[baystateoftheart]

Play-In 1A:


Gallarais by Áine O'Dwyer

Nominated By: Kool Keith Sweat
Genres [RYM]: Ambient, Drone, Modern Classical

Play-In 1B:


Exhilarator by Claro Intelecto

Nominated By: joyofdivision
Genre [RYM]: Techno

Instructions:

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 fourteen days. See Tournament Spreadsheet for the full bracket.
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[Repo]

Wow! This is going to be very tough. Both these album are aces in their respective genres.

Claro Intelecto begs the question why I don't listen to more techno. Reminds me of some of the IDM stuff I used to listen to in the 90s. Definitely can hang with anything I used to listen to on Warp records.

And then Gallarais is just something other worldly in how it captures the ambient sounds of our world so exactly. Like hanging in some medieval monastery as the monks go about their daily preparations preparing for mass & prayer. Reminds me of the soundtrack stuff from the Dekalog which I have been watching a lot of lately. Moody, somber, spacious. It fill you up in side with its beautiful, melancholic sadness. An environmental ambient masterpiece. Like watching the best black & white Criterion flick without any video footage necessary.

[CellarDoor]

Great selections. I didn't expect any less from these two BEAbes.

Aine O'Dwyer was a nice discovery. I had an impression of Diamanda Galas doing drone. Great for meditation I guess.

But I much preferred Exhilarator and its 90s BoC influenced tracks. An awesome surprise !

1 point to JoD.
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I'll be your plastic toy.

[Luigii]

Wow. Exhilarator to me at least is a masterful record. If this gets knocked out early, I'll be disappointed. Because though Gallarais is interesting, it isn't my thing. Felt somewhat of a slog. Which is funny considering Gallarais is only 40 minutes while Exhilarator is twice the length and just keep on being interesting all the way through.

[Purplepash]

I hadn't heard of either of these artists before and they are both genres I don't listen to much. (One of the things I appreciate about projects like this is having a reason to listen to things I normally wouldn't listen to). While Gallarais by Áine O'Dwyer provoked some lively discussion in my household (a family of 5 music lovers with varied tastes), and was arguably the more interesting one off listen, I enjoyed Exhilarator by Claro Intelecto a little bit more, so that gets my vote in this match up.

[mickilennial]

I liked the ambient techno a lot more. Just more of my thing.

[dihansse]

Definitely Exhilarator for me: at its best it indeed reminds of some of the Electronic Body Music of the eighties (cf fantastic Belgian band Front 242).

[Rhyner]

I had the opposite reaction as Luigii (and most of you, it seems). Exhilarator seemed to go on forever and never offered anything interesting or otherwise worthwhile. Gallarais, on the other hand, provided interesting and enjoyable ambiance without ever overstaying its welcome. I'm not in love with it, but it was definitely superior to Exhilarator in my opinion.

[Luigii]

[mickilennial]

Gallarais is just pretty basic minimalistic ambient with pretty moments that really lead up to nothing and an atmosphere that doesn't really invoke anything.