Hey folks!

The nomination period for the upcoming Best Album of 2001 tournament ends tomorrow night, Saturday Jan 31st, at the stroke of midnight. Here is the link to the ballot form. If you haven’t sent one in, please do so, uh, soon!

One last link to all my previous notes on 2001 albums. Not that you have the time to listen to them all, but maybe if you troll through it you’ll find something that catches your eye or jogs your memory.

• My favorite old-to-me 2001 albums.

• Readers pick their obscure favorite 2001 albums.

• Notes on new-to-me 2001 albums, batch #1.

• Notes on new-to-me 2001 albums, batch #2.

• Notes on new-to-me 2001 albums, batch #3.

• Notes on new-to-me 2001 albums, batch #4.

• Notes on new-to-me 2001 albums, batch #5.

• Notes on new-to-me 2001 albums, batch #6.

And here’s the final dispatch. As always, my rating system: Love, Like/Love, Like, Interesting/Like, Interesting, Lukewarm, Leave. As always, most albums are likable and Like-able.

Prefuse 73, VOCAL STUDIES + UPROCK NARRATIVES (Spotify, YouTube)

Right in the middle of a venn diagram of hiphop, dj/plunderphonics, and edm/idm. If that sounds like your thing, it’s your thing, do whatcha wanna do. Did I mention MF DOOM is on a track? Rating: Like/Love.

Majandra, THE SICKS ep (Spotify, YouTube)

I hate to say this, I really hate to say this, but I couldn’t get past Majandra’s voice. This is particularly grating to me because my daughter will often write off artists because she doesn’t like the singer’s voice and it drives me nuts. And here I am doing the same thing. Ah well. The music, a kind of midpoint between synth pop and electroclash, is nice though, big thumbs up there. Finally, you know what this was like, what it reminded me of? Like an artistically successful version of Farrah Abraham’s MY TEENAGE DREAM ENDED. Music- and vocal-wise, Majandra is Goldfrapp, comparatively, but both albums have an unhinged quality (if one more obviously so). Rating: Interesting.

Spike 1000, WASTE OF SKIN (Spotify, YouTube)

Technically, nu-metal, but nu-metal sung by a woman just isn’t really nu-metal to me (complimentary). Tight band with a great singer in Shannon Harris that just ended up losing the lottery that is the music business. Should’ve had at least a five-album run, with an electronic remix compilation in there somewhere. Rating: Like.

Roots Manuva, RUN COME SAVE ME (Spotify, YouTube)

Rapper in what I’m guessing in the sound system/dub tradition — there’s a hint of bouncy reggae here even if it doesn’t really commit to that. Kind of the opposite of Majandra, in that even if the music isn’t working, I dig the guy’s voice, just pure charisma. But the music often works, lots of low-end dubby electronic bass and eerie bloopy synths, but all skewed towards pop hooks. I can see how this might’ve, at least spiritually, led to stuff like Burial. Rating: Like bordering on Like/Love.

Antònia Font, A RÚSSIA (Spotify, YouTube)

Winner of the newsletter! I could’ve easily gone with Prefuse 73, above, but I suspect a lot of voters already heard it. This one is much more under the radar. Bright pop from Mallorca (an island off the coast of Spain for those geographically-challenged like me). According to Wikipedia, their lyrics are “humorous and fantastic,” which is great because they sing in a dialect of Catalan and I haven’t the foggiest what they’re saying. But the feeling is warm, inviting, festive. Rating: Like/Love.

Vitesse, WHAT CAN NOT BE, BUT IS… (Spotify, YouTube)

Kind of like The Magnetic Fields for Beginners, or maybe the universe’s first attempt at The Postal Service. First track is really, really great; the rest doesn’t quite rise up to that, but still a good trip. Rating: Like.

Against Me!, CRIME AS FORGIVEN BY AGAINST ME! ep (Spotify, YouTube)/Against Me!, THE ACOUSTIC EP (Spotify, YouTube)

It’s Against Me! Whaddya need, a road map? Against Me! have a real high floor, because despite how wordy she can be, Laura Jane Grace always finds the hook. (This is basically the opposite of my beef with Entombed’s MORNING STAR.) If I’m not giving them a higher rating, it’s because both EPs are so short they just kinda zoomed by. Got enough of an earful to know they’re both good, and I’m gonna come back to them. Rating for both: Like.

Michelle Branch, THE SPIRIT ROOM (Spotify, YouTube)

Okay, fine, you got me. Initially resisted playing this, despite everyone singing its praises, for the simple dumb reason that I got her mixed up with Vanessa Carlton. (I bet this actually happens to poor Michelle in real life.) (Idiot at the back of the audience: “A Thousand Miles!”) So when I put it on and got a big arena rock song, I was like Oh. I get it now. I assume at the time she was compared to Alanis and Sheryl Crow; nowadays I assume the closest referent would be Olivia Rodrigo. She’s got that singer-songwritery thing that the teen girls love and she’s got that alt rock thing that their aging hipster dads give the nod of the head to. Also, props to the last song that inexplicably turns into slowed-down drum n’ bass or something for no real reason. Rating: Like bordering on Like/Love.