Nominated by: Gowi
Genres [RYM]: Singer/Songwriter, Country, Americana
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. _________________ Join us in the canon game :) / Add me on RYM
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
Lori McKenna is a beast and one of the best singer/songwriters going and I look forward to FINALLY checking out her latest album for this match. Never heard No Favours by Footsie. Will get to a listen to these soon. _________________ -Ryan
Probably the easiest matchup of the play-in mini tournament for me.
No Favours is my favourite 2020 album and the one I would have nominated hadn't it already been picked.
That being said, I'll try to give The Balladeer a fair shot, but it would take a monumental effort to turn this around. _________________ Bob Dylan Charles Mingus
Well, this is an interesting match up. I have played an album like this Footsie album maybe 5 times in my life. Just has never been a genre I've explored. But albums within the genre and style of The Balladeer is in the hundreds upon hundreds. THAT is a a style I know and love. As a result I can say with some confidence Lori McKenna has done it again with another warm, wise and beautiful country rock and folk singer/songwriter album. I feel fully what she is writing and she does such a great job writing these narratives from her perspective with nice details and stirring sentiments. The instrumentals are consistently crisp and warm folk americana pieces and the little instrumental details are subtle and beautifully done. She is, like I mentioned earlier, one of the best and most consistent americana songwriters of the 21st century.
But...No Favours is a buffet of sounds and styles that I am completely unfamiliar with. There is a pulse and power and swagger and intoxicating vibe on display. The whole album just has an incredibly badass style and flow. The little electronic details are awesome and the vocals are so kick ass. Makes me wish I had been paying more attention to Grime all these years. The bass lines and beats are so physical and groovy. I really enjoy this sound.
In the end these 2 albums are strange to compare. I suppose my bias in the direction of Lori McKenna the artist and what style she works in is what won in the end. I think I like The Balladeer slightly more and it is just such a human expression and I am a sucker for americana songwriters and acoustic guitars and shit. So The Balladeer wins for me but not because Footsie wasn't good.
THE BALLADEER GETS THE VOTE _________________ -Ryan
The Balladeer was decent, better than expected at least. Folk/country is not exactly my cup of tea, but I find this somewhat poppy, ear-pleasing branch of it surprisingly tolerable. Another good thing is it doesn't compromise too much in order to achieve this sound, it has enough personality to avoid getting anywhere near generic.
Still, it's a no contest, No Favours get my vote. _________________ Bob Dylan Charles Mingus
Footsie has long been massively underrated, suffering from what I like to call “Big Boi syndrome”: being one half of a legendary duo - in this case Newham Generals - yet overshadowed by his partner, D Double E (widely regarded as one of the greatest of all-time in their given genre). Regardless, Footsie has long been a personal favourite of mine, and his debut album proper, whilst heavily indebted to a sound from a bygone era, does not disappoint. Full of nostalgia-inducing, neck-snapping beats and laugh-out-loud quotables, it’s my favourite grime album in years, probably since Chronik’s last. I just love it. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
Both of these albums are quite great. But The Balladeer had two tracks that were really phenomenal tracks like The Dream and Two Birds that if the album retain that style, I could see this grade be more higher. The rest is quite solid. While No Favours is also quite solid. The bars have a lot of energy and sound wise is quite good of how it dabbles into more electronic territory. Though that is a usual staple for grime in general. Should really dig deeper for the genre. But I wouldn't say there was a track that hit those absolute highs. But still great stuff.
Had to go with Footsie, definitely one of the best hip hop albums I heard last year. The Balladeer was solid also, just not as strong all the way through IMO. _________________ 51 Washington, D.C. albums!
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