Always wanted to do one of these. Most, though not all, are available from Amazon, go through the link at the bottom of the page please!
Now, I'll do it in reverse order ten to one, with a few notes and other things along the way. I do have some ground rules though; they should have be released in 2002, or re-released at a push and I had to pay for them. This means that something like The Streets 'Original Pirate Material' doesn't get in as I didn't buy a copy, though had I it would have made the lower reaches as it's clever and funny. The same is true of Damon Albarn's 'Mali Music' project.
No.10 Bebel Gilberto 'Tanto Tempo'
First one and I'm already kind of breaking my own rules as to what I can include, basically it has to be stuff released this year and stuff I've actually gone out and bought rather than been given. This cd originally was released in 2000 but was re-issued in 2002 and so gets in here. Perfect relaxing music and if you enjoy this the Tom and Joyce album is in a similar vein, though they are both French they really have the Brazilian style. If tango is your thing another mostly French outfit The Gotan Project will feed your mind, kind of tango meets dub. Other really chilled out music I can highly recommend comes in the form of Norah Jones 'Come Away with Me'.
No. 09 Lasiarfhiona Ni Chonaola 'An Raicin Alainn'
This is one I brought back from Ireland with me to discover it was also getting played by Charlie Gillett and gathering quite a few plaudits here too. Music rooted in the sean-nos tradition but also bringing in a broad range of other influences. It sounds superb for what is basically a home produced and released cd. There's more info at www.aransinger.com
No. 08 Eliza Carthy 'Anglicana
I found this one to be hard going initially. It's so much a return to the tradition after her trip to the edge of the mainstream with Angels and Cigarettes and Warner Bros that it was a shock. Of course, after the shock wears off you realise what a triumph it is. She's going out on tour in the new year with the Oysterband for one of their Big Session tours which I enjoy but no one else in the family does!! The Oyster's new album 'Rise Above' was seen by some as a return to their roots but I initially found it a bit bland and disappointing. It grew on me a little but it's not one of their's that I've played a lot. Not seeing them live this year hasn't helped though
No. 07 Temple of Sound 'First Edition'
A lot of the music I like is a fusion, a mix of sounds and styles from around the world and these two do it as well as any. Initially I was drawn by the track 'Dojo Kun' featuring JJ Burnel and Natacha Atlas on vocals and the Prague Radio Orchestra but the whole album is majestic, the opening track sounds like it should be on some bizarre commercial, that's not a critque it just lodges itself into your brain and refuses to leave.
No. 06 Los de Abajo 'Cybertropic Chilango Power'
Another of those fusions, this time a group from Mexico. Like Manu Chao, (whose Radio Bemba Sound System live album wasn't as good as his BBC4 Glastonbury show), you lose a lot of the politics by not being able to speak the language. But the whole thing chugs along delightfully. I've spent half the year trying to get the producer of this album's own cd, he's part of a group called Macaco who caught my attention when Radio 3 went to a Spanish festival. I'm still trying. Also Lo'Jo, a French ensemble again have an album forthcoming that's garnered great reviews and having bought their entire back catalogue thanks to a visit to Sterns, they are another outfit I highly recommend. Stern released the Kad Achouri album 'Liberte' another fine mix of styles and sounds though well laid back certainly worth a listen or several.
No. 05 Sekouba Bambino 'Sinikan'
Another to blame Charlie for. Occasionally I find this album a little radio friendly but it's magnifique and his own language version of 'It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World' just has to be heard. He's from Guinea and it's my second favourite African album of the year.
No. 04 Acid Mothers Temple
No cd listed here. I calculated that they released or re-issued 11 albums this year, plus three more Kawabato Makato related ones. In all I bought around 16 of their albums this year. I recommend them all though I'm particularly fond of In C/In E and the one Kawabato did with Jennifer Gentle but I usually send people in the direction of 'Absolute Freak Out (Zap your Mind)'. They were also the only band I went to see live this year. No one else could've come close after that though.
No. 03 Queens of the Stone Age 'Songs for the Deaf'
The best rock album of the year. Nothing else needs to be said.
No. 02 The Cinematic Orchestra 'Every Day'
Why isn't this in more top ten lists this year? From the first time I saw the video on an MTV2 programme since canned, (And why? Well, seemingly, so they can become an extension of Zane Lowe's ever growing ego), for 'All that you give' featuring Fontella Bass on vocals, a track that sent me scurrying to find which Alice Coltrane album they'd sampled, only to discover they hadn't sampled anything at all, I knew this was a massive piece of work. And it turns out that it isn't even the best track on the album. Is it jazz, is it dance and does it matter. Of course not. A joy!!
No. 01 Salif Keita 'Moffou'
Which brings me to my album of the year. It's his best work, ever. It's acoustic based. It came out early in the year and he didn't play at WOMEX which seems to mean it's been mostly overlooked. Some roots lists have not got it at all, Mojo being one of the culprits. And yet it's an album of gentle beauty I've gone back to again and again. Only The Cinematic Orchestra has been played as much by me of the new albums I've bought this last year. In the end it's overall charm won out over the composition of 'Every Day'