I have a playlist called “Check Out (2019).” It’s filled with music I read was released this year, music I heard a little bit of and wanted to explore further. It has albums as recent as Luke Lalonde’s “The Perpetual Optimist,” released just last Friday, as well as “This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You),” an album by the folk artist Lambchop that came out back in early March.
Check Out (2019) has 1,428 songs on it. Spotify is helpful enough to interpret that for me as 87 hours and 12 minutes of music. I’m not checking that out.
I keep adding albums to check out, but I keep choosing to not check them out, instead opting for songs I’ve already checked out and know I like. This list turned a pleasure into a chore. I think I’ll delete it.
Personal recommendations are better. Is there something you discovered in 2019 that you love so much you recommend it?
YoRocko! 
Kiwanuka, by English singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka. (Hard to describe, but I hope he goes far in the U.S. Apparently he’s kind of a hit in his home country.)
Jesus is King, by Kanye West
The Highwomen, by The Highwomen (country music supergroup evocative of the Highwaymen, w/Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires)
Somebody described that Kiwanuka album as “the album of the decade.” I’m on it! Thanks Ira!