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The League Of Extraordinary Tracks 8: 2023 RESULTS and OVERALL RESULTS
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— 30 August 2023 Tom

After 8 weeks and 96 tracks we’re at the end of the League Of Extraordinary Tracks Season 1! Time to see who won (not a lot of suspense there to be fair…)

First off, the final round results! And in a shock outcome there’s NO MEDAL for actualee simpson!

Joint second place here are Scar Lip’s brutal Big Apple beatdown “This Is New York” and Baiuca & Leilia’s dancefloor version of the traditional “Vai Tu”. But our final week winner is DAN POP-O-MATIC with Rose Gray’s Dee-liteful interpolation “Happiness”. All three of these excellent songs get a free ticket into the 2023 end of year poll on Twitter.

Which means the ranking rounds are over and we can see who is the top pop picker of Season 1!

I’ve included total votes here as while the gap in points is pretty wide the votes are much less spread out – everyone put forward multiple bangers even if the scorecard was sometimes harsh.

But as has been clear for several weeks the winner is the same however you count it – a dominant performance from ACTUALEE SIMPSON. Sterling work from runners up Dan Bright-Amaya and Job too but they couldn’t catch the League Of Pop maestro. Congratulations!

I’ve also listed the top-performing track from each player. These will go forward – along with each round’s winning song – into a final poll which I’ll put up soon, to determine the beat of beats, the League Of Pop champion track.

As for PRIZES, because the Twitter polls are ending next year the prizes are mostly picks for Ragnapop, the closing tournament. Job and Dan each get a Ragnapop pick, Actualee Simpson gets two – the list of eligible tracks will be posted nearer the time. Actualee ALSO gets to become the Taskmaster for the LEAGUE OF TRACKS SEASON 2 – he picks the opening two weeks’ themes: can be any theme whether we’ve done it before or not. When will Season 2 happen? Sometime in September – family medical issues have slowed everything down for me so there are delays all around. But happen it will!

And with that all that remains is saying a big THANKYOU to everyone who’s joined in. It’s been tough to get participation, and I’m very keen on hearing how the format or set-up might be improved to make things easier. But it’s also been a lot of fun and a reliable source of excellent tunes. Thanks again and see you in Season 2.

Latest comments (of 6)

Arron Wright   15 months ago

I can't remember if I was a reserve for season 3 or even 4, but I'll just take this opportunity to withdraw my name. Sorry Tom - no reflection on my enjoyment: listened to everything at least […]

mondosalvo   15 months ago

Oh good, the comments are working again. I had such fun with this thing, and that was just as a voter. Looking very forward to being a player for the next few weeks!

Arron Wright   16 months ago

Congratulations all. Dan Pop-O-Matic nominated two of my three favourites across all 8 weeks - Rose Gray and Pale Blue. The other was (inevitably!) an actualeesimpson production (Camille). […]

Andrew F   16 months ago

Hrm, when the comments are finally sorted out, I'd like to strike the last line of my first one - I thought the polls were hidden when it's just that they turn up a bit later than everything else on […]

The League Of Extraordinary Tracks 8: 2023 Poll!
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— 17 August 2023 Tom

It’s the FINALE of Season 1 of the League Of Extraordinary Tracks. 12 players, 12 tracks from 2023.

1 Go to the playlist post and hear the tunes!

2 Discard from consideration any you already knew!

3 Work out which four you like best!

4 Vote for them in the poll!

And with that it only remains to thank everyone involved with the League, but ESPECIALLY our 12 players who’ve put their taste on the line 8 weeks running for our entertainment. Thanks, and best of luck in this final round…!

[ays_poll id=106]

Latest comments (of 22)

wmterhaar   16 months ago

Listened to Israel Fernández's full album Pura Sangre and I can recommend it to everyone.

Tom   16 months ago

Listening to the Ran Cap Duoi LP now and, gosh, it's a little more bracing than the extremely pretty "Straws" suggested

Tom   16 months ago

I like weird bops and I cannot lie. I like them even more in languages I can't understand so this was a rich week for me! EXTREMELY taken by the psychedelic ghiblicore of "Straws" and whatever […]

wmterhaar   16 months ago

Folky vote from me this week: Usually I like the energy and virtuosity of flamenco music and Israel Fernandez's track here is no exception. It's one of those genres I always promise myself to get […]

The League Of Extraordinary Tracks 8: 2023 Playlists!
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— 17 August 2023 Tom

It’s the final round of Season 1 of the League Of Extraordinary Tracks – and our 12 players have been brought bang up to date with the instruction to bring us all something from this year. Here are the Spotify and YouTube playlists so you can see what’s in their haul before voting in the poll post.

  1. Crooks And Nannies – “3AM”: from the No Fun EP.
  2. Ni’Jah ft Childish Gambino & KIRBY – “Sticky”: From the Swarm EP.
  3. Scar Lip – “This Is New York”: a single!
  4. Santi Pulvirenti – “…Fate Tiptoes To A Party”: from the soundtrack to L’Ultima Notte Di Amore
  5. Rắn Cạp Đuôi – “Straws”: from the LP *1
  6. Rose Gray – “Happiness”: a single!
  7. Brighde Chaimbeul ft Colin Stetson – “Tha Fonn Gun Bhi Trom (I Am Disposed Of Mirth)”: from the LP Carry Them With Us
  8. The Clientele – “Fables Of The Silverlink”: from the LP I Am Not There Anymore
  9. Bully – “Ms. America”: from the LP Lucky For You.
  10. Israel Fernandez ft Pional – “Al Tercer Mundo”: from the LP Pura Sangre
  11. Baiuca ft Leilia – “Vai Tu”: a single!
  12. Tiete – “Zig Zag”: a single!

