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| ~~~ |
Attempting to rank this year’s selections for Pitchfork’s
top 50 albums of the year will be a tough one in 2016: They did away with the listing of their 20 albums' “Honorable Mentions” which otherwise would have made a solid asteroid belt of
the implicit #70-51 spots on the top 50; it’s always been surprising to find
what made it into this purgatory.
Another Conde Nast-era first was the
publishing of 5 lists of 20 albums selected from broader genre tracks in “the
year in [genre]” format. So, one might assume that all 50 albums would fit into
these 100 picks; at least one high-profile, highly-ranked entry (ANOHNI) has
not shown up in these lists. It could be an oversight, but it could also be
some kind of weird statement; we’ll see what ends up happening with that. My
money’s on ANOHNI still making it into this list. That said, Pitchfork blew it
on FDT, so I shouldn’t be surprised either way.
--
OK, so after far too much time spent gathering and
ordering these albums, here’s my best
attempt to predict what the Pitchfork Best Albums list will look like this
year.
50. Cass McCombs – Mangy Love 8.1 NM
49. Noname – Telefone 8.0 NM
48. Sheer Mag – III EP 8.3
47. Vince Staples – Prima Donna 8.0 NM
46. Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman 7.6 NM
45. dvsn – Sept. 5th 8.3
44. Weyes Blood – Front Row Seat to Earth 8.3
43. NxWorries – Yes Lawd! 8.2
42. White Lung – Paradise 8.4
41. Anna Meredith – Varmints 8.4
40. YG – Still Brazy 8.0 NM
39. Schoolboy Q – Blank Face LP 8.3
38. Kevin Morby – Singing Saw 8.3
37. Parquet Courts – Human Performance 8.4
36. Joey Purp – iiiDrops 8.2
35. Kaytranada – 99.9% 8.0 NM
34. James Blake – The Colour in Anything 8.2
33. Hamilton Leithauser / Rostam – I Had a Dream That You
Were Mine 8.3
32. The Avalanches – Wildflower 8.5
31. G.L.O.S.S. – Trans Day of Revenge 8.5
30. Whitney – Light Upon the Lake 8.3
29. Esperanza Spalding – Emily’s D+Evolution 8.6
28. Porches – Pool 8.3
27. Jamila Woods – HEAVN 8.4
26. Jenny Hval – Blood Bitch 8.3
25. Frankie Cosmos – Next Thing 8.5
24. Kamaiyah – A Good Night in the Ghetto 8.2
23. Mitski – Puberty 2 8.5
22. Kendrick Lamar – untitled unmastered. 8.6
21. Young Thug – JEFFERY 8.5
20. ANOHNI – HOPELESSNESS 9.0
19. Kevin Gates – Islah 8.5
18. Rihanna – ANTI 7.7 NM
17. Nicolas Jaar – Sirens 8.7
16. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree 9.0
15. Danny Brown – Atrocity Exhibition 8.5
14. Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial 8.5
13. Anderson .Paak – Malibu 8.6
12. Blood Orange – Freetown Sound 8.8
11. Angel Olsen – My Woman 8.8
10. Leonard Cohen – You Want It Darker 8.5
9. Bon Iver – 22, A Million 9.0
8. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool 9.1
7. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo 9.0
6. David Bowie – Blackstar 8.5
5. A Tribe Called Quest – We got it from Here… Thank You
4 Your service 9.0
4. Frank Ocean – Blonde 9.0
3. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book 9.1
2. Solange – A Seat at the Table 8.7
1. Beyonce – Lemonade 8.5
It’s worth noting that the top 10 here (especially the
top 3) are unusually flexible. It’s tough to anticipate what weighting they’ll
give to their highest ranked, the most successful, the most important records
on this list. One metric I sometimes use is the number of songs from each album
which found their way into the Best 100 tracks list, though one question mark
here were the songs list’s many inclusions from TLoP potentially belying the
haphazard quality of the album they came from. Each of the top handful of
records in this rundown accomplish such great things in different ways.
It’s also worth noting that it’s currently 11:20 AM on
the morning of this list’s release and nothing’s been spoiled for me yet. Phew!
