Board 8 > Rank the Tracks 125: The xx - xx (+ SOPHIE results)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Steiner's week:
The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis
vs.
Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante
vs.
Acid Bath - Paegan Terrorism Tactics

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_2
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks_Set_3

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, July 30 at 4:00 PM Central Time; the future week poll will close earlier, when I am putting up the next topic
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle (a new user will be added to the end of the current cycle as long as there are four weeks remaining) - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).
7c. I have added a tiered vote structure - the least popular album will be removed and its backup votes distributed to the other two entrants.
8. Starting with the next cycle, every four weeks will be a competitive week where those listed choose a single album to face off against others.
9. Skits and tracks under 40 seconds will be excluded from the rankings unless argued otherwise

The xx - xx track list:
1. Intro
2. VCR
3. Crystalised
4. Islands
5. Heart Skipped a Beat
6. Fantasy
7. Shelter
8. Basic Space
9. Infinity
10. Night Time
11. Stars

Current cycle:
7/30: Raetsel_Lapin (Desired - Lovestory)
8/6: Seanchan's bonus (Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A.)
8/13: Steiner
8/20: Snake5555555555
8/27: Jesse_Custer
9/3: MetalmindStats/MaxGalactica/firefdr
9/10: ZaziGuado
9/17: firefdr
9/24: Johnbobb
10/1: StifledSilence/Jesse_Custer/FoolFantastic
10/8: VeryInsane
10/15: FoolFantastic
10/22: Seanchan
10/29: neonreaper/rwlh/darkx
11/5: Giggsalot
11/12: RyoCaliente
11/19: darkx
11/26: Steiner/Giggsalot/jcgamer107
12/3: neonreaper
12/10: Great_Paul
12/17: jcgamer107
12/24: Snake5555555555/RyoCaliente/BlueCrystalTear
12/31: ChichiriMuyo
1/7: BlueCrystalTear
1/14: rwlh
1/21: NFUN/Raetsel_Lapin/ChichiriMuyo
1/28: NFUN
2/4: StifledSilence
2/11: MaxGalactica
2/18: VeryInsane/ZaziGuado/HBJDubs

Future Cycle:
2/25: MetalmindStats
3/3: HBJDubs

Somehow an album that is even more important to me than the one from last week! I've gotten lucky with other people nominating my lesser known favorites.

I first really got into popular music in 2008 with the 1-2 punch of GTA4 and Rock Band 2, and xx was one of the first albums I discovered when I finally started listening to that format in 2010. 2010 was also the year I came out as gay, and though none of the songs here are explicitly about queer subject matter, xx casts an intense sense of isolation through both its lyrical themes and sparse instrumentation that I found familiar (so it was no surprise when I later learned the two vocalists are gay/lesbian). The band was fresh out of high school when they recorded this album, but there is a greater gravity here than typical high school angst (which, vocalist Oliver Sim had very good reasons to be so intense; last year, he came out as having been diagnosed with HIV at age 17, two years before this album was recorded). Yet through all the dire sounds, this album also carries a sense of hope.

On a cultural level, this operates as the immediate precursor to the minimalist pop sound that became an unexpected powerhouse during the 2010s with artists such as Lorde and Lana Del Rey. But it's the dueling vocals between Oliver Sim and Romy that set this apart. Even when they are lyrically cast as opposing forces, their voices carry one another. The minimal instrumentation helps keep their voices centered, but the simplicity also makes every track distinct and instantly catchy. Making such an intense soundscape with so few elements takes serious talent.

And then there's "Intro," the little song that could. So many albums start with a short little piece that is easily forgotten by track two, yet "Intro" has become an unexpected cultural force, sitting at over half a billion streams on Spotify (just 2 million shy of Single Ladies by Beyonce from the same year, for reference). It does what every instrumental intro song wishes it could do, capturing the spirit of the album that follows with such power that it stands on its own. With "Intro," it was no surprise Jamie xx would launch a successful solo career as an electronic artist.

My ranking:
Crystalised
Islands
Intro
VCR
Infinity
Shelter
Heart Skipped a Beat
Stars
Night Time
Basic Space
Fantasy

First listen done.

