2010

Now sitting in the year 2011 it’s now time to look back on the previous year and think about what’s happened to the world around us. Although the year seemed to have left us in nothing more than a blur of ash clouds and snowstorms 2010 did indeed leave us with a selection of brilliant music.

In June the chemical brothers released their seventh studio album, Further. The Electronic duo never fails to deliver high quality dance music and this album is not an exception. The duo also released a special edition of the album which featured a video for each track from the release. I can happily say that Further is one of my favourite albums of 2010.

The Red Hot Chilli Peppers are probably one of the biggest rock bands in the world and it came as a shock to fans that guitarist John Frusciante announced his departure from the band in December 2009. Throughout 2010 Frusciante has been busy working with quite a few artists on collaborative projects, the most notable been with Aaron Funk of Venetian Snares. The duo quickly started writing music together under the name Speed Dealer Moms and planned to debut their new tracks at the Bang Face festival here in the UK. However the Duo had to pull out of the festival due to equipment failure. Frusciante and Funk released the first self titled Speed dealer moms EP later on in the year.

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame has had a busy year. Teaming up with his wife Mariqueen Maandig and Atticus Ross, Reznor formed the Group How to Destroy Angels which went on to release their first self titled EP in June. Reznor collaborated with Atticus Ross again later on in the year to produce the score to the blockbuster movie The Social Network. The soundtrack featured two reworked versions of tracks from Reznor’s previous album Ghosts.

Another one of my favourite albums of 2010 would have to be 4x4=12 by Canadian electro house artist Deadmau5. With a highly polished electro house sound Deadmau5 has also incorporated various other styles of music into his most recent work with some tracks straying towards dub step and even pop music. Although the album was released in December some of the tracks on the album had been previously made available online. I definitely feel that this album was a high point of the year and I’m expecting to hear a lot more from Deadmau5 in late 2011.

Breaking their 5 year hiatus Daft Punk returned with brand new material at the end on 2010 but not in their usual electro house style. The French electro house duo was asked to write the score to the long awaited film, Tron: Legacy. The score tore them away from their familiar house background and took them into the realms of cinematic soundscapes to create an epic fusion orchestral and retro electronica. The score was met with positive reviews and general praise but a few long time fans were disappointed to see the lack of a new Daft Punk studio album.