March Music Madness - First Weekend Wrap-Up, Pt. 2

Today, we're breaking down the results from the actual voting public in the We Listen For You tournament. In the spirit of democracy, we'll be exercising our right to dissent and criticize the decisions of the populace. Although some of their decisions are defensible, one absolutely egregious offense stands out. See below.

1st Round Match-ups

Landslides (Greater than 80%)

• Fleet Foxes (87.5%) over Shearwater - I just don't think many people have heard Shearwater, especially Rooks, which is a shame. Fleet Foxes deserved the win, but Shearwater deserves a listen.
  
• Sufjan Stevens (86.8%) over Mother Mother
• Andrew Bird (86.4%) over Thao Nguyen
  
• The Arcade Fire (83.7%) over The Walkmen - Really? This seems kind of incredible to me. The only way you could defend this decision is if you were basing it off of past records. But right now, I'd say The Walkmen definitely best The Arcade Fire
  
• MGMT (82.8%) over The Mae Shi - People like MGMT....
  
• Animal Collective (81.9%) over Frightened Rabbit - Tough draw for Frightened Rabbit.
  

Buzzer-beaters (Less than 55%)

• The Avett Brothers (50.7%) over Lil' Wayne - I'd like to write a dissertation about this result. First, no band with "Brothers" in their name has EVER been that good. Second, this is clearly anti-rap bias, because anyone with a brain and an appreciation for songwriting wouldn't think twice about moving Lil' Wayne into the next round. Which means approximately 49.3% of the public has a brain. Third, I realize that most of the bands these people listen to don't make any money, but being poor doesn't equate to being good. The fact that Mr. Carter was able to exercise creative freedom AND sell 3+ million (aka 3,000,000+, aka 3.0 x 10^6, aka "a shit ton") records is more impressive than the collective past, present and future of whatever it is that The Avett Brothers do. Completely reprehensible pick, and if I was running this tournament, I'd exercise my vetoing power and reverse this decision.
  
• Joanna Newsom (50.8%) over Dan Deacon - THIS makes sense. That was a tough call, and the voting showed it.
  
• Blitzen Trapper (50.8%) over Man Man
• The Fiery Furnaces (51.5%) over The Mountain Goats - The Fiery Furnaces wouldn't be anywhere near my list of favorite bands, but I can see how they might be for a lot of people. Plus, The Mountain Goats tend to err on the side of emotional mess.
  
• Cut Copy (51.5%) over Neko Case - I was really worried about this one, but the voters got it right. Neko Case has had her run.
  
• The Decemberists (53.1%) over Sigur Ros - Much closer than I was expecting.
  
• Beach House (53.1%) over Sun Kil Moon - Still don't have anything to say about either of these bands.
  

2nd Round Match-ups

• The National (82%) over The Avett Brothers - So The Avett Brothers are better than Lil' Wayne, but The National beat them by SIXTY FOUR percentage points?!?! I will now light my computer on fire.
  
• Sufjan Stevens (81%) over Joanna Newsom - Waaaayyyyy too convincing of a win for a guy with as little output over the past couple years as Sufjan. Plus, Joanna Newsom is way cuter. And did I mention she plays the harp? She plays the harp...
  
• Beirut (75.2%) over The Fiery Furnaces - Hell yeah! Good-sounding-but-different music wins out over weird-sounding-and-different music. My ears thank you, voters!
  
• Feist (73.6%) over Beach House - This makes sense, unless you remember that the only "new" record from Feist last year was a re-issue of the album she JUST released! Who does that? I mean, it makes sense to re-issue something from 10, 15, 30 years ago. Unless it's the best album of all time (it wasn't) and sold every copy, to the point where you couldn't find it in stores if you wanted to (you can)... why the re-issue? That's lame.
  
• MGMT (71.4%) over Antony and the Johnsons - People REALLY like MGMT! To the point where it doesn't make any sense. At all.
• Andrew Bird (69.2%) over M. Ward - People also seem to really like Andrew Bird. I'll allow it.
  
• Fleet Foxes (68.8%) over Wolf Parade
• Arcade Fire (67%) over Cut Copy - I guess the voters are of the "sad, depressed, dark colored clothing" variety instead of the "awesome, fun, bright colored clothing" variety. Different strokes for boring folks.
  
• Girl Talk (66%) over Blitzen Trapper - Debatable. Not sure Girl Talk deserves a 2:1 victory, but I'd be willing to hear arguments from both sides.
  
• Animal Collective (65.8%) over Bloc Party - Closer than expected. I didn't think Bloc Party's new album was that good... in fact, I think that Phoenix should've replaced Bloc Party in this competition. Their newest album is pretty great.
  
• Spoon (60.2%) over Grizzly Bear - SHOCKING! Absolutely shocking. I definitely won't argue too much about this win because I love Spoon. But Grizzly Bear is riding a wave of internet buzz right now. Could this be backlash against all that press? Possibly. Or people could just really love Spoon. I know I do.
  
• Of Montreal (56.1%) over M.I.A. - Why aren't people bored with Of Montreal yet? We get it... you're like the new glam-rockers. You like David Bowie. Blah blah blah. Whatever.
  
• The Decemberists (55.7%) over Yeah Yeah Yeahs - This match-up is the reason why we reorganized the bracket to represent the actual NCAA pairings... The Decemberists shouldn't have to play the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in the second round. That's not fair to either team. I'm not surprised by this result, but I'm disappointed because I'm pretty sure the YYYs would've beat almost anyone else and advanced to the Sweet 16.
  
• TV on the Radio (54.7%) over Bon Iver - This is ALSO disappointing! Bon Iver is an Elite 8 worthy artist that got paired against TV on the Radio. How're you supposed to take down that juggernaut? It's not fair... but the votes show that people had a hard time with this one. I would have also.
  
• Franz Ferdinand (52.3%) over M83 - Two pretty different bands forcing people to essentially choose a style of music. Guitars > synthesizers, apparently.
  
• Cat Power (50.9%) over Kanye West - I don't necessarily agree with this pick, but the fact that it was so close means people had trouble choosing. In the end, Kanye's douchebagginess probably prevented him from advancing. That might be good... he's got some legal issues to figure out.
  

Sweet 16 starts on Thursday. Get excited!