The year in Welsh music
2010 has been a year mixing great success with tragedy, with a great album from Marina And The Diamonds to the death of Stuart Cable. Here we cover the year month-by-month. Let us know what you remember from 2010.
January
Lostprophets' The Betrayed
January saw the release of Lostprophets' fourth album, The Betrayed. It was their first to be released completely independently. We loved it, with all its big pop hooks, menacing atmosphere and a sterling production job by the band's bassist, Stuart Richardson.
Read our track-by-track guide.
February
Marina And The Diamonds' Family Jewels
Marina And The Diamonds delivered her much-anticipated début album, The Family Jewels, in February. It lived up to expectations, with some superb pop gems delivered in an inventive, leftfield fashion and great charm.
Read our track-by-track guide.
March
John Sicolo
One of the Welsh music scene's larger-than-life characters died in March. John Sicolo, owner of the TJ's venue in Newport was missed by many and his legacy was much-praised.
Read our obituary.
April
In April, ex-Guns N' Roses manager Alan Niven, a highly-respected big player in the international music industry, declared that an unknown guitarist from Abercarn was the best in the world. Chris Buck of The Tom Hollister Trio was that man.
Watch Buck play.
May
Radio 1 came to Bangor in May for the Big Weekend. 480,000 people registered for tickets to see a line-up that included Florence And The Machine, Dizzee Rascal, Pendulum, Rihanna, Lostprophets, Paramore, Justin Bieber, 30 Seconds To Mars, Kids In Glass Houses and The Joy Formidable.
Visit the official Big Weekend website.
June
Stuart Cable
June was over-shadowed by the tragic death of Stuart Cable. Many stars of the UK music scene paid tribute to the drummer and radio presenter with a big personality. But many more tributes came in from members of the public. It was astonishing and moving to see how much the frizzy-headed rock animal meant to so many.
Read our obituary.
July
In the world of social media, the ability to share great finds means sometimes a hit comes out of nowhere, even scooping appearances on the news. Newport (Ymerodraeth State Of Mind) was widely criticised, but it got over two and a half million hits on YouTube before being taken down.
Read about the track.
August
Beset by problems over the years, Bryn Terfel's Faenol Festival was cancelled in August. Poor ticket sales for the multi-genre music festival near Bangor were blamed. Terfel said it was "dreadfully disappointing".
Read about the story.
September
Manic Street Preachers' Postcards From A Young Man
September saw the release of Manic Street Preachers' 10th studio album, Postcards From A Young Man. James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore had made an album of radio-friendly tracks that aimed for "mass communication".
Read our track-by-track guide.
October
Growing year-by-year, the Sŵn Festival swamped Cardiff in great gigs during October. Adam Walton wrote three epic review pieces for us.
Read Adam's review of day one.
Read Adam's review of day two.
Read Adam's review of day three.
November
Duffy's Endlessly
Duffy's second album, Endlessly, was released last month. As the follow-up to one of the best-selling albums of the last five years, pressure was on the Nefyn singer.
Read 91Èȱ¬ Music's review.
Read what the papers said about the album.
What are your memories of this year in Welsh music? Feel free to comment! If you want to have your say, on this or any other 91Èȱ¬ blog, you will need to sign in to your 91Èȱ¬ iD account. If you don't have a 91Èȱ¬ iD account, you can - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of 91Èȱ¬ sites and services using a single login.
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Comment number 1.
At 13th Dec 2010, Adam Wilkinson wrote:You haven't mentioned the rapid rise of The Last Republic and their new album Parade. Be nice to see more of the up and coming mentioned as well as the usual suspects.
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Comment number 2.
At 14th Dec 2010, James McLaren - 91Èȱ¬ wrote:Hi Adam
Of course, a round-up like this reflects the major events of the year, which by necessity means the more major acts. But I totally agree that there are some great stories from 2010, including The Last Republic. Which is why the blog we've just published, about fans' own top 10 favourite albums of the year, is very encouraging. It has The Last Republic, Attack! Attack!, Straight Lines and Colours Of One, all of whom are new and exciting.
/blogs/walesmusic/2010/12/lostprophets-top-welsh-albums-2010.shtml
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