Album of the Month Tournament - Feb 2021

[Mattymooz]

1. Black Country, New Road - For the first time

2. C. Tangana - El Madrileño

3. SG Lewis - Times

Still got loads on my list to listen to from this month too...

[HeyPorter]

1. Black Country, New Road - For The First Time

2. The Weather Station - Ignorance 

3. Maximo Park - Nature Always Wins

[Padjeq]

I missed the cutoff but still

1. For Those That Wish To Exist - Architects

2. Who Am I? - Pale Waves

3. Conflict of Interest - Ghetts

[dentalplan]

hey @Quark

[Quark]

47 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

hey @Quark

'Sup?

[ShakeyCrash]

Missed the cut off but too hood a month to submit nothing so here goes:

Katy Kirby - Cold hard place

Mogwai - As the love continues 

The Weather Station - Ignorance

Staves and Django, Django would have sailed into my top 3 last month but will have to settle for a place in my top 5. Nick Cave is inconsolable at missing out but its own fault for releasing the album so late in the month.

[anditmakesmesmile]

So, when do we get the results? I also recognise that it’s quite a bit of work for @Quark which on a one-off is a bit of fun, but every month will soon be a chore.  Perhaps we can do a rota.  I’m happy to take on a month.  

[foolee]

57 minutes ago, anditmakesmesmile said:

So, when do we get the results? I also recognise that it’s quite a bit of work for @Quark which on a one-off is a bit of fun, but every month will soon be a chore.  Perhaps we can do a rota.  I’m happy to take on a month.  

Agreed, also happy to take a month if needed 

[Quark]

Aye, I'll be totting up either this afternoon or tomorrow. It's easiest to do it on a laptop, and I tend not to use it at weekends as I'm on it all week for work.

Someone different picking up month on month was kinda what I'd figured anyhoo, so that works. 

[priest17]

I'm not arsed about the results I'm just after those sweet sweet witisisms about the top 5

[Quark]

It's results time. 

39 voters - that's a 2.63% increase in engagement from the previous month (or one additional voter, but that sounds less impressive).

35 albums - 6.06% up on last month with an additional two albums in the mixer. 

And ahead of the argy-bargy of assessing the ascendees to the altar of acclaimed albums, let's indulge the stat fans for a moment.

There were 16 different first choice albums, reflecting the broad (questionable?) tastes of the efests pop pickers. Coincidentally, there were also 16 albums that only received a single vote apiece, with 3 artists in the venn diagram sweet spot where those two groups crossed over.  Slowthai was the highest-placing artist not to receive a single first-place pick, just missing out on a top-5 spot with only second and third place picks. The Weather Station were the highest placing entry to only receive nominations for a single placing category, with all of their votes for a second-place pick securing them a spot at number 10. Maximo Park were the lowest-placed entry to receive votes across all three placing categories, coming in just behind Slowthai in 7th place.  And so I present....

5. (TIED) Julien Baker - Little Oblivions (16 points) and Django Django - Glowing In The Dark (16 points)

 

A tie for 5th place between these two contrasting albums.  The upbeat London art-rockers and the confessional Tennessee titan slugged it out to a draw on the judges' scorecards

3. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Carnage (17 points)

Putting the age in Carnage, the antiquated antipodeans raised some eyebrows with a late entry into the February album battle. And when you're Nick Cave there's a lot of open ground for those eyebrows to be raised into.  Not bad considering that Cave had already released his 15th studio album before the members of this month's winning band had even been conceived.

2. Mogwai - As The Love Continues (20 points)

The Scottish rockers thought they'd conquered the mountain. After 25 years together they finally secured their first number 1 album, but they missed that final and all-important honour of winning the album of the month club award on an internet forum. Take that, popular opinion! 

1. Black Country, New Road - For the first time (41 points)

An absolute runaway victory. 14.5% of all the votes cast, and they could have won the contest by a handsome margin even if we'd only counted their 9 first-place votes and discounted their second and third-placed votes. Some might say they had an unfair advantage by fielding so many players, but in my mind that just opens the way for The Polyphonic Spree to make a late charge as AOTY contenders.

I listened to this. I didn't get it. But that's not important. This is what young people sound like now apparently, and a lot of you seemed to agree. Insert Principal Skinner "it's the children who are wrong" meme here as required.

 

Updated end of year list:

• January: Bicep - Isles, Arlo Parks - Collapsed in Sunbeams, Shame - Drunk Tank Pink
• February: Black Country, New Road - For the first time, Mogwai - As The Love Continues, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Carnage

 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Quark

[Quark]

And a suggestion for whomever chooses to take on the mantle for the March edition.  Pay attention to who people are voting for. Turns out it's a lot easier to come up with pithy comments on stuff you either know about or have listened to 😄

[anditmakesmesmile]

On 3/7/2021 at 9:23 AM, Quark said:

Someone different picking up month on month was kinda what I'd figured anyhoo, so that works.

Happy to do March, then. 

[blutarsky]

Nice work @Quark

 

I’d like to take a month, stick me down for April? 

Edited March 10, 2021 by blutarsky
Typo

[Guest]

Hey @anditmakesmesmile, are you still setting up the March tournament?

[anditmakesmesmile]

4 hours ago, SomeoneListeningIn said:

Hey @anditmakesmesmile, are you still setting up the March tournament?

yes. I was going to wait until the weekend before setting up the page. but as ive been prompted, I'll do it in later tonight

 

[anditmakesmesmile]

4 hours ago, SomeoneListeningIn said:

Hey @anditmakesmesmile, are you still setting up the March tournament?

PS - thanks for the prompt 🙂

 

[anditmakesmesmile]

4 hours ago, SomeoneListeningIn said:

Hey @anditmakesmesmile, are you still setting up the March tournament?

double thanks for the prompt - as I've seen the submissions window actually starts from midnight tonight! That's crazy - it's still six days until the end of the month!

[Guest]

12 hours ago, anditmakesmesmile said:

double thanks for the prompt - as I've seen the submissions window actually starts from midnight tonight! That's crazy - it's still six days until the end of the month!

No worries!