Sour Sixteen

Boy am I pissed after that last round. It was even worse for me than my NCAA brackets and that's saying something. (Aside to Jeff: fuck this tournament, amiright?). I guess at this point, I'm just looking forward to a Vampire Weekend vs. Arcade Fire final match-up, so that we can all just admit that we've given up. As we become more and more middle-aged and as our kids grow up, we'll keep telling them about that awesome Decemberists concert we went to, and they'll be like, "Who cares?! You could have been checking out Fleet Foxes or The Dirt Projectors or K'naan." Whatever.

So this round is going to be different. There are only sixteen albums left, which means there are only eight choices left. Eight choices, sixteen people. At first, I thought I'd just reward those who got their picks in first like last year. But that was when most of you were exhausted from widdling 128 album down to 16. This year we went for the wimpy 64, and considering how lazy most of you are, I think that was wise.

So, here's what we're going to do: teams. As in the following:

Bruce and Sarah
Andy and Eric S
Anne and Eric A
Jeff and Brian
Mark and Dwight
Joel and Andrew
Karl and Brad
Joe and Brooke


Don't complain to me if you don't like your partner. I tried to keep married folks togehter so as to create the kind of tension a good marriage needs. Otherwise, I had to try some different combinations to make it so no one had a former pick or their own album. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD THIS WAS!!! (Thank-you Andy and Eric for being just about the only people not to have f*%@ing Arcade Fire on your list).

Each team is assigned a choice, and you must come to an agreement. I know some of you will be like, "whatever, go ahead and pick cause I can't decide/don't care" but others will be like, "over my dead body is Hot Chip advancing." In either case--through email or post-coital bed talk or whatever--come to a consensus and then post it. I encourage those of you who take the email route to include any hilarious bits or threats from those emails in your post.

The assignments:

Bruce and Sarah: Kanye vs. Sufjan
Andy and Eric: XX vs. Arcade Fire
Anne and Eric: The Walkmen vs. J. Dilla
Jeff and Brian: LCD Soundsystem vs. Crooked Saints
Mark and Dwight: Vampire Weekend vs. Cat Power
Joel and Andrew: Dwight vs. Deerhunter
Karl and Brad: TV on Radio vs. Animal Collective
Joe and Brooke: Hot Chip vs. Avett Bros

Have fun???!