My favorite new music releases of 2010

For classical releases I thought this was a stunning year, but a mediocre year in a lot of other categories.  I do however have a few (non-classical) favorites:

Timbuktu Tarab, by Khaira Arby; from Mali, intense.

Sikilela, by Amabutho; from South Africa.

In both cases I have trouble distinguishing the album name from the performer name and that is often a good sign of quality for world music.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, by Kanye West.

If you're looking for a fun song to download, beyond the stuff you probably already know, try Gyptian's "Nah Let Go," a joyous reggae song.

Most of this year's Spin picks and the like I found fairly boring.