12/15/15:
Last
year I modified the process of this prediction so that I’d start by estimating,
on the day prior to Pitchfork’s release of their annual Best Albums list,
which 50 albums would populate the list—and in which order. I feel like last
year was a notable success, given that it wasn’t a complete disaster. To
reiterate, I have seen the Pitchfork list for albums worth Honorable Mention,
but that’s it—as was the case during my songs list read-through, I basically
have had to force myself off social media and most of the music-related
internet in order to not have anything spoiled. OK! A few of the best
contenders from the many, many albums I had to nix from this because I had to
cut something: Thank Your Lucky Stars; Sprinter;
Apocalypse, girl; Poison Season; E•MO•TION; Jenny Death;
and Ivy Tripp.
The
“Maybe 50” for 2015:
50.
Beach Slang – The Things We Do to Find People … 8.0 NM
49.
Archy Marshall – A New Place 2 Drown 8.6
48.
Rae Sremmurd – SremmLife 7.8 NM
47.
Erykah Badu – But You Caint Use My Phone 8.1 NM
46.
Earl Sweatshirt – I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside 8.0 NM
45.
Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass 8.3
44.
Kacey Musgraves – Pageant Material 8.0 NM
43.
Kelela – Hallucinogen EP 8.3
42.
Titus Andronicus – The Most Lamentable Tragedy 8.1 NM
41.
Thundercat – The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam 8.3
40.
Majical Cloudz – Are You Alone? 8.0 NM
39.
Chvrches – Every Open Eye 7.7 NM
38.
Jim O’Rourke – Simple Songs 8.6
37.
Jeremih – Late Nights: The Album 8.3
36.
Baroness – Purple 8.5
35.
Nao – February 15 EP 8.4
34.
Floating Points – Elaenia 8.4
33.
Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment 8.3
32.
Kurt Vile – b’lieve i’m goin down 8.4
31.
Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness 8.4
30.
Empress Of – Me 8.2
29.
Young Thug – Barter 6 8.4
28.
Shamir – Ratchet 8.3
27.
Deerhunter – Fading Frontier 8.4
26.
Arca – Mutant 8.4
25.
Kamasi Washington – The Epic 8.6
24.
Beach House – Depression Cherry 8.4
23.
Jlin – Dark Energy 8.5
22.
Holly Herndon – Platform 8.7
21.
Neon Indian – VEGA INTL. Night School 8.6
20.
Tobias Jesso Jr. – Goon 8.5
19.
Dr. Dre – Compton 8.8
18.
Joanna Newsom – Divers 8.5
17.
Drake – If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late 8.3
16.
Björk - Vulnicura 8.6
15.
FKA twigs – M3LL155X 8.6
14.
Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love 8.7
13.
Panda Bear – Panda Bear Meets The Grim Reaper 8.7
12.
Deafheaven – New Bermuda 9.0
11.
Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sit 8.6
10.
Miguel – Wildheart 8.9
9.
Future – Dirty Sprite 2 8.4
8.
Oneohtrix Point Never – Garden of Delete 8.7
7.
Grimes – Art Angels 8.5
6.
Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear 8.8
5.
Vince Staples – Summertime ’06 8.8
4.
Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell 9.3
3.
Jamie xx – In Colour 9.3
2.
Tame Impala – Currents 9.3
1.
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly 9.3
12/16/15:
50.
Dawn Richard – Blackheart
Alright!
Off to a great start. I haven’t heard of Dawn Richard. I do have a number of “maybe”
slots reserved for the bottom 10 of this list, so it’s not too bad a surprise
to see something new here. (not listed)
49.
Natalie Prass – Natalie Prass
So
underrated! This reminds me that I still haven’t really dug into Matthew E.
White’s discography. (-4)
48.
Shamir – Ratchet
Wow!
I was expecting Shamir’s album to be one of the few each year that’s bumped up
to the 20s or 30s from a low 8 score. This is a bungle—almost as bad a mistake
as my worst last year (two picks which were 22 places off). (-20)
47.
DJ Koze – DJ-Kicks
I
was very close to putting this on the list given his inclusion on the tracks
list, but I’m just not 100% into the idea of listing a mix in the albums list.
(not listed)
46.
Tobias Jesso Jr. – Goon
Wow,
here’s another early upset. I suppose I should have seen this coming in that despite
earning a great review upon release TJJ didn’t have a single song on this year’s
songs list. Here’s a new low—the furthest I’ve ever been in making these
predictions. (-26)
45.
Jim O’Rourke – Simple Songs
Here’s
a textbook example of a glowing review with zero follow-up in news reporting
getting a placement in the lowest ten slots on the list. (-7)
44.
Jazmine Sullivan – Reality Show
An
early contender for this list that I begrudgingly removed (to make space for
what, Beach Slang? What a mistake! (not listed)
43.
Destroyer – Poison Season
And
this, which was the final thing I swapped out from slot #50 in order to make
space for Archy Marshall. (not listed)
42.
Jenny Hval – Apocalypse, girl
Why
am I even trying! (not listed)
41.
