Pretty much the final nail in the coffin for the old Pitchfork. So many of their favourite acts of the past put out well received albums this year with strong singles that they haven’t included at all. Fair enough they want to stay relevant, and a lot of those songs are bangers, but I don’t really feel like they now cover my taste.
Been a very weak year for the traditional PF stuff (not that they’re all that interested in that now) so no major surprise of the make up this top ten.
Visible Cloaks - 8.7
Mono no Aware V/A compilation - 8.6
Broken Social Scene - 8.4
Power Trip - 8.4
Brand New - 8.3 (OK, we know why with that one)
MIKE - 8.3
Ariel Pink - 8.2
Yeah agreed, there are no major shocks aside from the BNM’s being left out. Kendrick is a slightly safe choice…but easily the best album from the small pool which could be their AOTY.
They used to put these lists out before the main one, didn’t they? Because as soon as the albums from their overall list kick in…you know what the rest of the order looks like.
Enjoyed this list. I dismissed the Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith album due to some early poorer reviews, despite enjoying EARS. Seems like that may have been an oversight.
Will be mildly interesting to see if they discard their former adoration of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea and instead embrace some Conde Naste fuelled revisionism to crown some rap/pop album as the true classic of '98.