Acclaimed Music Forums

Bracket:
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=472469

Deadline to vote is Saturday, December 7th at 12 pm noon CST

Anyone can vote as long as they have listened to both songs in a match

Matches:

Royksopp & Robyn - Monument
vs.
Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up

SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK
vs.
Preoccupations - Continental Shelf

blur - Ong Ong
vs.
Ezra Furman - Restless Year

Destroyer - Times Square
vs.
FKA twigs - In Time

Beach House - Space Song
vs.
Majical Clouds - Downtown

Grimes - California
vs.
Car Seat Headrest - Vincent

Parquet Courts - Human Performance
vs.
Beyonce - All Night

Shura - What's It Gonna Be?
vs.
Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

Happy to have a week where every song I voted is an 8 or higher; sad I still had to vote against a 9.1...



SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK (9.5)
Majical Clouds - Downtown (9.3)
Preoccupations - Continental Shelf (9.1)
Beach House - Space Song (8.9)
FKA twigs - In Time (8.8)
Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart (8.7)
Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up (8.5)
Car Seat Headrest - Vincent (8.4)
Royksopp & Robyn - Monument (8.3)
Parquet Courts - Human Performance (8.2)
Ezra Furman - Restless Year (8.0)
Beyonce - All Night (7.8)
Grimes - California (7.8)
Destroyer - Times Square (7.5)
blur - Ong Ong (6.0)
Shura - What's It Gonna Be? (6.0)

Royksopp & Robyn - Monument

Preoccupations - Continental Shelf

blur - Ong Ong

FKA twigs - In Time

Beach House - Space Song

Grimes - California

Beyonce - All Night

Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

Royksopp & Robyn - Monument
Preoccupations - Continental Shelf
Ezra Furman - Restless Year
FKA twigs - In Time
Beach House - Space Song
Car Seat Headrest - Vincent
Parquet Courts - Human Performance
Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

Blur - Ong Ong
Beach House - Space Song
Grimes - California

Royksopp & Robyn - Monument (strong 7 / light 8) vs. Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up (decent 7)

SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK (light / decent 6) vs. Preoccupations - Continental Shelf (light 7)

blur - Ong Ong (decent 5) vs. Ezra Furman - Restless Year (decent / strong 6)

Destroyer - Times Square (strong 7 / light 8) vs. FKA twigs - In Time (strong 5 / light 6)

Beach House - Space Song (decent / strong 6) vs. Majical Clouds - Downtown (decent / strong 6)

Grimes - California (decent 6) vs. Car Seat Headrest - Vincent (decent / strong 7)

Parquet Courts - Human Performance (light 7) vs. Beyonce - All Night (decent / strong 8)

Shura - What's It Gonna Be? (light / decent 7) vs. Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart (decent / strong 7)

Appreciating more: "Downtown"

Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up

SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK

blur - Ong Ong

Destroyer - Times Square

Beach House - Space Song

Car Seat Headrest - Vincent

Beyonce - All Night

Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up

Preoccupations - Continental Shelf

blur - Ong Ong

Destroyer - Times Square

Beach House - Space Song

Grimes - California

Parquet Courts - Human Performance

Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

Royksopp & Robyn - Monument vs. Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up

SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK vs. Preoccupations - Continental Shelf

blur - Ong Ong vs. Ezra Furman - Restless Year

Destroyer - Times Square vs. FKA twigs - In Time

Beach House - Space Song vs. Majical Clouds - Downtown

Grimes - California vs. Car Seat Headrest - Vincent

Parquet Courts - Human Performance vs. Beyonce - All Night

Shura - What's It Gonna Be? vs. Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up
Preoccupations - Continental Shelf
Ezra Furman - Restless Year
FKA twigs - In Time
Beach House - Space Song
Grimes - California
Beyonce - All Night
Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

Royksopp & Robyn - Monument
vs.
Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up

SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK
vs.
Preoccupations - Continental Shelf

blur - Ong Ong
vs.
Ezra Furman - Restless Year

Pass

Beach House - Space Song
vs.
Majical Clouds - Downtown

Grimes - California
vs.
Car Seat Headrest - Vincent

Parquet Courts - Human Performance
vs.
Beyonce - All Night

Shura - What's It Gonna Be?
vs.
Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

