Great Albums Bracket - Region 1 (part 1)

And we're off. So this is Region One and in this part 1 (of 2), we'll be seeing:

Radiohead's In Rainbows (1) vs. Beck's The Information (8)
Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People vs. Amy Winehouse's Back To Black

The two winners of these matchups will face each other in the Sweet Sixteen in a couple weeks. Click here if you need your memory refreshed.

(1) In Rainbows vs. (8) The Information

Overall Musical Quality and Consistency: In Rainbows is an innovative, unique and complex listen. The same can’t necessarily be said for The Information. It’s one of Beck’s lesser albums, yet even a bad Beck album is still a really good album. The Information probably has the edge in terms of lyrics, but the sheer sound of In Rainbows will be quite hard to beat. Victor: In Rainbows

Best Track: This comes down to Jigsaw Falling Into Place vs. Cellphone’s Dead. Jigsaw Falling Into Place is basically a perfect stage for Thom Yorke’s wailing voice. Pure brilliance and one of Radiohead’s best songs, period. Cellphone’s Dead is classic, weird-o Beck, combining interesting beats and almost a hip-hop foreground that’s reminiscent of anything off of Midnite Vultures. A great song, but not as memorable as Jigsaw Falling Into Place. Victor: Jigsaw Falling Into Place



Impact: The Information was perhaps the first album that I truly waited for and had the date of release marked on my calendar. I was just coming off of intense love for Midnite Vultures (came out in 1999, just missed the cut, would have been a number one seed). My Beck love was at its height. In Rainbows simply solidified the fact that Radiohead is one of my favorite bands, if not my favorite. Has nearly everything I dream of from an album. Victor: In Rainbows

Overall Play Count: 182 to 107 Victor: In Rainbows

Cover Art: I must say, two heavyweights in terms of Cover Art. Yet the cool graphics and colors of The Information are pretty amazing. Victor: The Information



And the winner is… In Rainbows, 4-1

(4) You Forgot It in People vs. (5) Back to Black

Overall Musical Quality and Consistency: The thing that Back to Black has going for it is that basically every song on it is good – if not really good. It has its flashes of brilliance and remains stable the whole time. You Forgot It In People has one of the best songs of this decade (Almost Crimes) and Cause=Time is not far from that status either. Yet Back to Black’s powerhouse consistency reigns supreme for me. Victor: Back to Black

Best Track: As stated earlier, Almost Crimes is incredible (please listen – you’ll be hooked right away). Back To Black, the song, is really strong but simply no match. Victor: You Forgot It in People



Impact: Back to Black was almost a flash in the pan for me. I like Amy Winehouse (AS A MUSICIAN) yet I’m not into her whole train-wreck-whore…aura. But beyond personality, the music is more daring and oozing with unique genius (most of the time) on YFINP. It solidified BSS in my pantheon of greatness and was constantly listened to two summers ago when I ate, slept and breathed Broken Social Scene.

Play Count: 115 to 107 Victor: You Forgot It in People

Cover Art: The YFINP art is mediocre and Back to Black’s isn’t too much better, but kinda fitting to the whole album. Victor: Back to Black



And the winner is…You Forgot It in People

So Region One will be continued later in the week where bands like Coldplay, TV on the Radio and other favorites will be featured. Stay tuned.

The Great Albums Bracket: The Search for My Favorite Album of the Decade

Over the past few weeks I've been mulling over ideas for posts to apply to this here blog. I had little (no) luck until last week when I thought of a rather interesting and certainly appropriate serial posting event (SPE).

General Idea: I make a bracket displaying my 32 favorite albums of this decade. I then seed them from 1-8. Ones are dedicated to the best of the best, while 8 seeds are still great, yet probably won't get too far in the bracket. Then, through weeks of judging and analyzing through match-ups I come up with my favorite album of this decade. If any of you are sports fans, you can correlate this directly to March Madness (something I wil regularly allude to this month).

So I'm really stoked for this series. It should be great fun and give you a good idea of my favorite music. I think it's fitting with March Madness and total bracketology looming. So, below, I'll run through some more details and then, during the rest of the week a few match-ups should pop up, the games beginning.

