Welcome to Week 8!

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 8 is 11:59 PM, November 20th AM time.

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

Match 29:

Tori Amos- "Flying Dutchman"
Bang Bang Machine- "Geek Love"

Match 30:

Visage- "Fade to Grey"
Joanna Newsom- "Colleen"

Match 31:

Curtis Mayfield- "Right on for the Darkness"
Jack Johnson- "Flake"

Match 32:

OK Go- "A Million Ways"
Van Halen- "And the Cradle Will Rock"

Match 29:
1) Bang Bang Machine - "Geek Love"
2) Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman"
Geek Love est vraiment sympathique, sans être transcendante, c'est tout de même une bonne surprise et une belle découverte.
La chanson de Tori Amos m'a laissé de marbre.

Match 30:
1) Visage - "Fade to Grey"
2) Joanna Newsom - "Colleen"
Encore une belle découverte que ce "Visage". J'ai adoré. Si vous avez d'autres recommandations pour ce groupe, je suis preneur.
Pour Colleen, c'est la première fois depuis le début du jeu que je n'ai pas pu aller au bout d'une chanson.

Match 31:
1) Curtis Mayfield - "Right on for the Darkness"
2) Jack Johnson - "Flake"
Le link is dead for Curtis.
La chanson de Curtis devient immédiatement un de mes favoris pour la finale. Elle est exceptionnelle.
Johnson n'avait aucune chance face à lui...et de plus, je trouve sa chanson très moyenne.

Match 32:
1) Van Halen - "And the Cradle Will Rock"
2) OK Go - "A Million Ways"
Les deux chansons sont à égalité.
Je donne un demi point supplémentaire à van Halen pour les changements de rythme dans leur chanson.

"Flying Dutchman" wins because it has always been one of my all-time favorites.

"Fade to Gray" wins because it is musically more solid.

"Flake" wins for the same reasons as "Flying Dutchman".

"And the Cradle will Rock" wins because of the great line, "have you seen Junior's grades?"

Here's a new link for "Right on for the Darkness", one of the greatest songs ever:

Match 29:

Tori Amos- "Flying Dutchman": Ah yes, a very nice lost Tori track, from her glory days. This was originally slated to close Little Earthquakes (and a fine closer it would have been), but instead landed as a "China" b-side. Shame.

Bang Bang Machine- "Geek Love": I liked this well enough at first, but it's already faded from memory.

WINNER: Tori Amos


Match 30:

Visage- "Fade to Grey": Visage's fantastic new wave single is just too strong here.

Joanna Newsom- "Colleen": A good track by her, a bit out of her comfort zone in its up-tempo cadence (a good thing), but lands in some of her pitfalls lyrically.

WINNER: Visage


Match 31:

Curtis Mayfield- "Right on for the Darkness": This, my friends, is an absolute stone cold masterpiece, which continues to be bafflingly overlooked by, well, everyone. It had the unfortunate luck of landing on Mayfield's first uneven solo album (though Back to the World itself is underrated), so evidently gets lost in the Curtis/Superfly shuffle.

This is very unfortunate, because this has everything that made him great, opening at a slow boil, with funky enough drums to have been sampled by breakbeats, but then we get this astonishing build and brilliant arrangement, as horns, guitar and drums stab in and out of the mix, interplaying with his usual dignified falsetto.

But the real brilliance is the coda, a sweep of orchestra that is right up there with any of the 20th century classical music that I know and love.

So yeah, this has my vote.

Jack Johnson- "Flake": Fortunately, I didn't have to feel bad about who was going up against Curtis, because I find Jack Johnson infinitely boring.

WINNER: Curtis Mayfield by a country mile


Match 32:

OK Go- "A Million Ways": At this point, I've gone from being actively annoyed by OK Go to merely apathetic. Not sure which is worse.
Van Halen- "And the Cradle Will Rock": I dunno if this or "Romeo Delight" is the highlight from the patchy but fun Women and Children First. Manages to be both epic and silly in a way only Van Halen could pull off.

WINNER: Van Halen

Tori Amos
Great song, I was tempted to pick geek machine just because they admit to being fellow geeks.

Joanna Newsom
No competition here, not really into visage, and Joanna's one of the best of the decade.

Curtis
One of Curtis' greatest acheivements, I am stunned it is not AM ranked.

