Best Ever Albums

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

baystateoftheart — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 19:57:17 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 07/26/2021 23:57

Brass defeats We Will Always Love You 11-8 to advance to the sweet sixteen.

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

cestuneblague — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 19:05:19 GMT

Author: cestuneblague

Posted: 07/22/2021 23:05

I got it wrong, what I meant to get across that this particular Avalanches record feels more like a natural evolution of something I would've- hypothetically- expected of the Innerspeaker/Lonerism era-Tame Impala if they went in a more electronic/sampling direction, but Currents always just felt like awkward digital rotoscoping of their catchier bits and now... they kind of just exist. Either way, it's a good album on it's on right, only in this matchup I prefer Woods/Moor, that's it.

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

baystateoftheart — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 17:27:48 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 07/22/2021 21:27

cestuneblague wrote:

Yeah it's been interesting to see Avalanches midlife evolution, now seem to be one-upping whatever the fuck Tame Impala are doing these days

Huh, I don't see much of a sonic parallel, nor do I think The Avalanches are thinking about their music in relation to Tame Impala's. Kevin Parker did a bit of drumming on Wildflower, but I'm skeptical that he's been influential on them.

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

baystateoftheart — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 17:17:28 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 07/22/2021 21:17

TBQH I was expecting this match to have one of the highest vote totals of the first round, not one of the lowest vote totals. To those who haven't voted, are you having a hard time making up your mind, have you not gotten around to this match yet (but you plan to), or do these albums simply not interest you enough to listen?

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

cestuneblague — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 10:57:23 GMT

Author: cestuneblague

Posted: 07/22/2021 14:57

Yeah it's been interesting to see Avalanches midlife evolution, now seem to be one-upping whatever the fuck Tame Impala are doing these days, but Moor and Billy are a match made in heaven and it's just the more exciting listen overall.

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

EyeKanFly — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 10:26:44 GMT

Author: EyeKanFly

Posted: 07/22/2021 14:26

I think this was one of the most interesting match-ups of the tournament because they're both incredibly high quality, but TOTALLY different genres. I'd be happy to see either of them advance.

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

travelful — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 08:45:51 GMT

Author: travelful

Posted: 07/22/2021 12:45

Almost certainly gonna vote for Moor Mother & Billy Woods but I'll give The Avalanches one more listen first. I heard this album already I think twice but can't remember anything about it.

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

sandboy — Sun, 4 Jul 2021 07:07:49 GMT

Author: sandboy

Posted: 07/04/2021 11:07

We Will Always Love You is such a listenable record. I always find myself putting it on and letting it play. Bright, lively, varied. It definitely dips a little in the middle, where it's concept starts to lose focus. But what a wonderful concept it is, more-so a tonal concept that something literal, which I love. Like a lost analogue recording we're listening to a thousand years later in a digital sea. Definitely a set down from Since I Left You technically, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't prefer listening to it on the day-to-day.

I think 'Brass' is the much more successful record of the two, however. It's a more demanding and uncomfortable listen. It sounds like the last thing you hear before being head-shot in a ditch. Harrowing and real. Billy Woods is possibly one of the most important artists in the game right now, but Moor Mother absolutely matches his energy, there's a real tension and dynamic between the two of them. Nothing sounds quite like it.

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

kokkinos — Thu, 1 Jul 2021 16:41:03 GMT

Author: kokkinos

Posted: 07/01/2021 20:41

In contrast to most of you, this is one of the easiest decisions of the first round.
We Will Always Love You has some fantastic moments, but as an album it doesn't work for me as well as its highlights would suggest. I undestand that the interludes contribute to the overall atmosphere/feel the album is trying to create, but more often than not I find myself patiently waiting for the good stuff. In other words, you could say I like their music more than I like their concept - which is a shame, as I'm missing out on one of the main elements that makes them so special, but it is what it is.
This could have been a deciding factor in a different matchup, but here it doesn't matter that much, as Brass is in a league of its own. A top-5 2020 album and considering that the 3 or 4 albums I would rank higher don't appear here, I'd love to see this winning the whole thing.
Brass gets my vote.

