Band Face Off - Round 35

[trackaghost]

There were few surprises in round 34 as the wonderful Patti Smith beat out newcomer PJ Harvey with an impressive 22 votes to five. I hope Josh is happy, since one of his favourites won for once!

Round 35: we need some hip hop. Maybe not the best (I'm no expert when it comes to rap) but these are probably the most talked about and popular rap artists of the last couple of years (I hope!)

The results so far...
Round 1: Petty defeats Springsteen - 36 to 19
Round 2: Led Zeppelin defeat The Who - 22 to 19
Round 3: Madonna defeats Sheryl Crow/Kate Bush - 24 to 13/10
Round 4: The Beatles defeat Rolling Stones/U2 - 23 to 16/14
Round 5: Guns N Roses defeat Bon Jovi/Metallica - 17 to 13/12
Round 6: Heart defeat Blondie/The Pretenders - 23 to 16/6
Round 7: The Beach Boys defeat The Kinks/The Byrds - 24 to 10/10
Round 8: Johnny Cash defeats Elvis Presley/Roy Orbison - 20 to 19/7
Round 9: Abba defeats The Carpenters - 25 to 15
Round 10: Prince defeats Jimi Hendrix/Lenny Kravitz - 24 to 15/3
Round 11: No Doubt defeat Garbage/Hole - 27 to 11/9
Round 12: Bob Dylan defeats Neil Young - 26 to 25
Round 13: Dolly Parton defeats Emmylou Harris/Linda Ronstadt - 20 to 17/9
Round 14: Marvin Gaye defeats Aretha Franklin/Stevie Wonder/Diana Ross - 14 to 11/10/2
Round 15: David Bowie defeats Lou Reed/Iggy Pop - 38 to 5/2
Round 16: Talking Heads defeat The Clash - 21 to 19
Round 17: Billie Holiday defeats Ella Fitzgerald - 25 to 7
Round 18: The Eagles defeat Lynyrd Skynyrd - 30 to 17
Round 19: The Doors defeat Jefferson Airplane - 22 to 17
Round 20: Elvis Costello defeats Sting - 19 to 13
Round 21: Eurythmics defeat Depeche Mode/New Order - 27 to 7/6
Round 22: Duran Duran defeat Tears For Fears - 21 to 15
Round 23: Tori Amos defeats Alanis Morissette/Jewel - 21 to 11/8
Round 24: REM defeat Coldplay - 34 to 9
Round 25: The White Stripes defeat Beck - 19 to 18
Round 26: Pink Floyd defeat Radiohead - 30 to 9
Round 27: The Killers defeat Franz Ferdinand/Maroon 5 - 15 to 14/5
Round 28: Nirvana defeat Pearl Jam/Soundgarden - 15 to 13/4
Round 29: Elton John defeats Billy Joel - 31 to 11
Round 30: Creedence Clearwater Revival defeat The Band/The Grateful Dead - 25 to 7/7
Round 31: Aerosmith defeat AC/DC/Van Halen - 20 to 11/7
Round 32: Whitney Houston defeats Celine Dion/Christina Aguilera/Mariah Carey - 10 to 9/9/8
Round 33: Joni Mitchell defeats Carole King/Jackson Browne/James Taylor - 12 to 11/4/4
Round 34: Patti Smith defeats PJ Harvey - 22 to 5

[heyjupiter678]

I can't stand Eminem or Kanye West, so that leaves OutKast.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

There were few surprises in round 34 as the wonderful Patti Smith beat out newcomer PJ Harvey with an impressive 22 votes to five. I hope Josh is happy, since one of his favourites won for once!

I'm chuffed to bits. It's actually a little surreal. Give me a moment to compose myself.

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

Round 35: we need some hip hop. Maybe not the best (I'm no expert when it comes to rap) but these are probably the most talked about and popular rap artists of the last couple of years (I hope!)

You left out Jigga, but I'm sure he'll forgive you.

Eminem: When he was good, well, he was very very good. "Stan" is easily one of the best songs of the past decade, and the more light-hearted tracks on his first album were downright hilarious. At some point, though, I think Em got a little too wrapped up in his own image and reputation, started taking himself far too seriously, and now I find the guy downright boring. It doesn't help that he seems to use the same ominous-sounding strings in nearly every song he produces these days. It's one thing to have an aesthetic, but Mr. Mathers is starting to put me to sleep. (And come on, how hard is it to pick on Moby, the bald vegetarian pacifist? Get a real rivalry, dude.)

