After last week’s fairly hapless dip into the mainstream (Marina & The Diamonds, incidentally), a more familiar-looking list this week – though there are still a couple of less-than-great albums lurking in this lot among the marquee new entries.

A startling amount of responsible journalism behind this week’s playlist: we’ve had a bit of a session getting up to speed on a bunch of mainstream 2010 tips; discovered Lil Wayne should’ve probably stuck to hip hop; tried again to stay awake through the Midlake album and generally done our jobs more or less properly, I suppose.

Pricktease time here, I’m afraid. A truly amazing album arrived this week which I’m absolutely certain will be among my favourites of 2010, but due to various covert record company operations and so on, I’m not at liberty to reveal what it is just yet. Negotiations continue: I’ll write more – lots more – as soon as I can. Hold off on trying to post speculation, if you can, so I can keep this under wraps for a few more days.

Happy New Year everyone, and apologies for not having posted anything earlier in the week (though I was sorely tempted to write something gloating about Jermaine Beckford and so on, off topic). Snow notwithstanding, it’s approaching business as usual here now, hence the longish playlist I’ve managed to assemble over the past couple of days.

Quickly this morning, a bunch of new things we’ve been playing, as the February and March promos start arriving. A lot of comps, it seems, and a couple I don’t like at all.

I’ve not been hugely interested in much of the end-of-the-decade stuff that’s been appearing over the past few weeks, but this piece by Simon Reynolds at the Guardian is worth a read.

More 2010 goodness this week, kicking off with the fierce new jams from Voice Of The Seven Woods, newly renamed. A glut of stoner spacerock here, actually, with the new White Hills album and a real find, Carlton Melton (thanks, Simon), who record in a geodesic dome in Mendocino County.

After a slight lull last week, another clutch of good new 2010 things here, overshadowed slightly by the news at the Durtro website that Bill Fay’s new album – and featuring his first released recordings from the past three decades, more or less – is just about ready to go.

After last week’s goldrush, a few more choice new arrivals in Playlist 42, not least the superb new Animal Collective, which I’ve been expressly forbidden to write about ‘til next week.

First off this week, a quick reminder that we’ve just announced Tinariwen as the winner of our annual Uncut Music Award. I’ve started posting transcripts of the judges’ discussions on the Uncut Music Award blog, beginning with their opinions on Tinariwen and Animal Collective. Kings of Leon, Bob Dylan, Wilco, The Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear and The Low Anthem will be coming up over the next week or so.