So here is the rundown on the seeding (the number to the left is the seed):

1 Funeral by Arcade Fire
1 In Rainbows by Radiohead
1 Broken Social Scene by Broken Social Scene
1 Neon Bible by Arcade Fire

2 Hail to the Thief by Radiohead
2 Return to Cookie Mountain by TV on the Radio
2 Vampire Weekend by Vampire Weekend
2 A Mad and Faithful Telling by DeVotchka

3 The Crane Wife by The Decemberists
3 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
3 Dear Catastrophe Waitress by Belle and Sebastian
3 Arcade Fire EP by Arcade Fire

4 Random Spirit Lover by Sunset Rubdown
4 Ga Ga Ga Ga by Spoon
4 You Forgot it in People by Broken Social Scene
4 Twin Cinema by The New Pornographers

5 Z by My Morning Jacket
5 Pressure Chief by Cake
5 Back to Black by Amy Winehouse
5 American Idiot by Green Day

6 Set Yourself on Fire by Stars
6 X&Y by Coldplay
6 Sea Change by Beck
6 Let’s Get Out of This Country by Camera Obscura

7 Dear Science by TV on the Radio
7 We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank by Modest Mouse
7 Come On Feel The Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens
7 Modern Guilt by Beck

8 The Information by Beck
8 Apologies to the Queen Mary by Wolf Parade
8 In Our Bedroom After The War by Stars
8 The Reminder by Feist

And here is the actual bracket in all its glory. (Click on it to enlarge)



Surf Wikipedia if you aren't familiar with some of the albums. Most of them should be familiar. I'd be elated if you were to broaden you're musical interests from seeing some of these bands in this tournament. All of the bands and albums are brilliant and there's something for everyone.

Yes, I know I'm like Obsessive-Compulsive in terms of organization, but here is a rough schedule of how I'll post everything. It should end up taking about two months, if everything goes according to plan. I've already written up a few match-ups and it's really fun to write, so don't expect me to get overwhelmed and discouraged (tends to happen).

Region One (Week 1)

Funeral vs. The Reminder
Hail to the Thief vs. Modern Guilt
Arcade Fire EP vs. Set Yourself on Fire
Random Spirit Lover vs. Z

Region Two (Week 2)

In Rainbows vs. The Information
Return to Cookie Mountain vs. Come on Feel The Illinoise
Dear Catastrophe Waitress vs. X&Y
You Forgot It In People vs. Back To Black

Region Three (Week 3)

Broken Social Scene vs. In Our Bedroom After The War
Vampire Weekend vs. We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah vs. Sea Change
Ga Ga Ga Ga vs. Pressure Chief

Region Four (Week 4)

Neon Bible vs. Apologies to the Queen Mary
A Mad and Faithful Telling vs. Dear Science
The Crane Wife vs. Let’s Get Out of This Country
Twin Cinema vs. American Idiot

Week Five: Winners of Regions 1 and 2 Face off (8 of the 16- 4)

Week Six: Winners of Regions 3 and 4 Face off (8 of the 16- 4)

Week 7: Elite Eight (8 of 8 - 4)

Week 8: Final Four and Championship

Finally, the judging will be based on five categories that are as follows:

1. Overall Musical Quality and Consistency (self-explanatory)
2. Best Track - I'll weigh the stregnths of the best track off of each album.
3. Impact - Though it sounds cheesy, it's like the impact of the album on my life. Did it help me discover (Insert Band Here)? Is it an album that is still extremely vital in my life after many years? Did I wait in line to buy it? Did the music "speak" to me in an important way? And, overall, which album has had a bigger impact on my life?
4. Play Count - Which album has the greater overall play count according to my iPod?
5. Cover Art - Which album has the superior cover artwork? In some instances this is somewhat of a tie-breaker.

Okay, so that's about it. Stay tuned and wait for updates. I'll try to make it kinda hands-on with polls and samples of the songs, etc. For now...