10 of the Best: Daniel Miller’s eMusic Picks

For me, Liars are almost the perfect band. They're very adventurous and don't adhere to any traditions and every record they make is different from the last. Plus they're great people to work with.

[Aly Spx] has an amazing voice and presence and her lyrics are incredible. She's one of the least obvious artists to be on Mute, in a way, but I like that; I don't want Mute to repeat itself.

Michael Gira's just one of those guys who keeps pushing the extremes all the time. Swans play very, very loud and that's easy to do, but they use volume as an art form, rather than just to make your ears bleed.

This is something that's incredibly close to my heart. They moved Can's Cologne studio to the Gronau Rock 'n' Pop Museum, and when they were taking it apart, they found boxes containing 60 hours' worth of tape. Irmin Schmidt and Jono Podmore whittled it down to about 10 hours and brought it over to the UK. I couldn't believe what I was listening to — it was like a brand new Can... album.

Every record they make sounds different, but they have a very clear identity. This record is more complex than previous albums, and maybe takes a bit longer to get into, but is extremely rewarding. In terms of musicianship, Yeasayer are arguably the best musicians on Mute, but they use that in very interesting way.

I think he's one of the most innovative British electronic artists around. It's very hard these days to have your own electronic sound, because there's so much of that music out there and the technology is available to everybody, but Actress has managed to do that. He's somebody I'd love to work with.

Vince Clarke left Depeche Mode after the first album and subsequently didn't have much contact with the rest of the band. But about a year ago he emailed Martin Gore out of the blue and just asked if he fancied making a techno record. And that was it.

I think she's amazing in terms of her breadth of talent. I see her as a new artist who's going to really flourish with time, because she's still very young. This is a strange hybrid of folk and electronic music, with unusual arrangements – it's a very adventurous record.

They're a boy/girl duo, just two guitars – no drums and no bass. Alice Costello was only about 15 when she wrote most of these songs and they're brilliant, teen-angst love songs – very simple and minimal, with really observant lyrics. It's a charming record, but I think they're going to make big steps with their next one, which they're about to start recording.

It's always exciting when a new electronic artist comes along with a sound that is completely unique to them. This is a really immersive listen and stands out as one of the best and most inventive albums of the year.