Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Playing along at home with Pitchfork's top 20 albums of 2013

Alright, alright alright alright! After seeing only P4k's list of 'honorable mentions', here are the 20 albums I anticipate being in their 'best album' list's top 20 slots (in order):

20. DJ Rashad
19. Fuck Buttons
18. Chvrches
17. Field
16. Youth Lagoon
15. Haxan Cloak
14. My Bloody Valentine
13. Kurt Vile
12. Danny Brown
11. Phosphorescent
10. Darkside
9. Drake
8. Bill Callahan
7. Daft Punk
6. Deafheaven
5. Savages
4. Arcade Fire
3. Kanye
2. Disclosure
1. Vampire Weekend

Woof! Okay, just looked at 21-50. Kind of unsettling that they’re doing everything in one day this year!! At the very most ideal situation (no Sky Ferreira), I will have chosen 14 of the actual top 20. I guess I have to be content with that! Here’s my updated roster for 20:

20. Charli XCX
19. Haim
18. Shaking the Habitual
17. Chance
16. Iceage
15. Julianna Barwick
14. Field
13. Youth Lagoon
12. My Bloody Valentine
11. Kurt Vile
10. Danny Brown
9. Darkside
8. Bill Callahan
7. Daft Punk
6. Deafheaven
5. Savages
4. Arcade Fire
3. Kanye
2. Disclosure
1. Vampire Weekend

20. Jai Paul - Jai Paul
Ah yes! I need to download this. I think actually only listened to it once, while it was streaming. This is pretty #20 worthy. I expect a decent amount of 15-20 to be things absent from my predictions.
19. Earl Sweatshirt - Doris
One from my bank of 5 runners up for this top 20. Another album I haven’t given enough attention to!
18. Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady
Aaah! Another one from my 5 ‘on deck’. For reference, the other 3 are Foxygen, After Dark 2, and These New Puritans.
17. Haim
AAh Much love to Haim’s singles, but I am so happy this isn’t in the top ten. Speaking of-- if Sky is in the top 20, which she probably is… I will be disappointed.
16. Bill Callahan
Soooo good. I love ya, Bill! Underrated on this list and many others. The world is a cruel place.

SO, critical reevaluation time. I’m switching out some of the ‘less exciting’ acts that I didn’t feel Pitchfork reported on a ton this year. The weird thing at this point is that some of the albums I anticipated for the top 20 will not have been in the top 70 (though P4k asserts that the ‘honorable mention’ list isn’t a continuation). Let’s see. If Charli XCX knocks out one of these contenders...

15. Shaking the Habitual
14. Field
13. Youth Lagoon
12. My Bloody Valentine
11. Kurt Vile
10. Danny Brown
9. Darkside
8. Sky Ferreira (ugh)
7. Daft Punk
6. Deafheaven
5. Savages
4. Arcade Fire
3. Kanye
2. Disclosure
1. Vampire Weekend

15. Sky Ferreira - Night Time, My Time
Phew! Swiped in at the final moment.
14. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual
So close to being on the money with this! This was a great record. Very satisfied with the placement.
13. Kurt Vile - Wakin on a Pretty Daze
Kurt Vile is so dreamy! A little too low, but 13 isn’t a bad number.
12. Chance the Rapper - Acid Rap
Yes!! I’m so glad this is so high on the list. I got cold feet and took him off the “top 15” draft because he was so slighted in the 100 songs list. Great, great stuff.
11. Darkside - Psychic
I’m satisfied with this ranking. It’s a fun album, but given its competition, it seems a little unlike Pitchfork to stick to their guns in ranking an album of this genre (sorry, “these genres”) in the very top of the list.
10. Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Ah!!! This is a bit of an upset. I’m actually pretty happy about this, though--I’d probably rank this at about #10 in a personal list.
9. Savages - Silence Yourself
Such a terrific debut! I pictured Pitchfork making a statement with this, but #9 is still a statement. Again, I’ll settle. Maybe I should expect an upset switch like in the songs list, where my top 4 picks ended up in the 6-10 range.. But I am feeling pretty confident about my top 3.
8. Majical Cloudz - Impersonator
WOW! Another true upset. And because I’m lazy and just started with a longlist of 2013’s ~50 BNMs and a few I remembered on the side, I didn’t even have this in the running. This is a pretty deserving album for top 10 contention. Wow, I just realized I forgot to make a top 10 list! So, here are my updated rankings for Pitchfork’s top 7. Get your cash bets ready! The record I feel the most unsure about placing is RAM. It could really go in any of these slots. Let’s see..

7. My Bloody Valentine
6. Danny Brown
5. Deafheaven
4. Daft Punk
3. Kanye
2. Disclosure
1. Vampire Weekend

7. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Whoa!! Well, there it goes. Will thought this was going to be #1. Sorry Will, but you were SO WRONG!

6. My Bloody Valentine
5. Danny Brown
4. Deafheaven
3. Kanye
2. Disclosure
1. Vampire Weekend

6. Deafheaven - Sunbather
YEEEAAAH. Black metal in the top 20! I don’t know when this last happened. You did a good job, Deafheaven, but next time? Shoot for the top 4 (Y’don’t want to make me look bad, do you?) When this album came out, I sent it to my mom in hopes that she would finally concede to the quality of the genre. It’s that sort of record. (You already probably know that, though, if you’re reading this silly thing)

5. My Bloody Valentine
4. Danny Brown
3. Kanye
2. Disclosure
1. Vampire Weekend

5. Danny Brown - Old
This is how you follow a tremendous success!
4. My Bloody Valentine
This is how you follow a tremendous success!
3. Disclosure - Settle
The “act that looked the most like high schoolers” at SXSW ‘13 ended up putting out the electronic album of the year. Full of hits like a Michael Jackson record--and one of the guys doesn’t even read books! I feel tempted, at this point, to switch Vampire Weekend with Kanye for #1 record. That said, in a year where gol-darn Drake has Pitchfork’s number one song (a total embarrassment), it seems fitting that Vampire Weekend will fill the top slot.
2. Kanye West - Yeezus
and
1. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
Well, there it is. In the past week, I switched my guess for this slot from Yeezus to Settle. After reading the songs list yesterday, though, I settled on this one. I did it! Why, then, do I feel so discontent with this choice? :)

final tally- initial guesses - after seeing only the honorable mention list 13/20
guesses after seeing 21-50 15/20

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