This contest was so tight that our host, Friday, let it go an extra couple of days to get a clean result. Here was my take:
I've been under the weather most of the week, which hasn't helped. But this wasn't a good round for me.
I always wondered about Soft Machine, as they seemed to be considered the closest contemporaries of Pink Floyd back in the '60s British psychedelic era. I even picked up their Third album a while back. However, because I tend to prioritize keeping up with new music, it's still in my listening pile somewhere. So this is really my first exposure to this classic band (although I know their personnel is entirely different now).
Unfortunately, this was a disappointment to me. It's yet another album that I hear as well played but mostly uninteresting jazz, with no vocals. There were one or two moments that got through to me - there was a bit of "Moonchild" thing going on at the 30-minute mark or so that I was into briefly. But ultimately, I don't really take any pleasure in this kind of music, no matter how good the musicianship is. And the 59+ minute length didn't help it any.
The Yolk album is definitely a weird-ass LP. There were times where it was way too deep into the Outer Limits for me, but there were at least some other parts that I took some pleasure in. It mostly has vocalizations rather than vocals, but some (though not all) were enjoyable. And it didn't hurt that it clocked in a good twenty minutes lighter than the Soft Machine album.
So my voting preference never changed throughout the three listens. I vote for Yolk.
The group was really torn on this one. The voting stayed close throughout, with some people really loving the musicianship and improvisational skills of Soft Machine and others praising the creativity and innovation of Yolk. After waiting two days to try to get all of the votes in, Friday finally called it.
Final Result: Soft Machine 9 votes, Yolk 10 votes.
