Minus The Bear
Moving right through the week, Day 7 of the Round of 128 features Edward Sharpe and Johnny Flynn, two artists on my personal soundtrack of my first semester of business school back in Fall 2008. Add to the mix some deep cuts from standards New Order, Black Crowes, and Neil Young and we’ve got a great hump helper for the short work week. Listen to the songs here, and submit your votes by Thursday, September 6th at 8:00 PM.
Johnny Flynn
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes) vs. Age of Consent (New Order)
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes) vs. Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear)
Harvest Moon (Neil Young) vs. Zebra (Beach House)
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn) vs. Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood)
Living the Dream 
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes) vs. Age of Consent (New Order)-6.7/7.6
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes) vs. Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear)-5/4
Harvest Moon (Neil Young) vs. Zebra (Beach House)-5.9/5.5
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn) vs. Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood)-6/7
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes) vs. Age of Consent (New Order) 5 – 5
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes) vs. Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear) 8 – 4
Harvest Moon (Neil Young) vs. Zebra (Beach House) 4.5 – 5.5
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn) vs. Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood) 7.5 – 8.5
8- Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes) vs.
7- Age of Consent (New Order)
Great matchup with a slight edge to Edward Sharpe.
8- Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes) vs.
7- Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear)
I really enjoy Minus the Bear but the Black Crowes had me turning it up and opening the windows.
9- Harvest Moon (Neil Young) vs.
8- Zebra (Beach House)
I kind of expected a blowout here. I feel bad that Beach House went up against Neil Young. I’m going to go find more Beach House, like, yesterday.
6- Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn) vs.
8- Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood)
WHERE’S THE MUSIC? oh, there it is. I was totally in the mood for some MMW and not so much for Flynn although I like the song.
Edward Sharp & The Magnetic Zeroes (Man on Fire) 7.1
New Order (Age of Consent) 7
Tough match up.
The Black Crowes (Go Tell The Congregation) 7.5
Minus the Bear (Animal Backwards) 6.5
Minus the Bear has a nice sense of melody and they are creative, but their stops and starts within the song are a bit frenetic for me.
Neil Young (Harvest Moon) 8.5
Beach House (Zebra) 7
I have a special place for Harvest Moon.
Johnny Flynn (Tickle Me Pink) 6
Medeski Martin and Wood (Where’s the Music) 8
Funky riffs win, even over the Black Crowes.
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes): 8
Age of Consent (New Order): 6
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes): 7
Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear): 6.5
Harvest Moon (Neil Young): 5.5
Zebra (Beach House): 8
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn): 7
Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood): 4.5
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes) vs. Age of Consent (New Order) = 6 to 7
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes) vs. Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear) = 6 to 4
I thought Minus The Bear was an off-kilter weird time signature post-emo thing? When did they start sounding like the Electric Six??? I’m very confused.
Harvest Moon (Neil Young) vs. Zebra (Beach House) = 9 to 6.5
Wow, I haven’t heard that in a very very long time.
And darn, this Beach House song is quite nice, but Harvest Moon is very nice.
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn) vs. Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood) = 5 to 6
MMW, and Bela Fleck, are the only hippy bands that don’t fill me with violent rage, and in fact, I like.
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes): 8
Age of Consent (New Order): 7.5
Wow, big shame these two are up against one another in the first round. Both really good.
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes): 6
Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear): 5
Harvest Moon (Neil Young): 7
Zebra (Beach House): 8
Beach House’s new album – Bloom – really is fantastic. I’m a huge fan – this song’s great too: brilliantly dreamy. Tough draw for them though.
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn): 3
Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood): 4
I’m so confused by Where’s the Music. Neither of these are my cup of tea but WTM is more intriguing. The rhyming in Tickle Me Pink really bugged me.
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes) vs. Age of Consent (New Order) 8/5.5
Listening ESTMZ always makes me feel like I should be wearing a flowy skirt with my hair loose dancing in a field of wildflowers somewhere. What a great feeling on an otherwise blah-it’s-only-Wednesday kind of afternoon.
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes) vs. Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear) 4.5/8
The Black Crowes aren’t really my jam. On the other hand, I loved this MTB song. I haven’t heard of this group before and I will be checking them out as soon as I’m finished voting. Thanks, nominator!
Harvest Moon (Neil Young) vs. Zebra (Beach House) 9.95/7.5
Full disclosure: Harvest Moon was my nomination. This song has been in heavy, heavy rotation around here this summer. Just hearing the first few notes puts me in a better mood. I think it is such a gorgeous, dreamy song. I hope you all like it as much as I do. Gah, I was going to be modest and just give it a 9, but then the harmonica part came on and… this song is perfect.
