Round 1: Julia Marcell v. Cult48

[baystateoftheart]

Seed #26:

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Skull Echo by Julia Marcell

Nominated by: RockyRaccoon
Genres [RYM]: Art Pop

Seed #31:

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Catalog 1 by Cult48

Nominated by: Jimmy Dread
Genres [RYM]: Electronic, IDM

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 twenty-eight days. See Tournament Spreadsheet for the full bracket.
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[Mercury]

listened to both of these last night. I thought the Julia Marcell album was good, quite beautiful, and it was solid. Wasn't a fan of her vocals or some aspects of the productions but there were some really beautiful, dreamy, art pop tunes here.

That cult48 is just a little better. I think the music is so good at creating an atmosphere and sometimes the atmospheres are quite creepy and off-putting, and other times they just feel so gorgeous and smooth. Its very cool.

Not much to say other than that - neither was bad and neither has yet become a fave of 2020 for me... but Cult48 gets my vote.
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ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

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

[EyeKanFly]

I wasn't big on the Cult48 album in the play-in round, though I did vote for it since I wasn't a fan of what it was up against.

Julia Marcell's album isn't anything spectacular either, but it's a quality listen for anyone who likes Phoebe Bridgers. This gets my vote.
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51 Washington, D.C. albums!

[kokkinos]

I 've already mentioned that Catalog 1 was a very difficult listen, so even though Skull Echo was at times a bit too loud and too epic for me, it was clearly more appealing.
Skull Echo gets my vote
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[Fischman]

Catalog 1 was another I liked well enough during the play in, but is easily displaced here. The "epic-ness" of Skull Echo works very well in my ear.

[baystateoftheart]

Skull Echo is quite a nice pop album with good vocals and production, especially on the more synth-driven tracks. It has a few great songs and earns a 3.5/5 from me and a place on my chart, but I prefer Cult48's diverse electronic explorations.
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[sandboy]

Both new to me, enjoyed both, but wouldn't return to either.

The Marcell record really nicely explored a variety of pop sounds within electronica, no two songs felt the same. Bjork-ish vocals, but softer. Certainly not catchy pop, but Marcell clearly an interesting vocal melodist, creating something interesting to listen to in the moment. There's an unsettling sense of something throughout the whole album, quite cold and uninviting, mechanical maybe. Some character would have gone a long way for me - some songs bordered on being a dirge.

Cult48's a brighter and easier-going album. Good background listening, but didn't feel like it was offering too much to catch my attention. It was lush and had unusual mixing, but it generally went were I was expecting it to go, at least within each track. Reminded me very much of Geogaddi, which I think is a more successful album.

My vote will go to Marcell.
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[guzguzgarbit]

The version of Skull Echo here is the Polish version, but I could only hear the English one. Is there any reason to prefer one version over another?

Anyway, I'm going with Skull Echo, not a fan of Cult 48...

[mickilennial]

[LedZep]

Skull Echo for me, although both are pretty good. Marcell's album has more highlights though. I can sorta understand the Phoebe Bridgers comparison since both are pop and indie leaning songwriters, albeit in different subgenres and the albums are very different sonically. I can see it attracting the similar crowd.
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Finally updated the overall chart

2020s
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