Come on... seriously. You HAVE to have the bracket by now! Without further ado, the LCD Soundsystem region. Cowbell not included.
(1) Kanye West vs. (16) The Henry Clay People
Winner: (1) Kanye West
Kanye west is egotistical, selfish, brash, and probably about 64% schizo. But he's one of the very few people in hip-hop that's taking chances with sound and style, and 808s and Heartbreak is a prime example. He traded the tried-and-true sample-heavy style of College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation for Police's synthesizer (and 808). And (ugh...) the T-Pain vocoder. But if you can get past the pomp and circumstance, there's a good album there, and since I've never heard of The Henry Clay People, Kanye wins by default.
(5) Cat Power vs (12) No Age
Winner: (12) No Age
Cat Power is getting lazy. Yes, Chan Marshall... I'm talking about you. You have one of the best female voices going right now, and you just lay down Jukebox, a relatively uninspired collection of covers?? Come on, you're better than that. No Age, on the other hand, released the superb Nouns last year, and although I realize it may not appeal to as many people as Cat Power, it's a more relevant album than anything she's put out recently. And it rocks! This one is pretty close... I'm thinking maybe a +8, but 5 of those points probably came at the end of the game as Cat Power was fouling. No Age just knows how to make free throws.
(3) Arcade Fire vs. (14) The Walkmen
Winner: (14) The Walkmen
Wake up Arcade Fire! You can't just coast on the success of your past! Make some music already! After putting out the essential Funeral and solid follow-up Neon Bible, the band has been relatively quiet. If I was more informed, I'd probably know if they were planning on releasing something this year (I hope so)... but I'm not. The Walkmen own one of my all-time favorite pump up songs, "The Rat," and their recent You & Me, saw a return to form after a couple album missteps. We have two bands going in opposite directions. Hopefully Arcade Fire can right the ship this year, but in this tournament, they're getting bounced earlier. Drive home safely!
(7) Neko Case vs. (10) Cut Copy
Winner: (10) Cut Copy
My review of Cut Copy's In Living Colours was [cough] Big Brothered! [cough] and taken down from our site, but let me summarize it for you in a sentence: They're fucking awesome. Seriously, if you can't get down to some Cut Copy, there's very little hope for you. Picking just one song for their victory is probably the hardest thing I'm going to do today. I like Neko Case, but I like her Canadian indie supergroup New Pornographers even more. So, in conclusion... Cut Copy and New Pornagraphers > Neko Case.
(2) Yeah Yeah Yeahs vs. (15) Foals
Winner: (2) Yeah Yeah Yeahs
IT'S BLITZ!!!!!! That's the way I feel every time I listen to the new album by Karen O's Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I'll be devoting an entire column to a review, but literally every song on It's Blitz! is fantastic. It really is like a blitzkrieg of awesomeness... even when the songs aren't smacking you in the face, they're shockingly pretty (ex. "Skeletons"). In fact, the songs on this album are so diverse that I'm giving you two of them. I don't know who Foals are, and honestly, I don't even care. This is a beat-down... similar to Duke over Binghamton last night!
(6) The Decemberists vs. (11) Sigur Ros
Winner: (6) The Decemberists
Really? The Decemberists with a #6 seed? You're basically saying that they're not one of the top 20 bands in this tournament, and that can't possibly be true. Colin Meloy and company are the madrigals of indie-rock, cranking out hyper-literate songs that actually tell stories and build themes... what a novel concept (PUN)! Sigur Ros might possibly be my favorite music to study to, but their lack of intelligible lyrics (seriously... at one point, they used a "made up language"... I wish I was joking) keeps the ball solidly in The Decemberists' court (see what I did there? That's what the kids call a metaphor).
(4) Feist vs. (13) The Cool Kids
Winner: (13) The Cool Kids
I like Leslie Feist. I like her a lot. I like her style, I love her voice, and I'm a fan of the band from which Feist started her solo career (Broken Social Scene... check 'em out!). But she's resting on her laurels... and I don't like it! Her 2007 album The Reminder was phenomenal, but she's been riding that high for too long, even releasing a Deluxe version of that album (instead of releasing new music). I'm on the record for really liking The Cool Kids, and I think their approach to hip-hop is by no means original, but by all means refreshing. Gun to my head, I'd probably say I'm more excited for the next Cool Kids album than the next Feist album, and that's why they pull out the win.
(8) Sun Kil Moon vs (9) Beach House
Winner: (9) Beach House
I don't care about either of these bands, so I flipped a coin and Beach House won. Whatever. Dumb pairing.
That's it for the LCD Soundsytem region. Check back in the afternoon for the final Round of 64 results: the Wilco region. There were a lot more upsets in this round... hopefully that bodes well for some exciting basketball today (I'm pretty sure that's a scientifically sound correlation).
Friday, March 20, 2009
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yes!! more for friday. you really know how to make a lady happy, topel :)
ReplyDeletedid that sound dirty? i dont care.