On to Round 2!
This is a wrap-up of the current standings. Polls for round 2 will be published starting this Saturday (12/16).
Congratulations to all the counties that progressed!
The state that is standing the strongest is New York, with 39 counties progressing to round 2! Albany, Allegany, Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Chenango, Clinton, Columbia, Delaware, Franklin, Greene, Hamilton, Jefferson, Kings, Livingston, Nassau, New York, Niagara, Oneida, Orange, Otsego, Putnam, Rensselaer, Richmond, Rockland, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Schuyler, Steuben, Suffolk, Sullivan, Ulster, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Westchester, and Wyoming.
Next most powerful state is Virginia, which has 36 winning counties. Alleghany, Alleghany, Amherst, Augusta, Bedford, Brunswick, Caroline, Carroll, Charlotte, Chesterfield, Fairfax, Fauquier, Fluvanna, Gloucester, Goochland, Grayson, Halifax, Isle of Wight, James City, King and Queen, King George, King William, Lee, Louisa, Montgomery, Patrick, Pittsylvania, Prince Edward, Pulaski, Rockingham, Scott, Smyth, Southampton, Tazewell, Warren, and Wise.
Ohio is also standing strong with 27 advancing counties. Brown, Butler, Columbiana, Coshocton, Crawford, Defiance, Erie, Fulton, Geauga, Holmes, Jackson, Lake, Lawrence, Licking, Madison, Mahoning, Medina, Mercer, Monroe, Muskingum, Perry, Pickaway, Ross, Scioto, Seneca, Trumbull, and Van Wert.
North Carolina is up next with a solid 24 wins. Beaufort, Cabarrus, Caldwell, Camden, Carteret, Craven, Currituck, Granville, Harnett, Henderson, Hoke, Jackson, Johnson, Lenoir, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, Mecklenburg, Northampton, Onslow, Person, Robeson, Tyrrell, and Wake.
Only 1 more state has over 20 counties that made won their match-ups and that's my wonderful Washington. Adams, Asotin, Chelan, Clallam, Cowlitz, Ferry, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, King, Kitsap, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lewis, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Skagit, Snohomish, Thurston, Walla Walla, Whatcom, Whitman, Yakima. Stay strong my soldiers.
A much higher number of states are comfortably in the middle of the pack. They are as follows:
Texas: 19 counties. Bosque, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Fort Bend, Goliad, Hockley, Jones, Lipscomb, Live Oak, Llano, McMullen, Milam, Ochiltree, Orange, Panola, Parker, San Patricio, and Travis.
California: 17 counties. Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Imperial, Lake, Mariposa, Monterey, Orange, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Tulare, Tuolumne, and Yolo.
Pennsylvania: 16 counties. Allegheny, Blair, Butler, Carbon, Dauphin, Franklin, Greene, Jefferson, Lancaster, Lycoming, Mifflin, Montgomery, Perry, Potter, Venango, and York.
Tennessee: 15 counties. Blount, Campbell, Carter, Cumberland, Hardin, Houston, Johnson, Knox, Madison, Maury, McNairy, Obion, Union, Williamson, and Wilson.
Nebraska: 13 counties. Adams, Buffalo, Cass, Cherry, Dakota, Keith, Knox, Nuckolls, Platte, Saunders, Stanton, Thayer, and Webster.
Nevada: 13 counties. Churchill, Clark, Douglas, Esmeralda, Eureka, Lander, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral, Pershing, Storey, Washoe, and White Pine.
Illinois: 12 counties. Cook, DeKalb, Franklin, Jasper, Kane, Marion, McDonough, McHenry, Morgan, Peoria, St Clair, and Winnebago.
Maryland: 12 counties. Anne Arundel, Calvert, Carroll, Cecil, Dorchester, Frederick, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, Talbot, Washington, and Worcester.
Michigan: 12 counties. Barry, Berrien, Clinton, Genesee, Gogebic, Kalamazoo, Lake, Oceana, Ottawa, Rocommon, Sanilac, and Wexford.
Iowa: 11 counties. Dickinson, Fayette, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Humboldt, Jefferson, Jones, Polk, Pottawattamie, and Wright.
Louisiana: 11 parishes. Ascension, Bossier, Cameron, Catahoula, Concordia, Jefferson, Lincoln, Natchitoches, St Bernard, St James, and St Tammany.
New Jersey: 11 counties. Bergen, Cumberland, Essex, Middlesex, Morris, Passaic, Salem, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren.
Kentucky: 10 counties. Boone, Boyle, Breckinridge, Daviess, Leslie, Logan, Pike, Shelby, Trimble, Woodford.
Many of these poor cute states are barely hanging on. Please wish them luck.
