2010 was a very good year. And musically it was a great year.

Thursday and Sunday feature new music from Damian Marley (yes, Bob's son) and Jakob Dylan (yes, Bob's son), as well as brilliant newcomer old-schooler Janelle Monae. Be sure to check out her video of "Tightrope" on Youtube. Classic R& B vibe, but ultra modern, there's something exciting going on with her.

Ex Talking Head David Byrne teamed up with techno producer Fatboy Slim to (get ready for this) tell the musical story of Imelda Marcos. I'm not sure why. And the music isn't much help in explaining. But the songs are great (most have guest female vocalists), and Byrne's weird, stringy melodies have a great production and sound. It's a double CD; I play 3 of the best tracks.

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Another brilliant double CD from 2010 is Natalie Merchant's "Leave Your Sleep." It's her distinctive voice with disparate music, and lyrics by a number of famous and anonymous poets. This isn't children's poetry, and the music is a variety of styles. And it's also a CD that seems like it shouldn't work, but it really does. I play 5 of the best.

The final track is an extremely memorable version of "Hallelujah" by KD Lang from the Vancouver Olympics.