Moderately Acclaimed Albums 10 (2019) - Submissions Now Open!

[Brad]

Seems like now's as good a time as any to get the new Moderately Acclaimed Albums Tournament rolling!
This will be the 10th year of this spectacular event - I look forward to record-breaking participation!

Here's the deal:

Best Moderately Acclaimed Albums is a voting game where only albums and EPs not ranked in the top 500 are eligible. This includes all "bubblers" and completely unacclaimed albums and EPs.

There will be a single elimination draw with 128 albums, and now it's time to pick them.

Send me an ordered list of ten nominations via pm (no more email please - let me know if this is a problem). Please include the artist name and album name as they appear on AM, as well as the AM rank.

You have until Sunday, February 17th to make nominations (this may be extended if not all slots are filled... but they will be).

Same drill as in the past -
I will select nominations as follows:
First I will go through and pick all the first place albums
Then, I will go through and pick all the second place albums
Then, the third place albums, etc, until the draw fills up.

No more than 25 will be picked ranked 1000 or higher, no more than 50 ranked 1500 or higher, no more than 75 ranked 2000 or higher, and no more than 100 ranked 2500 or higher, so make sure you spread your picks out through the entire list.

I will then sort the selections into quadrants based on their rankings, and then create a bracket by randomly sorting each quadrant.

During the competition period (which will begin in early March), we will choose one match-up from each quadrant (starting at the top of each quadrant) in the field and square them off against each other in a week-long voting period. (For clarification, week 1 of the competition will include the top match-up from each quadrant; week 2 will include the second match-up from each quadrant, etc.).

Additional rules:
- No one person can nominate more than one album by the same artist.
- Albums that have previously won the tournament are not eligible.
- No albums that qualified for the 2018 Moderate game are eligible.
- No albums that qualified for the 2017 Moderate game are eligible, except those that were eliminated in Round 1.
- No albums that qualified for the 2016 Moderate game are eligible, except those that were eliminated in Round 1 or Round 2.
- From the 2015 Moderate game, only those albums that were eliminated in Rounds 1-3 are eligible.
- From the 2014 Moderate game, only those albums that were eliminated in Rounds 1-4 are eligible.
- From the 2013 Moderate game, only those albums that were eliminated in Rounds 1-5 are eligible.
- From the 2012 Moderate game, only those albums that were eliminated in Rounds 1-6 are eligible.
- No albums from 2018 are eligible (the eventual winner of the Moderately Acclaimed Album of 2018 will automatically be entered).

But don't get caught up in all these parameters - I've made it easy for you by including the list of non-eligible albums below!

The actual voting won't start until early March (a couple weeks after the bracket is published - exact date tbd).

Here's a list of the albums that are ineligible per the above stated restrictions (please check your picks!):