Here we go:
--
50. 21 Savage /
Metro Boomin – Savage Mode
Just as always, I do like to intentionally begin with a
0% correct guess rate so I can shoot for “most improved.” (not listed)
49. Porches – Pool
Ouch!!!! OK, so to explain the notation going further,
this one was a whopping 21 points lower [not numerically, but further from the
‘top’] than I’d guessed (#28) so I’m going to end this by writing ‘-21’. For
reference, this is very bad. (-21)
48. Frankie Cosmos
– Next Thing
Oh, very cute, Pitchfork!! Groan (-23)
47. Kamaiyah – A
Good Night in the Ghetto
Geez. Well, maybe I’m just not calibrated right—I did
guess that this and “Next Thing” would be in direct succession, for what it’s
worth. (-23)
46. Pinegrove –
Cardinal
Oh god, I’m so out of touch with this publication! How
did this happen? (perhaps: redesign, rebranding, refocus. I mean, BRAND NEW got
a Best New Track this year. Am I the establishment now?) How could I have known
this would make the cut while The Hotelier [probably?] didn’t? (not listed)
45. William Tyler
– Modern Country
A great album! But a surprising inclusion since this site
has paid him such sparing attention.
(not listed)
44. Kevin Gates –
Islah
Platinum, 25 points off, and with no features! How did he
do it? And where did I go so wrong? (-25)
43. Weyes Blood –
Front Row Seat to Earth
Over the years, this list does seem to have a sweet spot
in the #50-36 range for quality songwriters that didn’t fill up newsfeeds with
promo and antics. At least this one wasn’t an upset to that tradition. (+1)
42. Vince Staples
– Prima Donna
Another sort of release that tends to populate the first
15 or 20 blocks: smart, concise EP releases. (+5)
41. Huerco S. –
For Those Of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have)
AS IS THE CASE for one or two ambient albums (excluding
whichever Tim Hecker/Grouper/OPN-style crossover lp ‘made it’ that year). I
wasn’t sure which albums in this category to include because they can be tricky
to predict and pull from the true wealth of great ambient/understated lps that
are released every year to little fanfare on this site. (not listed)
40. Vijay Iyer /
Wadada Leo Smith – A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke
And the streak continues!! To be clear, I am not saying
these albums aren’t deserving, but I just always have to groan a bit when
Pitchfork throws inclusions from genres they don’t cover into their year-end
list to display the breadth not present in their website’s coverage. (not
listed)
39. Moodymann –
DJ-Kicks
Bury me!! (not listed)
38. Schoolboy Q –
Blank Face LP
*pokes head out from shallow grave* “Is the coast clear?”
(+1)
37. KING – We Are
KING
“Nope!!” [this one was my fault, though. This albums
slaps] (not listed)
36. Jamila Woods –
HEAVN
Blame the 9 point gap on my Chicago-centric optimism.
(-9)
35. Hamilton
Mixtape / Rostam – I Had a Dream That You Were Mine
In which I giddily read aloud as “Lei-tha-au-ser
Ham-il-ton” distract myself from addressing the fact that the writeup for this
album’s inclusion references the Byrne+Eno albums (-2)
34. Kevin Morby –
Singing Saw
Wow, nice! I am happy to see this here. I was sort of
expecting this to be dropped to a lower rank, but it really is a fantastic
album. (+4)
33. Maxweell –
blackSUMMERS’night
I have to be honest, I took this off my list of
predictions because I haven’t listened to it. I’ll have to listen to it. That
said, in the vein of the Hamilton/Rostam writeup, the writer chooses “There’s a
Riot Goin’ On” as a reference point and hyperlinks to the Pitchfork artist page
for Erik Satie (lol). Could he have picked anything more imposing? (not listed)
32. Elza Soares –
A Mulher do Fim do Mundo
Bury me pt. 2 (This album slaps though, so great.) I do
feel vindicated by the wealth of surprises in this list, which is clearly more
a distinct entity from their regular reporting than it’s been in years past.
(not listed)
31. Whitney –
Light Upon the Lake
I’m so bewildered by this list I can hardly even be
excited about my near-perfect guesses (-1).
30. Esperanza
Spalding – Emily’s D+Evolution
Hey, another pair of albums that ended up next to each
other (this and Whitney), but this time only one spot off their actual slot!
(-1)
29. Kaitlyn
Aurelia Smith – EARS
Wow! As I wrote in yesterday’s track writeup, I haven’t
heard this yet, but I’m really excited based on the song that I heard
yesterday. (not listed)
28. NxWorries –
Yes Lawd!
