I'm amazed at how well Smoko has done but it's surprising run might end now. Even I was close to vote for Danny here. Great matchup, two excellent songs.
Everything Purple said, except that I truly don’t know which way to vote here. This is worthy of the finals. _________________ Finally updated the overall chart
'Ain't It Funny' is the best song left in this tournament by a laughable distance. Everything else is either ambitious but flawed (Kendrick; Bowie), or otherwise simply somewhat low-stakes (The Chats; Agusa; Radiohead) or forgettable (Tyler; Grimes). Danny Brown, here as almost always, manages to bring a perspective, a sound, and a performance which is uniquely and distinctly his own, whilst still putting together a song that's memorable and accessible without resorting to trend or cliché. Despite its ostensibly heavy subject matter, it never feels like a chore to listen to; in fact, it has a madcap energy that keeps it feeling fun, even in the face of its paranoid claustrophobia. Brown has been able throughout his career to take familiar hip-hop elements and bend them to his will, so that they feel new and exciting but still in conversation with his forebears (in this case the likes of Mobb Deep, Three 6 Mafia, E-40, Outkast), proving himself to be an artist with a deep understanding of what makes great rap music and a desire to push past all of that in ways that feel at once entirely natural and yet openly ambitious. He takes sonic risks, seeks out forward-thinking and sometimes dissonant production, but those choices are never for gimmick or shock value, rather finding the correct energy and vibe to work in service of his songs, of which 'Ain't It Funny' is one of the very best. It is the best song left in this tournament by a laughable distance. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
'Ain't It Funny' is the best song left in this tournament by a laughable distance. Everything else is either ambitious but flawed (Kendrick; Bowie), or otherwise simply somewhat low-stakes (The Chats; Agusa; Radiohead) or forgettable (Tyler; Grimes).
Strongly disagree, I think it's a pretty great top 8. In fact, it might be the best top 8 of all the most recent tourneys we've had.
Edit: I got curious, here's all the recent decade tourneys
2010-2014:
Sun Kil Moon carissa (Ledzep)
Lana Del Rey video games (revolver94)
Freddie Gibbs/Madlib thuggin' (Skinny)
Joanna Newsom good intentions paving company (Saltfish)
2000s:
Radiohead idioteque (Hayden)
Juana Molina un dia (Tilly)
Broken Social Scene anthems for a seventeen year old girl (Hayden)
Portishead the rip (Meccalecca)
Animal Collective in the flowers (JoyofDivision)
Outkast b.o.b (Hayden)
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs maps (Revolver94)
Broadcast come on let's go (Tilly)
This one:
Agusa - Landet Längesen
David Bowie - Lazarus
Kendrick Lamar - The Blacker the Berry
Radiohead - True Love Waits
Tyler, The Creator - GONE, GONE / THANK YOU
Grimes - Flesh Without Blood
The Chats - Smoko
Danny Brown - Ain't It Funny
That 2010-2014 was a brutal top 8, this one is just as good, and I don't care much for 2000s top 8. _________________ Finally updated the overall chart
'Ain't It Funny' is the best song left in this tournament by a laughable distance.
Actually agree with this, not so much with the rest. I'd prefer Purple Mountains and Roy winning in the previous round, and I'd pick differently for Radiohead/Tyler/Grimes but what's left is mostly still fine. Although I'm really getting tired of Smoko at this point.
Actually agree with this, not so much with the rest. I'd prefer Purple Mountains and Roy winning in the previous round, and I'd pick differently for Radiohead/Tyler/Grimes but what's left is mostly still fine. Although I'm really getting tired of Smoko at this point.
In fairness, there wasn't a huge amount I loved from the outset. People tended to nominate a lot of huge, sweeping, mid-paced, pseudo-majestic ballads which I just couldn't get into, regardless of their respective strengths, and not much of the field played particularly to my tastes. There wasn't lots that I actively disliked, but also relatively little that really grabbed my attention. Maybe one of the reasons that 'Smoko' stood out is that is was deliberately fun, whereas lots of nominations felt decidedly self-serious. I think there is probably something to be said about the increased democratisation of pop music and the fact that there is now so much to choose from that we don't have as many shared experiences of the same songs or artists. The last five years, for me, involved listening to a lot of playful, stubbornly region-specific rap music, yet the two hip-hop songs that made it to the last eight are conspicuous by their respectability amongst mainstream, indie rock focused publications. On another note, I really like 'True Love Waits', but it's telling that 'Idioteque' - a much better, more inspired song by almost every conceivable metric - was in the last eight of our 2000s tournament. Similarly, we have a much less memorable Grimes song than 'Oblivion' in the last eight. To me, this shows the relative weakness of this last eight compared to the previous tournaments: we're voting for the same artists, but making do with their second- or third-tier material. (It didn't fit the narrative, because he didn't appear in the previous tournaments, but 'Lazarus' isn't even a Top 50 Bowie song; however, even though it wouldn't have been my pick, I can at least see the logic of Kendrick Lamar, a decade-defining artist, having one of his most urgent songs make it this far.) Cate Le Bon and Purple Mountains and Guerilla Toss and YG and Carly Rae Jepsen and Majical Cloudz and Charli XCX, to name a few, all had super distinctive, instantly recognisable, genuinely catchy songs in this tournament, that for whatever reason fell at earlier hurdles to weaker songs. Agusa at least felt different, but similar wide-eyed oddysseys from Roy of the Ravers, Jenny Hval, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, and Richard Dawson felt at least as deserving of a spot here if we were gonna have something of its ilk make it this far (and I really like Agusa - theirs is the second-best song left). I dunno, I just felt that, increasingly throughout the tournament, my taste in music was at complete odds with other users, which is obviously fine, but has left us with what I feel is a forgettable, totally underwhelming last eight. Or maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
Yeahhhh not to harp on a point but looking at other recent top 8s from the bracket Led Zep posted that 2010-2014 bracket is clearly better. There's at least five, maybe six songs worth being there where as here I feel like there's two. Most of the best tracks in this tourney were taken out by round 1 (sometimes even the preliminary round)
I feel like the way this tournament was designed--best single song of the 2010s--that we should have formulated the tournament differently. Gone year by year and then had the 9 finalists go head-to-head in the end (somehow, I know its not an even number so that's iffy).
I feel like the way this tournament was designed--best single song of the 2010s--that we should have formulated the tournament differently. Gone year by year and then had the 9 finalists go head-to-head in the end (somehow, I know its not an even number so that's iffy).
It is an even number though... Use your fingers to count, that's why we have base 10 system
NewsFromHome wrote:
Yeahhhh not to harp on a point but looking at other recent top 8s from the bracket Led Zep posted that 2010-2014 bracket is clearly better. There's at least five, maybe six songs worth being there where as here I feel like there's two. Most of the best tracks in this tourney were taken out by round 1 (sometimes even the preliminary round)
Fair enough. I don't feel that way though, everything except True Love Waits and that Agusa track (which is good, but not exactly a half-decade fav) belongs here. Which 2 songs do you think are "worthy"? Lazarus and Ain't It Funny? _________________ Finally updated the overall chart
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