Hey folks!

The twenty-fourth week of the Best Album of 2001 is over! But before we get into that, a special message:

The Best Album of 1995 Virtual Karaoke will take place September 20th, 4pm EST. Wear your best flannel, your most obscure band t-shirt, and get your picks ready. Sign-up sheet incoming — watch this space.

And now onto the weekly wrap-up!

OH MY GOD! A COMPLETELY OUT OF NOWHERE UPSET! In case you missed it, #23 SOUTHERN ROCK OPERA defeated #7 GORILLAZ by 4 votes, 147-143-2, which is also the most votes either album had generated the entire tournament. This is coming on the heels of its upset against #10 OH, INVERTED WORLD back on August 20th. I’m not sure if we’ve ever had a double-digit seed knock out two top ten seeds before, but even if so, it’s a very rare thing, so kudos to SRO. Watching the returns come in that night, and noting that, before I went to bed, SRO was only 8 votes down, I knew it had the potential to snipe a win in the last hour — we’ve seen it happen with albums deeper in the hole than 8 votes — but seeing how upset-resistant this tournament has been so far, I didn’t really think it would happen. And it almost didn’t — despite winning by 4, it was neck and neck for that last hour, with GORILLAZ retaking the lead several times. Anyway, notch a win for Team Bracket Chaos. Also, as Bluesky user @poseur.bsky.social notes, SOUTHERN ROCK OPERA has won its last three matches with a combined 14 votes. That’s cuckoo! Can it keep it’s streak going against juggernaut #2 IS THIS IT? Find out this Wednesday!

Oh, and the rest of the matches went to the higher seeds as expected, with the only one “close” being #5 VESPERTINE defeating #12 THE ARGUMENT by “only” 31 votes.

THE BEST ALBUM OF 2001 PREDICTION BRACKET TOP 20

Here’s Week #11 of the Prediction Bracket Top 20!

Aaaaaaand the entire top eight is the same! ALL RESEARCH AND SUCCESSFUL DRUG POLICY SHOWS THAT TREATMENT SHOULD BE INCREASED AND LAW ENFORCEMENT DECREASED WHILE ABOLISHING MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES holds onto #1 for a seventh straight week, but otherwise no notable changes in the top eight. Also, weirdly, nothing fell — all the brackets maintained their position or moved up a bit. They’re calling it the most boring Prediction Bracket update ever.

But it’s not without interest! Several brackets moved up, but two of them moved up the most, 4 notches. They are The Got 'Em Wrong Project at #16 and Drink Milk at #15. Good job! We also had four debuts this week, two genuinely new and two re-debuts. The re-debuts are Vast Aire's 10k Hz Legend at #19 (last seen in Week #8) and Clarence Carter's Strokin' (last seen in Week #9) at #20. The brand new brackets are 5 Million Ways to Kill My Hopes at #18 and Dreams No one sympathizes, when you're the other bracket everyone despises at #17. Welcome!

This means we lost Janky Rotel Hotpot (last week #18), I'm Bookish and Indie Rock Coded AND I VOTE (lw #12), former #1 bracket The Revenge Of Flimsy Steve (lw #10) and People, people, this is a poll (lw #9), which is where it debuted for the first time last week, and if it doesn’t return, will have the 2001 record for highest position achieved for a single appearance on the chart.

Finally, I saved the most exciting bit of news for last: yes, perennial #11 bracket Take it or leave it; it's hard to explain moved up two notches to #9, making the top ten for the first time in its ten weeks on the chart. Congratulations! We knew you could do it.

LAST WEEK’S RESULTS

On Monday, #4 Daft Punk, DISCOVERY defeated #13 Rilo Kiley, TAKE OFFS AND LANDINGS, 132-82-3. (217 total votes, +50)

On Tuesday, #5 Björk, VESPERTINE defeated #12 Fugazi, THE ARGUMENT, 144-113-2. (259 total votes, +31)

On Wednesday, #2 The Strokes, IS THIS IT defeated #15 Aaliyah, AALIYAH, 167-87-1. (255 total votes, +80)

Upset! On Thursday, #23 Drive-By Truckers, SOUTHERN ROCK OPERA defeated #7 Gorillaz, GORILLAZ, 147-143-2. (292 votes, +4)

On Friday, #3 The White Stripes, WHITE BLOOD CELLS defeated #19 Kylie Minogue, FEVER, 154-76-1. (231 votes, +78)

NEXT WEEK’S MATCHES

Monday, September 7th: #6 Radiohead, AMNESIAC vs. #11 Missy Elliott, MISS E... SO ADDICTIVE.

This is the end of Round 4, and the beginning of Round 5!

Tuesday, September 8th: #1 Wilco, YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT vs. #8 Gillian Welch, TIME (THE REVELATOR).

Wednesday, September 9th: #4 Daft Punk, DISCOVERY vs. #5 Björk, VESPERTINE.

Thursday, September 10th: #2 The Strokes, IS THIS IT vs. #23 Drive-By Truckers, SOUTHERN ROCK OPERA.

Friday, September 11th: #3 The White Stripes, WHITE BLOOD CELLS vs. either #6 Radiohead, AMNESIAC or #11 Missy Elliott, MISS E... SO ADDICTIVE.

And that’s the end of Round 5!

We currently have a Designated Cheerleaders for YANKEE HOTEL FOXTROT, TIME (THE REVELATOR), VESPERTINE, IS THIS IT, SOUTHERN ROCK OPERA, WHITE BLOOD CELLS and that’s it. (Is that it? That’s more than half of them! Great job everyone.) If you’d like to write one for one of the other albums, which are AMNESIAC, MISS E... SO ADDICTIVE, DISCOVERY (or even another for one of those other six), send it to [email protected]. Thanks!

Best,

Kent