Hey folks!

The second week of the Best Album of 2001 is over, and we have our first upsets! Just this morning, the returns came in for INSIGNIFICANCE vs. SUNNY BORDER BLUE, and SUNNY BORDER BLUE emerged victorious by a slim 10 vote margin, the closest match in 2001 so far. Earlier in the week, in a more stunning upset, RUN COME SAVE ME defeated NO MORE SHALL WE PART by a small but healthy margin of 39 votes. What’s more, while higher seed ROCKIN’ THE SUBURBS defeated INNOCENCE AND DESPAIR, it was only by 17 votes, and ROCKIN’ THE SUBURBS didn’t pull away definitively until late in the match. We came kinda close to two 80 seeds knocking out 40 seeds.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS

On Monday, #80 Roots Manuva, RUN COME SAVE ME defeated #49 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, NO MORE SHALL WE PART, 127-88-1. (216 total votes, +39)

On Tuesday, #17 Cake, COMFORT EAGLE defeated #112 Margo Guryan, 25 DEMOS, 136-82-3. (221 total votes, +54)

On Wednesday, #48 Ben Folds, ROCKIN' THE SUBURBS defeated #81 The Langley Schools Music Project, INNOCENCE AND DESPAIR, 117-100-3. (220 total votes, +17)

On Thursday, #8 Gillian Welch, TIME (THE REVELATOR) defeated #121 Ash, FREE ALL ANGELS, 162-53-2. (215 votes, +109)

On Friday, #72 Kristin Hersh, SUNNY BORDER BLUE defeated #57 Jim O'Rourke, INSIGNIFICANCE, 111-101-1. (213 total votes, +10)

NEXT WEEK’S MATCHES

Monday, April 6th: #25 Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, THE TYRANNY OF DISTANCE vs. #104 Converge, JANE DOE.

Tuesday, April 7th: #4 Daft Punk, DISCOVERY vs. #125 Tipsy, UH-OH!.

Wednesday, April 8th: #9 Spoon, GIRLS CAN TELL vs. #120 Opeth, BLACKWATER PARK.

Thursday, April 9th: #56 Spiritualized, LET IT COME DOWN vs. #73 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, B.R.M.C..

Friday, April 10th: #24 The Coup, PARTY MUSIC vs. #105 Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, THE SWIMMING HOUR.

We currently have a Designated Cheerleader for UH-OH!, but could use some for the rest of next week’s lineup. If you want to send one in, send it to kentmbeeson@hey.com. Thanks!

Hope you had a great week, and don’t forget, I have a survey running right now about what years Best Album should tackle in the near future. I’m turning it off Monday morning, so if you haven’t filled it out (it’s only 3 questions), then please do so soon! Later this week, I’ll send out a newsletter talking about the results.

Thanks,

Kent