BEA 2018 Championship Tournament - Games - Forums : Best Ever Albums

baystateoftheart
Neil Young as a butternut squash

Age: 29
Location: Massachusetts

Hello everyone,

Nominations for the BEA 2018 championship tournament will open on July 1. In the meantime, I thought I'd gather some opinions on rules for this year. Here are my questions:

1. Should we stick with the randomized seed pairings like last year, or go with a more traditional #1 vs. #16, #2 vs. #15 etc.?

2. What types of releases should be permitted as nominees this year? Should EPs, live albums, archival albums, dj mixes, and compilations be permitted?

3. Do you have other rules suggestions that don't involve totally upending the structure of the tournament?

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EDIT: Here's the spreadsheet for the tournament.
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Last edited by baystateoftheart on 07/14/2019 21:02; edited 5 times in total

baystateoftheart
Neil Young as a butternut squash

Age: 29
Location: Massachusetts

baystateoftheart wrote:

1. Should we stick with the randomized seed pairings like last year, or go with a more traditional #1 vs. #16, #2 vs. #15 etc.?

2. What types of releases should be permitted as nominees this year? Should EPs, live albums, archival albums, dj mixes, and compilations be permitted?

My own opinions are:

1. Stick with randomized matchups for more intrigue.

2. Anything that's BEA eligible and consists mostly of material released for the first time in 2018 should be permitted.
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Luigii

Gender: Male
Age: 28

Could we have a dedicated ep tournament. That would be quite exciting.

baystateoftheart
Neil Young as a butternut squash

Age: 29
Location: Massachusetts

Luigii wrote:

Could we have a dedicated ep tournament. That would be quite exciting.

That's a cool idea. 2018 was a really stacked year in terms of EPs. I'm open to it, but there would have to be interest from a lot more people for me to organize a separate tournament.
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RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

1. Should we stick with the randomized seed pairings like last year, or go with a more traditional #1 vs. #16, #2 vs. #15 etc.?

I liked the random.

2. What types of releases should be permitted as nominees this year? Should EPs, live albums, archival albums, dj mixes, and compilations be permitted?

I think a like for like comparison is helpful, but not necessary.

I suppose what I mean is if it is a 4 song EP which left me feeling empty compared to an album that was great... But I'd vote for an EP that was amazing over an album that sucked. I realize that contradicted itself a bit, but I think anyone can pick up where that's going and make decisions. I suppose what I mean is if you are doing a "non-standard" release then, you'll need to realize the "potential" risk involved with that.

In the end music is music.

babyBlueSedan
Used to be sort of blind, now can sort of see

Gender: Male

I also think random seeds is best, especially because the BEA rank might not represent how the participants in the tournament feel about the albums.

I think allowing any releases is the way to go, though I'm not sure about archival releases. It feels a bit weird to say that something recorded in the 60s is the best album of 2018. I'm fine letting them in, but I'd probably have a moderate bias against them when voting. I think people could find a way to compare albums and EPs, so while a separate EP tournament could be interesting I think it's better to combine them. Two album tournaments could be a bit much.
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Luigii

Gender: Male
Age: 28

babyBlueSedan wrote:

I also think random seeds is best, especially because the BEA rank might not represent how the participants in the tournament feel about the albums.

I think allowing any releases is the way to go, though I'm not sure about archival releases. It feels a bit weird to say that something recorded in the 60s is the best album of 2018. I'm fine letting them in, but I'd probably have a moderate bias against them when voting. I think people could find a way to compare albums and EPs, so while a separate EP tournament could be interesting I think it's better to combine them. Two album tournaments could be a bit much.

I can see two tournaments being too much, however I feel the mileage wouldn't be that bad since ep's are shorter compared to albums. The real question and I think Bay might have mentioned this but would Ye and Kids See Ghost be considered eps?

Repo
BeA Sunflower

Location: Forest Park

babyBlueSedan wrote:

I also think random seeds is best, especially because the BEA rank might not represent how the participants in the tournament feel about the albums.

I think allowing any releases is the way to go, though I'm not sure about archival releases. It feels a bit weird to say that something recorded in the 60s is the best album of 2018. I'm fine letting them in, but I'd probably have a moderate bias against them when voting. I think people could find a way to compare albums and EPs, so while a separate EP tournament could be interesting I think it's better to combine them. Two album tournaments could be a bit much.

I'm pretty much in line with all of this.

baystateoftheart
Neil Young as a butternut squash

Age: 29
Location: Massachusetts

Ok it sounds like the consensus is to have one tournament. Anything that's BEA-eligible is good to go except compilations of material that was previously released before 2018. And I will keep the random matchups from last time. Start thinking about what you want to nominate, but don't post it yet! Wink

@Luigii In 2018 with digital music, if the artist says it's an EP, it's an EP. If they say it's an album, it's an album.
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Skinny
birdman_handrub.gif

baystateoftheart wrote:

1. Should we stick with the randomized seed pairings like last year, or go with a more traditional #1 vs. #16, #2 vs. #15 etc.?

2. What types of releases should be permitted as nominees this year? Should EPs, live albums, archival albums, dj mixes, and compilations be permitted?

My own opinions are:

1. Stick with randomized matchups for more intrigue.

2. Anything that's BEA eligible and consists mostly of material released for the first time in 2018 should be permitted.

Agree with this.
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