Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2019. Our next list is from substitute DJ Patrick Masterson.

Locals only top to bottom per usual. I was musically invisible this year, but that doesn't mean I wasn't listening.

#1   LEGACY! LEGACY! by Jamila Woods (Jagjaguwar)
BUY: Reckless / Amazon

There was never really a doubt. When the "Zora" single dropped in early February, I got a very particular feeling, the one where I know exactly how great a coming record will be — and I wasn't disappointed. Heavn was good, certainly, but LEGACY! LEGACY! puts it (and every other Chicago release from 2019, for that matter) firmly in the shade with its marriage of high-minded artistic inspiration and carefully crafted R&B. Beautiful start to finish, my only regret is not being able to see her perform it live yet; I guess her conversation with Morgan Parker at Women & Children First and the record of the year will have to console me in the meantime. Such hardship.

#2   Lifelike by FACS (Trouble in Mind)
BUY: Reckless / Amazon

Something about Negative Houses just didn't do it for me. It was as though the unfinished business of late-era Disappears was threaded right through and left more questions than answers in terms of how Facs was supposed to be different. Those questions are answered with conviction on Lifelike, in which the band expounds on the ideas sketched out during the promising "Acteurs Inversion" collage (Alianna Kalaba's first appearance on bass in place of Jonathan van Herik) that preceded it. Tremendously accomplished, utterly focused rock minimalism from some veterans who know how to do it right.

#3   Where Future Unfolds by Damon Locks Black Monument Ensemble (International Anthem)
BUY: Reckless / Amazon

The first time I heard this, I think I was in a friend's Prius coming back from Schubas. I wish I could tell you further details of what was going on that night for some dramatic context, but all I remember with any clarity is how increasingly distracted I became by the album he had going courtesy eternal Eternals member Damon Locks and the ensemble (featuring heavyweights Angel Bat Dawid, Dana Hall, Arif Smith, a bunch of backing singers, and several dancers whose presence, sadly, is absent from the recording) he cobbled together for a debut live performance at the Garfield Park Botanical Conservatory last November. It sounds like a lot, and it is... but as good as the recording might be, imagine bearing witness to the spectacle. Once again: Such hardship to only have this wonderful album as an alternative.

#4   We Grown Now. by Tree (Soul Trap Music)
BUY: Reckless / Amazon

Is there any rapper as perennially underrated and overlooked as Tree? The veteran MC belongs on the same branch of the hip-hop family tree as other weathered vets like Ka and Roc Marciano, dudes who've seen enough of the world to know better and sound like it when they spin tales to the mic. But the father of soul trap is about as concerned with my hand-wringing as he is with the greater picture of The State of Things, shrugging off relevance and fame-chasing in pursuit of a self-realization and holding down space for a likeminded community. Tree has been grown for years — we knew that with "Sunday School II" — but any full-length mixtape we can get from the man at this point is worth more than a passing listen. We Grown Now. unsurprisingly doesn't disappoint.

#5   After Dark by Forest Management (American Dreams)
BUY: Reckless / Amazon

I lucked into a lot of great ambient and drone records this year (special shouts to Cinchel's absurdly intense There Is No Time Remaining here, by the way), but it was this gloriously smeared, late-breaking "recontextualized turntable audio" sourced from Debussy’s "La Mer" on weathered vinyl that best hit the spot. Reserve Matinee label cofounder John Daniel took to American Dreams (that'd be Ono singer Jordan Reyes' label) for his third release of the year, and it's a beauty if this is your beat. Stately stuff that's not to be missed.

#6   Odum by Sick Gazelle (War Crimes Recordings)
BUY: Reckless / Amazon

You may have heard Eric Block (Veloce) and Bruce Lamont (Yakuza, Bloodiest, Brain Tentacles, Led Zeppelin 2) from lurking around the locals scene long enough, and you oughta be ashamed if you haven't heard Steve Shelley during his Sonic Youth tenure. But did you hear Sick Gazelle's Odum, which pretty much happened by accident? Story goes that Shelley was in town recording at Semaphore Recording Studios, where Block was engineering. Steve mentions one day that he's wrapping up early and has some free time, so Eric naturally suggests recording for his band. Steve agrees. The result is right here, a contemplative groover full o' free jazz that's not too far out for you n' yours. (Great band name, too, incidentally.)

#7   At Sea by Akosuen (Self-Released)
BUY: Reckless / Amazon

Regretfully, I missed this album's release at Constellation in October, but the solo work Billie Howard has composed for posterity resonates far beyond the walls of that Western Ave venue. Howard's album is a five-movement suite for acoustic violin that could theoretically be looped by a single player (or, I guess, by however many people you could possibly get to perform it at once if you're that kind of maniac), and its gradual evolution from track to track is a quiet wonder to behold. I'd love to hear more stuff like this from Howard if she's thinking on it, but given how much else she seems to have going on (thanks for this and literally nothing else, Instagram), who knows when we'll see something similar next. Savor what's now instead.

#8   Die a Legend by Polo G (Columbia)
BUY: Reckless / Amazon

The ubiquitous "Pop Out" with Lil Tjay was the one testing car speakers this spring, but Die a Legend is good for much more than that (and I don't just mean Gunna and Lil Baby showing up for “Pop Out Again,” which is exactly as egregious as you're thinking). As a 20-year-old still developing his voice, Polo already has the technique as he hones his hooks in a way that reminds me of Lil Durk or a younger Kevin Gates in spirit and Roddy Ricch or Quando Rondo in sound. I don't really hear drill in this record at all, in any case, and if you're at all concerned about it being such an abrasive listen, check your anxiety at the door and get in on the ground floor — we got ourselves a North Side star on the rise here.

#9   Lookout Low by Twin Peaks (Grand Jury)
BUY: Reckless / Amazon

Seeing this band live the day after Thanksgiving at The Vic for a sold out Lookout Low Black Friday homecoming only served to reaffirm that Twin Peaks will always be a better band live than on record. But Abby Jones' notion that "it sounds like they’re finally tired of crowdsurfing" strikes me as misguided; though their pace may be slowing ever so slightly in recorded form, I think this gives their earlier incarnations a little too much credit — they were hardly channeling the Keggs out there, you know? Yet while we have a more relaxed, mature band on record (which I think suits them and their sound especially well at this point), the material really comes alive in front of a sympathetic crowd. Or, to the point: I saw more people crowdsurfing in the first 10 minutes of that set than I'd seen in the previous two years. Everyone relax: The dudes still abide.

#10   American Dance Music Vol. 2 by Various Artists (Argot Recordings)
BUY: Reckless / Amazon

Instead of highlighting a specific Chicago artist here, allow me a moment to offer ex-Little White Earbuds (RIP) mastermind Steve Mizek some shine for his perennially excellent work helming the Argot imprint (not to mention the associated Tasteful Nudes (RIP?) and Stolen Kisses (probably definitely RIP?) sublabels). This compilation from October features prominent Chicago DJs like Garrett David and Ariel Zetina alongside Flint techno from Huey Mnemonic and this Ibiza breeze of a beauty from Knoxville's Nikki Nair among plenty of other riches. Tons of great stuff here if contemporary dance music is your thing and you're not sure where to turn regionally.