PvR

Pixies: Surfer Rosa vs Beatles: Revovler

aka There is no way to judge this matchup, and someone is going to be pissed no matter what I decide.

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Nirvana never would have existed without blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah listened to them at a particular time in my blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah production values blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Tony's Theme blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah



blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah most influential blah in the history of blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah never appreciated them until blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah production values blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah marked a transition from blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

blah Revolver wins blah blah blah

Scores so far

So here are the scores after the first division and a half. If you are on the lower side, don't worry, it's early in the tournament, and it just might mean that you haven't had some of your lower seeds compete yet. Right now having a lower seeded album upset a higher seeded one means big points for you. Having a high seeded album win doesn't do all that much for you. Eric is winning right now, but this can all change very quickly.

Eric: 89
Andrew: 82
Andy: 73
MVB: 63
Kevin: 53
Jeff: 44
Brian: 33
Karl: 30
Sarah: 28
Jane: 24
Bruce: 23
Steve:19
Dwight: 9

For those of you interested, here is how the scoring works: Each of your albums that wins in each round is worth a different amount of points: 2 for the first round, then 3 for the second, continuting 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and 55 respectively. These numbers are "fibonacci" numbers, which makes this tournament slightly more like The Da Vinci Code, and therefore even more cultish. They also work well for making sure that later rounds aren't worth astronomically more than the first rounds (I'm pretty sure math-boy will back me up on this).

In addition to the points for the round, you receive points based on the seed of your album. In order to do this, I am simply multiplying the seed # by the round #. So in round 1, you get 32 points if you're 32 seed takes down a number 1 seed. In the second round, you will receive 64 points if your 32 seed wins again.

As I mentioned before, the winner will receive some sort of gift card. Now, let's get those next picks in!

Flaming Lips vs. Broken Social Scene

I never listened to the Flaming Lips before. Never hearda this album. Listening to it right now. LOVE IT.

Love the synth bass on Spoonful. Love the drum riffs on Spiderbite. (Drum "riffs" or whatever "musician" types "call" them.) Love the space given to each instrument/part.

Reading the wikipedia article makes me think I will ultimately be annoyed by Wayne Coyne. But for now, this is everything that I like about Modest Mouse even though I don't like all Modest Mouse. Also getting hints of Granddaddy and a bouquet of David Bowie, but I haven't really listened to much spacey/psychy/slightly-drug-related pop, and so I'm probably missing the direct comparisons.

On the other hand, I own the Broken Social Scene album. I was pretty enthusiastic about this album when I first heard it, and I still like it. It's creative. The music tends a little too quickly to noise, which means I can't play it without Hannah yelling at me. Most of the lyrics are irredeemably abstracted. (Counter-example: Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl.) The swears, vaguely political language, and sexual imagery I find alienating because I don't understand the meaning of, say, wanting to fuck the cause. I don't understand the writing but it makes me think the writer is a bit self-tragic.

So do I vote for love at first sight or for something that's already past the honeymoon phase? Tough.

Do I pick the pop "alt" option? Or the indie-insider option?

Maybe a little bit of head (FL) vs heart (BSS) here?

I think it's a little suspect how popular BSS is with this group -- this group with its many and close ties to Canadian music. How can you not root for BSS? But it's kind of the Canadian indie rock equivalent of the 1992 US Olympic Basketball team.

I also think it's a little suspect how popular Flaming Lips are outside this group. Are they just ear candy? Serious art or sophomoric spectacle? (I know, I know, this from the guy who put Laurie Anderson on the list. Hypocrites suck.)

I'm focusing on the negative again, which is bad, since both of these albums are great and I like both of them. I must be subconsciously trying to piss people off. Especially since I think I'm going to go with Flaming Lips. Sorry. I only do as I am programmed to do.

First Round of First Division So Far

End of Division 2, and onto Division 3

Okay everyone, nice work again. I'm proud of you all except for Sarah and Karl although at least Sarah got her pick in and I can simply blame her poor decision on a rush-job. I assume Karl will use his extra time to do the right thing. Speaking of time, the first ten people who get their picks in will get to pick the last ten for Division 3 (I'll let you know your next choice in the comment section of your pick). And quit whining about not having enough time. Tough it out. Put your head down and power through.