Jeremih – Late Nights: The Album
I
still haven’t heard this album, but given the blurb I am eager to. I’m going to
play this album while reading the rest of the list. (-4)
40.
Jlin – Dark Energy
Noo!
Bummer, Pitchfork. This was your chance to not blow it. I didn’t place Jlin’s
album in the slot DJ Rashad’s Double Cup
took in 2013 for no reason—Placing Dark
Energy at least as high would have been a great opportunity to A. Show a terrific
album respect / B. Honor that a WOC from Gary can make [at least] as
substantial footwork as the most popular dude making it in Chicago / C. Indicate
that your site’s [very selective] reporting on footwork in the past three years
hasn’t been hype-riding. All respect & RIP to Rashad, but he wasn’t the
only person to make great footwork music. (-17)
39.
Holly Herndon – Platform
Um,
everything I just said about Dark Energy,
again. (-17)
38.
Arca – Mutant
Alright,
Pitchfork. I see you. You’re say, “It’s not just Jlin—we’re just not feeling very
adventurous this year. Don’t worry! We’ll have token 0PN up top—but not that
close to the top.” (-12)
37.
Empress of – Me
Honestly,
what is going to be in the top half of this list? (-7)
36.
Janet Jackson – Unbreakable
I
had JJ in my earlier draft of this list, but I removed her because I didn’t
remember Pitchfork paying her much attention outside of giving very positive words
to the terrific “No Sleeep”. (not listed)
35.
Neon Indian – VEGA INTL. Night School
See
#37 (-14)
34.
Carly Rae Jepsen - E•MO•TION
Thank
you! Like Janet’s album, I had this in my earlier draft of predictions, but
removed it because P4k panned it in their review. This was one of my very
favorite piece of music to come from 2015. I’m happy to see it here. (not
listed)
33.
Archy Marshall – A New Place 2 Drown
Hm,
it’s fair, but I find difficulty in ranking an album that came out less than a
week before this list at the 33rd best record of the year. This is
why we should be making best-of lists the following year, but that doesn’t set
sites up for more ad revenue, so what do I know. (+16)
32.
Dr. Dre – Compton
I’m
happy for this album’s placement in this list. It’s ok. (-13)
31.
Kelela – Hallucinogen EP
Nice!
Wow, I really blew it on this list this year. I didn’t even know how good I had
it in 2014! (+12)
30.
Deerhunter – Fading Frontier
I
saw Deerhunter last night and it was a real experience. The new songs sounded
great. I hope his back feels better soon. (-3)
29.
Rae Sremmurd – SremmLife
Rae
Sremmurd’s album so greatly overshadows their live performances (sorry) that I
don’t even mind it any more—instead of catching them the next time they come
through your town (and I never say this about anyone and don’t even mean it as
an insult) I recommend playing this album straight through while jumping around
to it at your house. (+19)
28.
Beach House – Depression Cherry
Depression
Cherry was a fantastic record. I think (/hope, lol) that the wild gaps between
predictions and actual placement on this list will tighten up as we enter the
top half of this list. (-4)
27.
Sleater-Kinney – No Cities to Love
How
can Sleater-Kinney reunite, have an amazing year, and put out a terrific record
that ranks in the upper 20s while Aphex Twin and My Bloody Valentine get their
come-back records at #3 and #4 on their years’ lists, respectively? Bogus. (-13)
26.
Deafheaven – New Bermuda
It’s
a long fall from the top, guys. Hope you enjoyed your album sales! Wait, Sunbather really didn’t sell that well?
Welp, sorry! (-14)
25.
Earl Sweatshirt – I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside
There’s
got to be some reason why this year’s predictions are so far off. Maybe I was
too reliant this year on comparing review scores. (+21)
24.
Thundercat – The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam
The
first time I tried to play this on my streaming service of choice, I was bummed
that there must be some rights issue that only allowed me a few of the album’s
tracks. It wasn’t until much later that I found out that that was the whole
thing. (+17)
23.
Kurt Vile – b’lieve i’m goin down
Track
titles on this album are fire. (+9)
22.
Panda Bear – Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
A
sure victim of the long gap between release date and list creation. Where would
this album have placed if it came out on Archy’s release date? Or in July? (-9)
21.
Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment
The
best songs on Surf are so good that I can almost get behind this ranking
despite the fact that there’s so much fat to cut on this album. (+12)
OK,
so this has been a bit of a mess, but there’s not much room for switch-outs at
this point. 15 albums from my forecasted top 20 remain, and enough great albums
weren’t included in the bottom 30 (Julia Holter, Floating Points, The Epic,
Barter 6) that I imagine there’s pretty slim room for surprises at this point.
20.
Floating Points – Elaenia
Aside
from E•MO•TION or Bury Me At Makeout Creek, this is the album I earnestly played
for the most people this year. It’s been a very long time coming, and I could
see FP becoming a favorite artist of mine if he continues to release albums
like this. (+14)
19.
Future – Dirty Sprite 2
Future
was robbed!!! (-10)
18.
