Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

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Honorio
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Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Honorio »

Welcome to the 14th edition of the Moderately Acclaimed Albums poll!

Remember:
- Vote for your favorite album in each match-up.
- Anyone can vote as long as the voter has heard both albums.
- Good-spirited comments are encouraged, but not absolutely necessary.

Deadline = April 2th 20:00 GMT +1

Bracket maker link: https://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=477179

Match-ups:
1. Low | Things We Lost in the Fire (2001) vs. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
2. Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor (2011) vs. The Stevens | A History of Hygiene (2013)



These are the albums of the week:



Album: Things We Lost in the Fire
Artist: Low
Date of release: January 22, 2001
Country: USA
Genre: Slowcore, Chamber Pop
Label: Kranky
Length: 53:08, 13 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: Sunflower
Spotify link




Album: Moon Pix
Artist: Cat Power
Date of release: September 22, 1998
Country: USA
Genre: Slowcore, Singer-Songwriter
Label: Matador
Length: 46:17, 11 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: Metal Heart
Spotify link




Album: Joyce Manor
Artist: Joyce Manor
Date of release: January 11, 2011
Country: USA
Genre: Pop Punk, Emo-Pop
Label: 6131
Length: 18:48, 10 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: Constant Headache
Spotify link




Album: A History of Hygiene
Artist: The Stevens
Date of release: November 1, 2013
Country: Australia
Genre: Slacker Rock, Jangle Pop
Label: Chapter Music
Length: 44:01, 24 tracks
Song most streamed on Spotify: From Puberty to Success
Spotify link


And these are the mini-stats for the first week:
a) Years:
- Mean 2005
- Range 1998-2013 (15 years)
- Breakdown by decades: 1990s (1), 2000s (1), 2010s (2)
b) Countries:
- America (3): USA (3)
- Oceania (1): Australia (1)
c) Genres:
- Rock (4): Slowcore (2), Pop Punk (1), Slacker Rock (1)

This first week of the tournament is not the best indication of the wide geographical, stylistic and temporal variety we are going to find in this new edition, with 4 albums with a relatively narrow temporal arc (15 years from 1998 to 2013), all of them sung in English and with styles that can be framed within Rock. But it's a perfect indication of the quality of the new edition, with 4 excellent albums to begin the games on a high note!

Like the previous edition I'll include the individual Spotify links for every album but I will also include the Spotify playlist for the week in case someone prefer it like this. Here we have the first playlist with 58 songs and 2 hours 42 minutes of music:



Keep on voting!
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Madzong
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Madzong »

1. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
2. The Stevens | A History of Hygiene (2013)
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Bang Jan
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Bang Jan »

2 | Low | Things We Lost in the Fire
1 | Cat Power | Moon Pix

4 | Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor
3 | The Stevens | A History of Hygiene

Favourite song of the week: Cat Power | Colors and the Kids
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by DaveC »

1. Low | Things We Lost in the Fire (2001) vs. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
2. Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor (2011) vs. The Stevens | A History of Hygiene (2013)
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Schüttelbirne
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Schüttelbirne »

1 | Low | Things We Lost in the Fire (2001) vs. 3 | Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
2 | Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor (2011) vs. 4 | The Stevens | A History of Hygiene (2013)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Listyguy »

1. Low | Things We Lost in the Fire vs. Cat Power | Moon Pix
2. Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor vs. The Stevens | A History of Hygiene
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Edre Depeche Head »

Shit Low is one of my Top 20 artists but I have a soft spot for that Cat Power album….

1. Cat Power - Moon Pix
2. Joyce Manor - Joyce Manor
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Twilight58 »

1. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
2. The Stevens | A History of Hygiene (2013)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Jirin »

Moon Pix 85 - Things We Lost In The Fire 81

Wasn’t a big fan of either in the other matchup so I’ll abstain unless there’s a tie.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Brad »

My picks:
1. Low | Things We Lost in the Fire (2001) vs. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
2. Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor (2011) vs. The Stevens | A History of Hygiene (2013)

Thanks!
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by digitiser »

1. Low | Things We Lost in the Fire (2001) vs. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
2. Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor (2011) vs. The Stevens | A History of Hygiene (2013)

Both really difficult decisions!

I ended up swinging toward Low because I loved the vocals, especially the female's. Both albums were firmly cohesive and coherent.

I chose Joyce Manor for the second because I thought they took a fairly commonplace genre, the California punk-pop sound, and made it actually sound good!
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by acroamor »

1. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
2. Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor (2011)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Lagunin »

1.- Low | Things We Lost In The Fire
2.- Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by FrankLotion »

1. Low | Things We Lost in the Fire (2001)
2. Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor (2011)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Rdwdbob »

1. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
2. The Stevens | A History of Hygiene (2013)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Romain »

1. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
2.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Gillingham »

1. Low | Things We Lost in the Fire (2001) vs. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
Moon Pix is great, but still it was a pretty easy choice for me.
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andyd1010
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by andyd1010 »

I'll vote on the matchup where I've heard both

1. Low | Things We Lost in the Fire (2001) vs. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
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Honorio
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Honorio »

My votes:



1. Low | Things We Lost in the Fire (2001) vs. 2.Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
3. Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor (2011) vs. 4 The Stevens | A History of Hygiene (2013)

Favourite song off every album: Sunflower / Cross Bones Style / Constant Headache / Hindsight
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Nassim »