A lot of scattered thoughts on this one, but I'll say overall it was an enjoyable first listen. I felt like I was halfway through it before I had the thought that I was kind of enjoying it. But this album is a great example of why I've fallen away from doing my listens while I'm out for a walk; it's just not the way to absorb an album like this. And then, at the same time, I'll say that this struck me as an album that would be great as a background piece; it's got a mellow vibe but just enough little cool riffs and beats to make you want to listen closer from time to time.

Acid Bath >>>>>>> Dillinger Escape Plan > Mr. Bungle

Any info on these noms or am I safe in assuming they're all metal albums of some sort?

Tag

Tag to remind me to do this. This album is a classic

bump

Seanchan posted...

Any info on these noms or am I safe in assuming they're all metal albums of some sort?

this is pretty much true though some would probably not call this bungle album metal?

acid bath was sludge about a decade before anybody else was doing that, the vocals are super cool and i don't think much sounds like it
the dillinger escape plan are the godfathers of mathcore, a style of hardcore known for its chaotic structure and time signatures, but this is a later album where they've added smooth choruses and electronic interludes to their repertoire
mr. bungle is one of mike patton's (faith no more vocalist) many other projects, putting out 3 albums in the 90s i don't think anybody better represents the phrase 'avant garde' in heavy music. everything they do is weird and this is the weirdest of all their albums. i'll let wikipedia sum it up:
"Genre: Experimental, experimental rock, art rock, avant-garde metal, jazz fusion"

Paegan Terrorism Tactics > Option Paralysis > Disco Volante

As a heads up to everyone, both Snake and Jesse asked to be skipped, so everything will be pushed up two weeks. Jesse asked to be skipped for the cycle so I guess I will remove him from the competitive match; I am uncertain if Snake will be back to participating by December, so I guess I will check in again then.

Which, oof, I hate that I'm one of the people benefitting from Jesse's removal from the competitive week, but it's not like I have control of that change.

FoolFantastic posted...

As a heads up to everyone, both Snake and Jesse asked to be skipped, so everything will be pushed up two weeks. Jesse asked to be skipped for the cycle so I guess I will remove him from the competitive match; I am uncertain if Snake will be back to participating by December, so I guess I will check in again then.

Which, oof, I hate that I'm one of the people benefitting from Jesse's removal from the competitive week, but it's not like I have control of that change.

Might I suggest adding a top ranked classic album as a 3rd choice? We've plenty that haven't been covered or nominated.

Time for TPAB?

Disco Volante > Paegan Terrorism Tactics > Option Paralysis

1: VCR
2: Islands
3: Intro
4: Heart Skipped a Beat
5: Shelter
6: Infinity
7: Night Time
8: Fantasy
9: Crystalised
10: Stars
11: Basic Space

This is a very weird case where the instrumental intro song is the only song on the album I recognized going in. I feel like seeing these guys live anywhere bigger than a coffee shop would kinda be a downer

1. Crystalised
2. Intro
3. Islands
4. Infinity
5. VCR
6. Night Time
7. Stars
8. Basic Space
9. Heart Skipped a Beat
10. Shelter
11. Fantasy

Mr. Bungle > Acid Bath > Dillinger Escape Plan

I haven't heard Disco Volante but I have heard Mr. Bungle's "California" and loved it

California is my favourite but I can't pass up an opportunity to make people listen to disco volante

Intro
Infinity
Stars
Islands
Crystalised
Shelter
VCR
Fantasy
Night Time
Heart Skipped A Beat
Basic Space

This album is what got me into this style of music as a whole, so I definitely have a soft spot for it. I've shuffled around the rankings for this quite a bit over the years, but Intro is legendary and remains my #1 pretty easily.

SOPHIE - Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
Seanchan (6)
FoolFantastic (10)
MetalmindStats (10)
MaxGalactica (14)
HBJDubs (20)
hotdogturtle (20)
neonreaper (20)
Raetsel_Lapin (22)
Johnbobb (24)

General Album Comments

FoolFantastic: It's been a while since I typed up a long post about one of these albums, but I feel like this one in particular needs context. Like Portishead or Velvet Underground, I imagine this will be among our most controversial choices; even if you don't like the album, I hope I can at least shed some light on why this is so important to some people.

