2010 is coming to an end and this means time for looking back. Guest contributor Pär Berglund from our favorite Swedish music blog Meadow Music does it in this year’s final installment of On the Meadow, while presenting singer-songwriter duo Meadowland and indierock trio Streets Of Mars, who both released their debut albums this year. A big thank you to Pär for sharing great music throughout the year and we look forward to more in 2011.

It’s December and it’s soon time to wrap up this year and look back at what we’ve experienced in 2010. The relevant question here is: Was it a good year in music?

Well, I’d say that it was just as good as 2009 and as pleasant as the year before that. Whether a year was good or not musically no longer depends on what music was played on the radio, which trends dominated the mass market, what the label A&R’s fancied this year, or what the record store owners ordered for their shops. It depends on YOU.

Your willingness to dive into the flood of music and creativity that is unleashed every year from everywhere, your eagerness to discover new artists, and the way you share this music. Genres don’t die anymore, they continue to live on and on in dedicated tribes, and artists do better to ask themselves where their tribe is, than to aim for world domination.

I continue to receive new music in my inbox all the time, and I’m amazed how many new great artists no one has ever heard of before pop up. Many years ago I was sitting by the radio every night hoping to get a kick out of a great new act or at least a brilliant new song. It didn’t happen too often. Now I get these kicks almost every day.

And I predict that 2011 will be as great as 2010, if not better.

Of course I have to present some music too in my post. And when you’ve got a blog called Meadow Music, a band called Meadowland doesn’t go unnoticed. This band released their debut album ‘Harbours’ a couple of weeks ago. They have released some EP’s before, but tops it all with their best so far. If you like singer-songwriter music inspired by CSN&Y and Simon & Garfunkel, this is a band for you. Enjoy ‘Whitby Jet’ from ‘Harbours’:

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Streets Of Mars (photo) is a band that has been underway with their debut for a while now. And when they signed with label Adore Music, the pieces were finally put together and their debut album ‘Breathe In Breathe Out’ was released in October. They present a nice energetic indierock with some vibes from Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins and sometimes a dose of a young Elvis Costello. Here’s ‘Farewell And Goodbye’, but do visit their website and listen to the full album.

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I hope you’ve had a great year and enjoyed some of the music in my posts and on ALL SCANDINAVIAN. See you in 2011.