Moderate Round 3, Week 2: Tigermilk vs Brighten the Corners, Silent Shout vs Icky Thump
Division 4:
7 Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk (1996, #1096)
def 10 Fountains of Wayne - s/t 7-5
def 15 St Etienne - So Tough 6-3
vs
6 Pavement - Brighten the Corners (1997, #1438)
def 11 No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom 10-4
def 14 The Divine Comedy - Casanova 8-4
Two beneficiaries of first round upsets, and two of the three acts left with two or more albums in the draw. Will Belle and Sebastian finally lose a match?
1 The Knife - Silent Shout (2006, #444)
def 16 Broken Social Scene - s/t 11-0
def 9 The National - Boxer 11-2
vs
4 The White Stripes - Icky Thump (2007, #1450)
def 13 Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze 8-3
def 5 Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 6-5
Silent Shout has faced no resistance whatsoever to this point and is the only album to pull off a shutout. It's also the highest AM ranked album in the draw. But, there's always hype backlash and 'the underdog effect' to worry about, and White Stripes have some vocal fans.
Re: Moderate Round 3, Week 2: Tigermilk vs Brighten the Corners, Silent Shout vs Icky Thump
Brighten the Corners
Both albums are my third favorite of their respective artists; the difference maker is that I think Belle and Sebastien is the epitome of mediocrity while Pavement is one of the greatest artists of all time. Brighten the Corners is often thought of as Pavement's pop album due to it's sleek production and radio-friendly singles. Some purists dont love it as much for this reason, but the music stays great throughout.
The Knife - Silent Shout
Again, no contest, the difference between a good album and a great album.
Re: Moderate Round 3, Week 2: Tigermilk vs Brighten the Corners, Silent Shout vs Icky Thump
Brighten the Corners: It was in my top 200 and I think it's one of the most underrated albums around. It's Pavement's most pop-friendly album while retaining their weird and wonderful idiosyncratic rock tendencies.
Icky Thump: A close call between two albums I like but don't love. But since I like Jack's guitar histrionics more than electronicy stuff, I'll take the White Stripes.
Re: Moderate Round 3, Week 2: Tigermilk vs Brighten the Corners, Silent Shout vs Icky Thump
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN “Tigermilk”
Yawn. When will get rid of so many Pavement albums?
THE KNIFE “Silent Shout”
It seems that it will be another step of Knife’s triumphal march. But I got the feeling that if it the pairings would have been at random it could have been eliminated by some 70s album.
Re: Moderate Round 3, Week 2: Tigermilk vs Brighten the Corners, Silent Shout vs Icky Thump
One more day to vote. One of the votes is pretty close, but for the result to be changed there'd have to be the highest turnout since this game started.
Since people are voting earlier than in the previous rounds, I assume it does mean anybody who's going to actually do the listening already has. So until the quarterfinals we'll go back to four matchups per week. (Unless anyone seriously objects).
