It’s the toughest annual assignment OffBeat proposes to its select cadre of ten regular contributors: a list of their ten favorite CDs from the past year (no fudging on the release dates!) and a brief analysis of the year in music. We make no demands concerning whom the artists are, where they come from or whether or not their albums are released on major labels or directly from the trunks of personal vehicles. Given that all the contributors are diehard music enthusiasts, the se...