Latest comments (of 5)

bob burgoyne   16 months ago

Many thanks to the nominators this is an absolutely cracking selection, super tough choice to pick four..

actualee simpson   16 months ago

Just put this up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWHIyNp74w

vinnycrackers   16 months ago

Does anyone have a USA link for Santi Pulverati? Granted I'm at work and haven't given it 100% effort, but I've only found an Apple Music link (not a subscriber.)

Job   16 months ago

I’ll take it if it’s still available!

The League Of Extraordinary Tracks 7: Four Letter Words RESULTS!
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— 16 August 2023 Tom

First of all, apologies for the delay in posting these results – I had a big backlog of admin (and actual work!) following a bout of illness last week. Fortunately I’m feeling better now and the League can move into its final round – but first, the RESULTS of Week 7.

It was another tightly packed round with the eventual winner pulling ahead thanks to the final voter. But I’m happy to announce the medals – BRONZE goes to Michelle McAdorey’s meandering, mesmeric “Mona”. SILVER goes to Natalia Lafourcade and her epic “Azul”. But the winner this week is ASHA PUTHLI with “Lies”, her 1973 cover of the J.J.Cale track.

As you’ll see from the table, once again our Gold medal nominator is ACTUALEE SIMPSON – which puts him on an outrageous 74 points from a possible 84, a full 25 ahead of his nearest competitor with only 12 to play for. In other words – and it’s been the likely outcome from week 3 or so – we have a League Of Pop Season 1 Winner.

Prize announcements will wait for next week, but let me just mention now that the tournament design was absolutely not meant to allow this kind of run – Actualee is just that good at picking obscure Golden Beats. Huge congratulations!

Of course there’s still one more chance for everyone else to get a gold – the Week 8 Finale which is songs from this year. That will be up tomorrow morning for an extended run. The medal-winning songs in that will automatically go through to the January World Cup Of 2023 – no nominations needed.

Latest comments (of 2)

actualee simpson   16 months ago

Thank you! If the League is anything like Taskmaster, I am guaranteed comical humiliation in the eventual Champion of Champions! […]

Arron Wright   16 months ago

It's all been a bit Manchester City meets No Scrubs, this season, hasn't it? :) Congratulations! Haven't checked to see which others I voted for, but Camille (2008) was probably my favourite […]

The League Of Extraordinary Tracks 7: FOUR LETTER WORDS Poll!
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— 6 August 2023 Tom

This is the Week 7 poll for the League Of Extraordinary Tracks! How do you take part?

FIRST! Go and listen to the songs chosen in the playlist post.

SECOND! Exclude from consideration any that you already knew!

THIRD! Work out which FOUR songs (or up to four) you like best!

FOURTH: VOTE FOR THEM!

This poll will run until Saturday 6PM UK time – plenty of time, but don’t miss out.

Then come back next week for the GRAND FINAL in which our nominators choose songs from 2023.

[ays_poll id=105]

Latest comments (of 23)

actualee simpson   16 months ago

On her s/t album, Asha Puthli is practically as affected as William Shatner, and about as ambiguously avant about it (similar to Shatner: is it that she's bad or clumsy at being avant, or that it's […]

koganbot   16 months ago

Turns out I first heard Asha Puthli 45 years ago when I bought my first Ornette Coleman album. Is an album I still play, Science Fiction, but I hadn't thought to check the album credits recently. Is […]

koganbot   16 months ago

Listened to the NewJeans EP ASAP, making "ASAP" ineligible. So voted Laura Jean, the 2 Bears, Pinkshift, and Lo-Fi-Fnk. But I thought about Asha Puthli more than the rest combined. Song starts like […]

Mark EC Morris   16 months ago

Voted NewJeans and Neneh Cherry & The Thing – ASAP is to me the best song here, Dirt the most sonically engaging? There's a fair chance I'd heard the Kristin Hersh song before but wouldn't have […]

The League Of Extraordinary Tracks 7: FOUR LETTER WORDS Playlists
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— 6 August 2023 Tom

Poll fans of the universe, I am delighted to return from holiday with WEEK 7 of the League Of Extraordinary tracks! This penultimate round is all songs with four letter titles and as with the original 4 Letter Words poll I’ve arranged the playlist in straightforward alphabetical order. Both Spotify and YouTube are complete but if there are gaps where you are let me know in the comments.

Once you’ve listened to these excellent selections make your choices in the poll post.

  1. NewJeans – “ASAP”*: From 2023’s Get Up EP
  2. Natalia Lafourcade – “Azul”: From 2009’s Hu Hu Hu
  3. Lo-Fi-Fnk – “City”: From 2006’s Boylife
  4. Neneh Cherry & The Thing – “Dirt”: From 2012’s The Cherry Thing
  5. Kristin Hersh – “Hope”: From 1998’s Strange Angels
  6. The Marias – “Hush (Still Woozy Remix)”**: Remix of a track from 2021’s Cinema.
  7. Laura Jean – “June”: From 2014’s Laura Jean
  8. Asha Puthli – “Lies”: From 1973’s Asha Puthli.
  9. Pinkshift – “Mars”: From 2021’s Saccharine EP.
  10. Michelle McAdorney – “Mona”: From 2000’s Whirl.
  11. Raavi – “Nora”: From 2020’s Don’t Hit Me Up.
  12. The 2 Bears – “Work”: From 2012’s Be Strong.

*- Abbreviations are fine if they sing it as a word in the song, which NewJeans do at least once.

** Remixes are fine as long as the title change is confined to the parentheses, as here!

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