Acclaimed Music Forums

Week 4! Time to vote for your favorite Moderately Acclaimed Albums!

Vote for your favorite album in each match-up.
Remember, anyone can vote as long as the voter has heard both albums!
Comments are encouraged but not absolutely necessary.
Deadline = April 13th at 10am EST.

Match-ups:
1. Meat Puppets - II vs. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
2. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga vs. Band Of Horses - Everything All Of The Time
3. Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight vs. The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
4. New Power Generation - Exodus vs. Golpes Bajos - Golpes Bajos

Will you do the Fandango?

The albums not on Maschine_Man Spotify playlists:
Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II (songs 1-12)
New Power Generation - Exodus
Golpes Bajos - Golpes Bajos

1. Meat Puppets - II vs. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
2. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga vs. Band Of Horses - Everything All Of The Time
3. Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight vs. The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark

2 and 3 very tough choices.

Leonard Cohen-I'm Your Man
Band of Horses-Everything All Of The Time
Rilo Kiley-Under The Blacklight

With Grooveshark having become a pay service, is there another way to hear Exodus online?

(it's the same playlist that I edit it each week - I try to update it asap)

Rob wrote:With Grooveshark having become a pay service, is there another way to hear Exodus online?

I don't know what's happening in Holland but in Spain Grooveshark is still a free site. The two links I provided (for "Meat Puppets II" and "Exodus") are still working for me. Any other is experiencing problems with the links (or with Grooveshark in general)?

Maschine_Man wrote:(it's the same playlist that I edit it each week - I try to update it asap)

Maschine_Man, the first album (well, really an EP) by Golpes Bajos ("Golpes Bajos") is available on Spotify under the name of "No mires a los ojos de la gente" (at least in Spain). Here is the link. Would you mind to add these five songs to your playlist? Thanks in advance!

1. Meat Puppets - II vs. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
2. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga vs. Band Of Horses - Everything All Of The Time
3. Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight vs. The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
4. New Power Generation - Exodus vs. Golpes Bajos - Golpes Bajos

1. Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II
I like the songwriting in I'm Your Man (except Jazz Police) but I find the instrumentation's choice very kitsch and quite unpleasant, while Meat Puppets II is good ol' fun from start to finish.

Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man 84-83

Very close matchup. I love the intricate guitar picking on the Meat Puppets album.

Band of Horses - Everything All the Time 83-55

Not a close matchup. I find Cassadaga practically unlistenable.

Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark 94-60

A thrillingly emotional storytelling rocker against a flat dull pop album from an indie act trying to go major label.

Couldn't find the other two yet.

Jirin wrote:Band of Horses - Everything All the Time 83-55

Not a close matchup. I find Cassadaga practically unlistenable.

Jirin, I have several times found your scores to be a lot more generous than your comments. I'm curious about this. Because your scale doesn't begin at 50, does it?

Well, I doubt many would question the assertion that I apply a lot of negativity bias when I'm talking about music, focusing on the negatives more than the positives. This isn't an intentional thing so much as a reflection of the tendency of the human mind to like very general things about things and dislike very specific things about things.

But I don't think this is any different than the way online sources review things. On metacritic the average score is in the low 70s, and on Pitchfork or Popmatters you'll often see an openly flippant, completely negative review and then a score like 4.5. I think just my rating instincts draw me to the same scale as I observe in online reviews where they save the very bottom ratings for things so bad they'd have trouble making it out of the studio.

Nassim wrote:I like the songwriting in I'm Your Man (except Jazz Police) but I find the instrumentation's choice very kitsch and quite unpleasant.

I have to admit that more recent live arrangements of these songs have made me hear the album differently. If I only heard the album versions of the songs then I'm sure I would have voted the other way.

1. Meat Puppets - II vs. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
2. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga vs. Band Of Horses - Everything All Of The Time
3. Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight vs. The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
4. New Power Generation - Exodus vs. Golpes Bajos - Golpes Bajos

1. Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II (1984) vs. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man (1988)
2. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga (2007) vs. Band of Horses - Everything All of the Time (2006)
3. Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight (2007) vs. Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark (2008)
4. New Power Generation - Exodus (1995) vs. Golpes Bajos - Golpes Bajos (1983)

Hardest decision of the week: Oberst vs. Bridwell


Cowpunk, Singer/Songwriter, Alt-Country, Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Southern Rock, Funk and Sophisti-Pop.

