First assignment *

This is a tough job. Not only do I need to predict the rating that may be coming from the Fork, I first need to predict which albums will be chosen to be reviewed. The site has become more mainstream in the past few years, so that albums like the new Red Hot Chili Peppers' get immediately reviewed. So albums and bands like that will be what I look for first when searching for possible reviews. As for a lot of Pitchfork's other reviews, well half the time I haven't even heard of the albums or bands. And you can't predict the rating if you don't know what's coming up. Welcome to my nightmare.

Item 1: Off to a rousing start. My favourite band of all time - The Replacements. It has a new album coming out, a compilation of songs from all of its albums, as well as two new songs. Pitchfork has always been, more or less, all about indie. The Replacements were of course very much about indie, and helped define the modern rock genre. As such, Mr. Tower predicts an 8.6 for this album. Actual rating: 8.8. Point differential: 0.2. Cumulative point differential: 0.2.