Brian Eno and Tom Rogerson - Idea of Order at Kyson Point New Years has been the holiday that means the most to me for a long time. It's pure in a way other holidays are not. Obviously, for a lot of people the holiday is nothing more than an excuse to get wasted and act foolish. For everyone else, though, it's an opportunity to reflect on the year behind and look forward to the year ahead. For a lot of us, it's also an opportunity to spend time focusing on loved ones - family, friends, etc. To collectively step outside the rush of everyday life for a couple days and recenter. This year, these moments have been an opportunity to inhale deeply and find a measure of tranquility. To recognize tranquility as an important counterbalance to the urgency of our disturbing political and cultural moment. Like twin planets that keep each other in orbit through mutual gravity. This song from Eno's new collaboration with pianist Tom Rogerson embodies the slow, meditative vibe I'm digging for in both this playlist and 2018.

Joan Shelley - Wild Indifference The end of the year is also an opportunity to look back on the past year of music. The overwhelming overlap in most year-end "best of" lists suggests that they function largely as a confirmation of what we all collectively agree was important or good. On the face of things, there's really no reason to have any problem with that. But, reading list after list with identical entries, I felt like it was a lost opportunity - to turn people on to the things they didn't hear about. I mean, I don't really need five sources telling me that Kendrick Lamar's DAMN was the album of the year. It just seems obvious. Luckily, there were plenty of nuggets buried in these lists, including this beautiful and understated album from Joan Shelley, produced by Jeff Tweedy with lots of back-up from Jim Elkington, one of Chicago's most prolific secret weapons. The three of them braiding their different guitar styles together, with Shelley's wearily pretty vocals delicately laid atop. Her plain, but evocative lyrics. Love it. For a clue to how intimately this was recorded, listen very closely at 1:44 and you'll hear the sound of a dog shaking the tags on its collar, as (I imagine) it gets up from its corner of the studio to stretch mid-take.

Bedouine - One Of These Days This song has been an obsession this month. The warmth and closeness of the production is a platonic sonic ideal. Great playing and arrangement. Bedouine, the alter ego of Azniv Korkejian, is one of NPR Music's 2018 "Slingshot" artists, and her album is full of thoughtful, soothing, retro sounds. I just cannot get this song out of my head.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Beginner's Luck Speaking of obsessions... KGATLW make their third Faux Sounds appearance in a row, with the opener from their December album - their fifth of 2017. I've never been much of a gambler, but this charming paean to casino life illustrates everything that's great about this band - clever songwriting, expert playing, a sly sense of humor, multiple voices, psychedelic mastery. Flutes! Check this band out.

MGMT - When You Die A slightly unsettling single from MGMT's forthcoming album - their first in five years. The way the sonics (those nearly out-of-tune synth accents) mirror the crookedness of the lyrics, subverting the "grooviness" of the song, lends it an attractive edginess.

Knox Fortune - Lil Thing Another "Slingshot" artist, Chicago's own wunderkind producer, Knox Fortune, is a pillar of the music scene orbiting Chance the Rapper - including Joey Purp, who Fortune often performs with. Another song that employs a frosting of tonally unstable synths to complicate its innocent groove. The perfect summer jam for a city that has a lot to celebrate and a lot to bemoan all at the same time.

Mouse On Mars & Bon Iver - Dimensional People Part III Aside from Emma, Forever Ago (which seems like it's going to be an outlier - in both quality and style - in the Bon Iver catalogue), his best music seems to come from collaborations with other musicians, including the similarly strange and electronic Volcano Choir project (a collab with Milwaukee group Collections of Colonies of Bees - go Milwaukee!).

Ron Miles - Mother Juggler Moving into the trumpet section of the playlist. A track from trumpet player Ron Miles' new album, featuring the unmistakable Bill Frisell on guitar, and ethereal drummer Brian Blade. Bluesy, lush, loose. Miles' playing is especially deft, shifting effortlessly from angelic to gutter, and finding all the shades between. Like a lot of the songs on this list, it has a general gentleness with an undertow of tension.

Hugh Masekela & The Union Of South Africa - Shebeen The legendary South African trumpeter is among the first of 2018's losses, prompting a lot of great retrospectives on his long career. The punchline - he made a lot of music, much of it very different, and much of it very good. NPR Music published several stories about Masekela, but my favorite is an overview of his career, paired with a playlist to illustrate his winding path from bebop to house music, with lots of stops in between. This delicious slice of "township soul" is from 1971, a collaboration with trombonist Jonas Gwangwa and alto saxophonist Caiphus Semenya that embraces South African music. If, like me, you only know a bit about Masekela, check out the NPR piece and wrap your head around his impressive musical legacy.

Les Filles de Illighadad - Imigradan Combing through 2017 best-of lists, I was particularly keen to find music by women that hadn't gotten the attention it deserved. Afropop Worldwide turned me on to this welcome addition to the growing Saharan blues genre, an all-lady Tuareg group from central Niger. While there continues to be an important conversation about women's place in music in the U.S. and other places with robust music and pop culture industries, the story of Fatou Seidi Ghali and her bandmates is one of fundamental trailblazing, placing women at the center of this music in a way that is very rare. Sahel Sounds guru Christopher Kirkley connected with her after seeing a photograph of her playing a guitar - something he'd never seen a Tuareg woman do. As Ghali points out in this short profile in She Shreds Magazine from 2016, there is almost no infrastructure for music in Niger, and it took some convincing by Kirkley to talk her into the importance of recording.

Danish String Quartet - Shine You No More A collection of Nordic folk songs and melodies, repurposed for a classical quartet. This spirited tune has a celtic edge. Superb playing, coloring in all kinds of shades behind the central melody, the way only a classical quartet can.

Mirah - The Light Another superb, and superbly slept on, 2017 release from a woman. Again, employing a string quartet to create a whole kaleidoscope of hues and emotions.

Alexis Weissenberg - Suite bergamasque, L.75: 4. Passepied (Debussy) The wonderful Oliver Camacho (who will have a Guest List later this month!) turned me on to this tremendous, driving, and lithe piano piece. The opening groove, that underlies a lot of the piece, seems like the classical equivalent to a great juicy guitar riff.

Jeff Rosenstock - Let Them Win All right, all right. Enough "tranquility." Time also to fight.

"They can kick us in the knees
They can push us in the trees again
They can roll their eyes
They can criticize, oh yeah

They can hang us out to dry
They can profit from their lies again
They can shake our souls
They can send us home, oh yeah

We’re not gonna let them win, oh no
We’re not gonna let them win, oh no

They can make us feel afraid
And try to turn it into hate, oh yeah
They can steal our slice
For the hundredth time
Judge us when we cry
And never empathize
With anyone but themselves

We’re not gonna let them win, oh no
We’re not gonna let them win, oh no

They’re not gonna win
They’re not gonna win
Again
Again
Again
Again

They'll sic us on each other
To displace our power
But it won’t happen again
Not again
Not again
Not again

They’re not gonna win
They’re not gonna win
Again
Again
Again
Again

We’re not gonna let them win
We’re not gonna let them win
Fuck no"