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

baystateoftheart — Thu, 1 Jul 2021 00:05:47 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 07/01/2021 04:05

I don't think I'll have the time to write a track-by-track review soon, so I'll just throw something up here. We Will Always Love You is another excellent Avalanches album, making them 3/3 with classics in my book. While still very sample-heavy, this is much less of a plunderphonics album than Wildflower, which in turn is less of one than Since I Left You. Instead of forming the backbone of everything, the samples are here more as complements, reminding me a bit of Jens Lekman's approach on Night Falls Over Kortedala (another favorite album of mine). In quintessential Avalanches fashion, the songs flow together nearly perfectly to create a cohesive and immersive listening experience, and have remarkable emotional potency and depth. We Will Always Love You also ups the ante on the guest-heavy nature of Wildflower, and the all-star roster includes some truly inspired pairings.

The concept of the album is another strong point. It's a very existential record, ruminating on lives and loves past and the connection that remains, from both a more immediate, personal perspective and a universal, bird's-eye view. Wikipedia has a pretty concise summary of some other interesting aspects of the background:

Wikipedia wrote:

The album's concept is rooted in "death, the afterlife, the stars, celestial beings and everything that's out there" in the context of their tendency to sample music from artists that have passed away.[1] Chater explains:

"When we're sampling very, very old recorded music, the singer may have long passed so it's almost like summoning spirits [...] If we sample a record from the 40s, someone else has owned that record for maybe 50 years and played it a million times, and so they've added to the crackles on the vinyl. Then that record has come into my life and we've sampled it and made a song out of it. [...] It's just a beautiful flow of energy, that we're only a small part of - and so the album was reflecting on all those sorts of processes."[12]

The cover art features an image of Ann Druyan, creative director of the Voyager Golden Record project. The image, modified from the photo taken by Bettina Cirone around 1980, was run through a spectograph, turned into sound, then processed back into an image.[18][19] The group wanted to work with her after hearing that the sound of her heartbeat captured for the Golden Record was recorded the day after Carl Sagan proposed to her. They booked studio time to record her voice for the album, but she canceled the recording. She still gave them permission to use her image on the cover.[10]

Of course, none of this would matter if the songs didn't deliver, and they absolutely do. There's plentiful outstanding production, vocals, and songwriting throughout the runtime. While not every track is transcendent, most are, and there are no duds. For what it's worth, this was also a major grower for me. I was a fan from first listen, but it was my most recent listen before the tournament when it fully clicked. 4.5/5.

Brass is a very good album in its own right, but obviously not getting my vote here.

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 22:00:44 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 07/01/2021 02:00

I liked most of the Billy Woods albums that I listened to. But when I first listened to Brass when it was released, I didn't like it enough. If I now have more consideration for this album, the fact remains that I prefer We Will Always Love You. I vote for The Avalanches.

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

EyeKanFly — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 18:17:05 GMT

Author: EyeKanFly

Posted: 06/30/2021 22:17

Yeah this was a really close one. Ditto what others have said, and I think I just gotta go with Avalanches.

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

Antonio-Pedro — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 08:41:22 GMT

Author: Antonio-Pedro

Posted: 06/30/2021 12:41

Such a shame both these got together. Voting for my pick obviously, but damn I think this avalanches record was damn underrated last year

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

RoundTheBend — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 21:41:28 GMT

Author: RoundTheBend

Posted: 06/29/2021 01:41

Hayden wrote:

:-k

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This one will take some mulling. Think I'm leaning Moor Mother/Billy Woods, but that Avalanches record has some great cuts. I feel like both were immediately underappreciated because of the time of year they dropped.

Yeah at first glance I was thinking the same thing (easy win for Moor Mother/Billy Woods) because I fell in love at first listen. Upon a repeat it lost some lovin feelin, while Avalanches is a group I haven't really loved, and yet started to like this one quite a bit more.

Re: Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

Hayden — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 19:07:14 GMT

Author: Hayden

Posted: 06/28/2021 23:07

🤔

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This one will take some mulling. Think I'm leaning Moor Mother/Billy Woods, but that Avalanches record has some great cuts. I feel like both were immediately underappreciated because of the time of year they dropped.

Round 1: The Avalanches v. Moor Mother & Billy Woods

baystateoftheart — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 18:04:39 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 06/28/2021 22:04

Seed #7:

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We Will Always Love You by The Avalanches

Nominated by: baystateoftheart
Genres [RYM]: Neo-Psychedelia, Electronic

Seed #16:

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Brass by Moor Mother & Billy Woods

Nominated by: Antonio-Pedro
Genres [RYM]: Abstract Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop, East Coast Hip Hop

Instructions:

If you have not already, please listen to both albums in full before voting. Share your thoughts and/or your vote in this thread. This poll will be tallied in no fewer than twenty-eight days. See Tournament Spreadsheet for the full bracket.