I also really liked Zebra. I wish I could split them up, so they could both move on!
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn) vs. Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood) 8.5/6
Really really liked Flynn. MMW made me feel like I was watching Sesame Street. Not a bad feeling, but I enjoyed the Flynn more.
This is a really great day of music — my favorite so far in this tournament! I look forward to all of the good stuff to come. 🙂
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes) – 8.9
Age of Consent (New Order) – 7.6
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes) – 7.8
Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear) – 8.3
Harvest Moon (Neil Young) – 9
Zebra (Beach House) – i wish this was faster! 8.6
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn) – 9.9
Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood) – wow a good matchup 9.5
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes) vs. Age of Consent (New Order) 6.0 v 5.0
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes) vs. Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear) 5.0 v 7.0
Harvest Moon (Neil Young) vs. Zebra (Beach House) 5.0 v 6.0
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn) vs. Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood) 6.0 v 3.0
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes) vs. Age of Consent (New Order) 6.5 to 4.5. Edward sounds like he could use a “happy” pill.
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes) vs. Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear) 5.0 to 4.5
Harvest Moon (Neil Young) vs. Zebra (Beach House) 5.0 to 6.0
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn) vs. Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood) 6.5 to 4.5. Johnny’s version of cute beats the bratty little kids. Send them to bed.
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes) vs. Age of Consent (New Order) 6/5.5
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes) vs. Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear)6.5/4
Harvest Moon (Neil Young) vs. Zebra (Beach House)6/3
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn) vs. Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood)6.9/7.5
Man On Fire 7
Age Of Consent 7.6
Tough, tough match-up— this is simply going to depend on what mood you are in. I’m working on a section of Hurricane Camp Stories while listening in which John Harlow, Ryan Quinnelly, and myself take an axe and chop through a wooden barricade separating a church from a golf course. Thus, New Order by a hair.
Go Tell The Congregation 6
Animal Backwards 7
Harvest Moon 7.7
Zebra 6.8
Just what the doctor ordered. Beach House was good, a little slow for my taste right now.
Tickle Me Pink 7.5
Where’s The Music 5
Sorry, just not feeling the jamboree on this one. Also, little kids’ voices kinda annoy me (see “Another Brick In The Wall.)
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes) vs. Age of Consent (New Order) 7 / 8.8
ES&TMZs proves they’re more than a 1-hit wonder, but I’ve been listening to New Order on repeat since high school and never gotten sick of them. Who writes better riffs consistently than New Order? No one, that’s who.
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes) vs. Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear) 5.8 / 8
Way too tired to finish right now… will try to wrap this up tomorrow.
Harvest Moon (Neil Young) vs. Zebra (Beach House): 6.5 / 6.7
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn) vs. Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood) : 8.5 / 5.5
Johnny Flynn is like Flogging Molly for grown ups. And I’m a grown up.
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes) vs. Age of Consent (New Order): 10: 6
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes) vs. Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear): 4 : 5
Harvest Moon (Neil Young) vs. Zebra (Beach House): 8 : 7
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn) vs. Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood) : 7.5 : 6
Ditto on little kids, esp. with hangover
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes) – 9
this song is freaking fantastic.
the first time i heard it, it came on the radio when i was heading to the liquor store to make an important purchase minutes before closing & i was like “ahhh, i wanana keep listening, but i need to go inside the store, what do i do!!” luckily, the internet was able to later tell me what it was and then allow me to listen to it repeatedly for free.
that was a pretty lame story, sorry, that’s all i got.
Age of Consent (New Order) – 7
this is also good, but doesn’t hold up to “freaking fantastic”
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes) – 7
black crowes are good rock n roll.
Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear) – 5.5
a what looking through your window?
Harvest Moon (Neil Young) – 8.5
Zebra (Beach House) – 8
these are both lovely
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn) – 7
another great one i’m hearing here for the first time.
Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood) – 8
i normally find snippets of children talking/screaming/singing in songs to be really annoying, but these guys were kind of endearing, and damn, that’s a fine groove.
wow, good day of music.
Man On Fire (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes): 8
Age of Consent (New Order): 7.25
Go Tell The Congregation (Black Crowes): 7.75
Animal Backwards (Minus The Bear): 5.8
Harvest Moon (Neil Young): 4
Zebra (Beach House): 3.8
Tickle Me Pink (Johnny Flynn): 7.5
Where’s The Music (Medeski Martin and Wood): 4.5