1. Low | Things We Lost in the Fire (2001)

If like me you really discovered music in the mid-00s through indie oriented magazines and websites, you just assumed those 2 were absolute classics all critics loved.
I love both but Things We Lost in the Fire is in my all time top 50 so that's an easy pick.
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by mileswide »

3. Low - Things We Lost in the Fire v. 1. Cat Power - Moon Pix
4. Joyce Manor - Joyce Manor v. 2. The Stevens - A History of Hygiene

Standouts: Laser Beam | Cross Bones Style | Constant Nothing | Restaurant/E-Maj
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Kingoftonga »

Winners in red

1. Low | Things We Lost in the Fire (2001) vs. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
2. Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor (2011) vs. The Stevens | A History of Hygiene (2013)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by phil »

1. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
2. Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor (2011)
Last edited by phil on Sun Apr 02, 2023 12:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Honorio
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Honorio »

Very good turnout so far, that's fantastic!
24 hours left!
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Rob
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Rob »

4. The Stevens – A History of Hygiene
A title like this fulfills two roles. It makes the album sounds dull, but in a funny way. The idea is that you can expect some tongue in cheek humor here; an album that doesn’t take itself to seriously. Unless it would turn out the title is dead serious and it offers an actual overview of the history of hygiene. This is not case, but sadly I still ended up thinking the album kind of dull, or at least unengaging. It’s lo-fi quality never amounts to something beautiful and the melodies weren’t all that gripping. Even after two listens it ended up being rather forgettable. And let’s be honest, a actual history of hygiene in album form may not be all that compelling a hook, but it would at least be a memorable concept.

3. Joyce Manor – Joyce Manor
A short burst of pop punk. It doesn’t do anything new with the genre and I’ll doubt I will ever feel the need to revisit this once Moderately Acclaimed is done, but it has to be said that it does its style justice. There is just the right amount of screaming energy mixed with clear hooks to get you in. At times, as in stand-out Constant Headache it even manages to become a little touching.

2. Low – Things We Lost in the Fire
After Mimi Parker’s death last year I went through all Low’s albums. I struggled a little with some of their earlier records, as the combination of their slow, frequently lo-fi style with the more rigid approach to melody wasn’t that accessible. Maybe I only really started liking them from Things We Lost in the Fire on (though I might give the earlier ones another go in the future), as from there on out they perfected their sound and got a sense of melody, however slow burning, that appeals to me more. Listening to this again I noticed not only the defeatist sadness in the lyrics, but also a real sense of love. It may not exactly be a contender for the ideal valentine record, but songs like July, Sunflower and Medicine Magazine have a warm feel of loving partnership, with the latter of those being a particular stand-out, that might hit harder after Parker’s untimely death.

1. Cat Power – Moon Pix
Lo-Fi, Slacker, Slowcore: all related genres that eschew full production and clear melodies for a loose feeling that suggest inner turmoil and an inability to conform. How we got three albums in these genres in week one is a mystery, but the best for me, by only a hair, is Moon Pix. Chan Marshall’s quiet and sweet voice would be easy to use for a conventionally appealing singer-songwriter approach, but she is not afraid to ramble at times. What she does have in common with a lot of quiet female singer-songwriters is that the comfortable sweetness of her voice is only a disguise for deeper sorrow and a general state of confusion. On the best songs here, like Metal Heart, Moonshiner and the incredible Colors and the Kids she turns introspective soul-searching into deeply moving existential tales that finally confirm their worth with hard-earned beauty. That may all sound a little pretentious, but I have a hard time expressing it better. The most famous song here is of course Cross Bones Style (although Metal Heart has more streams somehow), but it is a bit of an outlier in style, with its clearer melody and lack of introspection. Luckily it is a welcome, late break.

1. Low | Things We Lost in the Fire (2001) vs. Cat Power | Moon Pix (1998)
2. Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor (2011) vs. The Stevens | A History of Hygiene (2013)
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by phil »

Edited my vote above
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Honorio
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Honorio »

One hour left...
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Honorio
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Honorio »

Great turn-out on this first week of MAA14, with 23 total voters! (5 votes more than last year, and that was then the peak of the whole game!). Hope most of you will continue voting every week...
The voters were:
acroamor
andyd1010
Bang Jan
Brad
DaveC
digitiser
Edre Peraza
FrankLotion
Gillingham
Honorio
Jirin
Kingoftonga
Lagunin
Listyguy
Madzong
mileswide
Nassim
phil
Rdwdbob
Rob
Romain
Schüttelbirne
Twilight58


And these are the winners of the first round:
1. Cat Power | Moon Pix over Low | Things We Lost in the Fire 13-10
2. Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor tied with The Stevens | A History of Hygiene 9-9

So we have the first tie on the very first week! "Joyce Manor" vs. "A History of Hygiene." Next vote from someone who has not already voted for this match-up win.

Round 1.2 up next!
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Jirin »

I will vote History of Hygiene, 69-64.
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Honorio
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Re: Moderately Acclaimed Albums 14 - Round 1.1

Post by Honorio »

Thank you, Jirin!

So these are the winners of the first round:
1. Cat Power | Moon Pix over Low | Things We Lost in the Fire 13-10
2. The Stevens | A History of Hygiene over Joyce Manor | Joyce Manor 10-9
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