SCORES & UPCOMING GAMES



CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL SCORE: (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 168, (7) Tracy Chapman 159 .......... FINAL FOUR FINAL SCORES: (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 154, (1) Joy Division 90 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 137, (1) The Cure 89 .......... ELITE EIGHT FINAL SCORES: (1) JOY DIVISION 74, (14) Low 60 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 85, (1) Elliott Smith 69 ..... THE CURE 65, (2) Radiohead 58 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 74, (1) Neutral Milk Hotel 44 ..... FINAL SWEET SIXTEEN SCORES: (1) JOY DIVISION 75, (5) PJ Harvey & Nick Cave 24 ..... (14) LOW 73, (2) Concrete Blonde (64) ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 78, (4) Gary Jules 44 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 74, (6) Kate Bush 53 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 54, (13) The Church 49 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 73, (3) Sinead O’Connor 35 ..... (1) THE CURE 109, (3) Tori Amos 86 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 76, (6) This Mortal Coil 50 ..... (1) JOY DIVISION 96, (9) Mazzy Star 91 ..... (2) CONCRETE BLONDE 76, (7) Bob Mould 28 ..... (14) LOW 60, (6) Crowded House 51 ..... (5) PJ HARVEY & NICK CAVE 65, (4) Alphaville 38 ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 113, (8) Replacements 88 ..... (6) KATE BUSH 87, (3) Nirvana 64 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 99, (2) The Eels 62 ..... (3) GARY JULES 103, (12) Morrissey 63 ..... (6) Kate Bush 72, (3) Nirvana 53 ..... (3) SINEAD O'CONNOR 66, (11) Ride 27 ..... (13) THE CHURCH 106, (5) James 44 ..... (2) JEFF BUCKLEY 95, (10) Smashing Pumpkins 40 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 80, (9) New Order 56 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 102, (7) Nine Inch Nails 99 ..... (6) THIS MORTAL COIL 61, (3) Indigo Girls 60 ..... (4) TORI AMOS 89, (5) Swans 40 ..... (1) CURE 82, (8) Tom Waits 68 ............... FINAL 1ST ROUND SCORES: (5) PJ HARVEY & NICK CAVE 93, (12) Midnight Oil 38 ..... (7) BOB MOULD 63, (10) Peter Murphy 47 ..... (1) JOY DIVISION 117, (16) Erasure 19 ..... (6) CROWDED HOUSE 98, (11) Leonard Cohen 54 ..... (7) TRACY CHAPMAN 199, (10) The Smiths 162 ..... (5) MORRISSEY 115, (12) Morphine 83 ..... (3) NIRVANA 137, (14) Slowdive 102 ..... (8) THE REPLACEMENTS 128, (9) Dream Academy 82 ..... (13) THE CHURCH 262, (4) Magnetic Fields 193 ..... (10) SMASHING PUMPKINS 165, (7) Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 155 ..... (9) NEW ORDER 160, (8) Sarah McLachlan 78 ..... (1) JEFF BUCKLEY 204, (16) Bjork 92 ..... (4) TORI AMOS 78, (13) Echo & the Bunnymen 22 ..... (8) TOM WAITS 72, (9) The Pretenders 22 ..... (6) THIS MORTAL COIL 51, (11) Yaz 31 ..... (3) INDIGO GIRLS 71, (14) Pavement 26 ..... (9) MAZZY STAR 132, (8) REM 46 ..... (2) CONCRETE BLONDE 88, (15) Psychedelic Furs 34 ..... (4) ALPHAVILLE 71, (13) Dead Can Dance 36 ..... (14) LOW 120, (3) U2 65 ..... (1) ELLIOTT SMITH 63, (16) 10,000 Maniacs 24 ..... (2) EELS 50, (15) Counting Crows 46 ..... (4) GARY JULES 62, (13) Depeche Mode 19 ..... (6) KATE BUSH 59, (11) Sisters of Mercy 20 ..... (1) NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL 42, (16) Violent Femmes 12 ..... (11) RIDE 25 (6) Peter Gabriel 24 ..... (3) SINEAD O'CONNOR 37, (14) Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 17, ..... (5) JAMES 24, (12) Red House Painters 23 ..... (7) NINE INCH NAILS 46, (10) Wilco 31, (5) SWANS 31, (12) Pet Shop Boys 18 ..... (1) THE CURE 50, (16) Gear Daddies 10 ..... (2) RADIOHEAD 40, (15) Liz Phair 35


CURRENT GAMES BELOW — PAST GAMES ARCHIVED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

Saturday, March 5, 2016

First Round Matchup: PET SHOP BOYS at SWANS

(12) Pet Shop Boys, "Rent"

This is a tough first matchup for one of the great sardonic synth bands of the last thirty years, largely because their style of play isn’t that far off that of Swans. This is them at their bleakest, we think: “Look at my hopes, look at my dreams / the currency we’ve spent / I love you / you pay my rent” would seem to sum the situation up well. At the least, this is a dispiriting song about a dead relationship, delivered with a healthy dose of cynicism. What do we want out of our sadness or our sad songs? This isn’t a song that revels in the beauty of sadness, is it? Does Neil Tennant’s delivery shift this from “Sad Song” to “Cynical Song” (and does something cynical mean that it’s not sad)? I don’t think so. It’s a complicated lyric mix, and it’s not easy to disentangle how exactly to read “I love you.” Is there really any love in this world at all? It’s a bleak world. Is it bleaker or sadder or more interesting or lovely than “God Damn the Sun”? If you think so, this could be a major upset.



vs

(5) Swans, "God Damn the Sun"

Possibly the single most depressing song here in the tournament. As a mid-major, Swans are seeded a little lower than they might otherwise be just based on the song, but they went undefeated in their last twenty games coming into their tournament which they also won, so they could absolutely go deep—if they get past this first test—and if they’re able. For relentless annihilating depression, you can’t do much better than Michael Gira in the committee’s view. The narrative situation of this song is about as dark as it gets, with the speaker articulating the desperate need for this particular friend, now found dead, “face down in the street / with a bottle in your hand and a wild smile on your face / and a knife in your back,” culminating in: “I said I’d kill myself / if she left me again / and now she’s gone / and you’re both in my mind / I got one thing to say / before I’m drunk again / God damn the sun / God damn the sun / God damn anyone that says a kind word.” One almost hopes for a final four sun-themed matchup between Swans and Magnetic Fields. It’s possible, of course, that we’ll get there, but it’s a tough path for both contenders. And it starts here against the Pet Shop Boys. If the lyrics don’t do it for you, take note of the lush and lovely instrumentation: the strings, the horns! And though the song ends in a major key, we don’t read it as in any way redemptive: instead the speaker seems to be resigned to woozily waltz his way into the rest of his newly barren life, short and bleak as it may be. 





WHICH IS SADDEST? WHICH SHOULD ADVANCE? VOTE BY 3/6 at 9am
Which song's sadder?
God Damn the Sun
Rent
personality test

3 comments:

  1. The video for "Rent" does it no favors, stripping away all the sugar-daddy readings I wanted to give that song. Video or no, that one is forgettable. But Swans? Hold the phone. I don't think I can listen to that song alone if it makes it to the next round.

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  2. I agree. I was more in favor of Rent until I watched the video, which seems to simplify things and make it all more distant. I read it as more sympathetic, or at least more personal, thinking about the possibilities of what love might be like in a relationship like that, but the video tilts it to straight-up social critique and makes it, I think, rather mawkish. Unfortunate. I have Swans going deep in the tournament, and certainly not losing to PSB, but then I am only one vote.

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  3. This one's easy for me, but I would have felt a lot better about voting my conscience a month ago.

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