Hey folks!

The nineteenth week of the Best Album of 2001 is over! And we had the first upset of Round 2! That’s right, #35 ANY OTHER CITY took out… #30 YEAH YEAH YEAHS ep. Okay, so it wasn’t the most dramatic of upsets, but it counts. Which isn’t to say some of these weren’t close or close-ish. #27 THE COLD VEIN beat #38 LATERALUS by only 13 votes — I’ve seen last-minute comebacks cover greater distances — and #14 THE BLUEPRINT defeated #51 GET READY by only 22 votes, which is THE BLUEPRINT’s second soft win in a row. It’s going to have to do better than that to beat #19 FEVER, I think. Finally, there was #6 AMNESIAC versus #70 SURVIVOR, which I had pegged, not as an upset, but more competitive than expected. I mean, I don’t think I could come up with better counter-programming to Radiohead than Destiny’s Child. But no! AMNESIAC handily defeated SURVIVOR by 79 votes, at times threatening a Pac-Man. Ah well.

THE BEST ALBUM OF 2001 PREDICTION BRACKET TOP 20

Here’s Week #6 of the Prediction Bracket Top 20!

ALL RESEARCH AND SUCCESSFUL DRUG POLICY SHOWS THAT TREATMENT SHOULD BE INCREASED AND LAW ENFORCEMENT DECREASED WHILE ABOLISHING MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES is at #1 for a second week, with Party Hard holding down #2 again. After its big fall to #5 from #1 last week, The Revenge Of Flimsy Steve moves back up 2 to #3. You can’t keep a good Steve flimsy.

Our biggest mover of the week is here you go create another bracket, you wanted to, which is… me! I move up 6 notches to #8, my first appearance in the Top Ten. That’s right, I’m coming for alla you suckaz. We have two big falls this week as Veridis Quo slides from #12 to #20 and sctttnnnt drops all the way from #4 to #14. sctttnnnt is part of a five-bracket pileup at #14 this week, which includes Whiskey Tango Hotel November? and three debuts.

What are those debuts, you ask? They are I Am Trying to Bracket Your Heart, 2001: A Bracket Odyssey, The 2001 Music Project: Upsets & Despair. 2001: A Bracket Odyssey fell off in Week #4, but the other two are new. Welcome everyone! But those aren’t the only debuts. At #20 sees the return of Life's Not a Bitch, Life is a Beautiful Bracket, You Only Call Her a Bitch Because Your Prediction Skills Can't Hack It, last seen in Week #4, and our biggest (re)debut is Bjork's Swan Dress, last seen in Week #2. Welcome back, both!

This means we lost four brackets this week: MeanwhileShinersTheEggWasReallyTheBestAlbum (last week #16), How to Disappear Completely from the Bracket top 10 (lw #17), Winning Argument (lw #18), Clarence Carter’s Strokin’ (lw #18) and Yes, it is (lw #20). Hope to see you all again soon!

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS

On Monday, #35 Life Without Buildings, ANY OTHER CITY defeated #30 Yeah Yeah Yeahs, YEAH YEAH YEAHS ep, 115-77-2. (194 total votes, +38)

On Tuesday, #14 Jay-Z, THE BLUEPRINT defeated #51 New Order, GET READY, 117-95-2. (213 total votes, +22)

On Wednesday, #19 Kylie Minogue, FEVER defeated #46 Tortoise, STANDARDS, 114-76-1. (191 total votes, +38)

On Thursday, #6 Radiohead, AMNESIAC defeated #70 Destiny's Child, SURVIVOR, 154-75-1. (230 votes, +79)

On Friday, #27 Cannibal Ox, THE COLD VEIN defeated #38 Tool, LATERALUS, 99-86-1. (186 votes, +13)

NEXT WEEK’S MATCHES

Monday, August 3rd.: #11 Missy Elliott, MISS E... SO ADDICTIVE vs. #54 Unwound, LEAVES TURN INSIDE YOU.

Tuesday, August 4th: #22 System of a Down, TOXICITY vs. #43 Josie and the Pussycats, JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS: MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE.

Wednesday, August 5th: #1 Wilco, YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT vs. #32 Mary J. Blige, NO MORE DRAMA.

Thursday, August 6th: #16 Low, THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE vs. #17 Cake, COMFORT EAGLE.

Friday, August 7th: #8 Gillian Welch, TIME (THE REVELATOR) vs. #25 Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, THE TYRANNY OF DISTANCE.

We currently have a Designated Cheerleaders for YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT, TIME (THE REVELATOR), and THE TYRANNY OF DISTANCE and that’s it. If you’d like to write one for one of the other albums, which are MISS E... SO ADDICTIVE, LEAVES TURN INSIDE YOU, TOXICITY, JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS: MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE, NO MORE DRAMA, THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE, or COMFORT EAGLE (or even another for one of those other three), send it to [email protected]. Thanks!

Best,

Kent