Board 8 > Rank the Tracks Week 65: Japanese Breakfast's Jubilee (+ Mos Def results)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Previous results can be seen here:
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/Rank_the_Tracks

The rules:
1. Listen to the album in full
2. Rank every track on the album
3. For the results, there will be a curve at the top of each list; two additional points between #1 and #2, and one additional point for the next two ranks. This way, the songs that really stick out to someone get an edge that is not immediately negated by someone else putting it lower. In the case of Demon Days, someone's 15th track will get 1 point, 14th 2 points, 4th 12 points, 3rd 14 points, 2nd 16 points, and 1st 19 points. For albums with greater than 15 tracks, everything ranked below #15 will be given 0 points and the scale for the top 15 will be the same as a 15-track album. For albums with more than 20 tracks, you only have to list your top 15 (with 16-20, I still like having the average rank listed)
4. If you want to include comments for individual songs, I will compile them in the results
5. The results will be posted at the beginning of the next topic
6. The deadline to vote is Sunday, June 5 at 8:00 AM EST - though if you are for whatever reason listening to the album around that time, just say so in the topic and I can delay a bit
7. You can sign up to be added to the user cycle - the next person on the list will choose 3 albums which the other users will vote on for the next topic.
7a. To ensure people are being given an actual choice, the three nominated albums must be by different artists. You can otherwise stick to a similar sound or era.
7b. The tiebreaker for these polls will be whichever is listed first in the poll options - make sure to deliver the results in order of your own preference (which will hopefully have the added benefit of influencing people toward your first choice if they can't decide).

Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee track list:
1. Paprika
2. Be Sweet
3. Kokomo, IN
4. Slide Tackle
5. Posing in Bondage
6. Sit
7. Savage Good Boy
8. In Hell
9. Tactics
10. Posing for Cars

User Cycle:
6/5: CasanovaZelos (Portishead - Third)
6/12: Seanchan (blink-182 - Enema of the State)
6/19: Giggsalot
6/26: RyoCaliente
7/3: darkx
7/10: neonreaper
7/17: Great_Paul
7/24: jcgamer107
7/31: ChichiriMuyo
8/7: BlueCrystalTear
8/14: MetalmindStats
8/21: HBJDubs
8/28: Raetsel_Lapin
9/4: TheArkOfTurus
9/11: Steiner
9/18: Snake5555555555
9/25: Jesse_Custer
10/2: ZaziGuado
10/9: firefdr
10/16: Johnbobb
10/23: VeryInsane

Mos Def - Black on Both Sides results

The participants sorted by deviation from final results:
CasanovaZelos (30)
Johnbobb (56)
Giggsalot (58)
HBJDubs (70)
Seanchan (76)
Raetsel_Lapin (90)
MetalmindStats (90)

General Album Comments

Seanchan: Did a first listen to Mos Def. This is going to be a tough one for me this week. Not my favorite genre, long in length, and numerous of songs. Plus, there's no skits that I can just throw to the bottom of the pile.

Was this a big and/or important album at the time? Is it considered a classic?

CasanovaZelos (responding to Seanchan): I don't know how big it was in the popular sphere, but it is in the top 1000 on Acclaimed Music, so it's at least held up as important by critics.

Giggsalot: finally, something i'm motivated to (re-)listen to! it's been a while

could well be a top five rap album of all time for me - not a lot of records that manage to be sonically beautiful, lyrically poignant, and great fun too

Johnbobb (responding to Seanchan): It was extremely acclaimed, pretty much cemented Mos Def as one of the best rappers of that time, and was one of the albums that really transitioned between the 90s and 2000s socially conscious rap

Seanchan: I have to say, I've enjoyed this album much more than I expected so far. I'll give me usual complaint that it's too long, but I'm actually thinking this won't be quite as difficult to rank as something like Folklore. There's a lot of variety here, in terms of beats and lyrical content, that I've been able to get a decent feel for the individual tracks.

Giggsalot: So many classics here, christ. What a record.