Ooh, a fifteen-point bump-up. I wonder if there will be
many more of those in the next ten songs to balance out all of the early-listed
tracks I’d thought would be between 27 and 18. (+15)
27. Noname –
Telefone
Yooooo. Very interesting that this occupies the same slot
I thought Jamila Woods would be in. So much for Chicago optimism. (+22)
26. Parquet Courts
– Human Performance
Seriously??? (+11)
25. Kaytranada –
99.9%
(+10)
At this point I’m very curious if I lost my touch or if
the list became harder to predict.
24. Car Seat Headrest
– Teens of Denial
And at this point! For reference, Kaytranada’s album had
an 8.0 rating and no BNM and Car Seat Headrest had an 8.5, BNM, and much more
coverage throughout the year. I enjoyed Kaytranada’s album more, but don’t tell
anyone. (-10)
23. Jenny Hval –
Blood Bitch
Not bad! I did bump this up to #26 in my rankings because
the songs list had Jenny Hval in the #22 spot. (+3)
22. YG – Still
Brazy
Wow, another upset (by a deserving album!) Here’s another
lp that didn’t get a Best New Music, which should prove to the remaining
holdouts that the title doesn’t mean anything [anymore?] (+18)
21. Young Thug –
JEFFERY
Phew, eeking out another perfect placement.
--
So, were my attempts to pick #50-21 much better than
random picking? I’d maintain that they were, despite the frustrating number of
picks that I had that were ~20 points off and the number of picks which didn’t
appear anywhere on my list of predictions. Still, it was tough to pick between
the sort of extraordinary wealth of great full-length releases.
In an also-noteworthy point in the “better than random
picking” column, I do want to assert that only 2 of the albums I anticipated
for slots #20-1 appeared in the #50-21 listing; these were clearly the
‘critical faves’ insofar as they were, in the context of Pitchfork’s coverage,
contenders for the top ranked records of the year. Time will tell whether my
rankings within these 20 slots were
haphazard or informed by any sort of intentional placement.
--
20. Nicolas Jaar –
Sirens
Jilted in the song rankings, this was still a good
contender for the top albums due to its fantastic immersive qualities—despite
the confusion that ensues after pressing play on the album and hearing silence
for a bit too long. (-3)
19. Rihanna – ANTI
I was happy to even remember this in the rankings, but I
just remembered that I forgot to include Views in my ranking. I would be
surprised if it didn’t make it, but could I get in trouble by having pitched an
album for a top 20 spot without it even making the list? Looking at the items
just out of my top 20 guesses, I already see two notable entries I’d be shocked
to not see included: Mitski and Kendrick. Hmm. (-1)
18. Mitski –
Puberty 2
Whooooa! I just looked around the room and see no ghosts
who could have looked over my shoulder and rearranged the list to send me a
cosmic message, and that is a relief. That means we’re down to just Kendrick
and the remaining 16 of my top-20 picks, which is encouraging—but if there’s
even one surprise inclusion, that means one of these 17 didn’t make the list at
all. Shudder (+5)
17. Leonard Cohen –
You Want It Darker
Ok, fair. This album is fairly remarkable, though. (-7)
16. Kendrick Lamar
– untitled unmastered.