Anyway, again, we've got some great match-ups. A lot of people's top picks could go down. I'm personally curious to see what Jeff, Dwight, Eric, Kevin and I are going to choose. If I remember right, Brian hated Mineral back in the day, but maybe his tastes will have changed. Also if I remember right, Steve was bored by Neko Case about a day ago. I'm pretty sure I know what he's going to pick (but you still gotta listen Steve!).

Alright, have fun. I will try and post or send out what the bracket looks like so far, and at some point I will try to calculate who is winning. I should have had everyone throw in a couple bucks with the winner taking the pot, but I think instead I'll purchase a small gift-card for whoever's picks do the best.

End of Division 2

Andrew

(11) Wilco – Summerteeth vs. (22) Bonnie Prince Billy – Lie Down in the Light

Sarah

(12) Beck – Midnight Vultures vs. (21) Low - Trust

Mark

(13) Belle and Sebatian – If You’re Feeling Sinister vs. (20) Laurie Anderson – Big Science

Eric

(14) Johnny Cash – The Man Comes Around vs. (19) Grant Lee Buffalo – Mighty Joe Moon

Jeff

(15) Beatles – Revolver vs. (18) Pixies – Surfer Rosa

Bruce

(16) Bob Marley – Legend vs. (17) Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed

Beginning of Division 3

Dwight

(1) Radiohead – Kid A vs. (32) Marvin Gaye – What’s Goin On

Brian

(2) Passion Pit – Chunk of Change vs. Mineral – (31) The Power of Failing

Kevin

(3) Cat Power – Moon Pix vs. (30) Tindersticks - Tindersticks (II - the one with the guy in the suit)

Andy

(4) The Kinks are Preservation Green Society vs. (29) Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street

Jane

(5) Beach Boys – Pet Sounds vs. (28) Massive Attack – Mezzanine

Steve

(6) Neko Case – Middle Cyclone vs. (27) James Brown – 20 All time greatest hits

Tenth vs 10

I was pleased when I saw I had the chance to listen to two albums that I have not heard in a long long time. Both are by bands that I don't really care for, but I would consider both great albums.

The Stones have never grabbed me in a way that I always knew they should. With a body of work that is so influential and creative, you'd think I'd have room for them in my heart. But alas, for some strange reason, no. The only album I have is Hot Rocks, and that does the job for me.

Pearl Jam, on the other hand, does not invoke any feelings of failure on my part to appreciate their work. I think they've done some great stuff as well, but after all these years, I only have a lowly dubbed tape of 10 sitting in a moving box that will probably never be unpacked.

But that's just the bands. The albums are what we're judging, and on all accounts, they both might deserve to move on. I listened to both albums back to back (Sticky Fingers first, then 10), and enjoyed pretty much everything from both albums.

Here's what I noticed: The production difference between the two is amazing. Sticky Fingers sounded like I played it on a realistic tape recorder from the 70's. Nothing wrong with that though. Jagger doesn't do the blues all that well.. go figure (a statement I refused to back up with any evidence at all). When the first track of 10 started, I was let-down, I wanted more Stones.

But again, 10 was great too. Really enjoyed hearing the tracks again, I could immediately picture Eddie Vedder shaking and barely moving his mouth, and all that good stuff. But at the end, there was no sense of loss.

My intent was to listen to both albums more than once, but I didn't get to it due to the heartache of last night.

So, since this was so close, I had to list the pros and cons of each, to determine which album was going to move on.

Pros:
Sticky Fingers... Wild Horses: GnR used to play this live.
Pearl Jam... Friends of Neil Young
Pearl Jam... Fought Ticketmaster
Stones... Played a show in Oshawa at the same venue I used to play hockey in... that makes them peers (right!?, I think maybe.)

Cons:
Pearl Jam... The alternateen nation along with Nirvana
Stones... Windows 95
Pearl Jam... First result on a search for "Pearl Jam tickets" is for ticketmaster
Stones... GnR did Sympathy for the devil... poorly.

As, you can see, this isn't an easy choice when being so objective.
We'll have to go to the ultimate level... have you been covered by Dread Zeppelin... ah the true decider!

Dread's second album (5,000,000* *tortelvis fans can't be wrong) cover was modeled on "Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!".

The Winner: Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers.*




*come on, it's a 40 year old classic, 10 might be good, but it isn't that good.

