SCORES & UPCOMING GAMES



CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL SCORE: (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 168, (7) Tracy Chapman 159 .......... FINAL FOUR FINAL SCORES: (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 154, (1) Joy Division 90 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 137, (1) The Cure 89 .......... ELITE EIGHT FINAL SCORES: (1) JOY DIVISION 74, (14) Low 60 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 85, (1) Elliott Smith 69 ..... THE CURE 65, (2) Radiohead 58 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 74, (1) Neutral Milk Hotel 44 ..... FINAL SWEET SIXTEEN SCORES: (1) JOY DIVISION 75, (5) PJ Harvey & Nick Cave 24 ..... (14) LOW 73, (2) Concrete Blonde (64) ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 78, (4) Gary Jules 44 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 74, (6) Kate Bush 53 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 54, (13) The Church 49 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 73, (3) Sinead O’Connor 35 ..... (1) THE CURE 109, (3) Tori Amos 86 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 76, (6) This Mortal Coil 50 ..... (1) JOY DIVISION 96, (9) Mazzy Star 91 ..... (2) CONCRETE BLONDE 76, (7) Bob Mould 28 ..... (14) LOW 60, (6) Crowded House 51 ..... (5) PJ HARVEY & NICK CAVE 65, (4) Alphaville 38 ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 113, (8) Replacements 88 ..... (6) KATE BUSH 87, (3) Nirvana 64 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 99, (2) The Eels 62 ..... (3) GARY JULES 103, (12) Morrissey 63 ..... (6) Kate Bush 72, (3) Nirvana 53 ..... (3) SINEAD O'CONNOR 66, (11) Ride 27 ..... (13) THE CHURCH 106, (5) James 44 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 95, (10) Smashing Pumpkins 40 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 80, (9) New Order 56 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 102, (7) Nine Inch Nails 99 ..... (6) THIS MORTAL COIL 61, (3) Indigo Girls 60 ..... (4) TORI AMOS 89, (5) Swans 40 ..... (1) CURE 82, (8) Tom Waits 68 ............... FINAL 1ST ROUND SCORES: (5) PJ HARVEY & NICK CAVE 93, (12) Midnight Oil 38 ..... (7) BOB MOULD 63, (10) Peter Murphy 47 ..... (1) JOY DIVISION 117, (16) Erasure 19 ..... (6) CROWDED HOUSE 98, (11) Leonard Cohen 54 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 199, (10) The Smiths 162 ..... (5) MORRISSEY 115, (12) Morphine 83 ..... (3) NIRVANA 137, (14) Slowdive 102 ..... (8) THE REPLACEMENTS 128, (9) Dream Academy 82 ..... (13) THE CHURCH 262, (4) Magnetic Fields 193 ..... (10) SMASHING PUMPKINS 165, (7) Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 155 ..... (9) NEW ORDER 160, (8) Sarah McLachlan 78 ..... (1) JEFF BUCKLEY 204, (16) Bjork 92 ..... (4) TORI AMOS 78, (13) Echo & the Bunnymen 22 ..... (8) TOM WAITS 72, (9) The Pretenders 22 ..... (6) THIS MORTAL COIL 51, (11) Yaz 31 ..... (3) INDIGO GIRLS 71, (14) Pavement 26 ..... (9) MAZZY STAR 132, (8) REM 46 ..... (2) CONCRETE BLONDE 88, (15) Psychedelic Furs 34 ..... (4) ALPHAVILLE 71, (13) Dead Can Dance 36 ..... (14) LOW 120, (3) U2 65 ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 63, (16) 10,000 Maniacs 24 ..... (2) EELS 50, (15) Counting Crows 46 ..... (4) GARY JULES 62, (13) Depeche Mode 19 ..... (6) KATE BUSH 59, (11) Sisters of Mercy 20 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 42, (16) Violent Femmes 12 ..... (11) RIDE 25 (6) Peter Gabriel 24 ..... (3) SINEAD O'CONNOR 37, (14) Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 17, ..... (5) JAMES 24, (12) Red House Painters 23 ..... (7) NINE INCH NAILS 46, (10) Wilco 31, (5) SWANS 31, (12) Pet Shop Boys 18 ..... (1) THE CURE 50, (16) Gear Daddies 10 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 40, (15) Liz Phair 35


CURRENT GAMES BELOW — PAST GAMES ARCHIVED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

First Round Matchup: REM vs MAZZY STAR

(8) REM, "South Central Rain"

Tough selection—downbeat and plaintive—from one of the essential bands of the college rock era. The committee started with the more obvious “Everybody Hurts,” but listening to it decided that ultimately it is a song not of pain but of consolation, and you know, screw that. From there, it’s harder to isolate the saddest REM song. We suppose it depends what we mean by sad, but parsing that is the point of the whole bracket. Thought about "Country Feedback," "Man in the Moon," and about every other song in their oeuvre, all of which, barring "Shiny Happy People" could qualify. But rarely is REM as baldly sad as the chorus here: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Particularly in their earlier songs, even the sadness “Did you never call? I waited for your call” is cryptic and nested in less obvious lyrics: “The trees will bend, the cities wash away / The city on the river there is a girl without a dream.” The 8 seed represents the committee's unsureness about the song, not the band. There's no sadness in REM without complication. That's a good thing, we think, and we expect this song to go deep into the tournament.



