Division 2:

4 Pink Floyd - Meddle
#1282, 1971, def 13 Warren Zevon - Exciteable Boy
vs
5 Pink Floyd - Animals
#1429, 1977, def 12 Betty Davis - They Say I'm Different

In one of the more unfortunate results of the seeding, Pink Floyd goes up against themselves.

Division 4:

14 The Divine Comedy - Casanova
#2290, 1996, def 3 U2 - Zooropa
vs
6 Pavement - Brighten The Corners
#1438, 1997, def 11 No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom

Division 6:

2 Daft Punk - Discovery
#547, 2001, def 15 The Delgados - The Great Eastern
vs
10 Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man - Out Of Season
#1628, 2002, def 7 Modest Mouse - The Moon And Antarctica

Fresh after getting the biggest percentage gain of the new update and shooting up 780 spaces, Discovery goes up against one of the only two albums to win in a tie by my vote getting discounted.

Division 8:

1 The Knife - Silent Shout
#444, 2006, def 16 Broken Social Scene - s/t
vs
9 The National - Boxer
#471, 2007, def 8 Decemberists - Picaresque

In a battle of the disqualified, two albums in the 400s go up against each other. Silent Shout is now the highest AM rated album in the draw, Boxer the third, and Silent Shout was the only album to win in the first round by a shutout.

Next week's matchups will be:

Division 1:
4 Simon and Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence vs
5 Nico - Chelsea Girl

Division 3:
3 The Replacements - Tim vs
11 They Might Be Giants - Flood

Division 5:
2 Elliot Smith - XO vs
10 PJ Harvey - Is This Desire?

Division 7:
1 The Go Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike vs
9 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell

5 Pink Floyd - Animals

6 Pavement - Brighten the Corners

2 Daft Punk - Discovery

1 The Knife - Silent Shout

*Pink Floyd - Meddle beats
Pink Floyd - Animals

I'll take pre-DSOTM space-rock Floyd over post-DSOTM bloated Floyd anyday.


*The Divine Comedy - Casanova beats
Pavement - Brighten The Corners

I know people here love Malkmus, but for me this is not even close. Neil Hannon's wonderful, sophisticated pop is like drinking a fine Merlot on a sunny mid-autumn day. (Except for the masterpiece "Through a Long and Sleepless Night", which is brilliantly terrifying.)


*Daft Punk - Discovery beats
Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man - Out Of Season

Out of Season is pleasant, but Discovery is a classic.


*The Knife - Silent Shout beats
The National - Boxer

Not even close for me...Silent Shout is endlessly fascinating, while I just find The National boring. (Apologies, National fans.)

4 Pink Floyd - Meddle
10 years ago I would probably have voted for Animals. How strange.

Division 4:
I can't decide right now. I'll be back.

10 Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man - Out Of Season
Discovery is growing on me with every listen, but it just can't beat the sad, sad voice of Beth Gibbons. According to the AMG reviewer, the CD came with the sticker "One of the best albums of all time -- quietly devastating". The reviewer agreed with the latter, I agree with both.

1 The Knife - Silent Shout

PINK FLOYD “Meddle”

Easy for me, “Meddle” would be on my Top 5 of Pink Floyd albums, although “Animals” would be on my Top 10.


THE DIVINE COMEDY “Casanova”

Even easier, and not (only) for my dislike of Pavement, the Divine Comedy album is excellent, managing easily influences that are difficult to handle without ending being bland or bloated.


BETH GIBBONS & RUSTIN MAN “Out of Season”

Yes, I know that “Discovery” is the cool choice but this moody album is thoroughly fascinating.


THE KNIFE “Silent Shout”

Another album that will always reminds me about driving in Sweden, this time it was the perfect soundtrack while we crossed through Örebro.

Division 2:

5 Pink Floyd - Animals

This vote's probably going to come down to whether you prefer early Pink Floyd or later Pink Floyd. I prefer later.