Van Halen
I've got to go with my pick. Have you seen Junior's grades?

Match 29:
Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman" over Bang Bang Machine - "Geek Love"

Tori does a great job on this song. The pulsation effects can get annoying, but generally the songs is quite pleasant. I don't know how far this song would go in subsequent rounds but against "Geek Love" it wins for me. I thought that Geek Love was a pretty good song, but it just didn't work for me as well "Flying Dutchman."

Match 30:
1) Joanna Newsom - "Colleen" wins over
2) Visage - "Fade to Grey"
I'm not a big Newsom fan yet. But, her music has a lot going for it. As of now, even though Newson demonstrates an interesting range with her vocals, I find some of the higher pitched portions to be over-nasally and otherwise somewhat annoying. Perhaps after I grow more accustomed to and accepting of her vocals, I'll catch the Newsom bug. The Visage tune just did not rev me up at all. Nothing annoying about it, but there just wasn't enough that caught my ear as musically interesting to win over Newsom's song here.


Match 31:
1) Curtis Mayfield - "Right on for the Darkness" wins over
2) Jack Johnson - "Flake"
Mayfield's song may deserved to be acclaimed and has many good portions, but as a whole I did not find it especially exciting the first time through. Perhaps after a few more listens, I will appreciate it a bit more. "Flake" is a fine song - catchy and clever. But, it does seem to be a bit lacking in transitions and variations.

Match 32:
1) Van Halen - "And the Cradle Will Rock" wins over
2) OK Go - "A Million Ways"
This match was a lot closer than expected it would be. "And the Cradle Will Rock" seemed entirely disposable as did the OK Go tune. I was a bit disappointed with the Van Halen song

Match 29:
Tori Amos- "Flying Dutchman"
Bang Bang Machine- "Geek Love"

In the week of the easiest choices ever, we start out with Tori Amos obliterating Bang Bang Machine—although they are quite good. Flying Dutchman is a song that could (and perhaps should) have been on Little Earthquakes. As Henry mentioned, though, I could have done without the pulsation.

Match 30:
Visage- "Fade to Grey"
Joanna Newsom- "Colleen"

Excellent New Order-esque synthpop versus harpgirl. Visage wins.

Match 31:
Curtis Mayfield- "Right on for the Darkness"
Jack Johnson- "Flake"

Johnson is the very definition of bland, and Mayfield's epic masterpiece makes this an almost laughable match. Perhaps my favorite song I didn't nominate myself in the competition.

Match 32:
OK Go- "A Million Ways"
Van Halen- "And the Cradle Will Rock"

Fun clip for OK Go, just like their previous entry, but not as good a song as the other one. Surprisingly underwhelmed by Van Halen; what's so great about "Have you seen Junior's grades?"?

Vote: Tori Amos

I really like Tori Amos' style, but it never seems to stick with me over a full album. But, in small doses like this one, she sounds amazing. Geek Love was good, better than most of Week 7, but it's against a better song.

Vote: Joanna Newsom

Fade to Grey's a pretty good synthy 80's song but doesn't stand out much. Colleen on the other hand does stand out as something special. It's not as eccentric as her later work, but it's got this lush Celtic feel that's really appealing.

Vote: Curtis Mayfield

Jack Johnson's a competent guitar player and songwriting, but also kind of bland. Curtis Mayfield's sometimes hit or miss but he's anything but bland. I don't like the string section in this song but I love the funky beat and vocals.

Vote: OK Go

OK Go are competent and great at videos but musically, a little boring and repetitive. Van Halen's is also pretty boring though. You don't get the guitar riffs you get in some of their better songs, and that's really all they're good for.

Match 29 Winner - Tori Amos, "Flying Dutchman"

I'm not a big fan of Amos. The combo of the highly dramatic delivery and girlish soprano doesn't do much for me. But as I said last week regarding "Clubbed to Death," I like a good piano/strings combo. The orchestration here is nice and adds to a solid chorus melody. And while I'm not a fan of Amos' voice, it is a lot stronger than that of Bang Bang Machine's lead singer. The slow beginning was a bit painful, to be honest. When the song picks up in the middle, it gets better. I can never hate that early- and mid- alt rock sound. Tough choice between the two, but Amos gets my nod.

