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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 ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ 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 ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ blog, you will need to sign in to your ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iD account. If you don't have a ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iD account, you can - it'll allow you to contribute to a range of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ sites and services using a single login.

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