AC/DC - Ballbreaker
Agalloch - The Mantle
Aimee Mann - Music from the Motion Picture Magnolia
Almendra - Almendra
alt-J - An Awesome Wave
Amon Düül II - Yeti
Angelo Badalamenti - Soundtrack from Twin Peaks
Apples In Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Astor Piazzolla - LIbertango
Babatunde Olatunji - Drums of Passion
Barbara - Barbara chante Barbara
Beach House - Depression Cherry
Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Big Black - Atomizer
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
Billy Joel - The Stranger
Blanck Mass - World Eater
Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin'
Boredoms - 77 Boadrum
Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
Bright Eyes - Lifted or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground
Built to Spill - Perfect From Now On
Café Tacvba - Cuatro Caminos
Camel - Mirage
Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band - Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
Carl Perkins - The Dance Album of Carl Perkins
Carly Rae Jepsen - E*MO*TION
CHVRCHES - Every Open Eye
Cortex - Troupeau Bleu
Cyndi Lauper - She's so Unusual
Damien Rice - My favorite faded fantasy
Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - Rome
David Bowie - The Next Day
Dead Can Dance - Spleen and Ideal 
Deep Purple - Made In Japan
Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030
Djeli Moussa Diawara - Yasimika
Dmitri Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5 (Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra/Kirill Kondrashin)
Dolly Parton - Jolene
Donovan - Sunshine Superman
Dr. Dog - We All Belong
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - Masterpieces by Ellington
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Elliott Smith - Figure 8
Ennio Morricone - Once Upon a Time in the West
Ennio Morricone - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Erykah Badu - Baduism
Exuma - Exuma I (1970)
Fela Kuti – Original Sufferhead
Fela Kuti-Zombie
Fennesz - Becs
First Aid Kit - Stay Gold
Fishmans - Long Season 
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
Florence + The Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Foals - Total Life Forever
Francesco De Gregori - Rimmel
Fred Pallem - Le sacre du tympan (Le retour)
Gal Costa - Fa-Tal-Gal a Todo Vapor
Game Theory - Lolita Nation
Game Theory - Real Nighttime 
Game Theory - The Big Shot Chronicles
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Garbage - Version 2.0
Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
Gil Scott-Heron - Pieces of a Man
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A#∞
Godspeed! You Black Emperor - Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress
Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike
Gorillaz - Demon Days
Graham Parker & The Rumour - Squeezing Out Sparks
Grant Green - Idle Moments
Grinderman - Grinderman
Jackson C. Frank - Jackson C. Frank 
Jacques Brel - Olympia 1964
Jacques Brel - Jacques Brel [Ces gens-là]
Jean-Michel jarre - Oxygène
Jeff Buckley - Sketches For My Sweetheart the Drunk
Jim O'Rourke - Eureka
Jimmy Cliff - Jimmy Cliff
JJ Cale - Naturally
Joan Manuel Serrat - Mediterraneo
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Fôrdlandia
John Adams - Nixon in China (performed by Orchestra of St. Luke's)
John Coltrane - My Favorite Things
John Fahey - Volume II: Death Chants, Military Waltzes and Breakdowns
John Talabot - Fin
John Zorn - Naked City
Johnny Cash - American III: Solitary Man
Jon Hassell and Brian Eno - Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics
Joni Mitchell - The Hissing of Summer Lawns
Jorge Ben - A Tábua de Esmeralda 
Julee Cruise - Floating into the Night
Julia Holter - Ekstasis
Julia Holter - Loud City Song 
Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreaks
Kashiwa Daisuke - Program Music 1
Kate Bush - The Dreaming
King Crimson - Red
La Femme - Mystère
La Femme - Psycho Tropical Berlin
Labradford - Mi Media Najanja
Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster 
Lady Lamb - After
Lafayette Afro Rock Band - malik
Lana Del Rey - Born to Die
Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can
Lavender Country - Lavender Country 
Leonard Cohen - Live Songs
Lily Allen - Alright Still
Lisa Germano - Geek the Girl
M. Ward - Hold Time
MA2015 Winner - MA2015 Winner
Mademoiselle K - Hungry Dirty Baby
Mari Boine - Idjagieđas: In the Hand of the Night
Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis - Cat House Piano
Melody's Echo Chamber - Melody's Echo Chamber
Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust
Miles Davis - On the Corner 
Mitski - Retired from Sad, New Career in Business
Morrissey - Years of Refusal
Motorhead - Ace of Spades
Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
Muse - Origin of Symmetry
My Morning Jacket - Z
Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee
Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - No More Shall We Part
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Good Son
Nick Lowe - Jesus Of Cool
Nilsson - Aerial Ballet
Nina Simone - Wild Is the Wind
Nina Simone - In Concert 1964 
Novos Baianos - Acabou chorare 
Ólafur Arnalds - Living Room Songs
Old Crow Medicine Show - Remedy
Original Broadway Cast - Hamilton: An American Musical
Paavoharju - Laulu Laakson Kukista
Panda Bear - Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
Pavement - Wowee Zowee
Pere Ubu - New Picnic Time
Perfume Genius - Too Bright
Pescado Rabioso - Artaud
Pet Shop Boys - Actually
Pete Seeger - We Shall Overcome: The Complete Carnegie Hall Concert, June 8, 1963
Philip Glass - Akhnaten
Pink Floyd - Meddle
Pixies - Trompe le Monde
Portishead - Portishead
Prefuse 73 - One Word Extinguisher
Prince & the Revolution - Parade
Rodriguez - Cold Fact
Rodriguez - Coming from Reality 
Roy Harper - Stormcock
Roy Orbison & Friends - A Black and White Night Live
Rufus Wainwright - Want One
Saint Etienne - So Tough
Saint Etienne - Tiger Bay 
Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe
Santigold - Santogold
Scott Walker - Scott 3
Seefeel - Quique
SEXWITCH - SEXWITCH
Sigur Rós - Kveikur 
Sinead O'Connor - The Lion and the Cobra
Sixteen Horsepower - Sackcloth 'n' Ashes
Sleater Kinney - One Beat
Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
Snog - Beyond the Valley of the Proles
Songs: Ohia - Didn't it Rain
Sonic Youth - Washing Machine
Soulwax - As Heard on Radio Soulwax Pt. 2
Space - Spiders
Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill
Stone Jack Jones - Love & Torture
Sufjan Stevens - Age of Adz
Sufjan Stevens - Michigan
Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans
Super Furry Animals - Rings Around the World
Swans - The Seer
Sweet Trip - Velocity: Design: Comfort
Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring
Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
Tears for Fears - The Hurting
Terry Riley - A Rainbow in Curved Air
That Petrol Emotion - Chemicrazy
The 13th Floor Elevators - The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators
The Afghan Whigs - Do to the Beast
The Antlers - Hospice
The Beach Boys - Friends
The Beach Boys - The SMiLE Sessions
The Beatles - Help!
The Bees - Free The Bees
The Black Keys - Brothers
The Black Keys - El Camino
The Blue Aeroplanes - Beatsongs
The Coral - Magic & Medicine
The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
The Cure - Seventeen Seconds
The Darkness - Permission to Land
The Distillers - Sing Sing Death House
The Divine Comedy - Casanova
The Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
The Durutti Column - LC
The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
The Jam - Sound Affects
The Jayhawks - Tomorrow The Green Grass
The Kinks - Face To Face
The Knife - Deep Cuts
The Knife - Shaking the Habitual
The Loud Family - Plants And Birds And Rocks And Things
The Magnetic Fields - The Charm Of The Highway Strip
The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed 
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
The New Pornographers - Electric Version
The Notwist - Neon Golden
The Original Soundtrack  - O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Pentangle - Basket of Light
The Police - Zenyatta Mondata
The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages of...
The Postal Service - Give Up
The Residents - Not Available
The Seatbelts/Yoko Kanno - Cowboy Bebop
The Soft Machine - Third
The Supremes -Where Did Our Love Go
The ToureRaichel Collective - The Tel Aviv Session
Thrice - Vheissu
Tindersticks - Tindersticks (II)
Tom Petty - Wildflowers
Tom Waits - Bone Machine
Tom Waits - Frank's Wild Years
Tom Waits - Small Change
Townes Van Zandt - The Late Great Townes Van Zandt
Travis Scott - Rodeo 
Tubeway Army - Replicas
U2 - Melon: Remixes for Propaganda
Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman 
Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle
Various Artists - I'm Your Fan
Venetian Snares - Rossz csillag alatt született 
Weekend - La Varieté
Ween - God Ween Satan: The Oneness
Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat to Earth
Weyes Blood and the Dark Juices - The Outside Room
White Noise - An Electric Storm
Wishbone Ash - Argus
Yehuda Poliker - Efer Veavak
Yuzo Koshiro - Bare Knuckle

