots" etc..
10) Sage Taylor - Rain Time [Pronounce]
A truly essential release that only one hundred lucky people will get to hear and I'm happy to be one of them. Based around a theme of rain, each track shifts into the next with the sound of rain running against glass and other materials the album delivers a deep sense of melancholy and emotions that only those wet home bound days can sometimes bring, stunning!!!
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