Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2017. Our next list is from Assistant Music Director Craig Reptile.

2017 brought an embarrassment of excellent records to my ears, and presented the toughest choices I can remember since I started doing this for CHIRP seven years ago. Yes, there were reliably excellent releases from “old faithful” and resurgent musical acts like Antietam, Beck, The Clientele, Deerhoof, Fur Coats, Luna, The New Pornographers, Ride, Slowdive, Stars, Son Volt, and Zola Jesus, and possibly too much music from habitual overachievers like Guided By Voices, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Obnox. But the records that made the agonizing “Top Ten” cut for me were the ones that really knocked off my socks and garnered a steady diet of repeat spins in my headphones, most of which were artists that either seemed to come out of nowhere or finally fulfilled the promises of their earlier recordings. With the caveats that my predilections veer toward a new shoe event horizon, that any one of these 10 could have been ranked differently depending on my daily mood and that I didn’t hear the entirety of everything that was released this year (is such a thing possible?), my methodology went like this: I started with a list of about 60 records, winnowed that down to 40, then down to 30, and then started really sweating. I also took pains (and it was painful) to avoid looking at other “Best of 2017” assessments, in the hopes that I would avoid regurgitating critically received wisdom. Here’s hoping 2018 will be even better than 2017! Musically, I mean. Although 2018 couldn’t possibly be much worse than 2017 was in all other respects. Right?

Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2017. Our next list is from DJ and Assistant Marketing Director Mel Marquez.

I've been with CHIRP for a little over a half a year and I'm excited to say that I'll be hosting my own show in the new year on Sunday mornings from 6-9am. You can get a taste of the kind of music I'll be playing from this list. My aim is to showcase as many women, queer folks, and people of color as possible because I think they can be underrepresented and their voices deserve to be heard. Also, I want to have lots of fun and shake up Sunday mornings a bit, so I hope you'll tune in. Here are my faves of 2017 in no particular order...

Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2017. Our next list is from DJ Andy Weber.

Throughout December, CHIRP Radio presents its volunteers’ top albums of 2017. Our next list is from DJ Alex.

I enjoy this exercise because it necessitates listening to a lot of fantastic music. Looking back at my lists over the last few years, none are remarkably alike. Varying themes emerge in each. They might represent shifting tides in the musical landscape; simply, what content is out there. What's more likely is that they illuminate something about the undulating context of the listener, me, which is different than any other listener. A recording is a fixed document. How it's received is a function of a lot of other things I couldn't possibly fully appreciate. I hope this music provides you, another listener, moments of enrichment as it did for me.