Top 10 Artists

01. Brendan Perry (^)

02. Naoyuki Hiroko (Halo Legends crew)  (NE)

03. Cris Velasco (NE)

04. Lisa Gerrard (^)

05. Garry Schyman (NE)

06. Jesper Kyd (RE)

07. Yoko Shimomura (NE)

08. Imogen Heap (v)

09. Panda Transport (NE)

10. Akira Yamaoka (v)

Top 5 Games

01. RTL Winter Sports 2010 (PS3)

02. Vancouver 2010 (PS3)

03. Musaic Box (PC)

04. Numblast (PS3)

05. Zoocube (PS2)

The next week may be a bit sporadic due to my own album being released this week but after that its back to usual!

01) Lisa Gerrard

02) Brendan Perry

03) Jesper Kyd

04) Musashi Hamauzu

05) Imogen Heap

06) Utada

07) Mike Reagan / Cris Velasco

08) Akira Yamaoka

09) Yasunori Mitsuda

10) Sarah Slean

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Games

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01) Battle Tanks (PS3)

02) Winter Sports 2010 (PS3)

03) Vancouver 2010 (PS3)

04) Hyperballoid (Ps3)

05) .detuned (PS3)

01) Lisa Gerrard: With more posts getting more than 150+ views than any other artist, Lisa Gerrard topped our most viewed list and she looks to stay high in 2010. Her Balibo soundtrack was amazing, and we’re still waiting for her 2009 album “The Black Opal” to arrive to review. Well done Lisa

02) Vienna Teng: Vienna went under the radar for me and is a surprise second. Her fourth album Inland Territory is absolutely stunning and we got our hands on her live DVD from a while back and loved that too. Hears hoping to more in 2010!

03) Brendan Perry: The anticipation for Ark continues and Brendan continues to clock up hits while we wait. Ark looks like hitting early 2010 and rest assured, HPM will be buying it on release day!

04) OverClocked ReMix: Well the biggest game music remixing project chalked up several releases but it was the FF4 project that really exploded over here grabbing the most viewed interview in 2009 with the project managers. 2010 will no doubt see tons of remixes for all and I’ll drink to that *glug*.

05) Akira Yamaoka: Well HPM did a lot of reviewing of Silent Hill soundtracks in 09 and that’s because the reviews always seem popular. Now Akira has left Konami (although Shattered Memories is still composed by him) it remains to be seen when we’ll hear of him next. Not too soon we hope!

06) Imogen Heap: Imogen actually had the most viewed post of 2009 with over 700 views of bizarrely the tracklisting for Ellipse. Sadly not as many read the review so that’s why Immi is down in 7th. 2010 looks like a year of touring so expect Heap to appear in the live vault!

07) Utada: This Is the One was one of pop’s best albums and was the third most read music review of 2009 and top of the non-game music reviews. Utada’s groove is definately on and maybe we’ll hear some more Japanese work in 2010.

08) Tori Amos: Tori strangely didn’t feature highly on the most viewed threads lists but constantly propped up just outside the top 10 and so ended up 8th overall. Abnormally Attracted to Sin and Midwinter Graces were fantastic albums that deserve much love and so 2010 should see Tori enjoy a break for a few months!

09) Hiroki Kikuta: The most read review of 2009 belongs to Hiroki and the Secret of Mana + Review that clocked over 500 hits. Hiroki was kind enough to send over one of his more obscure soundtracks which will be reviewed in 2010. Thank you Kikuta-san!

10) Christopher Tin: Sneaking in by just 2 views over Sarah Slean, Christopher Tin’s Calling All Dawns is simply devine and snatched the final spot on our top 10. Chris is a genuinely nice guy and deserves all the credit the albums recieved.

