Moderately Acclaimed 3 (MA3) - Round 1.6

[Brad]

Round 1.6
Vote for your favorite in each matchup.
Remember, anyone can vote as long as they've heard both albums!
Deadline = April 16th 10am EST

1. The Microphones - The Glow, Pt 2 vs. Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
2. Autechre - Tri Repetae vs. The White Stripes - Get Behind me Satan
3. Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat vs. Low - I Could Live in Hope
4. The Boredoms - Super AE vs. The Fall - The Real New Fall LP: Formerly Country On The Clink

Letsagetabitarockin'!

[Stephan]

A WLWLWLWL week (the only one in round 1); I hate these. Sorry to whoever nominated Low and The Microphones, I really wanted to vote for them! Also, Japanese Noise Rock.. I was ready to give Super æ 1 star or something on RYM after the first two songs, but the balance shifts towards more spacey experimental rock later on which is actually pretty good (particularly Super Going and Super Coming). The screeching still ruins it though; without the first two songs it would have beaten The Fall.

1. Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat
2. Low - I Could Live in Hope
3. Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
4. The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2
5. Autechre - Tri Repetae
6. The White Stripes - Get Behind me Satan
7. The Fall - The Real New Fall LP: Formerly Country on the Click
8. Boredoms - Super æ

[Greg]

1. Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
2. Autechre - Tri Repetae
3. Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat
4. The Fall - The Real New Fall LP: Formerly Country On The Clink

[Jirin]

6/1

Boards Of Canada - Music Has The Right To Children (#301)
The Microphones - The Glow, Pt 2 8/10

I like The Glow a lot more than I did last time I heard it. I thought this would be a blowout for BoC for me, instead it is only a slight victory.

6/2

Autechre - Tri Repeatae 6/10
The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan (#401)

Autechre is technically competent but kind of lifeless.

6/3

Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat 6/10
Low - I Could Live In Hope 7/10

6/4

The Boredoms - Super AE (#174)
The Fall - The Real New Fall LP 8/10

The reason I nominated Super AE was the way I discovered it: It was in the first moderate, against In The Aeroplane Over The Sea in the first round. Now I'm glad to give it a better draw: Loud grinding metal noises have never sounded so beautiful.

[Henry]

3. Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat vs. Low - I Could Live in Hope

Cat Stevens wins this contest.

I Could Live in Hope has a nice slow mellow groove. The vocals are well done and the story telling is interesting. But, there was no great variety in energy or otherwise in the songs as far as I can tell. That said, I enjoyed Slide and think that this album could be a grower (if I listen to it when I am in an appropriately slow mood).

Teaser and the Firecat has some superb songs, including: How Can I Tell You, Morning has Broken, Peace Train, If I Laugh, and Tuesday's Dead. I enjoy each and every song on the Teaser and Firecat more than I enjoy any song on the I Could Live in Hope album. Perhaps that will change if I listen to the Low album a few more times.

[Romain]

1. Pass for the moment
2. The White Stripes - Get Behind me Satan (my favorite album by them)
3. Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat
4. Pass for the moment

[Brad]

1. The Microphones - The Glow Pt 2 over Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
The Glow continues to grow, after years of listening. I'm sure there's some theme to this album that I have yet to penetrate, but it doesn't matter... BoC (as opposed to BOC) put out some fine music, but it always ends up being more background sound for me.
2. The White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan over Autechre - Tri Repetae
Perhaps I've been listening to too much electronic-oriented music lately... in general, give me raw guitar and drums any day. A fine White Stripes album.
3. Low - I Could Live in Hope over Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat
I can enjoy Cat Stevens, though it's not really my thing. Low can be majestic at times, and their mood fits mine 90% of the time.
4. The Fall - The Real New Fall LP: Formerly Country On The Click over The Boredoms - Super AE
A tough one, as I like both. The Boredoms are clearly the more adventurous of the two, but I think this is among the best Fall albums of recent years.

Thanks!