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(9) Mazzy Star, "Fade Into You"

How good did Mazzy Star make this particular variety of languorous melancholy seem? How pleasurable is it to immerse oneself in the slowness of the lost cause, and to luxuriate in the fullness of this sound? Never mind that until maybe three years ago some of the committee thought the lyric was not “Fade Into You” but “Baby I’m Dreaming.” That portion of this selection committee has never been one for lyrics, to be honest, which is embarrassing to admit, and which has led to some recent surprises. This is a fact that might bear some consideration: how can you call yourself open to sadness without attention to the lyrics? Well, how important are they here really? Isn't it the spell that the song casts that holds you, and not the exact words in the spellbook? And anyhow, how irreplaceable Hope Sandoval’s vocals seem now and how iconic this song's become. How effortlessly you're transported with the first fifteen seconds of the song to the experience of sitting in a pool on a blisteringly sunny day with a glass of warm tequila as the sun wipes out everything in your vision as you become one with the one you love. How narcotic it feels to be here in this song again. This bracket offers few easy choices. By listening here, what do you start to understand about your susceptibility and capacity for particular sorts of sadness? What are you capable of?

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Which is sadder? Vote by 9am 3/9

Fade Into You
South Central Rain
Poll Maker

15 comments:

  1. Brutal matchup. Just brutal.

    If nothing else comes out of this tournament, this matchup helped me re-listen to one of my least favorite R.E.M. songs (that's obviously not true, since I don't really count most of the post Berry R.E.M. songs as R.E.M. songs). While I stand by my bravado regarding "Country Feedback," this one is better and sadder than my gut reaction suggested. To wit: how have I not really paid attention to that howl/snarl/mourning noise at the end of the thing. It's like the untranslatable grief words in Aeschylus.

    And Mazzy Star somehow manages to have aged well.

    Just brutal. Both deserved better.

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    1. Yeah, this is, I think, the matchup of the day. Hard not to want to run the bracket again with some of the other REM choices, like Perfect Circle. Mazzy Star could pull the upset. Maybe it's not an upset, since this is an 8 and 9 seed, but in terms of the level of fandom and fame, it would be... though the winner is probably up against freaking Joy Division in the next round, so there's that.

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  2. I am prepared to defend Mazzy Star here, as I think “Fade Into You” is quintessential in its inherent sadness, both in tone and lyric. Slide guitar only enhances the effect. What's interesting to me is the extent to which votes could be biased due to the embedded music videos, because what is un-sad about hazy glances of a drunken freight train sauntering by amid the glimmer of Hope Sandoval’s modest bosom? Indeed, it is a composition of desert isolation: the heat, the glare, the unrelenting decimation. Does the sun wipe out everything in my vision? Absolutely. Is tequila the best remedy? I would prefer a tall, refreshing glass of gin & chilled tonic to spritz on my face. Then fade into the tremendous duet, “Sometimes Always” and imagine life's capacity for particular sorts of sadness were Hope & Jim Reid my mum and pup. Cheers.

    https://youtu.be/OsOWNVkBhU0

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    1. That duet's a great song, yea. I think, actually, that J&MC and Mazzy Star have aged similarly well because both basically do the one thing, and do it well. No one's out here complaining about how Hope Sandoval and co jumped the shark with that country album (though I would totally listen to that country album if they made one).

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  3. Counterpoint: Hope Sandoval is annoying and seems half-asleep all the time. Sleepcore. Have an affect, Hope Sandoval.

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  5. I'm not ashamed to say that Mazzy Star was once playing during a particularly memorable rendezvous with a hot guy I would never see again because he had a boyfriend. Don't judge me.

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  6. I really don't even think that the Mazzy Star song is sad. I think it's plaintive and Roback's slide certainly melancholies the whole thing but but, on this match up, it's Stipe that brings the infinite sadness. 100 + votes for Mazzy Star disagrees but I'm waiting to see Tom Wait's "Fawn" or "Why Wasn't God Watching" come up. Those are pretty sad.

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  7. I think you can definitely make that case. I mean, it's definitely melancholy as fuck, but I'm not sure how sad it is when you read it closely. The voters seem to have decided that it is, however. A triumph of surface over depth? Our Waits choice is (I know this is going to be controversial) "Downtown Train," for reasons partly to be explained in the post on the matchup tomorrow. He's got a whole boatload of sad songs. Maybe we're just looking for a reason to link to the WEIRD ASS Patty Smythe ("The Warrior") cover version and video...

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  8. REM?? A band named after a type of deep sleep characterized by low muscle tone? Fucking mandolins! Athens, Georgia? Has REM never not been REM? They aren't sad, because they aren't authentic, except for Shiny Happy People, one of the greatest early Norwegian black metal power ballads of all time.

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  9. The REM vs Mazzy Star is a difficult one for me to vote on. Love both artists so much. Hope Sandoval emanates sadness before she even begins to sing. Beautiful sadness. But I;ve had a longer career with REM and besides, Michael Stipe once asked me for a light and kept my lighter.

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  10. PS There is a live medley of So Central Rain where he does a bit of Peter Gabriel's Red Rain which is phenomenal. I had it once on this 3" CD. Anyway, the point is it is a much sadder version than the studio one, in case you care to seek it out.

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    1. Yeah, man, that live version is killer. The sparseness makes it sadder. It's Time After Time/Red Rain/ South Central Rain and here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xivLI7440sA

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