Albums of the year: Part 3: 10 to 1

10. Jef Neve Trio – Soul In A Picture

Recent years have seen an explosion in new piano/bass/drum jazz trios around Europe, partly a response to the success of EST. Neve has a background in classical music and plays beautifully. A relatively mellow, lyrical and melodic album following on from the superb Nobody Is Illegal potentially marks the band as the best jazz trio in Europe.

9. Elbow – Seldom Seen Kid

After years of singing Elbow’s praises they finally made it big winning the Mercury Prize, having their music used on the Olympics and countless other programmes, and interviews everywhere. This is, in my opinion, their weakest album. But it is still a very fine record.

8. Barbara Morgenstern – BM

This only came on to my radar in the last few weeks but from first listen it was a favourite. Morgenstern plays what is labelled as electro-pop but in truth is more organic / acoustic than that. The key to her success is her piano playing and vocals with the electronics and trickery providing a fascinating, complex supporting role. Vocals are occasionally multi-tracked adding depth. Lovely duet with Robert Wyatt.

7. Arve Henriksen – Cartography

Henriksen has impressed greatly in the past in many guises – his albums on Rune Grammofon, his work with Supersilent, David Sylvian, Food and Christian Wallumrød. On Cartography his sparse, breathy, often haunting trumpet plays around electronics, simple percussion, ghostly voices (including his own) for an album that reveals more with each listen.

6. Shortwave Set – Replica Sun Machine

A glorious indie-pop album that I am surprised has not appeared on more critics’ lists. It attracted more attention for the fact that it was produced by Danger Mouse than it did for the quality of the songwriting. Touches of Belle and Sebastian, St Etienne, Joy Zipper, 60′s pop. Following their excellent debut they are a band to watch.

5. Portishead – Third

A much darker, more claustrophobic album than the debut or the forgettable second album – this is their equivalent of Massive Attack’s Mezzanine. Dissonance, industrial beats, and Krautrock rhythms combine with Gibbons’ instantly recognisable voice. A very pleasant surprise.

4. Wadada Leo Smith – Tabligh

Avant-garde jazz trumpeter’s “early 70′s Miles” style electronic-jazz. Smith’s trumpet ranges from mournful to soaring and driving, supported by an excellent group (Vijay Iyer’s work on the album has encouraged me to explore his recordings). If you like Bitches Brew you will like this, but there is also a touch of Coltrane’s spirituality.

3. I Heart Lung – Interoceans

 Another record I only came to in the last couple of weeks. I Heart Lung are an experimental drums-and-guitar jazz duo from Southern California . The album is divided into four long tracks. For each the duo lay down an improvised piece. Then over these they added various layers – guitar, percussion, horns, sitar, ambient sounds with guests including Nils Cline. Each of the pieces shifts and mutates. Guitars and electronics play off each other and then fade away to leave a duet of horns, before exploding with a burst of percussion into a cacophonous sound. Astounding.

2. TV On The Radio – Dear Science

TV on the Radio truly deliver on what they have promised. I loved the first two albums with their merging of all New York music in one mess but this is a huge leap forward. It contains all the same elements but feels more complete and cohesive that the first two.

1. Dave Holland Sextet – Pass It On

Another excellent release from Dave Holland, this time with a sextet. The music he gets from his band is innovative, beautifully composed and structured, yet also light and free. He allows all his players the room to play and express themselves. Covering be-bop, big band, New Orleans and much more. A wonderful album.