Division 4:

6 Pavement - Brighten The Corners

Division 6:

10 Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man - Out Of Season

Very close vote for me. I think it came down to the fact I've heard Discovery enough for it to lose it's novelty.

Division 8:

1 The Knife - Silent Shout

#19 all time vs #82 all time. I really wish these two albums weren't up against each other.

Division 2:

5 Pink Floyd - Animals

Very close.


Division 4:

6 Pavement - Brighten The Corners

I love Pavement and The Divide Comedy and this Pavement is not a very good one
but Casanova is really the worst thing Hannon ever did (Liberation and Promenade were great).


Division 6:

10 Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man - Out Of Season

Very easy.


Division 8:

1 The Knife - Silent Shout

Boxer is good but I'm in love with Karin Dreijer Andersson...

Division 2:
5 Pink Floyd - Animals

Division 4:
6 Pavement - Brighten The Corners

Division 6:
2 Daft Punk - Discovery

Division 8:
1 The Knife - Silent Shout

Division 2:
4 Pink Floyd - Meddle

Division 4:
6 Pavement - Brighten The Corners

Division 6:
2 Daft Punk - Discovery

Division 8:
9 The National - Boxer

Less than a day to vote this week.

Right now there are two ties and one in striking distance.

And Harold casts the first vote against Silent Shout this entire tournament!

Pink Floyd - Meddle: I don't consider Animals in the same class as The Wall. The Wall is where Pink Floyd became bloated and mostly boring... well it was really their jump the shark moment and they really didn't do a whole lot after. Meddle is still Floyd in their prime though while Animals is just a decent album.

Pavement - Brighten The Corners
Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man - Out Of Season
Knife- Silent Shout

Count me as one more vote for Silent Shout!

I missed the news on the first week of round 2for some reason, and I'm up early for once, so I'll contribute.

Division 2:

4 Pink Floyd - Meddle

A slight edge to Meddle, since Animals just barely enters the territory of overlong prog-rock. But I still like both.

Division 4:

6 Pavement - Brighten The Corners


Division 6:

2 Daft Punk - Discovery

Division 8:

1 The Knife - Silent Shout

There are some incredible songs on Boxer, but I am still puzzled about its acclaim... there are some really boring songs on that record. Silent Shout keeps a haunting aesthetic throughout, and there's always a track you're in a particular mood to hear, even if it's just to hear the odd synthesized hook that sounds like nothing before or after it was made.

I guess I'm a fan of earlier works by Pink Floyd but I don't have the interest to listen to Animals tonight to check if I'm right so no vote for either Floyd album.

Points to
Divine Comedy: Casanova
Definitely not the best album by Hannon but I still hope to see it next round.

Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man - Out Of Season
Easy choice. I praised this in the first round. This week it's only the third best album in this game.

And the two best albums are against each other.
Silent Shout doesn't have the easiest path to the final. I really liked Broken Social Scene album and I really really love Boxer. I haven't checked who or what band will be against Knife in forthcoming rounds but I guess I will vote them every round in the future.
But Boxer was higher in my alltime list (both were rather high) so this week I vote for Boxer by National.

Division 4:
6 Pavement - Brighten The Corners
I wanted to get into Divine Comedy more and vote out this semi-great Pavement album, but I couldn't.

Am I too late?

My votes are for Meddle, Casanova, Beth Gibbons and The Knife

And, results.

Division 2:
4 Pink Floyd - Meddle 7 def
5 Pink Floyd - Animals 4

Division 4:
6 Pavement - Brighten the Corners 8 def
14 The Divine Comedy - Casanova 4

Division 6:
10 Beth Gibbons - Out Of Season 7 def
2 Daft Punk - Discovery 5

This is one of the most surprising upsets of the tournament so far, but not the first time something obscure beat something really popular.

Division 8:
1 The Knife - Silent Shout 11 def
9 The National - Boxer 2

Silent Shout doesn't get another shutout, but it still manages to dominate an AMF top 200 album.