Royksopp & Robyn - Monument < Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up

SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK > Preoccupations - Continental Shelf

blur - Ong Ong < Ezra Furman - Restless Year

Destroyer - Times Square < FKA twigs - In Time

Beach House - Space Song > Majical Clouds - Downtown

Grimes - California < Car Seat Headrest - Vincent

Parquet Courts - Human Performance > Beyonce - All Night

Shura - What's It Gonna Be? > Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

Not much to say about the votes - I don't really dislike any songs, and there are some clear frontrunners that I enjoy. But my favourites keep being voted out each week, so to be a bit more positive I've decided to list my favourites for some voting context:

Best of the week:
New Dorp. New York
Continental Shelf
Restless Year
California
Vincent
Human Performance

Sharon Van Etten - Every Time The Sun Comes Up
SBTRTK feat. Ezra Koenig - New Dorp. New York
Blur - Ong Ong
Destroyer - Times Square
Beach House - Space Song
Grimes - California
Parquet Courts - Human Performance
Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

1. Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up
2. Preoccupations - Continental Shelf
3. blur - Ong Ong
4. FKA twigs - In Time
5. Majical Clouds - Downtown
6. Grimes - California
7. Beyonce - All Night
8. Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up
SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK
Ezra Furman - Restless Year
Destroyer - Times Square
Majical Clouds - Downtown
Grimes - California
Parquet Courts - Human Performance
Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

9. Royskopp & Robyn - Monument v. 1. Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up Monument deals in different currency than Robyn's usual trade in sad bangers, her voice as muted as the saxophone that lifts the track from stark electro-pop. Every Time...is an even richer experience as the emotionally knackered culmination of Are We There but defies classification as simply a wistful alt-country waltz with its appropriately woozy synthline. Stellar and it's not even AWT's best song.

6. SBTRKT feat. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK v. 15. Preoccupations - Continental Shelf ND. NY is markedly better than the electro-swing it most resembles in its melody, pinging between genius-dumb catchphrases and all manner of instrumental attention-grabbers over the marching rhythm. I'm not averse to the kind of post-punk Continental Shelf plies in but it still hasn't connected with me after a few listens over a few weeks for some reason.

7. blur - Ong Ong v. 8. Ezra Furman - Restless Year Ong Ong's a charming strumalong that survives Albarn's attempt to crowbar politics into a love song (see also: TG, TB, & TQ's Green Fields). Restless Year's high point comes in its frenetic Farfisa-bashing at the end.

12. Destroyer - Times Square v. 2. FKA twigs - In Time Times Square is equally helped by its outro but rather than the chaos you might imagine from all instruments playing at once, the saxophones make this a more mellow freakout than most. In Time shows FKA twigs as potentially the sole person that can make trap beats sound elegant, adding as they do to the claustrophobic feel of the track while she fights against her doubt of any progress in her relationship.

5. Beach House - Space Song v. 10. Majical Clouds - Downtown

16. Grimes - California v. 3. Car Seat Headrest - Vincent

4. Parquet Courts - Human Performance v. 11. Beyoncé - All Night

14. Shura - What's It Gonna Be v. 13. Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart CLH reminds me of Wish You Were Here the more I listen to it...

4. Royksopp & Robyn - Monument vs. 5. Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up
Very close.

12. SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK vs. 16. Preoccupations - Continental Shelf

15. blur - Ong Ong vs. 6. Ezra Furman - Restless Year

10. Destroyer - Times Square vs. 13. FKA twigs - In Time

3. Beach House - Space Song vs. 7. Majical Clouds - Downtown
Not really close, but still too bad for Downtown.

9. Grimes - California vs. 8. Car Seat Headrest - Vincent
Another close one.

1. Parquet Courts - Human Performance vs. Beyonce - All Night

14. Shura - What's It Gonna Be? vs. 2. Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

Royksopp & Robyn - Monument
SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK
Ezra Furman - Restless Year
FKA twigs - In Time
Beach House - Space Song
Grimes - California
Beyonce - All Night
Shura - What's It Gonna Be?

