Play-In: Cinder Well v. Henri Texier

[baystateoftheart]

Seed #28A:

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No Summer by Cinder Well

Nominated by: cestuneblague
Genres [RYM]: Singer/Songwriter, Chamber Folk

Seed #28B:

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Chance by Henri Texier

Nominated by: Fischman
Genres [RYM]: Post-Bop

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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[Mercury]

That Cinder Well is amazing and one of my faves of 2020. I look forward to revisiting it and its interesting blend of folk traditions for this match. Haven't heard that Henri Texier yet, but I look forward to checking it out soon.
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-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

[Fischman]

No Summer was positively beautiful. It almost had me considering voting against my own nom.

[Fischman]

Paragraph from my diary following my initial listen to the Texier:

There's lots of very interesting music here for a variety of reasons. I like the compositions, and the musicians are all obviously quite skilled. The engineering and sound appear to be top notch as well. Instrumentation is limited and quite standard, but the soundscape created draws me in nicely. There's lots of momentous percussion from Gautier Garrigue which provides a strong thread through many of the songs. I really enjoyed some of the solos of guitarist Manu Codjia; imagine splicing the DNA of Bill Frisell and John Scofield, tossing in just a dash of Allan Holdsworth, and then making him French! In fact, most of this album sounds blatantly.... French. It's quite fascinating hearing music that is as intensely French as it is intensely jazz. The album is bookended by a couple of outstanding cuts, "Cinecitta," and the closing title cut. The middle is all great, but I really liked the inclusion of the two-minute "Standing Horse," a pure upright bass solo; something you don't hear very often and here is both excellent as a stand alone as well as a welcome interlude in the sequencing of album cuts.

[EyeKanFly]

This was an easier decision than Gezan vs. Moor Mother.

No Summer was solid Americana chamber folk. A few songs had close harmony reminiscent of roots American folk or even Celtic folk. A few other songs got stale and dragged on for what seemed like more than 4 minutes.
Track highlights: Fallen, Old Enough

Chance was just all around solid. Agreed with Fischman that the bass solo was incredible, you don't hear a bass solo like that very often, unless it's played by Mingus. Stellar opening and closing tracks
Track highlights: Cinecitta, Chance, Le Même Fleuve

Both albums were good, but Chance was more good.
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51 Washington, D.C. albums!

[Mercury]

Maybe I'm just a sucker for folk and singer/songwriter albums, but I'm voting for No Summer by Cinder Well here.

BUT it should be said that that Henri Texier album was cool as hell. The bass work is amazing and its cool hearing this form of jazz in 2020, almost all the jazz that I have been hearing and seeing spoken of is very spiritual or free, and this was just a beautifully orchestrated and constructed album with some stunning melodies and instrumental work and a lot of heart. The opening track was awesome, as was the gorgeous Laniakea, and several other tracks. A Consistently intriguing and beautiful listen.

Cinder Well's style, that beautiful mix of american mountain and Irish folk kinda stuff as well as her ear for somewhat forlorn and cold atmospheres and her voice and her melodies on that album just happen to enchant me a lot more. It was one of those albums I was stoked to find early this year when I was looking for some 2020 music and fleshing out the chart. The delicate Chamber Folk bits are great too.

NO SUMMER WINS MY VOTE!
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-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!

[Repo]

FUCK ME!!!

(this will b impossible. )

[kokkinos]

Being in a jazz mood must have been a factor, but this was another no contest.
I can see why most of you bring up the bass, but for me it was the guitar that instantly won me over, especially in the opening track, Cinecitta.
No Summer was ok, the truth is most of those singer/songwriter albums sound the same to me and this was no exception. I consider it more or less equal to the other kinda similar album that was featured in the play-in mini tournament, namely The Balladeer. No Summer has this rather obvious old-school touch that makes it stand out, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing for me, probably not.
Chance gets my vote.
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Bob Dylan
Charles Mingus

[LedZep]

Probably won't comment on many of these in the next week or so, but I had to give a shoutout to Cinder Well. What a great discovery, all around wonderful folk gem. Early contender for the best find of the tourney, and considering how much I liked it and how many albums I've already heard (not many in the play in matches, but otherwise almost all) it's a clear frontrunner for MVD (Most Valuable Discovery). cestuneblague knows what's up.

Edit: So this was actually very close, Texier album is nuts as well and may end up in the 90-100 range on my chart. Unfortunately for it I just liked No Summer a lot. The best match this round.
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Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
90s

[Luigii]

So, with me I found No Summer a good/great project that is welcoming but never hit that personal attachment or that wow factor to be quite glowing for the record.
Grade:80

While, Chance as of now is the best thing in the play offs. Still have one more seed to worry about till the playoffs are done. But damn was this just phenomenal. You know I agree with both the bass and the guitar work are quite stellar, but don't be sleeping on the drum work. Honestly, don't sleep on any of the work because not only do they complement each other. But there is a lot of finesse to the playing. To how thematic the album quite is where the vibe is quite rustic and feels like going to a journey through rural America. Even though the players are from France. I also enjoy this and this might be so small in the grand scheme of things, but I really like how the title on the cover establishes that point a to point b distance in each track. There is more I could talk about this but I feel like it would end up getting redundant but really give this a listen. The only thing I would say is, can this album keep the grade?

Grade:100