One of the more recent members of my top 100 albums, and also among the roughest listens. But, despite its harsh tones, this is a comfort album to me. Before Oil of Every Pearls Un-Insides (a clever way of saying I Love Every Persons Insides), SOPHIE had been a pioneer within the hyperpop genre. While the penultimate track of this album, Immaterial, is perhaps the best hyperpop as a genre has to offer, the journey there is loaded with tension and violent industrial production. It opens with a moment of calm, Its Okay to Cry, the sole track where SOPHIE sings herself. Despite having used the name from the beginning, SOPHIE actually publically came out as a transwoman with this lead single, and it was a brave choice to take that moment to sing for herself. The morning I learned of SOPHIEs untimely death, I naturally turned straight to this album, and this track had me bawling my eyes out.

Ponyboy, in turn, hits like a jackhammer. This is a pure club banger. Faceshopping hits just as hard, but with more nuance. There are two tracks here that I consider direct statements of trans-affirmation, and Faceshopping takes an unlikely approach. The whole of hyperpop is a statement on artificiality, and Faceshopping plays on that idea. Computers and the internet made it easier for us to both express ourselves and find a community. So, while SOPHIE herself sings on the opening track, this mechanical piece with another persons voice is just as much a representation of her. Im real when I shop my face, which is to say, even if some of us have to go to greater lengths, the way we present ourselves is ultimately what matters, not our supposed default state.

Is It Cold in the Water? almost passes as a comedown track, but the icy synths instead add a sense of dread. The following three tracks find the album going in a more atmospheric direction, key to the inner journey this album represents if not as gripping as individual tracks.

That long journey leads to Immaterial. If Faceshopping obscures the trans allegory in a dozen layers, Immaterial is its joyous opposite. At first glance, the term immaterial girl sounds like another bit of artifice, an inversion of the classic Madonna track. Yet SOPHIE is clearly aiming for a higher meaning; that we transcend the material world. The track itself is pure bliss from the beginning, but then we get to that legendary bridge, where the music drops to a low and slowly pulls itself back up. After offering comforting words to a past self, she declares I dont even have to explain/just leave me alone now she is not looking for your acceptance to be herself. She cannot be held down. The chorus returns as a grand moment of revelation, the production emphasizing the repeated phrase of I can be anything I want. For me, this track is a rare burst of gender euphoria, something I will forever treasure.

Whole New World/Pretend World is the extended closer, one of those tracks that feels like a sonic summary of everything that came before. Not my favorite, but its nice to have at least one more piece that captures the harsh industrial noises of Ponyboy/Faceshopping (and, while I love Immaterial, its too much of a high to structurally work as a closer).

Raetsel_Lapin: I think this may be my new favorite album that we've covered. I'd also like to thank our host for the added context on the album, it was a very insightful read.

Seanchan: I didn't hate it? I didn't hate it!

With some of those other controversial albums, it was clear after one listen that I wasn't going to like them because I couldn't find any "anchoring" song to latch onto. The 2nd and 3rd listens then feeling like pulling teeth and just further cement my negative feelings. Thankfully that was not the case here, and if anything I think the 2nd and 3rd listens helped a bit. Immaterial is obviously very catchy. Outside of that though, there's still something here, even if songs like Ponyboy and Faceshopping can get a bit too harsh/industrial for my taste.

Is this a favorite of mine? No. Am I likely to listen to it again? ...Probably not. But certainly it's better for me than some of the other controversial albums we've covered.

HBJDubs: I think maybe Grimes was the last album that I said the rankings were an accurate representation of the track quality? Regardless the same thing applies here - bottom songs bad, middle songs okay, top songs good. As I've said in the past though, I do like seeking out albums that sound really unique, and I'd say this fits the description.

MaxGalactica: Absolutely incredible album that's the pinnacle of hyperpop. All 9 tracks are very well-produced and have their own identity while still maintaining cohesion throughout. The harsh synths, and samples and such add so much personality to this album, with Ponyboy, Faceshopping, and Whole New World being amongst my favorites in the album. And Immaterial is obviously the big catchy highlight of the album and it never gets out of my head. Fantastic album with no bad songs.

neonreaper: Thanks for nominating this. I really enjoy the top 3 songs I listed (Cry, Cold, Infatuation). Some of the other songs are good and I appreciate that it reminds me of early Nine Inch Nails remix albums with the harsh sounds and trippy ethereal effects. Faceshopping was the only song I just didn't care for.

Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides track ranking

9. Not Okay (Track #6)
Score: 25 (Average Rank: 7.33/9)
Biggest Fan(s): hotdogturtle (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Seanchan, MetalmindStats (#9)

8. Pretending (Track #7)
Score: 32 (Average Rank: 6.56/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): FoolFantastic, Seanchan, hotdogturtle, MaxGalactica (#8)

7. Infatuation (Track #5)
Score: 41 (Average Rank: 5.78/9)
Biggest Fan(s): neonreaper (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb, MaxGalactica (#9)

6. Faceshopping (Track #3)
Score: 45 (Average Rank: 5.56/9)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, Johnbobb (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): neonreaper (#9)

5. Ponyboy (Track #2)
Score: 48 (Average Rank: 4.89/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#9)

hotdogturtle: Started low and rose on my list on every re-listen.

4. Whole New World/Pretend World (Track #9)
Score: 51 (Average Rank: 5/9)
Biggest Fan(s): hotdogturtle (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#9)

3. Is It Cold in the Water? (Track #4)
Score: 65 (Average Rank: 3.89/9)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb, HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MaxGalactica (#7)

2. It's Okay to Cry (Track #1)
Score: 68 (Average Rank: 3.67/9)
Biggest Fan(s): neonreaper (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): hotdogturtle (#9)

1. Immaterial (Track #8)
Score: 93 (Average Rank: 2.33/9)
Biggest Fan(s): FoolFantastic, Raetsel_Lapin, Seanchan, MetalmindStats, MaxGalactica (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#7)

hotdogturtle: Is it just me or does this song not match the rest of the album at all? The vibe is completely different than the other 8 songs. I definitely like it in any case, it's maybe #1 material on an alternate ranking and I expect to listen to it in the future. But if this is the standout/most popular song from the album, and it's the one that's the most different, then doesn't that mean that people aren't fully appreciating the rest of the album?

Seanchan (responding to hdt): ...Yes? But I think that tends to happen a bit, where the song that's different, because it's different, ends up being either the general consensus top or bottom.

Raetsel_Lapin: For me, Immaterial doesn't work as well without the earlier tracks building up to it. There needs to be a gradual build-up of experiences leading to the rush of euphoria or it all feels rather hollow. Listening to the song by itself doesn't do a lot for me--after all the crying, acceptance, experimentation, and chaotic breakdowns "Immaterial" becomes a tremendous release which contributes to this being my favorite album in the series.

So... while the euphoric song does feel like a pretty easy first place (though which part of the album's journey I personally prefer varies day-to-day), I feel like I love it due to my appreciation for the album as a whole.

Should have my ranking up tomorrow sometime. Was busy and lazy this week

1. Islands
2. Intro
3. Stars
4. Fantasy
5. Infinity
6. Shelter
7. Crystalised
8. Heart Skipped a Beat
9. VCR
10. Night Time
11. Basic Space

Honestly wasn't a big fan of this one. I like minimalism a fair amount, but this felt more like an indie pop-rock album that wanted to have a fuller instrumental, but it just didn't. Just not a lot for me to latch on to unfortunately, and the vocalists didn't really make up for it either. I wouldn't say this is a bad album though, just not interesting enough for me to want to go back to any of the tracks from it.

If it's not too much trouble, could you please switch my name from "Raetsel_Lapin" to "Fluttershy_Pony" at future topics? I know it's silly, but I haven't wanted to use the Raetsel account in months & using this name makes me happy, so I kinda want to experiment with using it as my official account for a while.

(Album Notes)

I think I like this album. It is very minimalistic in ways I wouldn't be normally drawn to, but it makes it a quite relaxing listen. Not one of my favorites, but still quite enjoyable.

1. Night Time
2. Intro
3. Basic Space
4. Heart Skipped a Beat
5. Islands
6. Crystalised
7. VCR
8. Stars
9. Shelter
10. Infinity
11. Fantasy

Ultimately I never liked this album more than I did with my first listen, where I was able to just enjoy the vibe/tone. Once I started listening more closely and trying to rank things it kind of came apart for me a bit. I found this to be a tough one to rank but overall I think it's a generally good album.

Heart Skipped a Beat
Stars
Night Time
Shelter
Crystalized
Infinity
Intro
Islands
VCR
Basic Space
Fantasy

I don't think I love this album as much as I once did, but I've listened to it a bunch this week and it's still great. Night Time might be my new favorite in this moment, but Heart Skipped a Beat and Stars have a ton of sentimental value for me I can't deny. Definitely a record that can transport me back in time, and it was a breath of fresh air at the time of release before minimalist pop was in vogue.