Again, send your nominations to me via a Personal Message through this site.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

As always, looking forward to seeing your lists!

[Listyguy]

It's already that time again? Wow.

[spiritualized]

not sure if it would be popular, but don't you think that once round 1 has passed, the time given to vote should be shortened as most of the albums will have been listened to ?

[Rob]

not sure if it would be popular, but don't you think that once round 1 has passed, the time given to vote should be shortened as most of the albums will have been listened to ?

It wouldn't do for me, as I tend to listen to every album each round. So a week is needed.

I have another suggestion that might not be popular. Half the list. 128 is a massive amount and it takes most part of the year to play. I personally think this a great game, perhaps the best on Acclaimed Music, but I also feel that it takes up my album time during the year. Of course, this is due to the way I approach this so it won't go for everyone. Still, 64 albums would still be a lot.

[Listyguy]

not sure if it would be popular, but don't you think that once round 1 has passed, the time given to vote should be shortened as most of the albums will have been listened to ?

I don't know if this is common, but I'm rather erratic with when I do and don't participate in this game, so I definitely haven't listened to all of the albums after round 1 is over. Not sure if I'm alone in this regard or if there are others like me.

[Listyguy]

Also, if anyone nominates Lift Yr Skinny Fists (which fell out of the top 500 in the last update), its going to demolish the competition.

