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…!

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!

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.

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.

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!

We’re back! I had an excellent holiday and return with renewed RESULTS POSTING VIGOUR, so let’s see the outcome of the 2008 poll.

It was a tight one, which makes the points allocation feel especially unfair, but that’s the nature of the game – a very closely packed round.

The bronze – and the 8 points – go to Baltimore Jacks for Danez vs Rifhes’ glitchcore take on New Order. Silver goes to actualee simpson for Camille’s “Canards Sauvages”, moving him tantalisingly close to victory. But Dan Bright-Amaya still has a mathematical chance of overtaking him, and gets his first DOUZE POINTS for Buika‘s hit “No Habrá Nadie En El Mundo”. Congratulations to Dan and Buika and a hearty thankyou to all our players.

Round 7, Four-Letter Words, will be up on Sunday.