My Favorite Releases of 2010

With the prevalence of new netlabel releases as well as streaming services like Bandcamp and SoundCloud, 2010 was a dynamite year to hear new music without breaking the bank. Of course, I still had to get my Boomkat fix and spent a lot of money on new releases throughout the year too.

Last year I thought I had heard a lot of new music when I listed 62 releases. But this year, I heard a few hundred and narrowed it down to my favorite 222. Bananas, I know. So I decided to corral my favorite 12, crown a particular album as the king and let most others sift below. All in alphabetical order.

So here’s the album (actually, the trio of albums) that I returned to more often than any other. Four hours of gorgeous ambient music without a misstep. You can find these releases and more on the lovely BFW Recordings netlabel.

My 2010 Tippity-Top-Top Favorite:

• Bing Satellites – Twilight Sessions Vol 1
• Bing Satellites – Twilight Sessions Vol 2
• Bing Satellites – Twilight Sessions Vol 3

2010 Must-Haves (Top 12):

• Access To Arasaka – void();
• Actress – Splazsh
• Carl Sagan’s Ghost – Especially For Them
• Demdike Stare – Voices of Dust
• Frequent Sync – Coalesce
• Ghost Box Study Series 01-04 (7″s)
• Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – Love Is A Stream
• Loscil – Endless Falls
• Nest – Retold
• Scuba – Triangulation
• The Fun Years – God Was Like, No
• Yellow Swans – Going Places

