[baystateoftheart]

Seed #28A:


The Road Is Just A Surface by Anja Garbarek

Nominated by: craola
Genres [RYM]: Art Pop

Seed #28B:


You're A Shooting Star, I'm A Sinking S...ney Ballen

Nominated by: babyBlueSedan
Genres [RYM]: Indie Rock

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

I won't have a lot of time over the next month or so to listen to music, but I'm hoping to get around to most of these albums that I haven't heard. I guess I'll start with the Anja Garbarek one since it's up against my nomination. Speaking of which, here's what I wrote about Whitney Ballen on RYM:

If you name a song "Fucking," and then also use that word repeatedly in the chorus of said song, you have to be pretty careful. Fuck is a great word to use when it's used sparingly or unexpectedly, as it can really drive a point home. But if it's used too often it loses it's meaning and can feel unnecessary or try-hard. Fortunately, "Fucking" is a really...freaking...well-written song. It starts out with Whitney Ballen describing another girl who her former lover is now seeing and how the new girl is much cooler than her; she offers as proof the other girl's nose ring and torn jeans. But then comes the kicker: "I can't get any sleep, I've got vision of you fucking her in my dreams." It really increases the intensity of the song, and turns what was just a self-deprecation jam into a much angrier track.

This kind of self-deprecation is present throughout the album. On "Go" Ballen sings "Go, forget about me, I know it's easy." On the short freakout "Nothing" she wails "These are all the things I can't say to your face!", framing the album as a sort of diary about things she hasn't been able to tell friends or ex-lovers. Now, we're in a bit of a golden age right now as far as introspective, vaguely indie-rock-inspired music like this goes, so great lyrics like this aren't super hard to come by these days. However, Ballen stands out because of her delivery and her voice, which I can really only describe as childlike. It was actually kind of a shock when I first heard it. But she knows exactly how to use it; when she sweetly sings those lyrics from "Go" it gives the song kind of a mocking quality, as if she doesn't care anyway. Sometimes the sweetness is sincere though, as seen on "Rainier" where she talks about how she can't stop thinking about her ex, even having to stop herself from calling them to tell them about the coffee she's drinking (man, imagine being so infatuated with someone you can't wait to tell them about your coffee). And at times it can get downright sinister. "Black Cloud" is such a weird track that the only way I can describe it is as the closest thing an indie rock song has ever come to being a horror score. Ballen whispers lines about driving down a road and seeing a ghost over guitar lines that are so quiet that if you're actually driving and listening to the song they'd be drowned out by the sound of your tires on the road. Then the song explodes, not with any real words but just with guitars and Ballen shouting "woo-hoo!" This brings to mind a blur of images, of ghosts, crows, and your headlight catching something that just barely resembles a body. Then it gets quiet again, but little things like extra guitars or drum fills start to leak in. By the end it's such a cacophony of sound that it almost is a bit scary.

Musically this is pretty standard indie rock, but there are nice deviations or flourishes here and there. "Moon" has a nice climax during the chorus where some horns come in as Ballen sings "You taught me how to love somebody when you're not capable of loving nobody." The closer is a slower song that adds in some piano in a way that reminds me a bit of early Daniel Johnston. "Go" features some guitars near the end that are very reminiscent in sound to some of early Modest Mouse's work, which I'm not sure is a coincidence or not since she comes from the band's hometown of Issaquah. The record also recalls that band's penchant for nautical and natural imagery; I don't know if this is intentional or not, but there are some guitars and horns that almost sound like whales to me, as if the record is trying to evoke kind of an aquatic theme. I may be looking too far into it, but there are also lyrics about wanting to move to the mountains and drowning in the ocean, and I like thinking that the record was supposed to have kind of a natural feel, like you're supposed to be listening to it under a starry sky (hence the shooting star in the title, and let's not forget that sinking ships are one of Modest Mouse's favorite recurring themes).

All in all this is a solid indie rock album and I'm excited to hear where she goes from here. This album has kind of a sense of whimsy and exploration given the natural feel and left turns like "Black Cloud," so the potential is there for something even more exciting.
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[craola]

a bit surprised to see two votes already, given the collective ratings between these two tallies 13. i guess i need to up my game.

haven't voted yet (still listening to this whitney album), though i doubt anything will supplant my vote for my nomination, especially given that anja's a top 15-20 artist for me.

having said that, i'm four tracks into this whitney ballen record, and i'm pretty blown away. this is not at all what i was expecting. definitely has that indie edge that i saw coming (hello, album cover), but it's also got a lot of character and originality. overall, just a really great pick from seth babybluesedan. it's a pity these two are facing off in round one.

chart note on anja's:

this is one of those albums that feels more like a film than an album in some ways. there's not a particularly gripping scene but rather a narrative build to climax and resolution. it's beautiful, and it doesn't leave anything ugly stuck on replay in your head.
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[Fischman]

This pairing was a mixed bag of mixed bags for me. Anja had her moments, but it's not something I'd want to listen to from end to end or frequently. It is about as interesting as pop gets these days so points for that.

I actually liked the general sound of Ballen better. But while I wasn't too keen on Anja's vocals, Ballen's were completely offputting. so Anja got the vote.

[babyBlueSedan]

I wasn't expecting to like the Anja Garbarek record much based off of the genre, mostly because I expected it to sound like Jenny Hval or Julia Holter (two artists that everyone here but me likes). I was pleasantly surprised though because I liked it quite a bit. It was poppier than I expected, and while my main gripe with a lot of art pop is that it drags, this keeps up at a great pace. I liked the vocals a lot too. "Bob's Song" reminded me of The Knife, mostly because of the vocal effects.

Unfortunately I'm still voting for Ballen because of familiarity but I wouldn't be disappointed to lose to this album.
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And it's hard to be a human being. And it's harder as anything else.

[travelful]

Thank you for nominating Whitney Ballen, my friend.
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2020's Hip-Hop
2020's Country

[dihansse]

I'm a bit behind because I only started listening now and so I try to get a quick view on these first album and for me the Whitney Ballen album is definitely more appealing to me and it has already made it to my year chart. The female voice is a bit weird at the start but finally fits very well in with the music.
And it's actually the voice of Anja Garbarek that didn't do it for me on her album.

[mickilennial]

Yeah, it surprised me that I didn't really like Whitney Ballen.

[RoundTheBend]

Wow, the Anja Garbarek record took an interesting turn and got really interesting there...

[Purplepash]

How have I not heard Whitney Ballen before? My spotify algorithm, music sites I visit, radio, and musical social network have all let me down, because this is the sort of thing I listen to a lot...up and coming indie rock with personality. And how does she only have 628 monthly listeners on spotify? I especially loved Black Clouds. Gets my vote and makes my 2018 chart. Anja was good though, with a stronger second half of the album and Bob's Song the highlight.