Johnbobb: Front to back, easily one of the expertly written and crafted rap records ever put out.

CasanovaZelos: I haven't revisited this album since a first listen nearly a decade ago, and I'm so happy I did. This may clock in at 70 minutes, but it breezes by due to its cohesion. Each track feels like a movement in one epic piece, but also distinct enough to stand apart.

Black on Both Sides track ranking

17. Fear Not of Man (Track #1)
Score: 29 (Average Rank: 12.14/17)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs, CasanovaZelos (#17)

16. May-December (Track #17)
Score: 29 (Average Rank: 11.86/17)
Biggest Fan(s): MetalmindStats (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#16)

15. Got (Track #7)
Score: 31 (Average Rank: 11.71/17)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin, MetalmindStats, CasanovaZelos (#9)
Biggest Detractor(s): Giggsalot (#17)

14. Love (Track #3)
Score: 36 (Average Rank: 11/17)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#6)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#17)

13. Brooklyn (Track #13)
Score: 37 (Average Rank: 11/17)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Giggsalot (#16)

12. Rock N Roll (Track #10)
Score: 40 (Average Rank: 10.86/17)
Biggest Fan(s): Johnbobb (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin, Giggsalot (#15)

11. Know That (Track #11)
Score: 41 (Average Rank: 10.29/17)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): MetalmindStats (#16)

10. Habitat (Track #14)
Score: 46 (Average Rank: 9.57/17)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#4)
Biggest Detractor(s): Johnbobb (#17)

9. Do It Now (Track #6)
Score: 52 (Average Rank: 9.14/17)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#16)

8. Climb (Track #12)
Score: 53 (Average Rank: 9.14/17)
Biggest Fan(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan, CasanovaZelos (#16)

7. Speed Law (Track #5)
Score: 53 (Average Rank: 8.43/17)
Biggest Fan(s): Giggsalot (#5)
Biggest Detractor(s): MetalmindStats (#14)

6. Mr. ***** (Track #15)
Score: 54 (Average Rank: 8.57/17)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan, MetalmindStats (#3)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#16)

5. Hip Hop (Track #2)
Score: 69 (Average Rank: 6.86/17)
Biggest Fan(s): HBJDubs (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MetalmindStats (#12)

4. New World Water (Track #9)
Score: 76 (Average Rank: 5.71/17)
Biggest Fan(s): Seanchan, MetalmindStats (#2)
Biggest Detractor(s): Raetsel_Lapin (#11)

3. UMI Says (Track #8)
Score: 78 (Average Rank: 5.71/17)
Biggest Fan(s): MetalmindStats (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): Seanchan (#17)

2. Mathematics (Track #16)
Score: 80 (Average Rank: 5.71/17)
Biggest Fan(s): Giggsalot (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): HBJDubs (#14)

1. Ms. Fat Booty (Track #4)
Score: 85 (Average Rank: 5.29/17)
Biggest Fan(s): CasanovaZelos (#1)
Biggest Detractor(s): MetalmindStats (#17)

I'd kill for us to cover Forever Changes. It's a record I didn't quite click with on first listen, but over the last decade, it has consistently grown in my opinion until finally reaching my all-time top 20 last year. One of those classics albums that goes in such unique directions that it stands as a singular work even decades later.

(the other two are also great albums, but Forever Changes in particular really resonates with me)

CasanovaZelos posted...

I'd kill for us to cover Forever Changes. It's a record I didn't quite click with on first listen, but over the last decade, it has consistently grown in my opinion until finally reaching my all-time top 20 last year. One of those classics albums that goes in such unique directions that it stands as a singular work even decades later.

(the other two are also great albums, but Forever Changes in particular really resonates with me)

Any info on these noms? Ive heard some Nas before but the other 2 I dont recognize from name and title. Im thinking those others arent rap albums?

Seanchan posted...

Any info on these noms? Ive heard some Nas before but the other 2 I dont recognize from name and title. Im thinking those others arent rap albums?

Hopefully Giggsalot will see this and add more to my brief summaries.