2010 Well Worth Searching Out (if you feel like diggin’ in):

• Acanthus – Le Frisson Des Vampires
• Access To Arasaka – ==null
• Al Tourettes – Dodgem / Sunken
• Al Tourettes & Appleblim – Lipsmacker
• Alan Howarth – RA.230 Podcast
• Aless – I’mmobile
• Alex B – Moments
• Altar Eagle – Mechanical Gardens
• Altus – Black Trees Among Amber Skies
• Analog Workshop – Emporium of Broken Toys
• ANBB (Alva.Noto & Blixa Bargeld) - Mimikry
• ANBB (Alva.Noto & Blixa Bargeld) – Ret Marut Handshake
• Anworth Kirk – Anworth Kirk
• Architect – Consume Adapt Create
• Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today
• ASC – Nothing Is Certain
• Asura – 360
• Asura – Asura
• Asura & Anenon – Silver Trees – Damiel
• Autechre – Move of Ten
• Autechre – Oversteps
• Autre Ne Veut – Autre Ne Veut
• Balam Acab – See Birds EP
• Barn Owl – Ancestral Star
• Benjamin Dauer – Burning Of Wine
• Big Boi – Sir Lucious Left Foot… The Son Of Chico Dusty
• BJ Nilsen – The Invisible City
• Brian Eno – Small Craft On A Milk Sea
• Bvdub – A Silent Reign
• Bvdub / Shifty Science – Same Boat, Different Sea / Love’s Not Fading
• Carbon Based Lifeforms – Interloper
• Carl Sagan’s Ghost – Before I Go
• Carl Sagan’s Ghost – Colonial Spa EP
• Carl Sagan’s Ghost – Music For Home Offices Volume Two
• Charanjit Singh – Synthesizing: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat
• Chihei Hatakeyama – A Long Journey
• Christopher Rau – Asper Clouds
• Clem Leek – Holly Lane
• Clubroot – II: MMX
• Commix – ReCall To Mind
• Daft Punk – Tron Legacy Soundtrack
• Dakota Suite – The Night Just Keeps Coming In
• Daphne Oram – Oramics
• Darkhalo – Phase Shift
• Darkstar – North
• Date Palms – Of Psalms
• DeepChord Presents Echospace – Liumin
• DeepChord Presents Echospace – Vibrational Studies (In Echospace) – Symbolism In Transition
• Dem Hunger – Caveman Smack
• Demdike Stare – Forest Of Evil
• Demdike Stare – Liberation Through Hearing
• Demdike Stare – Osmosis
• Deru – Say Goodbye To Useless
• Digital Mystikz – Return II Space
• Doyeq – Eyelashes Of Lanterns
• Drexon Field – Barnstead
• Dylan Ettinger – New Age Outlaws
• Eguana – Mantra
• Eleh – Location Momentum
• Eleven Tigers – Clouds Are Mountains
• Ellipse/Saffron Slumber – Translucence
• Eluvium – Static Nocturne
• Emeralds - Does It Look Like I’m Here?
• Excepter – Presidence
• F – Energy Distortion
• Federico Durand – La Siesta del Ciprés
• Fenn O’Berg – In Stereo
• Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma
• Former Ghosts – Fleurs
• Frank Bretschneider – EXP
• Free The Robots – Ctrl Alt Delete
• Geoff Mullen – Bongo Closet
• Gonjasufi – A Sufi & A Killer
• Gradient – City Sound Vibrations
• Guideo – Anidea
• Gutta Percha – Tube Overtures
• Heavy Winged – Sunspotted
• Henrik José – The Little Things EP
• High Skies – Sounds of Earth EP
• Higuma – Den Of The Spirits
• Ian Hawgood – Slow Films In Low Light
• Ikonika – Contact, Want, Love, Have
• Imaginary Softwoods – Imaginary Softwoods
• Inch-time – Aurora
• Indignant Senility – Plays Wagner – Part One
• ISAN – Glow In The Dark Safari Set
• Ital Tek – Midnight Colour
• James Stephen Finn – Homecoming
• Jan Jelinek & Masayoshi Fujita – Bird, Lake, Objects
• Jana Winderen – Energy Field
• John Roberts – Glass Eights
• Joker – Tron
• Keith Fullerton Whitman – Disingenuity
• Kid 606 – Songs About F***ing Steve Albini
• Koen Holtkamp – Gravity/Bees
• Kontext – Disassociate
• LA Vampires and Zola Jesus – LA Vampires & Zola Jesus EP
• Language of Landscape – Memories Fade Under A Shallow Autumn Snow
• Late – Phantom Papers EP
• Lil B – Rain In England
• Litmus0001 – Fear In A Gaze Towards An Unknown Horizon
• Loscil – Versions
• Luke Abbott – Holkham Drones
• Lukid – Chord
• Magical Unicellular Music – Aurora
• Marcel Dettmann – Dettmann
• Marcus Fischer – Arctic/Antarctic
• Marcus Fischer – Monocoastal
• Mark Fell – Multistability
• Mark Van Hoen – Where Is The Truth
• Mater Suspiria Vision – Second Coming
• Matrix Metals – Flamingo Breeze
• Matthew Dear – Black City
• Max Richter – Infra
• Mike Shiflet – Llanos
• Modul – Quarterlife Recycle Bin
• Mon0 – Sensaural
• Moon Wiring Club – A Spare Tabby At The Cat’s Wedding
• Moritz Von Oswald Trio – Live In New York
• Moshimoss – Hidden Tapes No. 66
• Motionfield – The Sound Of Snow
• Mount Kimbie – Crooks & Lovers
• Mount Kimbie – Remixes Part 1 & 2
• Mr. Cloudy – Light In My Head
• Nadja – Autopergamene
• NCThompson – Another Quiet Winter
• Neil Young – Le Noise
• Nettless – From Beyond
• Nettless – Phobos and Deimos
• Nos Phillipé – Nos Phillipé
• Ólafur Arnalds – …And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness
• Olan Mill – Pine
• On – Something That Has Form And Something That Does Not
• Oneohtrix Point Never – Returnal
• oOoOO – oOoOO EP
• Optimo – Fabric 52
• Oval – O
• Oval – Oh
• Pale Blue Sky – Shades Of Grey
• Pan Sonic – Gravitoni
• Pan Sonic & Keiji Haino – In The Studio
• Pangaea – Pangaea EP
• Pantha du Prince – Black Noise
• Phillip Wilkerson – Daybook EP
• Phillip Wilkerson – The Way Home
• Pjusk – Sval
• Polygon Ring – Songs From The Season Labs
• Proem – Enough Conflict
• Rafael Anton Irisarri – Reverie
• Rafael Anton Irisarri – The North Bend
• Rangers – Suburban Tours
• Relmic Statute – Morning Tapes
• Rene Hell – Porcelain Opera
• Richard Chartier – A Field For Mixing
• Richard Skelton – Landings
• Rockwell – Reverse Engineering
• Roof Light – Kirkwood Gap
• Roswell Return – Probe
• Roughquest – Play
• RxRy – RxRy
• Sam Prekop – Old Punch Card
• Scott Cortez – Twin Radiant Flux
• Scott Tuma – Dandelion
• Scuba – Sub:Stance
• Seefeel – Faults
• Senking – Pong
• Sepalcure – Love Pressure EP
• Shackleton – Fabric 55
• Shed – The Traveller
• Shlohmo – Shlomoshun Deluxe
• Simon Scott – Traba
• Sog – Abweichung
• Specta Ciera – Accumulation Section
• Specta Ciera – Snowflake Collections 2
• Sun Araw – Off Duty
• Surgeon – Fabric 53
• T++ – Wireless
• Take – Only Mountain
• Taylor Deupree – Shoals
• Teebs – Ardour
• The Alps – Le Voyage
• The Black Dog - Music For Real Airports
• The Inventors of Aircraft – Unknown Language
• The Present Moment – The High Road
• The Sight Below – It All Falls Aparts
• The Soft Moon – The Soft Moon
• Thomas Fehlmann – Gute Luft
• To Rococo Rot – Speculation
• Toro Y Moi – Causers of This
• Umberto - Prophecy of the Black Widow
• Various – Asthesia
• Various - Long Division with Remainders box set
• Various – Myth Of The Near Future Split EP
• Various – Shangaan Electro: New Wave Dance Music From South Africa
• Velour – The Velvet Collection
• Verülf – Territorial
• VHS Head – Trademark Ribbons Of Gold
• Virgo – Virgo
• Walls – Walls
• Wicked Messenger – Officium Nocturnum
• Winter Drones – Blood In The Coffin
• Wisp – We Miss You
• Woob – Repurpose
• Xasthur – Portal Of Sorrow
• Zola Jesus – Stridulum
• Zombie Zombie – Plays John Carpenter
• Zs – New Slaves
• Zvuku – Half Full