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This was definitely a weird year for music, so I had to grab the good stuff wherever I could find it.

I have pretty eclectic tastes, so in some ways I had fun picking through the rock, jazz, blues and metal world. I look forward to trying to absorb Jimi Hendrix’s Winterland shows and Duane Allman’s remarkable playing on the SUNY bootleg over the next, say, two decades.

You might be surprised to see two EP’s on my list, but blues up-and-comer Gary Clark Jr. and prog wunderkinds Periphery are two new artists that really make me enthusiastic for the future of music.

As much as I enjoy virtuoso musicianship, I also like a good rock hook when I hear one, and both the Foo Fighters and Cage the Elephant delivered in spades.

The rest of list is devoted to albums I just listened to a lot: Children of Bodom when I needed a metal fix, Miles Davis when I wanted to listen to some jazz and Protest the Hero when I wanted to listen to some demented Canadians.

There you have it.

Brad Tolinski is the editor-in-chief at Guitar World.

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