[Jirin]

Can you post a list of all previous winners? I don’t remember all. I remember Aeroplane, I think Seventeen Seconds won the second, and Zombie, then some French albums and So Tough and the Woods but can remember all.

I’m neutral in making the field smaller though it would give every person fewer nominations.

[Brad]

Past winners:
2010: Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
2011: The Cure - Seventeen Seconds
2012: Fela Kuti and Afrika 70 - Zombie
2013: Jacques Brel - Jacques Brel - Olympia 1964
2014: Jacques Brel - [Ces gens-là]
2015: Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
2016: King Crimson - Red
2017: Saint Etienne - So Tough
2018: Sleater-Kinney - The Woods

I'd rather keep the contest open for a full week for the duration unless there's more outcry about the pace of the tournament. As noted previously, we encourage multiple listens to albums that move on, and I want to make sure everyone has a chance to listen and vote. Also (selfishly) the weekly schedule works well for me, as my time is limited.

As far as the size of the tournament field, I think I'd prefer to keep it the same size this year while continuing the discussion for subsequent tournaments. While I personally like the size of the field (128 albums) (I enjoy the "majesty" of the tournament and how it fits in nicely throughout the length of the year), I realize the listening required may seem laborious to some.

Again - I don't want to dictate how the game is run, I'd just like to get a better idea of overall consensus before making such a big change. Assuming everyone's ok with 128 albums this year, is it sufficient for me to post a poll at a later date to determine 64 or 128 albums in future years?

I've already received nomination lists from:
Bang Jan
acroamor
Safetycat
PlasticRam
StevieFan13
Jirin
DaveC
spiritualized
FrankLotion
madzong
hectorthebat
Rdwdbob
bonnielaurel
Listyguy
& myself

Thanks!

[DaveC]

I like the game the way it is. It is only from round three that I sometimes don't listen to every album and the weekly routine makes it easier not to miss a round: If I will be busy, I know exactly what I have to vote for in advance.

[PlasticRam]

I like 128 albums and I like the weekly pace. I likely will not listen to every album the first round.

[Bang Jan]

How many lists now?

[Bang Jan]

How many lists now?

[Brad]

20+

[Brad]

Just over a week left to submit your nominations!

[Brad]

I've received 22 lists so far, from:
Bang Jan
acroamor
Safetycat
PlasticRam
StevieFan13
Jirin
DaveC
spiritualized
FrankLotion
madzong
hectorthebat
Rdwdbob
bonnielaurel
Listyguy
Brad
Sweepstakes Ron
andyd1010
Akhenaten
luney6
Nassim
Honorio
madzong

Deadline for submissions is this Sunday - I hope to pull this together next week, giving us about a month of listening time prior to the kickoff in mid-late March.

Thanks!

[Romain]

Seriously, I don't send you a list?
If not, you can count on me.

P.S.: list sent

[Brad]

Seriously, I don't send you a list?
If not, you can count on me.

P.S.: list sent

Got it Romain.
You too, BleuPanda.

Thanks guys!

[CupOfDreams]

List sent.

[Brad]

Got it CoD. And Rob's too.

Last day for submissions (Dragging me down/I can't tell ya what I've found).

26 so far - should be a LOT of participation this year! (lol?)

[Brad]

I am closing the nominations for this year's tournament.
I've received 28 submissions, about 9 more than last year, from:

Bang Jan
acroamor
Safetycat
PlasticRam
StevieFan13
Jirin
DaveC
spiritualized
FrankLotion
madzong
hectorthebat
Rdwdbob
bonnielaurel
Listyguy
Brad
Sweepstakes Ron
andyd1010
Akhenaten
luney6
Nassim
Honorio
madzong
Romain
BleuPanda
CupofDreams
Rob
Kingoftonga
starchman46

I'll pull these together over the next couple days and spew out something like a tournament bracket for you all to chew on!

Thanks for your participation!

[Brad]

Quick update - I realize madzong sent me two entirely different lists and is listed twice above. Unless I hear otherwise from him I will use the second one he sent.

27 total submissions!

[Madzong]

Quick update - I realize madzong sent me two entirely different lists and is listed twice above. Unless I hear otherwise from him I will use the second one he sent.

27 total submissions!

Sorry - yes the first list is the correct one.

[Madzong]

Quick update - I realize madzong sent me two entirely different lists and is listed twice above. Unless I hear otherwise from him I will use the second one he sent.

27 total submissions!

I have sent you a PM