2 preceding notes this week:

1. I will be away at a stats conference from December 4th - 8th, so I think I'll let this go for 2 weeks.

2. I made a grave error in last week's matchups, including the wrong Nirvana song. Fortunately, this won't have any impact on the matches that were slated for this week, so I will include the correct match from Week 25 here as well.

Week 26 sees us move to bracket L5. The winners will move on to bracket L6, while the losers will have to be happy knowing that they made the top 16.

Please listen to the songs before making your choice, and provide comments (however brief) to form the basis of your pick.

The deadline for Week 26 is 11:59 PM, December 12th AM time.

You can read the descriptions of why these songs were nominated in the rules thread.

Match L5.1:

Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave"
Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle"

Match L5.2:

Faces - "Ooh La La"
Visage - "Fade to Grey"

Match L5.3:

Luke Kelly - "Scorn Not His Simplicity"
Prince - "Crystal Ball"

Match L5.4:

Serge Gainsbourg - "Cannabis"
Stereolab - "French Disko"

And the correct match from last week...

Match W4.4:

Curtis Mayfield - "Right on for the Darkness"
Nirvana - "Rainbow Chaser"

I love most of these at this stage, so it's tough!

Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle"

I love the rough edges of Liz Phair's gorgeous demo, but "Dazzle" makes my heart swell with emotion.

Visage - "Fade to Grey"

This is no contest. Synth pop will always beat acoustic rock for me.

Prince - "Crystal Ball"

I've grown fond of "Scorn Not His Simplicity", but it is still no match for a song among my top 10 ever.

Stereolab - "French Disko"

Serge continues to intrigue me, but "French Disko" is undoubtedly one of the best discoveries of the game for me.

Curtis Mayfield - "Right on for the Darkness"

I've grown a bit of a taste for some weird 60s psychedlia, but "Right on for the Darkness" is overpowering.

Pass on the first matchup.

Faces - Ooh La La over Visage Fage to Grey: The Visage track is very good, but it's not beating my own nominee. Love the laid-back vocal and dual guitar arrangement.

Prince - Crystal Ball over Luke Kelly - Scorn Not His Simplicity: I haven't voted for that Luke Kelly track at any point in this tournament, and I'm not starting now.

Stereolab - French Disko over Serge Gainsbourg - Cannabis: Pretty strong entry from Serge, but it can't keep French Disko from absolutely rolling. My enjoyment of French Disko started with this tournament, but it only grew in its absence. I now think it's the best Stereolab track, and I like this group a lot.

Curtis Mayfield - Right on for the Darkness over Nirvana - Rainbow Chaser: Wish Rainbow Chaser was in a matchup in which I could support it. Curtis is one of the few that could win this.

Match L5.1:
Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle"

Toughest of the week, but not terrible tough.

Match L5.2:
Faces - "Ooh La La"

Every time I vote in this game I realize I desperately need to change my songs list. This song is already in there but needs to be higher, and..

Match L5.3:
Luke Kelly - "Scorn Not His Simplicity"

..this one and Curtis really need to be on the list.

Match L5.4:
Serge Gainsbourg - "Cannabis"

Serge knocked out my last song, so.. cheers! :)

Match W4.4:
Curtis Mayfield - "Right on for the Darkness"

Confirmed.

Match L5.1:

Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle"

Match L5.2:

Faces - "Ooh La La"

Match L5.3:

Prince - "Crystal Ball"

Match L5.4:

Stereolab - "French Disko"

Match W4.4:

Curtis Mayfield - "Right on for the Darkness"


Pretty easy choices this week, though all the songs were at least good. The 5 I voted for are all great.

Match L5.1:
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Easy

Match L5.2:
Visage
Even easier.

Match L5.3:
Prince
More and more easy

Match L5.4:
Serge Gainsbourg
Was there a choice ?

Four good songs against four bad songs.

Match W4.4:
Curtis Mayfield
Winner but the other one is pretty cool.

Match L5.1 Winner: Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave"
"Dazzle" is growing on me, but I continue to love that Girly Sound sound "My mother says to pick the very best one and you are it."

Match L5.2 Winner: Visage - "Fade to Grey"
Very well executed synth pop from Visage.

Match L5.3 Winner: Prince - "Crystal Ball"
Reluctantly. Prince is overindulgent, by far, and he loses the plot at least half way through. But there are at least some interesting ideas. "Scorn Not..." loses power for me upon repeated listenings, and I do not care for Kelly's voice.

Match L5.4 Winner: Stereolab - "French Disko"
Clear choice for me, even though I was pleasantly surprised by Cannabis throughout the tourney. "Frech Disko" is a delight.

Match W4.4 Winner: Curtis Mayfield - "Right on for the Darkness"
No question about it.

Match L5.1:

Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle" wins over Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave" - neither song works particularly well for me.

Match L5.2:

Faces - "Ooh La La" wins easily over
Visage - "Fade to Grey"

Match L5.3:

Luke Kelly - "Scorn Not His Simplicity" wins over
Prince - "Crystal Ball" - each song has its moments, but I prefer others that have already been eliminated to either of these.

Match L5.4:

Serge Gainsbourg - "Cannabis" wins over
Stereolab - "French Disko"

Match W4.4:

Curtis Mayfield - "Right on for the Darkness" wins easily over
Nirvana - "Rainbow Chaser"

Here are your results!

Liz Phair - "What Makes You a Slave": 1
Siouxsie and the Banshees - "Dazzle": 5

Faces - "Ooh La La": 4
Visage - "Fade to Grey": 3

Luke Kelly - "Scorn Not His Simplicity": 1
Prince - "Crystal Ball": 6

Serge Gainsbourg - "Cannabis": 3
Stereolab - "French Disko": 4

Not that it matters, but Luke Kelly got two votes.