Match 30 Winner - Joanna Newsom, "Colleen"

My appreciation for that heavy synth sound of the 80's has grown in recent years. This Visage track is a good example of why I should have been more open to it earlier. The mood it sets is evocative. But the Newsom track is stronger musically. I particularly like that sharp cry of "Ha," backed by the finger picked lutes (or whatever the instrument is).

Match 31 Winner - Curtis Mayfield, "Right On For The Darkness"

Mayfield is simply unparalleled. The sweetest voice in soul, married with deeply funky arrangements and searing and evocative lyrics. It's so damn good. Poor Jack Johnson, an artist who I think gets a bad rap, stands no chance. As a father of young children, I have had a soft spot for Johnson based upon his lovely, tonally perfect songs for the refreshingly gentle Curious George movie from a few years back. This was another lovely song that got a really bad draw in round one.

Match 32 Winner - Van Halen, "The Cradle Will Rock"

OK Go always felt a little antiseptic to me. Technically proficient and good songwriters, but they draw no emotional response from me. Sometimes you need a little Diamond Dave and Eddie Van Halen licks to really give you a pick up.

OK, this is weird. In any case, I have recorded the votes of everyone who posted on this (original) thread, including the posts that have since disappeared.

However, I have not yet tallied the votes on the "Unacclaimed Stop-Gap" thread. I believe Midaso and ako voted there. If you wouldn't mind posting your picks (you don't need to write descriptions, though), that would be great!

Given all of the confusion, let's extend the deadline a week from the original deadline.

The new deadline is 11:59PM, November 27th AM time.

I really appreciate the deadline extension!

Match 29:

Bang Bang Machine- "Geek Love"

The Tori Amos song was fine, a example of that musician at her best, but I have grown familiar with the Tori Amos sound over many years, and I respect it but don't always prefer it over more interesting sounds. This Geek Love was the most unique discovery of this round. It's a little shoegazy but with a strong vocal presence. Didn't know anything about this band before the round.

Match 30:

Joanna Newsom- "Colleen"

Visage's song was really good new wave... maybe top 2 or 3 of this week. But I have not made it a priority to hear Joanna Newsom's EP, and as I'm continually liking Have One On Me, hearing another creative variation of her sound made her the winner.

Match 31:

Curtis Mayfield- "Right on for the Darkness"

A week win for Curtis. No one does this drawn out funk like him, but I found myself a little bored by it, compared to the other songs. I still have to give it the edge over Jack Johnson's pleasant but rather straightforward song.

Match 32:

OK Go- "A Million Ways"

Trying to separate the OK Go songs without imagining what funky video goes with it is hard! They are great at making tight fun sounding songs, I'll give them that but not much else. It still beats a Van Halen song that didn't do much for me. I'm surprised that their 3rd studio album dropped so much of the acclaimed radar before 1984 picked them up again.

To whom it is relevant I hope everyone enjoyed their Turkey Day!

Match 29:

pass : I liked both songs but found none exceptional, I might enjoy The Flying Dutchman a bit more but Geek Love surprised me in a good way

Match 30:

Joanna Newsom- "Colleen" : Fade to Grey is great musically but the sung and spoken parts are rather annoying, on the other hand Colleen might be the 2nd best Joanna Newsom song I ever heard

Match 31:

Curtis Mayfield- "Right on for the Darkness"[/url]

Average Jack can not stand the competition here, Curtis can pretend to win the final game with such a great song

Match 32:

OK Go- "A Million Ways"
"And the cradle will rock" is a bit annoying while I find OK Go singles enjoyable even though not great

Just to repeat,my votes were for:

Bang Bang Machine- "Geek Love"
Visage- "Fade to Grey"
Curtis Mayfield- "Right on for the Darkness"
Van Halen- "And the Cradle Will Rock"

Match 29:

Tori Amos- "Flying Dutchman": My brother is a huge Tori Amos fan, so I've heard a lot of her stuff. This one I hadn't heard before, and it's quite nice! I can appreciate Tori in small doses, and this was a nice reminder of that. She's definitely more worthy of appreciation than what I give her, and I can't quite figure out why that is, but I enjoyed this.

Bang Bang Machine- "Geek Love": I enjoyed this one a bit more. Perhaps it was because I had never heard of it or Bang Bang Machine before, but this was good early-90s fun.

Match 30:

Visage- "Fade to Grey": It should come as no surprise that I would pick the 80s synth pop song to advance. This song totally deserves it, though, with the great vocals, video and atmosphere.