Florida: 8 counties. Alachua, Bay, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Okaloosa, Osceola, Palm Beach, and St Johns.
New Mexico: 8 counties. Colfax, Curry, Doña Ana, Lincoln, Mora, Otero, Roosevelt, and Socorro.
Georgia: 6 counties. Bartow, Cherokee, Floyd, Fulton, Pierce, and Rockdale.
Indiana: 6 counties. Benton, Elkhart, Jennings, Marion, Marshall, and Starke.
Minnesota: 6 counties. Aitkin, Clearwater, Hennepin, Hubbard, McLeod, and Pipestone.
Wisconsin: 6 counties. Calumet, Fond du Lac, Osaukee, Portage, Racine, and Sheboygan.
Wyoming: 6 counties. Big Horn, Converse, Lincoln, Natrona, Park, and Teton.
Missouri: 5 counties. Clay, Gentry, Greene, Newton, and St Louis.
South Carolina: 5 counties. Anderson, Calhoun, Dillon, Dorchester, and Lexington.
Utah: 5 counties. Beaver, Summit, Utah, Washington, and Wayne.
Alaska: 4 boroughs. Anchorage, Juneau, Matanuska-Susitna, and Wrangell.
Arkansas: 4 counties. Cross, Searcy, Washington, and White.
Colorado: 4 counties. Douglas, El Paso, Fremont, and La Plata.
Oklahoma: 4 counties. Bryan, Payne, Rogers, and Washington.
West Virginia: 4 counties. Fayette, Marion, Monongalia, and Roane.
Alabama: 3 counties. Bullock, Cleburne, and Mobile.
Arizona: 3 counties. Coconino, Maricopa, and Yavapai.
Maine: 3 counties. Androscoggin, Hancock, and Washington.
Idaho: 2 counties. Bannock and Bonner.
Kansas: 2 counties. Atchinson and Johnson.
Massachusetts: 2 counties. Barnstable and Berkshire.
Montana: 2 counties. Gallatin and Silver Bow.
North Dakota: 2 counties. Benson and LaMoure.
Some states only have 1 county that progressed. They are: Delaware (Kent County), Hawaii (Maui County), Mississippi (Adams County), New Hampshire (Hillsborough County), Oregon (Linn County), and South Dakota (Bennet County).
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In addition to all the winning counties above, there will be 83 new county flags folded into round 2!!! (Because of math reasoning this had to happen) Get hyped
They are as follows:
Alexander NC, Allen OH, Alpena MI, Alpena MI, Alpine CA, Arapahoe CO, Ashe NC, Avery NC, Baldwin AL, Baltimore MD, Bell KY, Benzie MI, Bernalillo NM, Black Hawk IA, Brevard FL, Camden NJ, Campbell WY, Canyon ID, Centre PA, Charles City VA, Cheatham TN, Chester PA, Clark WA, Clarke VA, Cleveland OK, Cochise AZ, Columbus NC, Coweta GA, Darke OH, Davidson NC, Elko NV, Erie PA, Florence SC, Garrett MD, Goshen WY, Greene VA, Grundy IL, Gwinnett GA, Hidalgo TX, Highland OH, Hocking OH, Holt NE, Hot Springs WY, Howard MD, Huntingdon PA, Ingham MI, Island WA, Kankakee IL, Lackawanna PA, Lawrence PA, Leelanau MI, Lehigh PA, Leon FL, Liberty TX, Lucas OH, Madera CA, Mahaska IA, Manitowoc WI, McLennan TX, Meigs OH, Milwaukee WI, Nashville and Davidson TN, Northumberland VA, Orleans NY, Page VA, Porter IN, Sacramento CA, Salt Lake UT, San Diego CA, Sangamon IL, Sevier TN, Shelby TN, Skamania WA, Spotsylvania VA, Stafford VA, Sussex VA, Terrell TX, Trinity CA, Tulsa OK, Tuscarawas OH, Ventura CA, Wahkiakum WA, Yuma AZ
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The Genius Of… Total Life Forever by Foals
Expanding outwards from their polyrhythm-driven debut, Foals’ exquisite second album presented a bold vision of what 2010s indie could be.
By Andy Price | 17th August 2022 | guitar.com
Image: Paul Bergen / Redferns
Shrewdly calculating that this year’s lockdown-free summer would be one worth marking, Foals released the buoyant Life is Yours, which has been a regular accompaniment to our sun-wallowing over the past few months. Indulging in Yannis Philippakis and Jimmy Smith’s funked-up chops and sizzling leads has been a reminder of their creative symmetry, and how their six-string interplay has been crucial to more than a decade of adoration and acclaim.
