Album Eliminations 2022: Tier 2 Week 5

Even though I am tackling some Tier 3 showdowns, Tier 2 is still going strong! The next few weeks includes albums from the May Roundup:

100 Gecs – 1000 Gecs VS. Daedelus – Invention

100 Gecs – 1000 Gecs

Native Construct – Quiet World VS. A.C.T. – Imaginary Friends
A.C.T. – Imaginary Friends

Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee VS. Laurie Spiegel – The Expanding Universe
Laurie Spiegel – The Expanding Universe


This week’s contentious showdown was this last one. Japanese Breakfast’s keen pop is clearly more accessible than Laurie Spiegel’s two disc compendium of mid – 70s computer music. Especially with the lengthier and more challenging experiments lying in wait at the end of the second disc, it can feel a bit overlong. But the creative context of this recording is incredibly compelling. Visions of cables running from room to room between huge IBM tape-to-tape mainframes taps into childhood memories of my father writing COBOL for similar machines. The idea of these behemoth machines being used to make this music resonates with me in surprising way.

Laurie Spiegel herself responded to my showdown post, and rightfully called into question the value of flattening the artistic output of these musicians with forced competitions. My response on Twitter came out terribly out of order, and I wanted to record it here in its entirety.:

First of all, thank you. In the last two years of doing this, you are the first to call me out on what is an inherently problematic process. A bit of a thread to follow…. 

For a long time, I’d just pick out some album that I liked a lot at the end of the year, but I found that would favor the music that I happened to be listening to in December, and didn’t really represent my favorite music from THROUGHOUT the year. 

So I eventually came up with this complicated showdown bracket system to add some component of empiricism to what is an essentially subjective endeavor. And although I agree that art is not a horse race, art does invite critique.

Unfortunately, the nuances of critique are often lost in contemporary “cancel” culture. Showing preference for one artistic expression over the other doesn’t necessarily mean that one is “good” while the other is “bad.” It’s way more complex than a “like,” which is what opinions have been flattened into.

In general, we have lost the idea that you can be both a fan and a critic. I’m a music educator, and as such I should be able to honestly compliment a student on a job well done while still giving them constructive criticism. Its OK for your favorite music to have flaws, and its OK to be moved by music that you find offensive.

While it may seem that comparing music in such a way (especially from different genres) negatively impacts my listening experience by forcing meaningless comparisons, I actually feel like it deepens my appreciation by framing my preferences in opposition.

Sometimes, its nearly impossible to make distinctions, but I find it gratifying to reflect on my connection with the music I listen to and really think about what resonates with me. I am also genuinely curious about other people’s subjective opinions on music. Putting these sometimes transgressive “showdowns” out there is really meant to invite discussion to broaden my horizons.

Although I admittedly rarely get discussion, it is even rarer that I encounter uncivil trolling, so I think that its worth it. And, as you suggest, any press is good press. If I can get one Japanese Breakfast fan to check out your music, I can feel like this whole wacky system is worth maintaining. In my mind, its mostly for fun.