Kid, get ready for a lot of reggae
Votes due by Tuesday, August 2nd at 8 PM EST: To start this post, a very sincere congratulations to our good friend and regular voter Catholic Nick as well as his wife Bianca, who celebrated the birth of their first child this morning. There are babies all over the place on LTD these days!
Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce the start of the Round of 64! Each of these songs has survived at least two matches to get to this point, and 75% of our music has already been eliminated. At this point in the music tournament, match-ups are almost guaranteed to be difficult to decide or predict. Fifteen of sixteen divisions have 1 and 2 seeds still alive— but will they all advance to see each other next round? Or an underdog catch momentum and turn the tides of the competitive landscape? Let’s dive in to the Division A and Division B Semi-Finals.
(I’m having trouble with embedding the playlist, so here is a link out to the songs. We’ll try to get this fixed tonight.)
(and Adele below)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5fccFtKL4g
Division A top seed “Little Lion Man” is hoping not to f*$% it up this time, but its scores to date haven’t indicated any problems. Three piece rock-soul band Belleruche tries to prove that concert ticket sales don’t equal tournament success (admittedly I have no idea how much concert ticket revenue Belleruche generates, but M&S is way too overpriced for my liking.)
The 2-3 battle should be interesting, and of all matches to date resembles more than ever a battle that could have been featured in the first tournament. Lovers of U2 and Cyndi Lauper choose their sides of the line, as each of these wildly successful artists born in the 80s is facing tournament elimination.
Getting mentally prepared
Adele may have lost a contender last week, but she charges on with one seed “Someone Like You,” acoustic and live and full of soul. The name of the game is Foxy Boxing as this English lady goes toe to toe with Rilo Kiley.
Last but not least, another compelling 2-3 battle. Is it going to be Stealer’s Wheel, regardless of your Reservoir Dogs associations, standing alone on its musical merit? Or is it going to be Arcade Fire’s debut in a Round of 64?
Pastable. No Google form, not my style. See you in the comments, team.
Division A Semi-Finals
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) vs. #5 Clockwatching (Belleruche)
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) vs. #3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper)
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) vs. #4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley)
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) vs. #3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire)
Living the Dream 
Division A Semi-Finals
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) – 8.5
vs. #5 Clockwatching (Belleruche) – 4.5
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) – 5
vs. #3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) – 9.5
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) – 8
vs. #4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley) – 7.5
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) – 6
vs. #3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire) – 9
Me and Cristina
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) vs. #5 Clockwatching (Belleruche)
Me 8.2 to 6.4
C: 6.9 to 6.3
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) vs. #3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper)
Me: 7.2: 6.9
C: 9.6 : 8.5
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) vs. #4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley)
Me 5.8: 3
C: 8.7: 3.7 “When Amy Winehouse says ‘I’m no good,’ I believe her. When Rilo Kiley says ‘I’m bad news,’ I don’t.
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) vs. #3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire)
Me: 6: 9.6
C: 8.1 : 9.2
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) 3 vs. #5 Clockwatching (Belleruche) 6
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) 6 vs. #3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) 7
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) 3 vs. #4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley) 8
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) 8 vs. #3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire) 6
Why would I ever disassociate Stuck in the Middle with you from Reservoir Dogs? It’s like disassociating the Chariots of Fire soundtrack from Chariots of Fire. Sometimes a movie makes a song better. It’s no less legitimate than appreciating a song because it played at your senior prom or on an amazing road trip. I would even argue that musical merit is less important in determining our scores than the unique associations we bring to the listening experience (for example, I’m assuming that all the people who keep giving Little Lion Man such absurdly high marks love it because it was playing on repeat the night they won the lottery and then subsequently lost their virginity to a supermodel). There’s no reason why sentimental attachment shouldn’t lift otherwise pedestrian songs to great heights. With that in mind, I encourage everyone in this tournament who loves Reservoir Dogs to embrace their inner ear cutter and give Stuck in the Middle With You a score worthy of K-Billy and Mr. Blonde.
Ha- dually noted, Skipper.