Outkast: I was pretty blown away by Speakerboxxx/The Love Below when it came out in 2003, but I find it hasn't aged all that well in the intervening two years. Big Boi's disc is mostly solid, but Dre's various "I wish I were Prince" experiments just got old after the first couple of listens, with very few exceptions. As with Eminem, these guys started out strong, got even stronger (is there anything better than "Ms. Jackson"?), and then seem to have started to fizzle. Still, I'm excited to hear their new one.

Kanye: Can do almost no wrong right now, as far as I'm concerned. He's an incredibly gifted and inventive producer, whose golden ear is probably the modern hip-hop equivalent of Lindsey Buckingham's, and his talents as a rapper just keep growing. Late Registration is simply one of the best albums of the year, by turns both incredibly catchy, oddly challenging, and intriguingly lyrical. Kanye wins this one in a landslide for me.

(It would have been interesting to include The Roots here, and see how a hip-hop band would fare against these kings of sampling. But I've got a feeling most folks here have no idea who The Roots are.)

[amber]

Originally Posted by Jyqm

(Get a real rivalry, dude.)

Kanye is good? Seriously? When I saw him on that awards show, his song and performance were so, so lame.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by amber

Kanye is good? Seriously? When I saw him on that awards show, his song and performance were so, so lame.

He annoyed the DNA right out of me on the Grammy's this past year. Tacky and obnoxious to the hilt.

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by amber

Kanye is good? Seriously? When I saw him on that awards show, his song and performance were so, so lame.

What awards show?

I remember seeing him on the MTV Video Music Awards, and his performance was pretty lackluster and not very good at all.

Kanye's rapping is pretty great, but his true talents are as a producer. He's the Lindsey Buckingham of hip-hop.

[amber]

Originally Posted by dissention

He annoyed the DNA right out of me on the Grammy's this past year. Tacky and obnoxious to the hilt.

Yeah, that's the one I was talking about. He didn't seem particularly extra talented. Have you heard other stuff by him?

[amber]

Originally Posted by Jyqm

What awards show?

I remember seeing him on the MTV Video Music Awards, and his performance was pretty lackluster and not very good at all.

Kanye's rapping is pretty great, but his true talents are as a producer. He's the Lindsey Buckingham of hip-hop.

How can you tell? Has he produced other people's albums? And what makes him good? Does he do unusual hip hop things? Beats no one has ever thought of? What?

[Serrart]

Outkast. They sound the more creative and open to other genres to me. And Ms Jackson is a classic.

Romy

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by amber

How can you tell? Has he produced other people's albums?

Yes! He produced a lot of Jay-Z's stuff for years before he released his first album. And he produced Common's new album, which is just wonderful. He co-produced his own new album with John Brion, the guy who produced the first incarnation of Fiona Apple's new album.

And what makes him good? Does he do unusual hip hop things? Beats no one has ever thought of? What?

He's got an incredibly expansive sonic palette. Yes, his beats are good, but what makes his production stand out is that he recognizes that hip-hop can be more than just beats - it can be music. He'll throw in horns, walking bass lines, piano figures, string sections - things that do more than just build off the beat; they exist around it and in it and through it.

Here's "Heard 'Em Say," the first track (after the intro) on Late Registration, featuring what's his name from Maroon 5 - Adam Levine? It starts out really basic: nice drum beat, that beautiful piano figure, occasional synth bass line. Then as it progresses, there's just all kinds of fun little sounds that pop up all over the place, one after another. And then it just completely shifts gears for the last 30 seconds before sputtering to a very low-key close. I think the lyrics on this one are pretty great too.
http://s47.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2...A081PQRDQGTUAZ

And here's "Be," the first track (and title track) from Common's new album. I don't really know what to say about this song, this is just incredibly beautiful, soulful stuff. If you don't care for Kanye's personality but want to get a feel for what a wonderufl producer he is, Be is Mr. West at his finest. (And Common is an excellent MC himself.)
http://s57.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3...F0X9KTNIOQIDA1

[amber]

Thanks, man, I'll have a listen when I get home.

[SteveMacD]

Kanye West, if for no other reason than that priceless look on Mike Myer's face.

[ontheEdgeof17]

Outkast, by process of elimination.

[wondergirl9847]

I like OutKast, but found myself only knowing about 4 of their songs (Ms. Jackson, Hey Ya, I Like the Way, and Roses). With Eminem, I know quite a few, and like his style. I do like Kanye's Goldigger and Jesus Walks (from what I've heard, which is not much. LOL). Em wins because I know tons of his stuff.