Well, I don’t know about you, but Soundblab thinks 2010 was a fucking great year for music. Sure, once again there was no unifying banner for music mags to categorise and champion – chillwave proving too diffuse and mercurial, hovering somewhere between yearning indie whimsy, psychedelic hip hop and 80s synth MOR.

Nevertheless, there’s no denying that this year was dominated by the revitalised sounds coming from America. Whether it was the blessed out lysergic swirl of Flying Lotus’ Cosmogramma, the bittersweet bedroom-based paeans of Toro Y Moi’s Causers of This, Yeasayer’s truly odd, synth-popping, afro-beating Odd Blood or the droning 10cc-influenced pop of Gayngs’ Relayted, the US led the way when it came to nudging forward the frontiers of 21st century music.

Even the more conventional sounds were exemplary and perfectly formed. The Drums’ debut impressed by very nearly living up to the sky-high hype, Dum Dum Girls and Best Coast gave us collections of lo-fi, loved-up garage rock with I Will Be and Crazy for You, and there was the splenetic, slashing punk-funk of Mi Ami’s Steal Your Face to make our ears bleed.

However, it wasn’t all about America. Two of the year’s best and most outright bonkers albums came from Japan, in the shape of Afrirampo’s final opus We Are Uchu No Ko and UK-based Jap-rockers Bo Ningen, whose debut contained some of the most visceral sounds of the year. The UK produced Lonelady’s Nerve Up, Foals' Total Life Forever and The Fall’s Your Future, Our Clutter, among others. From France came Charlotte Gainsbourg’s IRM and from Spain, Delorean’s Subiza. Not that we keeping scores here; the point is that in 2010 great music was all around us and thanks to blogs, sites and, of course, our trusty independent record stores, never easier to find, cherish and share.

So next time you encounter some bore down the pub who moans that there’s just no good music around anymore, give them a slap and point them at Soundblab’s Best of 2010 list. And get voting for your favourites – right now!