[Honorio]

A quite strange week, any random album from last week could have easily win any bracket (except if paired with the excellent "I Could Live in Hope")

1. The Microphones - The Glow, Pt 2 vs. Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
2. Autechre - Tri Repetae vs. The White Stripes - Get Behind me Satan
3. Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat vs. Low - I Could Live in Hope
4. The Boredoms - Super AE vs. The Fall - The Real New Fall LP: Formerly Country On The Clink

[Nassim]

1. pass
both have their moments but neither really interested me
2. The White Stripes - Get Behind me Satan
Another disappointment here, Tri Repetae is the first album I have listened to after the list has been revealed, partly because I was in a period when I wanted to listen to more and more IDM (mostly thanks to my new love for Four Tet's Rounds) but also because I love Autechre's Arch Carrier that I discovered through the Pitchfork 500. While I like this song for slowly evolving, I found most of the song in Tri Repetea to be much too repetitive for me, laking changes as slow or progressive they might be. On the other hand, Get Behind me Satan is the funniest album by the White Stripes, quite enjoyable.
3. Low - I Could Live in Hope
2 very nice albums, I go with hope because I enjoy the way they give the same intensity as Cat Stevens while seeming to try much less hard
4. The Boredoms - Super AE
I enjoy Vision Creation Newsun more, for the whole quality but also because the 10 annoying minutes in VCN are at the end, while they are right at the beginning of Super AE. That being said, in those 2 albums Boredoms has a way to make me think that psychedelic is a positive attribute to music and do it with a tribal fervor that no one else can meet. Also love Mark E. Smith and co by the way.

[antonius]

1. The Microphones - The Glow, Pt 2
There are songs somewhere, but I have difficulty hearing them, although it starts to sound better over the years.

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
Trip hop sounds & samples that go somewhere. This has aged very well.

2. Autechre - Tri Repetae
Electronic sounds that go nowhere.

The White Stripes - Get Behind me Satan
Jack White pushing the limits towards folk. Decent songs, but nothing too engageing. I used to like "Instinct Blues", but it sounds dated now.

3. Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat
He used to write beautiful, catchy songs, Yusuf Islam. I've known "Morning has broken" since I was a child. On the whole he's too soft for me. Give me Kevin Coyne any time.

Low - I Could Live in Hope
Low,on paper, sounds like a band I should like, but like Cowboy Junkies before them, they can't keep the attention going for a full CD

4. The Boredoms - Super AE
One of the few records that I can't get in to in this competition. Together with GYBE!

The Fall - The Real New Fall LP: Formerly Country On The Click
Brilliant record. "The Past", which Mark E. pronounces as "pest" is a favorite. "Only humans carry their pest/past around".

[Michel]

1. Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
2. Autechre - Tri Repetae
3. Low - I Could Live in Hope
4. The Fall - The Real New Fall LP: Formerly Country On The Clink

[Brad]

some of the closest matches we've seen yet... 22 hours left to vote!

[Kingoftonga]

Sickness and travel have prevented me from listening to as many albums as I would have liked, but here are my choices for the first two. Perhaps I can get to one more bracket before tomorrow?

Winners in red!

1. The Microphones - The Glow, Pt 2 vs. Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children

Honestly, I'm not enthused about either of these albums. Both are overly long to me, their gems buried a little too deeply. But the Boards of Canada provide a more immediate visceral thrill.

2. Autechre - Tri Repetae vs. The White Stripes - Get Behind me Satan

GBMS is not as cohesive as White Blood Cells or Elephant, but I still think it's seriously underrated on AM. A top 1000 album for sure.

[Evan]

Sorry I'm only going to get to one matchup (and the vote isn't in doubt), but I can at least vote for The Glow, Part Two. It's an album that takes a little time to unwrap, so I'm not surprised it performed poorly in this format, but it's been worth the time for me. The dichotomy between the delicate I Felt Your Shape and over-powering Samurai Sword epitomizes an album that is scattered but at times exhilarating.

[Brad]

12 total voters:
antonius
Brad
Evan
Greg
Henry
Honorio
Jirin
KingofTonga
Michel
Nassim
Romain
Stephan

Results:
1. Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children over The Microphones - The Glow, Pt 2 7-2
2. The White Stripes - Get Behind me Satan over Autechre - Tri Repetae 7-3
3. Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat vs. Low - I Could Live in Hope TIE 5-5 - NEXT VOTE WINS!
4. The Fall - The Real New Fall LP: Formerly Country On The Click over The Boredoms - Super AE 5-3

Tiebreaker will be decided by the next vote (Sudden Death!)

Round 1.7 will be up soon!

[Gillingham]

I won't vote a lot in this stage of the game and like to see it unfold. That said I will decide this tie-breaker:

Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat vs. Low - I Could Live in Hope

I like Cat Stevens, but I suggested I Could Live in Hope myself. Low is one of my big discoveries of last year.

[Brad]

And Low takes it, by a 6-5 score!

[Henrik]

Phew, I forgot to vote and my nomination Low won with a minimal margin! I'm also happy that Boards of Canada move on.