Forever Changes is probably categorized as psychedelic folk rock - though, as I said, it's a bit more complex than that label suggests. Which, I should probably be clear - complex in its mix of genre influences but still easily digestible.

Burial's Untrue is essentially the definitive British dubstep album (which has little in common with the more popular American form of dubstep). Very dense atmospheric stuff.

I'm on my phone and don't want to take the effort to find links, but Alone Again Or and Archangel are good starting points if you want a sample.

gotta vote for Illmatic since I've considered nominating it myself a few times

Tag

Will give this one a try. It's half the length of the last one and probably something I'd enjoy more. We'll see!

Not sure if this will come up here, but Japanese Breakfast is Korean-American (people sometimes, for obvious reasons, assume she is Japanese). About a month before this album released, she also released a memoir about the Korean-American experience and the death of her mother by pancreatic cancer.

"Paprika" and "Be Sweet" make the ultimate one-two punch opening. "Paprika" is the sound of a parade tearing through town, with "Be Sweet" mellowing things out with its opening verse only to shoot for the sky during the chorus. With those two out of the way, Zauner dives deeper into her emotional core for the remaining tracks. It might be the ultimate indie pop experience, a dreamy haze over emotional landscapes. Even if "Be Sweet" is my easy standout, Zauner pulls off a distinct style on every track, making Jubilee the rare album where each track could have been an effective single. Absolutely among the best of 2021.

My ranking:
Be Sweet (#254 all-time)
Paprika
Posing in Bondage
Kokomo, IN
Posing for Cars
In Hell
Tactics
Slide Tackle
Savage Good Boy
Sit

Bump

up

1: Slide Tackle
2: Posing in Bondage
3: Be Sweet
4: Sit
5: Posing For Cars
6: Savage Good Boy
7: Kokomo, IN
8: Paprika
9: Tactics
10: In Hell

Japanese Breakfast is a band I've wanted an excuse to listen to some more of for a while now, so I was quite excited to see them get picked for this and the album did not disappoint. It had quite a few songs I really liked and didn't overstay its welcome.

...Brief writeup, but it's good enough to indicate my enjoyment.

Kokomo
Be Sweet
Posing For Cars
Sit
Tactics
Paprika
In Hell
Slide Tackle
Posing In Bondage
Savage Good Boy

CasanovaZelos posted...

Hopefully Giggsalot will see this and add more to my brief summaries.

Forever Changes is probably categorized as psychedelic folk rock - though, as I said, it's a bit more complex than that label suggests. Which, I should probably be clear - complex in its mix of genre influences but still easily digestible.

Burial's Untrue is essentially the definitive British dubstep album (which has little in common with the more popular American form of dubstep). Very dense atmospheric stuff.

I'm on my phone and don't want to take the effort to find links, but Alone Again Or and Archangel are good starting points if you want a sample.

Hi all! Just saw this, hopefully I can still influence some votes.

Forever Changes is not my favourite album of the late 60s (that would probably be Van Morrison's Astral Weeks), but it is my favourite album that really sounds like the late 60s. It's a stunningly composed record, full of strings and horns and flamenco guitar arrangements, with incredible melodies and creative song structures. Basically, this is the best Beatles album you've never heard.

Key track:Alone Again Or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPbNpIG8x_s

Illmatic is probably the hip-hop community's consensus pick for best rap album of all time. Everything about this album is absolutely classic - it features some of the best rapping performances ever, most of the best producers of all time, and it's over before it loses any of it's lustre. In some ways, it's actually kind of a boring album to discuss because it's so flawless. But ranking the tracks is hard as hell, and should be very fun indeed.

Key track:Halftime
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjmrHOwm4tw

I chose Untrue because recent electronic albums have actually been a surprising (to me, at least!) hit in these topics. All of Burial's music is incredibly nocturnal, melancholic, and evocative of a post-club walk home through the city at 3 am. This is the single biggest classic to emerge from the early dubstep/future garage movement, and in its own way it's as jam-packed full of landmark tracks as Illmatic is.

