1. Never Satisfied by Cowbell. Well this is as retro as hell and it features what is probably the most amateurish guitar solo of the year, but if you like 60s garage rock there's a good chance you're gonna love this!
   
   
2. Ghost Rider by Gavin Friday / Dave Ball. Former Virgin Prune and the quiet one in Soft Cell cover the Suicide classic as part of the on-going Alan Vega tribute series. What's more they do the great man proud.
   
   
3. Uper Heathen Child by Grinderman. The lead single from the second Grinderman album finds Nick Cave in fine hectoring voice. Worth getting on 12", too, as the b-side has Robert Fripp doing his thing to good effect. Video of the year, too!
   
   
4. Black Dot White Spider by Seeland. Warm Leatherette meets Krautrock. That's two fine boxes ticked then...
   
   
5. Painkillers (Flotilla Remix) by Lauren Pritchard. "No painkillers make it go way, I've tried them once before, didn't work for me," sings Pritchard in an oh-so-soulful voice over a sporadic bass and shuffling beat, before some doomy backing singers hum their way to the fore.
   
   
6. Olympians by Fuck Buttons. One of the standout tracks from last year's excellent Tarot Sport album issued on 12” with mixes from J Spacemen and Alan Vega.
   
   
7. Worm Tamer by Grinderman. Features the best line of the year as Nick bellows, "Well my baby calls me the Loch Ness Monster - two great big humps and then I'm gone" over squelchy electronic noises and an almost Bo Diddley beat.
   
   
8. Flesh EP by Viv Albertine. Former Slit returns with a rather decent EP and to prove that nothing really changes, she also gets her kit off on the cover.
   
   
9. Calling Out Your Name by Darren Hayman & the Secondary Modern. The former Hefner man sings a love song about illicit sex in car parks. Just a guess, but it probably won't be featured on any TV advertised 20 Classic Love Songs compilation any time yet.
   
   
10. Jonny by Peaches. A respectable take on another classic Suicide track by someone I can generally take or leave. Effi Briest's hypnotic version of the Why Be Blue track Universe on the b-side isn't bad either.

1. Grinderman 2 by Grinderman. There may be the odd gentle moment and Whilst When My Baby Comes might find them sounding like late period The Move, but as a whole Grinderman 2 is choc full of noise and dark, dark humour. Another top notch album from one of the most prolific artists around.
   
   
2. Butterfly House by The Coral. Sure they wear those 60s influences on their sleeve – She's Coming Around, for example, opens like The Seeds Mr Farmer – but they make them then their own. Arguably their best yet.
   
   
3. Sisterworld by Liars. This one is a real grower. And the way the Krautrock beats come in from nowhere halfway through Proud Evolution is one of the moments for the year for me. Check out the bonus disc of re-mixes, too. Alan Vega's take on No Barrier Fun is a joy to behold.
   
   
4. There Is Love In You by Four Tet. I don't know whether it was because I loved Rounds so much or whether I didn't give its follow-up enough listens, but I was quite disappointed with Four Tet's last album, Everything Ecstatic, back in 2005. Or maybe it was because he (Kieran Hebden) had rather bored me when I caught him live round that time – it really didn't translate well to a gig setting for me. This belated follow-up is a real return to form, however, with the second track, the long and repetitive Love Cry, being an absolute corker.
   
   
5. Brave The Elements by Lost Idol. A predominantly instrumental set that opens like Neu and ends with some beautiful low-key orchestral bliss.
   
   
6. Heligoland byMassive Attack. From the moment the excellent opening Pray For Rain starts you just know that this is going to be a return to form after the massively disappointing 100th Window back in 2003.
   
   
7. Swim by Caribou. I'm still not convinced that this is a match for The Milk Of Human Kindness or Caribou, but as they are two of my favourite albums of the past ten years that's hardly an insult. Odessa is a fab piece of pop and elsewhere there's occasionally a more dancey feel than you might expect, but at the moment it lacks its predecessor's consistency for me.
   
   
8. Your Future Our Clutter by The Fall. As ever with a Fall album, it's a mixed bag, but the highs are very high indeed. I absolutely love Mexico Wax Solvent – definitely one my tracks of the year.
   
   
9. David G Cox – David G Cox. Fresh-faced young fella comes on all Tom Waits over quality folk and gospel influenced material. I reckon this bloke could go a long way!
   
   
10. How To Live – Seeland. Seeland were responsible for my album of the year in 2009. But whilst this isn't as great as last year's Tomorrow Today, it is still a very, very good album. And one that sounds like the Teardrop Explodes at times which is no bad thing in my book!

Runners Up:
Disconnect From Desire by School Of Seven Bells
On Patrol by Sun Araw
Speculation byTo Rococo Rot
Head First by Goldfrapp
Faust Is Last by Faust

1. Deutsche Elektronishe Musik, a various artists compilation
2. Floored Genius 2 by Julian Cope
3. Kilimanjaro (Deluxe) by Teardrop Explodes
4. Two Penny Prince by Marc Bolan
5. And Another Thing by The Nightingales
6. For One Stormy Night Only by The Wild Swans
7. Vol 2 by Wooden Shjips
8. Backyard by Dirk DaDavo
9. Bubblegum Music Is the Naked Truth Vol 1, a various artists compilation
10. Birthday by The Association

Gig of the Year:
JULIAN COPE / DAVID WRENCH (Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton).  The former Teardrop Explodes man treats us to solo performances – on guitar, keyboard and mellotron – of favourites throughout his 30 year career, before encoring with a loose version of Sleeping Gas, the song that started it all, performed with various members of his Black Sheep circle.

Others...
THE NIGHTINGALES w/ Hotpants Romance and Guilty Pleasures of the Snow Angel (Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton)
IGGY & THE STOOGES w/ Suicide (Hammersmith Apollo, London)
FAUST (Central Station, Wrexham)
SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS (The Drop, Stoke Newington / Ruby Lounge, Manchester)
THE DAMNED w/ Eddie Ten Pole (Manchester Academy 2)
GRINDERMAN (Manchester Academy)