WOOw we’re getting into it!! The bases, as they say, are
loaded. Please, no surprises!! (+6)
15. Nick Cave
& the Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree
This is actually getting pretty exciting. And to think I’d
given up on trying to do this! (+1)
14. Blood Orange –
Freetown Sound
God, this album is so good. (-2)
13. Anderson .Paak
– Malibu
NO WHAMMIES!!! It was good to be Anderson .Paak this
year. (0)
12. Bon Iver – 22,
A Million
This was a great listen, but there were so many deeply
meaningful full-length releases this yeah that there was never much of a chance
for abstraction. (-3)
11. Danny Brown –
Atrocity Exhibition
This solidifies ANOHNI in a >=10 point bump up, which
I’m very happy with. Thanks for taking one for the team, Danny Brown (this is
to say that I’d love a Anohni+Brown collab. It almost feels possible. (+4)
--
With ten albums left on this list, here’s a reiteration
of the albums I’m leaving in contention for these spots. I’m pretty firm on
them, though obviously the key omission is this album’s #1-selling contemporary
release, Drake’s “Views”. In lieu of doing a ‘re-rack’, I’ll keep the listing
positions I initially selected for these albums:
Yet-Unchosen
Selections that likely won’t make it:
50. Cass McCombs – Mangy Love 8.1 NM
48. Sheer Mag – III EP 8.3
46. Ariana Grande – Dangerous Woman 7.6 NM
45. dvsn – Sept. 5th 8.3
42. White Lung – Paradise 8.4
41. Anna Meredith – Varmints 8.4
36. Joey Purp – iiiDrops 8.2
34. James Blake – The Colour in Anything 8.2
32. The Avalanches – Wildflower 8.5
31. G.L.O.S.S. – Trans Day of Revenge 8.5
Here are the
likely top ten in Pitchfork’s album list:
20. ANOHNI – HOPELESSNESS 9.0
11. Angel Olsen – My Woman 8.8
8. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool 9.1
7. Kanye West – The Life of Pablo 9.0
6. David Bowie – Blackstar 8.5
5. A Tribe Called Quest – We got it from Here… Thank You
4 Your service 9.0
4. Frank Ocean – Blonde 9.0
3. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book 9.1
2. Solange – A Seat at the Table 8.7
1. Beyonce – Lemonade 8.5
--
10. Radiohead – A Moon
Shaped Pool
See the note under Bon Iver’s spot for a rationalization
for this low ranking for one of the two albums to receive the highest point
rating of 2016, 9.1/10. No one is here to listen to your sadness, Thom! (-2)
9. Angel Olsen –
My Woman
Woosh! God, I hope ANOHNI is next so I’ll have gotten the
top 7 right. (+2)
8. ANOHNI –
HOPELESSNESS
I APPRECIATE THIS ALBUM’S USE OF ALL CAPS BECAUSE IT
REFLECTS MY EXCITEMENT. I’m relieved to see it in a much higher placement than
I anticipated; I was thrown off due to Pitchfork’s bizarre exclusion of this
album from any of their genre-based ‘Top 20s’ lists. Come on Pitchfork, it’s
time to start using more than 14% of your brain.
--
Note: This is probably where everything will fall apart. Let’s
see.
--
7. A Tribe Called
Quest – We got it from Here…Thank You 4 Your service
I love it. I also love typing the album title because it
feels like I’m commenting on someone’s Instagram post. (-2)
6. Chance the Rapper – Coloring Book
I initially thought this might end up in the top slot;
instead, it fits well in this slot—though TLoP was the great smash-hit-that-could-have-been
with some more restructuring, Coloring Book also had a solid ten minutes it
would’ve done better without. I think the selfish thing (from my listener’s
perspective) I feel is that concept-heavy artists sometimes seem to deign to
acknowledge that when one, say, includes a 5.5 minute arrangement of “How Great
Is Our God,” their listeners have to listen to it every time they play the
album. (-3)
5. Kanye West –
The Life of Pablo
See the above take on fat-trimming, but replace “How
Great is Our God” with “Silver Surfer Intro”, “Facts”. That said, as with
Chance’s mixtape, this is a tremendous album full of tremendous songs. It’s
weeeeeeell worth the skip-through moments. (+2)
--
OK, here we go. Four albums left, and I am unsure as ever
that I picked the right order for them.
--
4. David Bowie –
Blackstar
It’s easy to make “Blackstar” into something most albums
here are not: a marker of a distinct point in history rather than the foundation
for a future legacy. This makes a strange puzzle of the task of comparing it to
other releases; how objectively can we compare the capstone of an oeuvre to the
pinnacle of another? What can we learn about a publication from their end-of-year
ranking of this album amongst 2016 releases by more of-the-moment musicians?
(+2)
3. Beyonce –
Lemonade
Oh god!!! And as much as I want to say that this minor
upset makes clear that Solange will take home #1, I’m increasingly unsure what
even to BELIEVE anymore (-2)
--
Very dramatic pause
--
2. Frank Ocean –
Blonde
Aaaahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhh!!!!! It should be noted that
the last time I incorrectly guessed Pitchfork’s album of the year was 2012,
when I thought Channel Orange would narrowly beat out Good Kid M.A.A.D City
before finding those rankings would be reversed. (+2)
1. Solange – A Seat
at the Table
So good, so 2016. While Beyonce’s album was an incredible
step forward for her output, A Seat at the Table was perhaps a more
constructive document of its environment; though it had a focus on the self, it
was perhaps more outward in its approach than Lemonade. Also, I dunno, the
songs and the overall album were amazing. (+1)
