Below are the fourth round results. There were 19 voters.

Spongebath Region (Murfreesboro, TN)

1 Armani Suede      12
2 Paid to Think      7


Old Favorite Region (Nashville, TN)

1 Darkroom 10
3 See You Thru 9


Universal Region (Santa Monica, CA)

1 Circus 9
2 Harder 2 Ignore 10


New/Rare Region (Sparta, TN)

4 Hold You Alone      11
7 The Drawing Board     8

These are your Final Four Matchups:

Spongebath Champ vs. Old Favorite Champ
Armani Suede vs. Darkroom

Universal Champ vs. New/Rare Champ
Harder 2 Ignore vs. Hold You Alone

Do not send me a PM for this round. Voting will be done via Messageboard Poll.

Now THERE'S a match-up.

I'm assuming that's sarcasm, right?

I think these finals are going to be boring. (Thanks a lot, CarlW!) I vote we do away with these divisions next year. What do you guys think?

I must say that after thinking about Armani Suede vs Darkroom for quite some time, I was unable to choose between the two.

No, I'm honestly wondering which will win, partly because I can't decide on which one to vote for. I assume the album track will win out for the votes.

But yes, some new seeding is needed to make room for more new songs and to make things more interesting.

I agree. I think these divisions were a really great idea for the first year, but it doesn't do well year after year. It creates too many of the same match ups and it doesn't allow much room for growth to accomodate new songs (or retire old ones).

Perhaps next year we could put ALL known Features songs in a hat and draw 64 of them randomly. The order in which they're drawn will determine their seed. In a basketball tournament, I think seeding is important, but in a popularity contest like this, it doesn't really matter. Random placement in the bracket is just as useful as any logical organization.

i thought this whole thing was a little boring because "drawing board" was obviously the clear winner. "hold you alone" over "drawing board"? what? really? gah, i'm not voting anymore. except i still will.

I disagree that we should do random seeding. I think it's clear that some songs are more universally loved than others. The fact that the final four is composed of two #1 seeds, a #2 seed and a #4 seed is a testament to that. Of course, 2 years ago a #15 (Harder 2 Ignore) seed won, but that was the exception to the rule.

This year, the songs were re-seeded within the divisions to 1) better reflect last year's performance and 2) create all new matchups from last year for the first 2 rounds. I personally think that worked pretty well (at least for the first three dvisions).

In order to keep with the spirit of the basketball tournament (which admittedly has nothing to do with Features songs) and, more importantly, with JamieCarroll's concept of a tournament, I think we need to keep the seeding. We just need someone who has a handle on what the more popular songs are (folks like YaDaDaDa, DigsySlattery, HaveSomeSoma and Keith among others).

I just think Keith is right-- creating divisions this way makes the within-division matchups (i.e. Circus vs. Harder 2 Ignore and See You Thru vs. Darkroom) much more important than between-division matchups (Armani Suede vs. Darkroom). Maybe I'm wrong-- we'll just have to see how the polls go!

Maybe next year we should get people to give their top 20 or 25 Features songs of all time and seed the songs accordingly. It'd be like the coaches poll! Or would that take away from the mystery of the voting?

I'm only doing that if it turns into another request show...

YES!!!!


That's what we need.

two words: bumblebee

why aren't there any songs from the beginning EP? just because they didn't become mtv/cbs fodder doesn't negate their purehotblooded rockyourassoffocity.

Actually, all tracks from The Beginning EP were included in the initial running. They just didn't make it this far.

Bumblebee lost to Exhibit A 12-7 in the first round. There were a total of 64 songs (not including Complication, which lost to Concrete in the opening round qualifying game) entered into the tournament. They ranged from songs they played over a decade ago up until songs introduced this year. For a complete list of the 64 songs in the tournament, look here.

I'm just happy Darkroom made it into the final four. This gives me another opportunity to complain about it not being played at recent shows....

And, between the amazing keyboard in Hold and the horn sounds in Drawing Board, I was torn...too tough!

Someone help me please!! I am an anti-techy. I hate computers and do not wish to have to learn their language in order to communicate. I am a neo hippie/ lover of nature that does not spend a lot of time learning about new upgrades available to me and what-not. I have never used a message board, but desperately want to vote for Darkroom. I am a bona-fide Features fan with a shifty amount of credentials. Compared to a lot of you, (what I LOVINGLY refer to as: ) Features SNOBS, I have no credentials. If anyone sees this, please assist me or vote in my place. Thank you so much. Your kindness is appreciated, and never forget that The Features are nice people. They would like for their fans to like one another and be helpfull. They are the nicest band I've ever met, and even though rock stars aren't role models, I think that these guys might be able to be, (at a certain extent, as long as the paparazzi was kept at bay).....Thank YOu!!!

...wtf?

i still can't believe it's down to these four songs. fine songs, but just not what you expect to hear in the last four songs of a fist-pumping-til-you're-tired features show...guess it depends on who you ask.

i'm pretty sure they didn't play most of these songs in lexington....maybe harder to ignore. i might have been drinking. don't listen to me.

(Edited by Stork Rights Advocate at 11:22 pm on Mar. 29, 2006)

And that's why you'd vote for Bumblebee???

Seriously, though, I agree. I would definitely have picked a very different final four (off the top of my head: See You Thru, Mosis Ptosis, TWIMTB, Paid to Think). It sometimes surprises me which songs are the overall favorites. I bet the band would probably find it interesting.

Circus won the first year, and I believe the tournament is directly related to its revival. Before that, it was an occasional encore song.

I don't think this tournament necessarily reflects the fans' favorite songs. It's a lot of fun, and I look forward to it every year. However, I think that as a statistical tool for determining the preferences of a large group of people, it has several flaws. Carl, since you're a stats guy, you may have more insight into this.

While the final four doesn't necessarily reflect the top 4 songs, I think it accurately shows the top song from each grouping. You could argue that a song that went out to the champ in the first round may be more popular than a song that lost to the champ in the 3rd or 4th round, but it's hard to deny that the champ is the top song (at this particular point in time based on the opinion of the 20 or so folks who voted).

Similarly, you may argue that the best two songs are squaring off right now and that a lesser song will make it to the championship, but at the end of the day, the favorite song will win. That's the beauty of such a tournament.

seedings kind of usurp the fairness of the competition.

but hey - harder to ignore - george mason - shit happens

I'm not sure it's fair to compare H2I with George Mason. I mean, didn't H2I win the tournament a couple years ago?

Yes... as a 15 seed... hence the comparison.

I thought he was comparing THIS year's H2I with George Mason. I need some clarification. Or not. I don't really care that much.

april fools.....?

im glad im not the only one who caught that..uh.."mess"

I think it's one of those things were you have to be on the same drug as that person in order for it to truly seem coherent.

With only eight hours to go, "Hold" is surprisingly holding off "Harder to Ignore." That makes me happy!

(Plus a day)

if rock stars aren't role models, why do i have a closet full of kings of leon tightpants?

Darkroom is about yanking the chain.

ah...A Kings of Leon joke...

See, we don't need no stinkin' nashvillezine

(Edited by lalalayousangtome at 12:07 am on Apr. 2, 2006)

I agree. Drawing Board's definitely the best new song I've heard (Foundation's Cracked is up there, too, though).

kings of leon tightpants - hott

kings of leon - not hott