Joanna Newsom- "Colleen": I understand that Joanna Newsom is a real talent, but her material has never greatly appealed to me, and this is no exception.

Match 31:

Curtis Mayfield- "Right on for the Darkness": Holy wow! What a score! I don't really know any Curtis Mayfield, and this was an awe-inspiring introduction, filled with gorgeous vocals, lavish funk and exciting transitions. I need to get some Curtis Mayfield, like, yesterday!

Jack Johnson- "Flake": Never stood a chance.

Match 32:

OK Go- "A Million Ways": I prefer this song to "This Too Shall Pass". The video still seems like a big gag, and that kind of turns me off, but the catchiness of the song still earns it a victory here.

Van Halen- "And the Cradle Will Rock": For as much hair metal as I loved in the 80s (and I still dig Mötley Crüe), I never took to Van Halen, at least with David Lee Roth as the lead. Give me some "Poundcake" all day over David Lee Roth's stuff, as horrifying as such an opinion may sound! This song wasn't bad, but it didn't really make me reconsider my position of which brand of VH I prefer.

Just a reminder- I still don't have ako's votes tallied, as I can't seem to find them.

Match 29
Tori Amos - Flying Dutchman: A truly beautiful song. I was a bit dubious about the six and a half minutes length beforehand and it certainly is a bit of a show piece, which would make me turn it off in another mood; but its extravagance at times is required, to match its intricacy. A fairly straightforward winner here, which isn't to take anything away from Geek Love, a decent song.

Match 30
Visage - Fade to Grey: If I were to have pinpointed the exact year of this song, I'd have got it spot on. Extremely 1980, but in the end it just overcomes Joanna Newsom's more idiosyncratic weirdness.

Match 31
Curtis Mayfield - Right On for Darkness: Absolutely loving this song, though it does drag on a bit. Jack Johnson is capable of more; there doesn't seem much in Flake.

Match 32
OK Go - A Million Ways: This is actually quite a strong track (with an underwhelming video by their standards!); the Van Halen song ventures dangerously towards the territory of Dad Rock.

There is a tie. I'll give ako the chance to decide it (I can't find what ako's votes were), but if ako does not confirm it within the next 24 hours, the tie will be broken by the next person to vote!

I found ako's votes! This means that voting for this week has closed.

I will copy and paste them here:

Match 29:
Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman"
This was a though bracket and the vote has gone back and forth during the week. Still Tori gets the vote, even though it is note one of her best. It gets the job done in this bracket against a song that i found intresting at first, but it has slowly faded.

Match 30:
Visage - "Fade to gray"
Gets the victory of nostalgic reason. This is one of the first songs i really hooked on to when i developed a music awerness as young.
I am a hugh fan of Newsom. This makes it hard to vote against her. However "Collen" is an average song with her standards and would not make my top-10.

Match 31:
Curtis Mayfield - Right on for Darkness
Curtis is one artist still on my todo list. This song makes it even more urgent.
"Flake" gets an average score in my book.

Match 32:
OK Go - "A Milion Ways"
In a bracket without a personal favorit, the lesser known wins the coin toss. This weeks weak bracket.

Here are your results for Week 8!

Match 29:

Tori Amos - "Flying Dutchman": 14
Bang Bang Machine - "Geek Love": 4

Tori Amos stormed out of the gate and never looked back, although Bang Bang Machine scored a few late votes to prevent a total annihilation.

Match 30:

Visage - "Fade to Grey": 10
Joanna Newsom - "Colleen": 9

The closest match of the week went to the very end. Joanna Newsom established an early lead, but the icy synths of Visage allured a lot of late voters, and it earned the narrowest of victories.

Match 31:

Curtis Mayfield - "Right on for the Darkness": 17
Jack Johnson - "Flake": 2

A blowout to end all blowouts, Curtis scored the biggest victory of the first round, earning nearly 90% of the votes.

Match 32:

OK Go - "A Million Ways": 8
Van Halen - "And the Cradle Will Rock": 11

Van Halen raced out to a sizable early lead, but OK Go made it close in the end.

The winners advance to the Winners Bracket 1 (W1), while the losers can take heart in the fact that they are not out of the game yet, and move to Losers Bracket 1 (L1).

Up-to-date brackets are available here.