READ MORE: The Genius Of… Fontanelle by Babes In Toyland
While the Oxford quintet’s angular 2008 debut Antidotes contained impressive cuts such as the pulse-quickening Two Steps, Twice, it was on its 2010 sequel, the graceful Total Life Forever, where Foals detailed a musical vision that sought grander objectives than just warming up the club floor.
Cribbing elements from EDM, synthpop, math-rock and funk, Total Life Forever’s 11 tracks reached upwards, grasping for musical ideas lightyears from most contemporary indie rock.
Free your head
Total Life Forever’s mixes were webbed with stereo-panned micro-hooks, rippling textures and tunnelling tremolo-picked plunges. There was the intricate knitting of hypnotic opener Blue Blood, the furious digging and springy counter-riffs of fan favourite Black Gold, and the chimed dual-note motif and slick lead of Alabaster.
Foals’ guitarists layered their instruments delicately. “I was never really attracted to chords, or distortion pedals,” Philippakis told Scene Magazine in 2011. “I like the idea of a transparent guitar sound; a guitar sound that’s unashamed to be a clean guitar. I think that you can get as much power out of a clean guitar as you can out of a distorted guitar.”
Smith’s weapons of choice during the Total Life Forever sessions included Fender Jazzmasters, a Gibson Les Paul Junior, and a semi-hollow Epiphone Dot. Philippakis relied mainly on his distinctive Travis Bean guitars used in conjunction with Hiwatt amps to achieve a gleaming, un-muddied sound.
“I had grown up being fascinated by Steve Albini and so I’d read about these Travis Beans,” Philippakis told us in 2019. Manufactured between 1974 and 1979, these distinctive aluminium-necked monsters are rarely seen in the wild. “I was after what was, in my mind, this really pure sound, so that’s why I was attracted to the Travis Bean with the Hiwatt.”
Effects play a significant role across Total Life Forever and indeed Foals’ entire discography. Namely the Boss DD-3 delay, Space Echo reverb, and a plethora of fuzz pedals made by US manufacturer Fuzzrocious.
Future dust
With many of the tracks were written at a shared Oxford house, Foals flew to the Svenska Grammofonstudion in Gothenburg, Sweden to work with former Clor frontman Luke Smith. “He was coming in and saying either, ‘This is going to work’ or ‘We should try this’ or ‘It’s not working on that’,” bassist Walter Gervers told Under The Radar. “Just to have an outside influence is really important because I think if it’s just the five of you all of the time you start to question what you’re doing.”
The Scandinavian atmosphere influenced the more introspective tone of many of the record’s best tracks, such as the most spellbinding Spanish Sahara. Framed around a cycling F-Am-C-Am-G chord sequence, Sahara goes from an intimate vocal-led arrangement punctuated by Smith’s plaintive chords to an intense maelstrom of sound complete with bubbling synth and a stirring lead. All the while, the same five-chord cycle repeats, albeit with Smith switching from delicate plucking to wave-like strumming. As the record’s lead single, Spanish Sahara was a declaration of Foals’ growing musical maturity.
Yannis Philippakis of Foals. Image: Andy Willsher / Redferns / Getty Images
Singularity, is here to stay
Though broadly more reflective in tone, Foals’ more optimistic side revealed itself too. There’s the relentless funk energy of second track Miami, the delirious riff that kicks off 2 Trees and, best of all, the beaming This Orient, which was unlike anything else around it. It was also a clear example of Foals’ ability to craft stadium-filling choruses. Melding guitar and synth arpeggios with heart-stopping drum salvos, a delay-soaked, tremolo-picked lift-off, and a rolling rhythmic pulse, This Orient pounds its way towards one of the biggest hooks in the whole Foals songbook. It was an engrossing forebearer of what the band would grow into over the following decade.
Though five more studio albums followed, Total Life Forever remains one of the band’s strongest, particularly for guitar fans. Never resorting to cliché or angry powerchord meltdowns, Philippakis and Smith showcase nuance at every turn.
Total Life Forever also reconfigured the breadth of Foals’ ambitions by some degree. Confidently displaying a wider share of moods, tones and styles, the album set an early benchmark for the band, and did much to expand the language of 2010s rock.
Jimmy Smith of Foals. Image: Andy Willsher / Redferns / Getty Images
Infobox
Foals, Total Life Forever (Transgressive/Sub-Pop, 2010)
Credits
Yannis Philippakis – Vocals and guitar
Jimmy Smith – Guitar
Jack Bevan – Drums
Walter Gervers – Bass, backing vocals
Edwin Congreave – Keyboard, backing vocals
Luke Smith – Production
Standout guitar moment
Black Gold
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