1 of 2 ain't bad AZ

In my first choice I had two albums from my top 30 list. In this round, I had two albums I've never owned. Both things are tough. It's hard to compare two albums when you are listening to them completely for the first time. I know that my favorite albums are my favorite albums because of all the times I've listened to them and what they evoke for me. So I find it hard to judge between two albums that I've listened to once. This was a tough choice for me. I have never been a huge REM fan, but I'm not sure why. I don't think I've ever really given them a chance. I listened to Automatic for the People and enjoyed it, especially "Sweetness follows," "Man on theMoon," and "Nightswimming." In listening, I felt that REM had probably influenced many of the bands I enjoy that have come after them. One other thing I like about REM is a quality that I think the top all times albums should have, which is commercial appeal. It's one thing to make a complex and artistic album, and another to have it appeal to a relatively wide audience. I actually think that is a trait I appreciate in music and why I think artists like Bob Dylan, The Clash, Radiohead, and Rolling Stones belong high on the lists. So I enjoyed this album, although there were tracks that I wasn't inspired by. I don't take any sort of notes as I listen, and now a few days later, some of these tracks don't stand out to me at all.

I have to admit that I gave Separation Sunday a closer listen, including reading the lyrics as I listened. Initially, this didn't make that much of a difference. After about 5 tracks of Separation Sunday, I thought this was going to be a tough call for me, with neither album necessarily turning out to be a huge hit for me. But by the end, it was clear that Separation Sunday was the winner. I did like the whole concept album story thing. I do like the classic rock riffs combined with punk. I didn't know what to make of Craig Finn's basically speaking the vocals at first, and I still don't think I love it, but by the end, I also couldn't imagine how else he would sing this album. It seems to fit. Also, it applies to my life a bit right now as I am a teacher at a urban Catholic high school and I think I could recommend this album to a number of the punk lovers in my classes. I was on a three day retreat with the Juniors of my school this week, and the line in Multitude of Casualties, "youth services always find a way to get their bloody cross into your druggy little messed up teenage life" is apropos for what I observed on that retreat. I agree, this album is adolescent, which is why I'll recommend it to my high school students, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it past that phase of life. Although I think Automatic for the People is an album I'd be more likely to just throw on the Ipod while I'm chilling at home after work, I'd more likely listen to Separation Sunday while driving around in my car. And I'd probably much rather see The Hold Steady live than REM. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'd like the Hold Steady more as a live band than on their albums.

Anyway, I kind of wanted to blow Andrew's #2 out of the water after his deadline setting made me spend more time this weekend listening to those albums and writing this post than working on my lesson plans and grad school work, but I couldn't do it. Sepearation Sunday moves on.

And Now Andrew Will Reveal My Every Secret

Joni Mitchell – Blue vs. The Clash – London Calling

This has been a rotten one to call, though I suspect that’s a good thing. Likely there are more rotten decisions to come.

I’ll start out by saying that I’ve listened to Blue hundreds of times, and that up until now, I mostly knew The Clash’s most popular singles. And Blue should have been in my top thirty, but when I was selecting albums, I looked at the track list and thought there were a few that would annoy me now.

After listening to Blue again, it was a pleasant surprise to be mistaken about that. A few things about Mitchell are at their best on this album:

• She can write lyrical circles around most of the boys, and seldom, if ever, allows you to correctly anticipate the tail end of a rhyme or line. Go Dylan-lady, go.
• Her vocal stylings provide form for the songs as much if not more than the piano, guitar, dulcimer, drums. She uses her voice to syncopate and improvise, and again, it’s hard to anticipate exactly how and when she’ll switch things up.
• She blends genres and styles, and while she’s most often labeled a folkie, it’s easy to hear the influence of jazz and more. And this is early Mitchell, before she gets super jazzy adventurous (and often more annoying for it).
• She complicates easy notions of gender (both through vocal range and ownership of her subject matter), and it’s easy to see her legacy in artists like Prince, Bjork, and Antony.

A few specific things about Blue:

• The album is thematically cohesive, yet consistently reevaluating its themes. One form of cohesion I love: the word “blue” or “blues” appears in over half of the songs directly, and in those it doesn’t, it’s strongly implied (like “River,” where the word needn’t be stated).
• Blue is a work of unflinching realism, and yet it is reassuring. Many songs on this album upend their original declarations (“Last Time I Saw Richard,” for example). She writes without self-pity or sarcasm about love affairs, fame and wealth, and she does it in a way that makes a person inexperienced in all of the above actually empathize.
• For a thematically cohesive album, the songs are singular in their sound.