Julia Holter – Have You In My Wilderness
Another
of my very favorite releases of the year, this was a wonderful step in her
career output. (+13)
17.
Drake – If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
Finally,
my first spot-on placement! (0)
16.
FKA twigs – M3LL155X
Hitting
a stride… (-1)
15.
Björk – Vulnicura
On
second thought, it’d have been wrong to place twigs over Björk considering the
unidirectional influence at stake with those artists.
14.
Young Thug – Barter 6
This
breaks the stride, but it does remove the possibility of this cracking my
hardly-touched top 11. It’s better that way! At this point, we just need to get
Joanna and Kamasi in here. (+15)
13.
Joanna Newsom – Divers
Here’s
the first of those! Unfortunately I did get the feeling she wouldn’t get a top
10 slot this year. (+5)
12.
Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear
Aha!
I thought this’d be higher for sure. Also, lol at Pitchfork being the one to
call Josh Tillman “blah” in this blurb. (-12)
11.
Oneohtrix Point Never – Garden of Delete
Another
from the top ten! Considering this lists’s scope, I can’t say I’m too surprised.
(-3)
With
only ten entries left and nine from my forecasted top 34 records, which album
will be the surprise inclusion? Adele? Majical Cloudz? Erykah Badu? I’m
expecting someone major-label, because that’s how Pitchfork tends to work.
Kacey Musgraves???
10.
Kamasi Washington – The Epic
Q:
Does this bode well for jazz’s inclusion on future Pitchfork coverage? A: snark
snark but really (+15)
9.
Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
WAIT!
Something just occurred to me. Is Pitchfork going to include Black Messiah on
this list? It’s a worthy contender, and a top-tenner to be sure, but they set a
clear precedent when Beyonce’s s/t did not rank on 2014’s list. Beyonce came
out on 12/13; Black Messiah came out on 12/15. To include it here would be
easily the most exciting thing about this list.
(+2)
8.
Miguel – Wildheart
Yeah
Miguel! Not bad, not bad, which also brings us very close to the end of the
list and my initial suggestions. Any
differences greater than 1 at this point will be pretty exciting to me. (+2)
7.
D’Angelo / The Vanguard – Black Messiah
THEY
DID IT!!!! TAKE THAT BEYONCE!!! YOUR PRECEDENT HAS BEEN BUMPED; D’ANGELO
BROUGHT HOME #7 WHILE YOUR DECEMBER 2013 S/T WASN’T EVEN ENOUGH TO BUMP ARIANA
GRANDE OUT OF THE 2014 LIST!! (not listed)
6.
Sufjan Stevens – Carrie & Lowell
Wow,
that got a little wild! Good to have something quiet to follow that up with. I
want to hear a Sufjan Stevens + Majical Cloudz collab in 2016. (-2)
5. Tame Impala – Currents
Wow,
this is a big surprise! I thought for sure that Pitchfork would latch onto this
for the #2 spot. It seemed for a while that one song from this album would get
Best New Track each week. (-3)
4.
Vince Staples – Summertime ‘06
Everyone’s
talking about how great Vince Staples is and I’m just happy someone finally
made an album about the season I spent in Fond du Lac at marching band
practices. The difference between our summers is striking. Vince was A+++ live
last week. Highly recommend catching him next time you can. (+1)
3. Grimes – Art Angels
Spoiler
Alert: This list’s blurb for Art Angels kicks off with lyrics from Kill V. Maim
that I haven’t ever understood and have been trying to decode without looking
up lyrics for the past few weeks. Oh well! I’m very happy to see this ranking
#3 for the year after its relative pan (8.5, smh) in the album review.
2.
Jamie xx – In Colour
This
album is immaculate. Listening to it straight through (loudly, if possible) it’s
clear that this could easily be the crowning musical achievement in a year that
didn’t have a release like To Pimp a
Butterfly. (+1)
1.
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
It
could have been amazing; it ended up nearly perfect. To Pimp a Butterfly isn’t a fitting soundtrack for 2015—it is 2015. Universally held in iTunes
libraries across the world, this album is a key complement to the Ta-Nehisi Coates
far too many people “haven’t gotten to yet.” It’s essential for white people to
work to be cognizant of the myriad dimensions of African American cultures in
our country so that we can collectively work to stop the direct and systemic
efforts currently we’ve put in place to disadvantage them. It’s hardly the first
piece of music to address Blackness in a revolutionary way (though far too many
white fans will regard it as such), but To
Pimp a Butterfly is a truly striking achievement in the canon of Black art created
during this decade.
As
a product it is impenetrable; more than with albums like 2010’s P4k top pick My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I
just can’t imagine starting with a blank slate after good kid, m.A.A.d city and ending up with this record. It could
have been so many different things, many of which could have been as relevant
and essential as this album turned out to be. What other records could Kendrick
Lamar have written for this year? Surely the answer isn’t “none”. Here’s a New
Year’s toast towards Kendrick’s future direction, but not after first spending
yet another 79 minutes immersed in the world of this album: our own. (0)
