It’s fun reading different ‘Favorite Album of the Year’ lists. It causes arguments, agreements, and mostly serves as a reminder of albums that I forgot about that came out this year.
But how do you know your own personal list is correct? Is your list a matter of impulse or did you spend more than 30 minutes deciding between which should be listed first between your #8 and #9 records? Is your opinion way off from current trends or a whole bunch of records you are completely biased to? In 2010 (and in theaters today)- HOW DO YOU KNOW?
The easy answer is that it doesn’t matter, and your list is great because YOU made it.
The hard answer? Analyzation!
Today marked the day that one of the internet’s most popular best-of-the-year destinations- Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums of 2010- was revealed to us. Now, to justify my own personal list to myself, I am going to analyze and compare my top 10 albums to that of the Pitchfork 50. Doing this, I hope to scientifically validate my own unique personality through the means of a much more popular website. I am going to list my ten favorite albums from 2010 and see how they stacked up to Pitchfork’s:
10. New Pornographers – Together
PITCHFORK: Not ranked. Off to a bad start.
9. Suckers – Wild Smile
PITCHFORK: Not ranked. BUT- they are a featured video on the homepage! That counts for something.
8. Wild Nothing – Gemini
PITCHFORK: #49! Finally some official list cross-over. And I thought I was losing it! Thank goodness their list goes 5 times as long as mine.
7. Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
PITCHFORK: Not ranked. Hmm. Well, this is #7 and not #1 for a reason, and that reason might as well be because Pitchfork simply gave it an 8.1, right?
6. Gayngs – Relayted
PITCHFORK: Not ranked. That’s two records in a row I really enjoyed, but don’t see a website enjoy as much? What happened Pitchfork? We used to be so close?
5. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today
PITCHFORK: #9. WE DID IT! Yay! 9 out of 50 is kind of close (not at all really) to 5 out of 10. Well, they’re both in our top ten. We’re not best friends yet, Pitchfork, but we at least can say ‘hi’ to each other in the hallway between classes.
4. Beach House – Teen Dream
PITCHFORK: #5! Whoa. My 4 is your 5! Scientifically speaking, we’re best friends now and should braid each other’s hair to celebrate. But, ya know, this was a great album. It was on a lot of lists. This doesn’t prove anything yet.
3 Pit Er Pat – The Flexible Entertainer
PITCHFORK: Not ranked. OK. I am in strong disagreement with Pitchfork now. To take the high road: I like my list better anyway.
2. Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me
PITCHFORK: #7. Alright, this is somewhere close to back on track. My second favorite album is in the top 10. My list feels stronger, more resilient, ready to take on the world.
1. Zola Jesus – Stridulum
PITCHFORK: #37. Well at least my favorite album is on your list. The lower ranking given to this album makes me feel validated AND unique at the same time. I’m at peace with this. Pitchfork’s #1 album (My Beautiful Dark Fantasy) was my #18 favorite and I just made that #18 up. It’s all pretty arbitrary after 10 really.
So to summarize: 5 off my list also made Pitchfork’s list. That’s half of my list being listed as ‘hip’ or ‘cool’ or ‘another word’. Pitchfork and I even had 3 crossovers in our top tens! And my #1 album wasn’t listed too high. Overall, my list compares slightly above averagely enough for me to forget about it in 3 months, and put myself through these same emotions for next years list. So to translate that more clearly, Pitchfork would give my list a 7.4
About Caleb Shively