Key track:Archangel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2qLD9c3Gq4

---

As far as Japanese Breakfast goes, I enjoyed this album when it came out, but Paprika completely overshadows the rest of the record for me. That was maybe my favourite song of last year, whereas the rest is more or less "just fine". Will re-listen and give a ranking in the coming days!

Thanks for the write up! It did help my decision.

Done two listens to Jubilee so far. I enjoyed it but at the same time it didn't wow me.

There should be a playlist of every #1 voted song from each week's topic. It would give like a broad overview of what this topic series has been through.

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

There should be a playlist of every #1 voted song from each week's topic. It would give like a broad overview of what this topic series has been through.

I keep thinking of doing that and forgetting but hopefully someone else saying so in topic will remind me when I get back to my computer

bump

Here is a playlist of all the #1 songs:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3r5ytnoeeY6QCfRg8hQ3s1?si=a8509176e3524296

Haven't listened to this yet but I've been excited to, I've had Be Sweet stuck in my head for like two weeks

up

I want to believe

Final day

1. Slide Tackle
2. Paprika
3. Be Sweet
4. Kokomo, IN
5. Posing for Cars
6. Tactics
7. Savage Good Boy
8. In Hell
9. Posing in Bondage
10. Sit

Did the rare 4 listens this week. There's really no bad songs here, or at least there's parts of every song that I enjoyed. There's good variety, good singing, slide guitar on one song, saxaphone on another, and it's the right length too.

Overall, I liked the album but I didn't love it, and I'm not sure exactly why. To be topical, maybe I just haven't felt pain yet enough to truly connect with the sentiment on offer here. And I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing...

Oh yeah, one last thing. There's a certain timelessness to this album compared to many that we've covered the last few months that are inexorably linked to a certain period of time, whether that's the 60s, 80s, or early 00s. It's somewhat shocking that Jubilee came out only a year ago. You could have told me this came out 20+ years ago and I would have believed you.

1. Posing In Bondage
2. Be Sweet
3. Slide Tackle
4. Posing For Cars
5. Paprika
6. Sit
7. Tactics
8. Kokomo, IN
9. In Hell
10. Savage Good Boy

Side note: This is a good example of why shorter albums work so much better than long ones for this. Accessibility is important.
~~~
The thing with this album that immediately stuck out to me is that the songs sound similar enough, yet are distinguishable. They all have the same coat of paint, but some focus more on guitars, some more on violins, and others on sax. The album manages to be a consistent whole without all sounding like one track, and that's impressive. The theme is consistent, too: It's pretty obviously about a depressed person learning to feel joy again. I wish I was capable of that.

"Be Sweet" is a catchy pop tune that absolutely had to be the first single. I can understand why that was stuck in your head, Johnbobb. It's easily my favorite. Really, there's not a bad song on here, just two I like less - "Savage Good Boy" ends too abruptly and "Sit" is a snoozer based on how it's placed after the similar but much superior "Posing in Bondage." The string section on "Tactics" is why it stands out to me.

It took me a bit to realize who the voice reminded me of: Michelle Branch, circa Hopeless Romantic (and this one's name is Michelle also, lulz). I know this board has a longstanding history of disliking Michelle Branch but that really shouldn't be the case (and I don't know how much of that ancient history's left).

I enjoyed this as a bright, "reaching the light at the end of the tunnel" sort of thing. Wouldn't say it's one of my favorites we've covered, but it's not one of my least favorites either.

1. Be Sweet
2. Paprika
3. Posing in Bondage
4. Tactics
5. Slide Tackle
6. Posing for Cars
7. In Hell
8. Kokomo, IN
9. Savage Good Boy
10. Sit

Paprika
Posing in Cars
Kokomo, IN
Savage Good Boy
Slide Tackle
Be Sweet
Posing in Sweet
In Hell
Sit
Tactics

Felt great listening to it again, and I am happy that everyone else here seemed to find some enjoyment out of it! Especially after my last one I nominated which seemed super divisive (Velvet Underground)

Last bump