Speaking of lists, I take a weird glee in predicting Pitchfork’s top 20 albums of the year. Here’s what I’m guessing:
20. A$AP Rocky - LiveLoveA$AP
19. Kurt Vile - Smoke Ring for My Halo
18. Danny Brown - XXX
17. Atlas Sound - Parallax
16. Clams Casino - Instrumental Mixtape
15. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
14. EMA - Past Life Martyred Saints
13. The Weeknd - House of Balloons
12. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
11. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
10. Real Estate - Days
9. Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica
8. tUnE-yArDs - w h o k i l l
7. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
6. Drake - Take Care
5. Destroyer - Kaputt
4. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
3. James Blake - James Blake
2. M83 - Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming
1. Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver
I’m going out on a bit of a limb with Clams Casino, but dude was possibly the most hyped producer this year and, well, that mixtape is pretty awesome. I could see them lumping the Rainforest EP in there as well, kind of like they did last year for those James Blake EPs. A$AP Rocky being so high strikes me as kind of weird, but I don’t know what else would go there. Nicolas Jaar or Washed Out perhaps? Maybe The Smith Westerns had more lasting appeal with their staff than I assume? Maybe they’ll secretly be awesome and put Mountain Goats or Future Islands on there? That won’t happen.
