2022 Album Eliminations: Tier 1 Week 6

This is the last week of Tier 1 eliminations!  48 albums have been narrowed to 24 - the first step in a long path to the top 20 albums of 2022!  Here’s the results:

Arushi Jain - Under the Lilac Sky VS. Sault - Nine

Sault - Nine

Sufjan Stevens - The Ascension VS. Tomahawk - Tonic Immobility

Tomahawk - Tonic Immobility

Cynic - Ascension Codes VS. Snail Mail - Valentine

Cynic - Ascension Codes

Daedelus - Invention VS. Tony Kaye - The End of Innocence

Daedelus - Invention

There were a couple of contentious showdowns of note this time around.  I really love that Arushi Jain album, so Sault’s win was a bit of an upset (even though I should not be surprised).  The really tough one was Sufjan Stevens VS Tomahawk.  I really respect Steven’s ambition as a songwriter, and the Ascension is masterfully textured, but it feels a bit overlong.  Tomahawk’s energy and virtuosity won the day there.

The big winner this week was Ascension Codes. I had the opportunity to crack that open a bit this week and got really excited about it. The synth bass on that album is just incredible.

Next week begins Tier 2, which will begin to pit Tier 1 winners against genre-adjacent albums presented in the monthly roundup series. It's about to get interesting....