Division A Semi-Finals
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) vs. #5 Clockwatching (Belleruche): 10/5
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) vs. #3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper): 8/5.5
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) vs. #4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley): 5/4
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) vs. #3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire): 7/5.5
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) 9.5
vs. #5 Clockwatching (Belleruche) 6
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) 4.5
vs. #3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) 8
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) 7
vs. #4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley) 10
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) 5.5
vs. #3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire) 6.5
Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) vs. Clockwatching (Belleruche) = 4 to 7.5
Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) vs. Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) = 7.5 to 4
Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) vs. Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley) = 7 to 9
Two great songs, but more of a history w/ the 2nd
Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) vs. Sprawl II (Arcade Fire) = 4 to 5
i’ve been pretty quiet most of this tournament… going to try to beef up the commentary now that we’re getting into the serious stuff.
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) – 9.6
i thnk the overplayed-ness of this song prevents me from wanting to give it a perfect score, but i don’t really find any flaws in it. the instrumentation is superb – the acoustic guitar strumming pattern, a well-used banjo (always a sucker for a good banjo roll), the keys, the reverb in the background, a simple yet powerful drum, all meshing so well together. the vocals are great – solid, subtle harmonies. fantastic overall song structure/dynamics/development, the a capella moments add a nice touch. and damn catchy to boot.
#5 Clockwatching (Belleruche) – 7.5
i like this song a lot too, but it deifnitely lacks something in comparison to LLM. it’s got a fun beat & base line, and i really like the vocals. it’s repetitive, but that’s part of the beauty of it. it just doesn’t have the depth of LLM, though.
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) – 7.5
i know everyone thinks that bono is a tool, but i’ll admit that i kind of love him. u2 was a favorite band for many years, and although my musical tastes have shifted some (toward sophistication? snobbishness? obscurity? acoustic strings??), i still really enjoy listening to u2 and respect what they have done. i think they are a quintessential pop-rock band. their songs are catchy and poweful without being cheesy. all that being said, this is not a favorite song of mine, but i still consider it “good”. side note: in college i sometimes found myself tapping my forehead with an empty dasani water bottle (usually during late nights at novack), and the sound it made always reminded me of this intro.
#3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) – 7.6
well, huh. cyndi gets the slight edge. i’m pretty sure my friend chrissy & i made a karaoke video of this at our high school graduation after-party. not usually a big supporter of the cheese, but kind of love this. did cyndi lauper actually write this song?
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) – 2.5
ugh, i don’t wan t to have to listen to this song again. it’s boring and i don’t enjoy her voice.
#4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley) – 6.8
still have mixed feelings about this one. great in some ways, but sometimes annoys me. it definitely is at least +4 over adele.
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) – 5.5
mediocre. boring instrumentals. whiny/nasal vocals. lyrics didn’t grab my attention. still something i can bop my head to, though. and i’ve never seen reservoir dogs.
#3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire) – 9.3
just loving this.
Division A Semi-Finals
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) 7
#5 Clockwatching (Belleruche) 6.5
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) 5.8
#3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) 7.3
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele)5
#4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley) 4.2
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) 6.8
#3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire) 6.2
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) vs. #5 Clockwatching (Belleruche) 9.5 / 8
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) vs. #3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) 7.5 / 2.5
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) vs. #4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley) 9 / 4
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) vs. #3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire) 6 / 8.5
Good round overall.
Division A Semi-Finals
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) vs. #5 Clockwatching (Belleruche) 5.0 to 6.5
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) vs. #3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) 7.0 to 8.0
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) vs. #4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley) 9.0 to 6.0
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) vs. #3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire) 8.2 to 4.0
Division A Semi-Finals
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) vs. #5 Clockwatching (Belleruche) 7.8 to 5.8
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) vs. #3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) 7.5 to 8.3
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) vs. #4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley) 5.8 to 7.5
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) vs. #3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire) 7.0 to 4.5
I’m making Alithea vote with me tonight. My rubric is changing as the field gets narrower: a 4 is average.
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) vs. #5 Clockwatching (Belleruche)
Aiko: 9/9. I like banjos. I also like bass.