8. Röyksopp & Robyn - Monument
vs.
2. Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up

4. SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK
vs.
15. Preoccupations - Continental Shelf

12. blur - Ong Ong
vs.
5. Ezra Furman - Restless Year

3. Destroyer - Times Square
vs.
11. FKA twigs - In Time

6. Beach House - Space Song
vs.
10. Majical Clouds - Downtown

13. Grimes - California
vs.
7. Car Seat Headrest - Vincent

9. Parquet Courts - Human Performance
vs.
14. Beyonce - All Night

16. Shura - What's It Gonna Be?
vs.
1. Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart


prosecutorgodot and mileswide comments about the similarities with "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and "Wish You Were Here," probably intended as negative, only enhanced my liking of the Kiwanuka song.

Honorio wrote: ↑Fri Dec 06, 2019 8:40 am prosecutorgodot and mileswide comments about the similarities with "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" and "Wish You Were Here," probably intended as negative, only enhanced my liking of the Kiwanuka song.

Not negative on my part, just an observation I hadn't picked up while listening to CLH before.

Wish You Were Here's own similarities to Van Morrison's earlier Almost Independence Day are clear and well-documented but, despite generally preferring Van's work, I'd rather listen to WYWH out of the two.

I hadn't clocked that PG had already made the Floyd comparisons, even though I must've read that entry. I believe it's called 'unwitting plagiarism' but I need to speak to my lawyer on this, he's represented Rod Stewart before...

Royksopp & Robyn - Monument
vs.
Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up

SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK
vs.
Preoccupations - Continental Shelf

blur - Ong Ong
vs.
Ezra Furman - Restless Year

Destroyer - Times Square
vs.
FKA twigs - In Time

Beach House - Space Song
vs.
Majical Clouds - Downtown

Grimes - California
vs.
Car Seat Headrest - Vincent

Parquet Courts - Human Performance
vs.
Beyonce - All Night

Shura - What's It Gonna Be?
vs.
Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

Royksopp & Robyn - Monument

SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK

Ezra Furman - Restless Year

FKA twigs - In Time

Beach House - Space Song

Car Seat Headrest - Vincent

Parquet Courts - Human Performance

Shura - What's It Gonna Be?

Royksopp & Robyn - Monument

Preoccupations - Continental Shelf

blur - Ong Ong

Destroyer - Times Square

Beach House - Space Song

Grimes - California

Parquet Courts - Human Performance

Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart

Royksopp & Robyn - Monument

Preoccupations - Continental Shelf

Beach House - Space Song

Car Seat Headrest - Vincent

Results



Royksopp & Robyn - Monument: 9
Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up: 12

SBTRKT ft. Ezra Koenig - NEW DORP. NEW YORK: 10
Preoccupations - Continental Shelf: 11

blur - Ong Ong: 9
Ezra Furman - Restless Year: 12

Destroyer - Times Square: 9
FKA twigs - In Time: 10

Beach House - Space Song: 17
Majical Clouds - Downtown: 5

Grimes - California: 10
Car Seat Headrest - Vincent: 12

Parquet Courts - Human Performance: 12
Beyonce - All Night: 8

Shura - What's It Gonna Be?: 3
Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart: 17

All five of my nominations made it to round 2, but only one made it to round 3 -- and by a single point.

Sweepstakes Ron wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2019 2:08 am All five of my nominations made it to round 2, but only one made it to round 3 -- and by a single point.

You can blame me for that-- Moonbeam and CupOfDreams have also had knocks since I lauded their nominations' endurance...

There are now no voters who picked more than 2 songs having all their choices progressing to the 3rd round as things stand. Kudos to Nick, however, for having the most selections on course to go through with 4 out of 5 noms set to enter round 3! (I won't name them for fear of jinxing him as well)

With the probable elimination of “Ever Again”, both my remaining nominations (this one and “Times Square”) have also gone out of the game.