First California, then the world.

It’s been a banner year for the Bay Area: first the Giants win their third World Series in five years, then the Warriors bring an NBA Championship parade to Oakland, and now San Francisco’s The Y Axes rise atop a field of 64 to brandish the first Idle Time Tune Tournament trophy.

“Neon Street” was the ninth-seeded song in the California region, and it quietly and efficiently dispatched Ariel Pink in the opening round. Then, in the following round, facing a large second-half deficit in the matchup against Chromatics and “Cherry,” the home crowd rallied to produce over 100 votes in the final 24 hours: The Y Axes emerged victorious. This Cinderella team’s Once Upon a Time was just getting started.

They took down one musical titan after another, beginning with victories over Classixx and Best Coast to take the California regional mantle, and then an impressive 57% victory over the Oceanic Final Four contender, Chet Faker.

The Championship match against Scandinavian dynamo Moonbabies pulled in the most total votes of any individual poll in the tournament (second-most? interestingly enough, a first-round contest between Jens Lekman and Todd Terje). And under the bright lights, with the entire world watching (welcome, anonymous voter from Belarus), “Neon Street” cruised to its biggest single game victory in the entire tournament, claiming a 59% share of the votes along with the first Idle Time Tune Tournament trophy. Congratulations, Y Axes!

If you haven’t done so already, you can add “Neon Street” and the rest of 2014’s Sunglasses & Solar Flares to your musical library:

And, if you’re in the Bay Area, celebrate with the band this Saturday, August 8th. Wipe the dry grass of the Polo Fields off your butt, and head from the Park to Neck of the Woods.

The kudos continue….

MMDG gets greeted by the song every time he comes home (actually it starts playing in the kitchen when his phone enters the garage, so it’s a few seconds in by the time he walks through the door) and promises not to get tired of it.

RF picked up WH’s idea to make the tune his ringtone and has added a condition to keep his phone off-silent during at least one inappropriate time period of each week. He goes to lots of movies. He did not, however, allow me to post his phone number.

DH completely forgot about his obligation (forgot, or… wasn’t fully informed) to include the song in all of his DJ sets for the rest of the summer. When reminded (told for the first time) over ramen last night, the mad genius of few words replied, “Cool.” And then added “Summer’s almost over. Through the fall.”

MH, who loves homework, has gleefully begun his term paper on the song, the band, and the musical landscape of California. His reaction over ramen was almost the same as DH’s. Due date? folded and stapled for Zine Fest on September 6.

MI apparently never agreed to have the song title tattooed on his person. A plan is afoot to have his wife whiskey him up and then Sharpie “Neon Street” on his forehead whilst he slumbers. Or maybe he just needs more encouragement. To compensate for the lack of body ink, we’re sending the band cupcakes.

And, of course, they’ll be immortalized on a little piece of our humble website! Huzzah! Up next, RF starts working out the logistics involved in making a burrito fight a pizza.