Alithea: 7/5.5
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) vs. #3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper)
Aiko: 5.3/9
Alithea: 4/8.75 U2 gets points deducted for Bono.
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) vs. #4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley)
Aiko: 3/9.9 I think I promised last time I’d tell the story about how Jenny Lewis recorded our answering machine if this song progressed. Well, in summer 2003 I was not quite 20, living in a college house with my dearest friends and just starting to flirt with the guy who within the year become my boyfriend for years and years. I told him about this show I was going to, with Calvin Johnson (who was local legend) and M. Ward (who was unheard of) opening for Rilo Kiley (who had just released “The Execution of All Things” on Saddle Creek; “Foxes” is actually off their subsequent record). He said he’d like Calvin to record his answering machine. In retrospect a huge red flag, but at the time intriguing. So I went to this show, with some friends and housemates. But it was this this small punk-rock venue and was double booked, so after Calvin Johnson played for about a million years, Rilo Kiley got cut off most unsatisfactorily after barely half an hour to make room for the next show. They were disappointed, we were disappointed, so they announced to everyone they would be playing in Olympia they next night. We were college kids in summer. With nothing to do, we went to Olympia the next night, and Ben brought a little digital recorder of some kind. We showed up early and hung out with the groupies who had been following Rilo Kiley up the coast. We met this cool kid who grew up in my hometown, and ended up hanging out with him all summer. While we chickened out on talking to Calvin Johnson (he is creepy), we talked to Jenny Lewis after the show and asked us if she would record our answering machine. None of us has cell phones; we still had a land-line with voice mail, so she obliged, seemingly happily enough. I wonder how many people hung up after hearing, “This is Jenny Lewis.” I think Ben still has that recording somewhere. Anyway, those shows are some of my fondest memories, and that summer was really something else. Good times, good people, good music. Rilo Kiley just broke up, and it feels like the end of an era. Bonus points for what a huge role they’ve played in my life.
Alithea: 7/7.5
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) vs. #3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire)
Aiko: 4.5/8.5
Althea: 1/1
Division A Semi-Finals
Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) 9.5
Clockwatching (Belleruche) 6
Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) 7
Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) 7.5
Division B Semi-Finals
Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) 7
Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley) 6.5
Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) 8.5
Sprawl II (Arcade Fire) 6
MarkO votes:
Division A – Round of 64
Little Lion Man [8]
Clockwatchers [6.2]
Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For [9.25]
Time After Time [7.75]
Division B – Round of 64
Someone Like You [8.75]
Portions for Foxes [7]
Stuck in the Middle with You [9]
Sprawl II [5]
Division A Semi-Finals
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) 8
vs. #5 Clockwatching (Belleruche) 6.2
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) 9.8
vs. #3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) 6
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) 9.5
vs. #4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley) 5.5
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) 7
vs. #3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire) 3.5
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) 8
vs. #5 Clockwatching (Belleruche) 5
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) 7.5
vs. #3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) 4
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) 7.5
vs. #4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley) 8.5
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) 6.9
vs. #3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire) 6
Division A Semi-Finals
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons) – 8
vs. #5 Clockwatching (Belleruche) – 6
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) – 6
vs. #3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper) – 4.5
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele) – 6
vs. #4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley) – 7
Wow, surprised myself with that one. Rilo Kiley was never a favorite of mine. Perhaps the 90s retrospective on Nick has made me nostalgic.
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel) – 6
vs. #3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire) – 9
Division A Semi-Finals
#1 Little Lion Man (Mumford & Sons): 9
#5 Clockwatching (Belleruche): 6
#2 Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2): 8
#3 Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper): 7.5
Division B Semi-Finals
#1 Someone Like You (Live, Acoustic) (Adele): 8
amazing voice
#4 Portions For Foxes (Rilo Kiley): 8.5
very fun song, bad news for adele
#2 Stuck In The Middle With You (Stealer’s Wheel): 7.5
gotta respect bands that use unconventional instruments…like clapping
#3 Sprawl II (Arcade Fire): 8.5