After revisiting Blue, I listened to London Calling three or four full times, and I enjoyed it all through each time. I know I will listen to this album again and again now that I own it. And Andrew’s right: “there’s not one dud song on it.” He’s also right that they manage to genre-blend and hop like nobody’s business, and that they’re just as emotional and political as Mitchell.

Still, I think the album lacks the combination of artistic chops and confessional immediacy that draw me to Blue. That’s no insult to London Calling: it’s just a matter of taste. I’ll also admit that it’s a rare double album that impresses me as much as a conventional album with a tightly constructed conceit. It’s part of the reason why Wilco’s Being There didn’t make my top 30, even though it contains many of my favorite Wilco songs. It just seems trickier to sustain a mood or mode of thought over an additional five to ten tracks.

So I’m stuck. It’s clear that both albums MATTER to 20^th century popular music. Do I choose the album the critics favor? They’re both darlings, but The Clash is hands down higher-rated by the big name rock snobs. Or do I choose the album that engages me through and through? Then Joni Mitchell takes it.

Here is where I breathe and remind myself that Sufjan Stevens took down Nick Drake. Why shouldn’t Joni Mitchell at least stand alongside, or slightly edge out, The Clash? Let the chips fall…in the next round.

Andrew is a demanding mistress of a moderator

Elevium vs. Massive Attack

It is unfortunate that these two picks were delivered to me at the same time. I am probably the person most disposed to ambient music in the tournament.


I really enjoyed Elevium, and would have loved to have been able to pick it over something like Cat Power (yeah, you heard me). It is pretty hard to write about ambient music. Copia is one of the better ambient albums I have heard. Much like Moon Safari, it often feels organic even when electronic. If anyone is looking for an album to read along to, fall asleep to (that is not meant as an insult), or put on at the tail end of a late-night-drinking session, I strongly recommend this album. Or, if you have never listened to ambient, this is a great gateway.



I think the only full album of Massive Attack that I had listened to before was Mezzanine. I was actually expecting more from this album. Don't get me wrong, it's a great album, and I know it's credited as being the first Trip-Hop album, but I didn't love it as much as I loved Mezzanine the first time I heard it. The first track was my favorite, and embodies everything I love about this type of music: it has a sinister, mysterious feel, like it is letting you in on a secret. It also struck me how derivative Moby seems now.



I hope for my next pick I don't get any albums with such weight behind them. I really would have loved to put Elevium through, but Massive Attack is the winner by split decision.

It's Not Spite

Really, it's not. Neither is that Bob Dylan wisely wrote a song called "Queen Jane Approximately," quite probably foreseeing this Death Match.

I really did try to give Laser Guided Melodies every advantage, in part since I thought it would prove what a fair-minded person I am if I were to advance Jeff's #1 choice after he pitched mine. Not only do I want to look fair-minded, though--I'd also like to be that way, which is why I listened to the Spiritualized album for all its best points, just as I read the papers of students who pester me repeatedly about when I'm turning back papers with the greatest possible charity as a guard against any subconscious desire to punish them for their nagging. And with Laser Guided Melodies, unlike at least a few of the papers I try to receive in great charity, finding the good bits was not hard work. I have been fond of this album for a long time, in fact. It comes stocked with plenty of beauties to latch on to. My favorite track, this listen as others, was "200 Bars," but the whole record has a lovely, limpid energy. It repeats musical phrases but does so with different intensities, and listens, all told, like an unaccountably beautiful dream--unaccountably even in the sense that you can't remember it in any narrative detail after it's over.

I, however, am a sucker for narrative detail, and that's probably why I'm choosing Highway 61 Revisited over Laser Guided Melodies. Even after you take off points for the paisley oil spill that Dylan's wearing in the guise of a shirt or jacket on its cover, this album is tops. It's populated with all sorts of odd characters, not all of whom even warrant a song of their own, and the lyrics distract you from whatever else you happen to be doing at the time with their wry jokes and backhand tenderness and accomplished rhymes ("plastic" and "drastic," especially, struck me this time around). By the same token, though I'm less handy at describing this, the music itself has more texture. Listening to its snags--its honky-tonk bits and the instrument that sounds like (and may be) a party favor at the beginning of the song"Highway 61" and the wheezy laugh that sneaks into the vocals at one point and the ways the harmonica earns that old moniker "mouth organ" when you hear it in this context--all that is, for me, more satisfying than listening to the silken atmosphere that Spiritualized offers.

