#156 Best Album of 2000 Tournament: Week #20 Wrap-Up
Hey folksarinos,
Welcome back from the holidays and welcome to 2025! Just a warning: the tournament will likely be coming to an end sometime mid-February or so. These last rounds go by rrrrreal fast, so don’t blink or you’ll miss ‘em. I don’t have a schedule just yet, but once the tournament ends, I’ll probably take about two weeks off from working on this six days a week. That’s your cue to listen to as many 1989 albums as you can, as when I come back, we’ll talk about stuff we should be nominating for a couple weeks, then go straight to the nominating phase.
Also, this last week was another straight win for the higher seeds. I have a theory, which is mine, which belongs to me, that Round 2 traditionally has the fewest number of upsets, in that it’s mostly about sifting out the weaker seeds so the stronger higher seeds can face each other. (Round 1 has a number of weak seeds vs. weak seeds, so upsets there aren’t necessarily surprising.) Maybe Official Best Album Brackets Ombudsman @hellonfriscobay.bsky.social could chime in? (Assuming he has literally nothing better to do with his time!)
THE BEST ALBUM OF 2000 PREDICTION BRACKET TOP 20 COUNTDOWN
Hi, this is Kent M. Beeson reporting from the Top 20 Prediction Bracket copter, and wow, it’s a real mess down there folks. We have a four-bracket pileup on the #9 slot, as I Made Our Wedding Band Learn "Our Way to Fall”, Rated R you serious?, O Twitter, Where Art Thou?, and Kid B(eeson) all have crammed into the same position, some falling, some rising to new high positions. Not only that, we have another four-bracket pileup just 11 notches below on the #20 slot. sctttnnnt, Oh Neko, There Art Thou, KID B and Will This Be The One? Perhaps! are all bumper-to-bumper in the last position. We actually have 23 brackets in the Top 20 this week, so it makes sense things might be a little cramped. We have one new debut and four redebuts. The new debut is My Bracket is More Sad and Painful Than Yours, arriving at #17; the four redebuts are Crying at the Idioteque (#17), Oops!..I'm Losing Again (#17, last seen in week one!), and the previously mentioned KID B and Will This Be The One? Perhaps! (both at #20). Contributing to the congestion is that we only lost two brackets this week, kid stank (last week #14) and The Bewiderbracket (last week #19). Otherwise, everything is relatively stable, no big movers or droppers, with the same top three as the last four weeks. I will give a shout out to Good Fortune, moving up one notch to a new high of #4, congrats. And that’s it from the Top 20 Prediction Bracket copter, have a great morning, over and out.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
On Monday, #7 Modest Mouse, THE MOON & ANTARCTICA defeated #71 Sunny Day Real Estate, THE RISING TIDE, 72-20 (92 votes, +52).
On Tuesday, #26 Clinic, INTERNAL WRANGLER defeated #39 The Dandy Warhols, 13 TALES FROM URBAN BOHEMIA, 59-33 (92 votes, +26).
On Wednesday, #10 Elliott Smith, FIGURE 8 defeated #55 Jill Scott, WHO IS JILL SCOTT? WORDS AND SOUNDS VOL. 1, 61-33 (94 votes, +28).
On Thursday, #23 The Hives, VENI VIDI VICIOUS defeated #87 Explosions in the Sky, HOW STRANGE, INNOCENCE, 64-45 (109 votes, +19).
On Friday, #3 The New Pornographers, MASS ROMANTIC defeated #62 Björk, SELMASONGS: MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK 'DANCER IN THE DARK’, 84-20-1, (105 votes, +64)
NEXT WEEK’S MATCHES
Monday, January 6th: #30 Billy Bragg & Wilco, MERMAID AVENUE VOL. II vs. #35 Blonde Redhead, MELODY OF CERTAIN DAMAGED LEMONS.
Tuesday, January 7th: #14 Neko Case & Her Boyfriends, FURNACE ROOM LULLABY vs. #78 The Delgados, THE GREAT EASTERN.
Wednesday, January 8th: #19 Deltron 3030, DELTRON 3030 vs. #46 Sade, LOVERS ROCK.
Thursday, January 9th: #6 Sleater-Kinney, ALL HANDS ON THE BAD ONE vs. #59 Steve Earle, TRANSCENDENTAL BLUES.
Friday, January 10th: #27 At the Drive-In, RELATIONSHIP OF COMMAND vs. #38 Warren Zevon, LIFE’LL KILL YA.
If you haven’t heard these 10 albums… you must’ve by now, right? Right?
Kent