Our third League week is over – as ever I want to thank our players who put their faves up for judgement and our participants who took the time to weigh up that excellent set of album closers (and offer some fine commentary too).

Let’s see who takes away the SPOILS this time:

In third place it’s Puerto Rico’s ILE with her more delicate approach to the art of the album closer. In second place we have that most closerish of closers, GREET DEATH’s 9 minute epic. But the winner is PINKY-ANN-RIHAL and their 1985 Hindi new wave disco smash “Tu Aaja”. Which means a second 12 points for actualee simpson who now has 32 out of a possible 36. Is the competition over before it’s even started? Come back tomorrow for the SHORT SONGS playlists and poll to find out.

Meanwhile our players have their Week 5 orders already – it’s going to be Cover Versions again!

This is the Week 3 poll in the LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY TRACKS. Our 12 brave nominators have voyaged to the ends of the earth several records to find CLOSING TRACKS for you to hear. Listen to their selections in the playlist post and then vote (and comment) away!

THE RULES!

Vote for up to four tracks.

Do not vote for tracks you already knew

Hello again! Week 3 of the League Of Extraordinary Tracks revisits our February 2022 CLOSING TRACKS poll. All these songs end their LPs which makes for a slightly odd mix! But (I think) a good ‘un. As a reminder the rule is that you can’t vote for TRACKS you know already – doesn’t matter if you know the artist already, it’s the track that counts.

This is a single playlist but because of the general closery-ness I mentally arranged it into two sides of a C60 tape.

You can – indeed you should! – vote on these in the poll post.

1. PINKY ANN RIHAL – “Tu Aaja” (1985’s Tere Liye (Hindi Disco))
2. ILE – “De Luna” (2019’s Almadura)
3. KRONOS QUARTET – “El Sinaloense – Dance Mix” (2002’s Nuevo)
4. TZUSING – “Residual Stress” (2023’s 绿帽 Green Hat)
5. MEL STONE – “Rose Quartz” (2023’s Princess)
6. GREET DEATH – “New Hell” (2019’s New Hell)

1. THE JUST JOANS – “What Do We Do Now?” (2012’s Buckfast Bottles In The Rain)
2. LUPE FIASCO ft RXMN & SALIM – “More Than My Heart” (2017’s Drogas Light)
3. BONNIE RAITT – “The Bed I Made” (2005’s Souls Alive)
4. THE FREE DESIGN – “That’s All, People” (1970’s Stars/Time/Bubbles/Love)
5. BLACK SABBATH – “Over And Over” (1981’s Mob Rules)
6. GOWNS – “Cherylee” (2007’s Red State)

Once again I offer the hugest of thanks to our players for a great set of tracks! 47 voters – only a couple down on the opening week, which is a solid result too. The margin of victory was pretty convincing this time but below our winner things were a lot tighter, with 3 songs carrying off the bronze. Meanwhile both last week’s nul-points players bounced back to take the top two spots in Week 2. Here’s the reveal of who picked what, and the scores so far.

Mystery Indonesians the LEMBAYUNG GROUP share third place with country singer BRENNEN LEIGH and Spanish/Italian combo DELAPORTE.

In second place we find Chicago producer NEZ, but the 12 points this week go decisively to pop-o-matic, nominator of electro-pop duo PALE BLUE and their acid house rework of the hard-hitting “I Walk Alone At Night”. Congratulations for a track which would have fit right into the 2020 poll as run and a well-earned win this week.

Playlists for Week 3 (Closing Tracks) will be up tomorrow. The Week 4 topic will be SHORT SONGS (2 minutes or less).

Here we go with the second week of the LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY TRACKS. Our 12 nominators had the assignment to choose songs from 2020. In the playlist post you can hear what they brought back and here’s where you get to VOTE on them.

As usual you can pick UP TO FOUR tracks but remember the golden rule –

NO VOTING FOR SONGS YOU ALREADY KNEW!

Voting is open until Saturday morning, so take your time. (And tell your friends if you dig this playlist!)

Here are the PLAYLISTS for Round 2 of the League Of Extraordinary Tracks, this week revisiting the year 2020. What happened then eh? Nothing important I’m sure. But these dozen tunes came out and you can vote on them in the poll post.

1. OPEN MIKE EAGLE – “Headass (Idiot Shinji)” (from Anime, Trauma And Divorce)
2. NEZ ft SCHOOLBOY Q – “Wild Youngster” (single on Three Six Zero)
3. DOGLEG – “Kawasaki Backflip” (from Melee)
4. DELAPORTE – “No Diras” (from Las Montanas)
5. THAT KID – “Taco Bell” (from Crush)
6. LORENZO SENNI – “Dance Tonight Revolution Tomorrow” (from Scacco Matto)
7. LEMBAYUNG GROUP – “Aku Berdansa Seorang Diri Disini” (single on Irama Records)
8. SAM AMIDON – “Spanish Merchant’s Daughter” (from Sam Amidon)
9. BRENNEN LEIGH – “Don’t You Know I’m From Here” (from Prairie Love Letter)
10. MODERN STUDIES – “Photograph” (from The Weight Of The Sun)
11. PALE BLUE – “I Walk Alone With Acid” (from Breathe EP)
12. ROUTINE ft ANNIE TRUSCOTT & JAY SOM – “Numb Enough” (from And Other Things EP)

Next week it’s the return of CLOSING TRACKS!