So, the short version: Highway 61 wins.

penthouse VS behind the sun

These two albums fall into the same little bin for me; albums that represent a time and place that I rarely feel the need to go back to. They also don't belong in this competition. Ouch!

Luna - Penthouse: I was never a big fan of Luna. Saw them live once and had a decent time. Never rushed out to buy any of their albums. Heard them only when others played their music. I find them really boring, and I'm guessing that that is their appeal. Penthouse is their strongest album, but, I had to fight myself not to skip through almost every track. I know I'm gonna make some people upset here, but I think it's solid shit.

Chicane - Behind the sun: I was a big Chicane fan for about 2 months. This was an album I'd pop in on road trips, on the way to a club (playing "Don't Give Up" on route to picking up chicks and sucking back beers was life at its best!), and I even listened to this album at home whilst making dinner. It's got beauty, energy, fun, seriousness, arpeggios, and Bryan Adams! I remember thinking my respect level for Mr. Adams went up from 2 to at least 4 (out of 1400). Of course, all this was packaged in a very synthesized little package known as electro 2000! I listened to it, had some happy memories, and heard the year 2000 screw my earhole. This album is way too dated for me. I don't believe the greatest album of all time should sound like a couple of months from one particular year. But...

Winner: Chicane - Behind the sun (or that album with Don't Give Up on it)
Loser: Luna - Penthouse (or Poophouse)

Here's the dealio

I'm sending out new picks Monday morning, but only those who have their last ones in get new ones. Sorry, but that's how I roll.

I and Love and You vs. Harvest

It's nice to have an oranges and oranges matchup rather than an apples and oranges matchup. For the purposes of putting things in a convenient box, I'm going to lump both of these albums into my invented category, "faux-hick." I would define faux-hick as rural-aware music made by people who are from or sound like they're from the city. This isn't meant as a demeaning label, but it makes me feel like I'm in some special place of judgement as one who comes from a small town (granted, one who comes from a small town where he grew up listening to crappy music that was pretty faux, but decidedly un-hick).

Now that I've established my special position, Neil Young's Harvest vs. The Avett Brothers' I and Love and You:

I had heard of the Avett Brothers, but never listened to them before. I was kind of excited to hear something new in the faux hick world, being a big Wilco, etc. fan and I definitely enjoyed the beginning of the listen. As it went on, though, I got kind of bored mixed with kind of annoyed at how the music seemed to be jumping from reference to reference and I found myself writing notes that start with, "a little too much like..." Buddy Holly in Slight Figure of Speech, John Prine in Incomplete and Insecure, Townes Van Zandt in Ten Thousand Words, and a little scream in Heart Like a Kick Drum that sounded like the singer had practiced for hours to sound like Jeff Tweedy. Probably the part that annoyed me the most was the jumpy half of The Perfect Space. The song is emotive in a swingy sort of way until it devolves into Sweet Home Alabama played on a Casio keyboard. Throughout the album there are segments of one or two acoustic guitars noodling around that I enjoyed at first, but started to sound like those annoying guys at the guitar shop who sit and play uninspired Eric Clapton Unplugged licks for hours.

That said, I have this problem where I stand by music that I somehow feel I've discovered, even if it sucks and tend to first reject music that someone else tells me to listen to. For instance, I stuck with Son Volt far past their prime and was really into some of John Prine's crappier music for quite a while. So I started to listen to this album again, but remained kind of bored. Then I looked them up on Wikipedia and saw that Rick Rubin produced the album, and that made me feel a little embarassed because I'm supposed to like everything he touches since he did such a great job with late Johnny Cash.

But no matter how good the Avett Brothers are, Neil Young's Harvest has a few things in its favor that I can't really escape: I first came into contact with Harvest at the prime age of young-man-music-stamping-on-brain: 19ish. Then I listened to this album and After the Gold Rush on two sides of a cassette tape for an entire Christmas break while driving around backroads in Missouri trying to be more rural and authentic.

The steel guitar on On the Weekend just kills me. Young's lyrics are truly mysterious at times and at others, frank recollections of the transition from adolescence to early adulthood. They seem to come from a place of just coming into contact with adulthood and feeling like you see it for what it really is. Kind of invigorating.

I will say that I've never been a big fan of Are You Ready for the Country, which seems kind of thrown together and naive, but Old Man is a really amazing song and There's a World adds a wonderful variety to the album with its orchestral craziness.

