A stellar album : Les chemins de verre

Who was naughty or nice in music in 2010?

The year 2010 was a mixed bag for music -- ranging from the best of the best to numerous flubs and errors in judgment. Here's who made our naughty and nice list:

NICE

Arcade Fire

It was no small feat to unveil The Suburbs, easily one of 2010's best albums, in concert at New York's Madison Square Garden. What was even more impressive was doing it with the help of visionary Monty Python alum and film director Terry Gilliam, who provided live animation and visuals backing the band's music on the big screen. Top it off with the thing being broadcast live for free around the world via YouTube, and what you had was nothing short of a viral phenomenon that would soon be repeated by others.

Karkwa

The fifth edition of the Polaris Prize, Canada's near-equivalent to the U.K.'s Mercury Prize, landed another surprise, as it does every year. This time, it was Montreal rock act Karkwa becoming the first francophone band to win (for its stellar album, Les chemins de verre), beating out contenders such as indie-rock favourites Broken Social Scene, rapper Shad and former winners, Caribou and Owen Pallett. The ensuing controversy claiming the jury had been stacked with francophone voters to ensure a Karkwa win was as laughable as it was effective in boosting the prize's visibility, especially in Quebec, where it is often ignored.

Neil Young and Daniel Lanois

Two of Canada's greatest musical minds created one heck of a raw rock album with Le Noise, Lanois' loopy recording techniques enhancing the forlorn nature of Young's crunchy solo material, giving Old Shaky's existential musings on life, love and death a surreal "end of the world" feel.

Dan Mangan

If Vancouver's golden boy had already been on the upswing by late 2009, 2010 signalled Mangan had arrived as one of Canada's top singer-songwriters with stacks of awards, a Polaris shortlist nomination for his album Nice, Nice, Very Nice, signing to label Arts & Crafts and winning CBC Radio 3's "best live act" Bucky Award, which he certainly deserved.

Drake

What did Aubrey Drake Graham not do in 2010? He released his debut, Thank Me Later, skyrocketed up the charts, toured like a madman, teamed up with everyone from Kanye West to Jay-Z and Lil Wayne (whom he supported throughout his time in jail) and he racked up awards and nominations like nobody else: Grammy, Juno, MTV VMAs, MuchMusic Video Awards and more, and was announced as the host for the Juno Awards ceremony in 2011. And he's just getting started. (...)

BY FRANCOIS MARCHAND, POSTMEDIA NEWS DECEMBER 15, 2010