Tournament of Tunes - Update #8

The second round of the Tournament of Tunes is complete. The latest round of the Carl Perkins Regional wrapped up yesterday, with punk heavyweights Bad Religion and Mudhoney dominating pleasant but overmatched foes, Camper Van Beethoven holding off the resilient Replacements and little Saturnine surprising once again, slipping past the Feelies.

Now we're on to the Sweet Sixteen, when things get serious. Most if not all of the pretenders have faded away, leaving some major powerhouses: Sebadoh, Built to Spill, Ted Leo, Archers of Loaf, Morphine, Elliott Smith, Scruffy the Cat, R.E.M., The Jesus Lizard, Joel R.L. Phelps, The Pixies, Mission of Burma, Camper Van Beethoven, Mudhoney and Bad Religion. (Plus Saturnine, whom even the band's mothers would have to admit could hardly be considered a powerhouse.) These are pretty much the very finest artists in my record collection, and the decisionmaking will undoubtedly become excruciatingly difficult from here on out.

The competitors will take some time to rest and regroup, with the proceedings continuing on Monday. Stay tuned.

As always, brackets here, play-by-play here and previous recaps here.