Sadly, I couldn't get to hear Exodus. With Grooveshark no longer available (and it's too shoddy and probably illegal a site to pay for it) and with the album not appearing on Spotify, Youtube, iTunes or any online cd store (except from abroad, but importing it is a bit expensive for a game, and too slow) it's very inaccessible, sadly. So no vote for the fourth match-up (I only mildly liked Golpes Bajos).
Also, the first week in which no album really packed a big emotional punch for me. However, one came very close.

1. Meat Puppets - II vs. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
Both good albums with flaws that keep them down somewhat. Meat Puppets II is always a good listen, but somehow it is also an album that after several times hearing it I still have a hard time recalling it. The songs don't stick in the mind somehow. The ones on I'm Your Man do. It's production is perhaps a little bit too dated, but it doesn't bring the album down too much. Besides, Cohen is on fine form as far as his writing is concerned and that's always the main draw with him.

2. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga vs. Band Of Horses - Everything All Of The Time
Two fine albums, that just don't sound very distinct. A bit typical indie, especially Band of Horses. Bright Eyes has more interesting writing and more variety (though it is a bit on the long side) and a couple of truly great songs, do an easy choice here.

3. Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight vs. The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
Speaking of easy choices, this is basically David versus Goliath and David doesn't end up looking great. Under the Blacklight is nothing more than a mostly ordinary pop album. Catchy, with professional playing, but not particularly ambitious and considering the lyrics I would have preferred a singer with more edge in her voice. Also, why does it sound desperately like an eighties album. If I seem harsh, I should say I enjoy it, but it just doesn't hold up next to Brighter Than Creation's Dark, the best album of the week for me. It's not a complete masterpiece because of it's length. It contains some filler. But some of the songs are masterpieces and the sequencing is sometimes very powerful. The way the soft Lisa's Birthday is followed by the hard-rocking That Man I Shot which goes onto the otherworldly The Purgatory Line is particularly great. It shouldn't work, but feels totally intuitive. This is an album in which a band finds many ways to express themselves, while keeping true to a particular sound. Not an easy job, but The Drive By Truckers mostly succeed.

I've found a website where you can hear Exodus. I wouldn't recommend buying anything from this website, but you shouldn't have to.

Though I didn't dislike any of the albums this week, I was a little surprised that (unlike past weeks) the only albums I really liked were my top three...

Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
Bright Eyes - Cassadaga
The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
New Power Generation - Exodus
Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight
Golpes Bajos - Golpes Bajos
Band Of Horses - Everything All Of The Time
Meat Puppets - II

My Picks:

1. Meat Puppets - II vs. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
My all-time #154 over my #392
2. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga vs. Band Of Horses - Everything All Of The Time
All-time #178 over #469
3. Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight vs. The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
4. New Power Generation - Exodus vs. Golpes Bajos - Golpes Bajos

22 hours left to vote!

1. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
2. Band Of Horses - Everything All Of The Time
3. The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
4. New Power Generation - Exodus You must have to hear the song "Hallucination rain".

1. Meat Puppets - II
3. The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
4. New Power Generation - Exodus

1. Meat Puppets - II vs. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
Some people commented above that they don't like the arrangements of I'm Your Man. But that's precisely what I love about the album - something about Cohen's voice and those tinny synths (especially on "First We Take Manhattan") works well for me; I think he adapted to the cheesy 80s-synth aesthetic better than most.

2. Bright Eyes - Cassadaga vs. Band Of Horses - Everything All Of The Time
Pretty close matchup, but Cassadaga runs a little long for me.

3. Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight vs. The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
Drive-By Truckets have been on my "to listen list" for a long time now. They're great! I need to explore them more.

4. New Power Generation - Exodus vs. Golpes Bajos - Golpes Bajos
Neither blows me away, but I guess I was looking for the goofy fun that Exodus provides.

1. Meat Puppets - II vs. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
I dont know why the Meat Puppets are not getting more votes. This album is great.
4. New Power Generation - Exodus vs. Golpes Bajos - Golpes Bajos

Sadly, a substantial drop-off in voter submissions this week - down from 20 to only 14.
Here are the voters:
Blanco
Brad
DaveC
DocBrown
Honorio
jamieW
Jirin
Kingoftonga
Nassim
notbrianeno
ordinaryperson
Poliuks
Rob
Romain

Winners:
1. Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man over Meat Puppets - II 10-4
2. Band Of Horses - Everything All Of The Time over Bright Eyes - Cassadaga 7-4
3. The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark over Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight 7-5
4. New Power Generation - Exodus over Golpes Bajos - Golpes Bajos 6-3

Round 1.5 up next!