Isabella Castro-Cota (Pop)

1) SZA, Ctrl (Top Dawg Entertainment)

2) Kesha, Rainbow (Kemosabe)

3) Lorde, Melodrama (Universal)

4) Calvin Harris, Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1 (Sony)

5) Lady Gaga, Joanne (Interscope)

6) Dua Lipa (Warner Bros.)

7) Paramore, After Laughter (Fueled by Ramen)

8) Khalid, American Teen (RCA)

9) Harry Styles (Columbia)

10) Rina Sawayama, RINA

Doug Freeman (Country)

1) Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, The Nashville Sound (Southeastern)

2) Colter Wall (Thirty Tigers)

3) Margo Price, All American Made (Third Man)

4) Chris Stapleton, From a Room Vol. 1 (Mercury)

5) Rhiannon Giddens, Freedom Highway (Nonesuch)

6) Tyler Childers, Purgatory (Hickman Holler)

7) Angeleena Presley, Wrangled (Thirty Tigers)

8) John Moreland, Big Bad Luv (4AD)

9) Sunny Sweeney, Trophy (Thirty Tigers)

10) Little Bandit, Breakfast Alone (YK)

Dan Gentile (Electronic)

1) Brian Eno, Reflection (Warp)

2) Four Tet, New Energy (Text)

3) Mount Kimbie, Love What Survives (Warp)

4) Daphni, Joli Mai (Jiaolong)

5) Vermont, II (Kompakt)

6) Dallas Acid, Spa Hunter (Flying Moonlight)

7) Floating Points, Reflections – Mojave Desert (Luaka Bop)

8) Kelela, Take Me Apart (Warp)

9) Hercules & Love Affair, Omnion (Big Beat)

10) Ryuichi Sakamoto, Async (Milan)

Raoul Hernandez (Metal)

1) Doom Side of the Moon

2) Myrkur, Mareridt (Relapse)

3) Power Trip, Nightmare Logic (Southern Lord)

4) Suffocation, …Of the Dark Light (Nuclear Blast)

5) Integrity, Howling, for the Nightmare Shall Consume (Relapse)

6) John Carpenter, Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998 (Sacred Bones)

7) Bell Witch, Mirror Reaper (Profound Lore)

8) Immolation, Atonement (Nuclear Blast)

9) Decapitated, Anticult (Nuclear Blast)

10) Cold Fell, Irwell (Argento)

Alejandra Ramirez (World)

1) Songhoy Blues, Résistance (Fat Possum)

2) Tinariwen, Elwan (Anti)

3) Mônica Vasconcelos, The São Paulo Tapes (Galileo Music Communication)

4) Lila Downs, Salón, Lágrimas y Deseo (Sony)

5) Oumou Sangaré, Mogoya (No Format!)

6) Yazz Ahmed, La Saboteuse (Naim)

7) Quantic & Nidia Góngora, Curao (Tru Thoughts)

8) Les Amazones d’Afrique, République Amazone (Real World)

9) Daymé Arocena, Cubafonía (Brownswood)

10) Ibibio Sound Machine, Uyai (Merge)

Kahron Spearman (Hip-Hop)

1) Kendrick Lamar, Damn (Aftermath/Interscope)

2) Vince Staples, Big Fish Theory (Def Jam)

3) Tyler, the Creator, Scum Fuck Flower Boy (Columbia)

4) Jay-Z, 4:44 (Roc Nation)

5) 2 Chainz, Pretty Girls Like Trap Music (Def Jam)

6) Rapsody, Laila’s Wisdom (Jamla/Roc Nation)

7) Migos, Culture (Quality Control)

8) Future, Hndrxx (Epic)

9) Drake, More Life (Republic)

10) Big K.R.I.T., 4eva Is a Mighty Long Time (BMG)

Jay Trachtenberg (Jazz)

1) Nicholas Payton, Afro Caribbean Mixtape (Paytone)

2) Cameron Graves, Planetary Prince (Mack Avenue)

3) Anouar Brahem, Blue Maqams (ECM)

4) Charles Lloyd New Quartet, Passin’ Thru (Blue Note)

5) Vijay Iyer Sextet, Far From Over (ECM)

6) Bill Frisell & Thomas Morgan, Small Town (ECM)

7) Petros Klampanis, Chroma (Motéma)

8) Tyshawn Sorey, Verisimilitude (Pi)

9) Tom Harrell, Moving Picture (HighNote)

10) Adrian Ruiz Quintet, Premiere: A Collection of Originals (Ziurga)

Libby Webster (Indie Rock)

1) Aldous Harding, Party (4AD)

2) Priests, Nothing Feels Natural (Sister Polygon)

3) Pile, A Hairshirt of Purpose (Exploding in Sound)

4) Julien Baker, Turn Out the Lights (Matador)

5) Chastity Belt, I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone (Hardly Art)

6) Broken Social Scene, Hug of Thunder (Arts & Crafts)

7) Melkbelly, Nothing Valley (Wax Nine)

8) Protomartyr, Relatives in Descent (Domino)

9) Twain, Rare Feeling (Keeled Scales)

10) Vagabon, Infinite Worlds (Father/Daughter)

This article appears in December 29 • 2017.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US

Doug Freeman has been writing for the Austin Chronicle since 2007, covering the arts and music scene in the city. He is originally from Virginia and earned his Masters Degree from the University of Texas. He is also co-editor of The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology, published by UT Press.

San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.

Kahron Spearman is a journalist and writer with bylines including The Austin Chronicle, Austin Monthly, Consequence of Sound, Texas Highways, and the London-based journal The Break-Down. He currently serves as Senior Editor at Atmosphere TV.