I realize I'm not saying nearly as much about how great Harvest is compared to how much I'm saying about how I'm not crazy about I and Love and You, but greatness is typically less quantifiable than mediocreness, right?

Winner: Harvest

I don't have an illusion to use

I've never been a heavy metal fan. Guns n' Roses passed me by the first time around. Apart from the hits, I've never listened to them until now. I've spent the past two days listening to Use Your Illusion II. My favorites are Don't Cry (great vocals on the verse) and So Fine (good song despite what sounds like a man pleasuring himself at the beginning). Some of the other songs are decent (14 Years, Yesterdays, Breakdown). I read some Amazon.com reviews that had great things to say about "Estranged", comparing it to the Magna Carta and the invention of the alphabet. Yeah, not so much. A few of the songs were terrible: Civil War, Get in the Ring, Shotgun Blues, Locomotive, and My World. My World is one of the worst songs I've ever heard (socio-psychotic- is that even a real word?). One note on the guitar playing - Slash and Izzy Stradlin obviously have a real groove going on, but I can't help but wish that guitar player's with that much technical skill and time should be able to come up with something more inspired and variable. Too many of the rhythms sound the same and the solos blend into one another. If the Godfather of heavy metal guitar is not Link Wray and not Dave Davies, then it must be Jimmy Page. Listening to Slash and Izzy on this album, makes me wish I was listening to Jimmy Page. There are just not enough memorable riffs. Just my opinion.

As many of you know, Bob Dylan is easily my favorite artist of all time, even though I don't listen to him nearly as often as I used to (Christmas in the Heart definitely grew on me, BTW). There's just so much there to listen to (and for) and so much variety. With "Time Out of Mind" I just love the blunt lyrical style and how Bob uses his "broken" voice to convey the brokenness around him. This really resonated with me - the feeling of being out of place with the world. I started listening to Dylan in 1989 and back then the focus was always on what he did in the 60's. I obviously love a lot of that stuff, but with "Time Out of Mind," there was finally new music to sink my teeth into. I remember where I was standing in my bedroom when I first listened to this album (I was standing by the left side of my dresser).

The winner: Time Out of Mind

Air vs. Dread

Moon Safari by Air:

This is an album and a band I know and like, although I must admit it had been some time since I had listened to Moon Safari in its entirety. However, after just finishing it again a few minutes ago, I was not disappointed. I think this probably remains Air's most cohesive, consistent album to date. They are able to sustain a delicate balance throughout: The music is heavily electronic yet also feels organic; it is futuristic but with a retro vibe; lounge-y but never lapsing into mere "background music". A few of the songs go on a bit longer than I would prefer, I don't know what the hell "Sexy Boy" is about, and occasionally I long for a more invigorating beat, but I also know that's not what Air or this album is all about. That's just me being too American and not French enough.

I used the same silly rating system I used for my first round picks, so...Rating: 4.0

Un-led-Ed by Dread Zeppelin:

Let me begin by saying we certainly aren't dealing with any overly "earnest folksters" here. Prior to the Death Match, I was aware of Dread Zeppelin's existence, and I knew that they did reggae covers of Led Zeppelin tunes. Given that knowledge, I had pretty much steered completely clear of them. (I am not much of a Led Head - Led Hed?- and I have picky music snob preferences in reggae...I like a lot of the early soul-influenced "rocksteady" stuff and the atmospheric, reverb-drenched dub of King Tubby and Lee Perry, but some of the most popular music from the genre - including much of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, etc.- doesn't get me very excited.)

What I did not previously know about Dread Zeppelin was that they are fronted by an Elvis impersonator. And he does an amazing job: He sounds exactly like an Elvis impersonator. This pretty much put the nail in the coffin for me. While I am not opposed to novelty albums in principle (I loved Weird Al as a kid, and I still enjoy Senor Coconut's cover album of Kraftwerk songs done to a Latin beat), I found Un-led-Ed almost intolerable. It was a real act of devotion to the Death Match that I sat and listened to the whole thing. My wife kept laughing at me as I did, because I was apparently scowling and making pained expressions while listening on my headphones at the computer.

The best explanation I can surmise is that I was not smoking the right sh*t to properly appreciate this album. However, if I were to get appropriately baked, I don't think I would waste my time with this...I'd put some old Neil Young or Madlib or Massive Attack on the hi-fi, and I'd make sure my joint was fully led-ed.

Dismal but generous Rating: 0.7

WINNER: Moon Safari by Air