2010 Shows Me Its Stuff

It was suggested in the comments section of the last post that I make an End of the Year list of songs that represented "Good Music That I Came to Know in 2010" rather than the more puritanically objective "Albums Of Note that Were Released in 2010" kind of list that, especially given the advent of the internet, is becoming increasingly less representative of how we actually soak up music.

I thought it was a good idea, and so this post has a list of songs that represent my experience of 2010. There are a whole bunch of other songs not listed I could have put on, but this isn't meant to be definitive or anything. It just gives a flavor of the stuff, old and new, that caught my ear throughout the year. The fact that I'm not including already-established favorites on here does mean that my seasonal infatuations with afrobeat (spring), 70's dub (summer), melancholy folk (autumn), Penderecki & Diamanda Galas (late fall), and 90's hardcore rap (very recently), among others, are not represented.

But you can still get a pretty good idea of my year from this list, especially from the prominent presence of synths. It was just a synthy kind of year: from my mining of classic early synth pop, to Vince Clarke & Depeche Mode serving as the soundtrack to my adventures in Japan last May, to the dark, crystalline textures that perfectly accent the colder months.

Here's the list, with links for your listening pleasure.

Dalek – Blessed Are They Who Bash Your Children’s Heads Against a Rock (2009)
Mars – Helen Forsdale (1978)
M.I.A. – Steppin Up (2010)
Depeche Mode – Nothing’s Impossible (2005)
Crystal Castles - Year of Silence (2010)
The Knife – Geology (2010)
Spectral Display – It Takes a Muscle (1981)
Avey Tare – Cemeteries (2010)
Yazoo - I Before E Except After C (1982)

Jorge Ben – Errare Humanum Est (1974)
Kraftwerk – Numbers (1981)
Soulja Boy Tellem – Pretty Boy Swag (2010)
Whodini – Friends (1984)
Osvaldo Golijov – Lua Descolorida (2006)
Janelle Monae – Come Alive (2010)
Big Boi – Daddy Fat Sax (2010)
Diamond Rings – Show Me Your Stuff (2010)
Patrick Wolf – Time of My Life (2010)

Anything crucial that I should know about? Show me that stuff!