We’re in an age when music seems to mean less to the average person than ever before, but many of us still care, and some of them are my friends and colleagues. Below you’ll find a list of my favorite releases of 2017, pictured above. Wes Woods’ list is below mine.

1. Rolling Blackouts CF: “Talk Tight” (Sub Pop)
2. Arcade Fire: “Everything Now” (Columbia)
3. Waxahatchee: “Out in the Storm” (Merge Records)
4. Jens Lekman: “Life Will See You Now” (Secretly Canadian)
5. Saint Etienne: “Home Counties” (Heavenly)
6. Kamasi Washington: “Harmony of Difference” (Young Turks)
7. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: “The Nashville Sound” (Southeastern Records)
8. Randy Newman: “Dark Matter” (Nonesuch)
9. Yumi Zouma: “Willowbank” (Cascine)
10. The Magnetic Fields: “50 Song Memoir” (Nonesuch)
11. Brad Paisley: “Love and War” (Arista Nashville)
12. Various Artists: “The Rough Guide to the Music of West Africa” (World Music Network)
13. The Pollyseeds: “Sounds of Crenshaw, Volume One” (Ropeadope Records)

Wes Woods:

1. Kendrick Lamar: “Damn” (Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment, Interscope Records)
2. Rapsody: “Laila’s Wisdom” (Jamla Records, Roc Nation)
3. Valerie June: “The Order Of Time” (Concord Records)
4. SZA: “Ctrl” (Top Dawg Entertainment, RCA Records)
5. Thundercat: “Drunk” (Brainfeeder)
6. Sampha: “Process” (Young Turks)
7. Jlin: “Black Origami” (Planet Mu)
8. The War on Drugs: “A Deeper Understanding” (Atlantic Records)
9. St. Vincent: “Masseduction” (Loma Vista Recordings)
10. (tie) The xx: “I See You” (Young Turks); Migos: “Culture” (Quality Control Music, 300 Entertainment, Atlantic Records); Joey Bada$$: “All-Amerikkkan Badass” (Pro Era Records, Cinematic Music Group)