I’m Tyler Machado and I’m the digital media manager at Seven Days, which is a good job to have if you like to listen to music. I feel like I’ve been out of the loop on music stuff for a few years now, but something this year happily kicked me back into it.

The list above is in a rough order at best and omits lots of stuff I loved both local (Rough Francis, Paper Castles) and not (Mazzy Star, Yo La Tengo, Kendrick Lamar). But I do have a few bonus category awards from the year to hand out.

Best Lazy Trippy Summer Saturday Afternoon Album: Kurt Vile – Wakin on a Pretty Daze
Best Inexplicably Under-the-Radar Album: Valerie June – Pushin Against A Stone
Best Album By a Member of the Sonic Youth Diaspora: Lee Ranaldo and the Dust – Last Night on Earth
Best Kiss-Off Breakup Song in the History of Ever: Josh Ritter – “New Lover”