Top 5 Game Reviews

01) Battle Tanks (PS3)

02) Trash Panic (PS3)

03) Numblast (PS3)

04) Shatter (PS3)

05) Magic Ball (PS3)

01) Lisa Gerrard (2 months)

02) Tori Amos (^)

03) Brendan Perry (^)

04) Christopher Tin (v)

05) Hiroki Kikuta (^)

06) Imogen Heap (v)

07) Akira Yamaoka (RE)

08) Sarah Slean (RE)

09) Anonymous 4 (v)

10) Utada (RE)

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Games

01) .detuned (PS3)

02) Battle Tanks (PS3)

03) Numblast (PS3)

04) Shatter (PS3)

05) GripShaft (PS3)

01) Lisa Gerrard (^)

02) Christopher Tin (v)

03) Winifred Phillips (RE)

04) Anonymous 4 (NE)

05) Brendan Perry (-)

06) Imogen Heap (v)

07) Tori Amos (RE)

08) Hiroki Kikuta (v)

09) OverClocked Remix (v)

10) Yasunori Mitsuda (RE)

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Game Reviews

01) Battle Tanks (PS3)

02) Shatter (PS3)

03) .detuned (PS3)

04) Trash Panic (PS3)

05) Numblast (PS3)

The album opens with the deceptively simple “First Train Home” which is a safe transition track from Speak For Yourself to Ellipse. It has a great hook and great musical techno-babble running through it. What’s great to hear is that if you get the deluxe version with the instrumentals, you can hear all kinds of noises and bleeps that refuse to immediately jump out at you on the first few listens. It shows the start of what is very much an album that is so creatively weaved to make so many little sounds bleed into one big simple sound, you can miss the beauty of it.

“Wait It Out” is a show stopper. Immi’s vocoder traits are fantastic here and so is the constant build up of euphoria only to be left with a downcast ending which really makes this track stand out. If this isn’t used in a film, I’ll eat my webpage! “Earth” takes Imogen’s vocals a further level to Bjork’s Medulla’s standard of making the vast majority of the track out of them. Anti-beatboxing and vocal harmonies and melodies soar through this fun track. The computer wizardry really stands out here.

“Little Bird” is an interesting track due to how the track is made. It’s a repeating phrase of music that gradually changes and grows into something that is quite heartbreaking and moving yet still has a swish to it.

The next two tracks are would-be singles are two of my favourites on the album. “Swoon” is an electro-pop track that has a great chorus hook and a bridge to die for, yet still is quirky and individual and any pop song using a theremin gets my vote! “Tidal” is my favourite track on the album however. It runs at such a pace and the keyboard guitar plinks in the chorus working alongside some sumptuous strings and great male Asian vocal undertones, it just falls effortlessly into place. The last 30 seconds really let loose in a way the rest of the album doesn’t too. Sublime!

“Between Sheets” is a melodic track full of rich arpeggios that flow effortlessly and the understated chorus is refreshing and leaves more to the imagination than words could do. “2-1″ is the most dramatic track on the album. Full of Eastern influence and is full of booming bass warps and the lyrics are particularly of a genius fashion, although the lyrics are a highlight throughout. The bridge is the highlight of this track.

“Bad Body Double” is possibly the only track I struggled with. Talk singing always grates with me and it’s fun and randomness seems a little bit out of place when played with the rest of the album. After several listens though the chorus will take over and you’ll be off and away. “Aha!” however is the album’s manic track. At just two and half minutes it crams in so much and pulses so quickly you’ll be helpless not to be pulled in by its crazed world. Inspired and catchy.

“The Fire” is a cute and warm (excuse the pun) interlude which is just piano played to a crackling fire background but transitions perfectly for the mind blowing “Canvas” which is one of the best songs Imogen has done in terms of scope and depth. There is such a grand sense about it and much how “Cumulus” was stunning, “Canvas” takes the style and adds layer upon layer of beautiful soundscapes over it. When watched with the music video, it really makes an extra impact. The closing track is “Half Life” which is a nice ballad which is piano led but evolves into a typical Heap ballad but remains sweet and infectious throughout.

Ellipse doesn’t really stride into new territory a great deal but it takes what Speak For Yourself and really runs with the concepts done there and makes beautiful new things with them. The advantage of electro-music is you can stay relatively fresh by using different samples. Imogen’s latest is more of the same but then when you’re the best at doing it, I would take more of the same again and again! A fantastic album that will continue to grow long after you’ve first listened to it.