#17 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

December 15, 2014 by Royal Stuart

[Above video is NSFW] I didn’t think the band at #17 would be able to stand the test of time. I thought Alt-J had worked five years to put together one awesome album (which made it all the way up to #2 on the 2012 Top 31) and then they’d fizzle out. I even mentioned the band in the 2013 Top 31 when talking about Majical Cloudz, saying:

…in a year, I’ll look back and laugh to myself at the fact that [some albums are] on the countdown at all, kinda like I did a couple weeks ago when I discovered that I’d put Alt-J at #2 on the Calendar last year.

I had all but written them off. And they had to go and prove me wrong. This is All Yours, their second album, is as good as their first in many ways, better than their first in a handful of ways as well. It sounds less quirky than the first, but somehow manages to build on what was started, making an even more bold statement. They managed to take all that was good about the first album and expand outward, breaking new ground while creating something wholly “Alt-J” sounding.

The vocals are unmistakable. The tones of the instruments being played all sound familiar. Yet there are 14 new songs here for your enjoyment. Here’s another video from the new album, this time for the song “Hunger of the Pine.” (It’s also kinda NSFW, but for violence, not nudity.) If you liked Alt-J’s first album, you’ll love this one. I promise.

__________________________________________

18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#19 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

December 13, 2013 by Royal Stuart

Impersonator by Majical Cloudz

I really wanted to hate this band, based on its name alone. Majical Cloudz? That’s the best you could come up with? And the PR push behind this album was so overbearing — it came up as the ad leading into all YouTube videos I watched for what felt like a 3-month span earlier this year — that added to my desire to not want to like them. But then I’d hear them on KEXP. Or maybe because I heard that one song in the ads SO many times it seared onto my brain and I just had to check them out.

Either way, here we are at #19, with a band and an album I actively wanted to dislike and couldn’t. I’m fairly certain you won’t like them. It takes a certain kind of person to tolerate this sort of stark emotion. If you’re a fan of James Blake, you might give Majical Cloudz a shot — but be prepared to go deep and long. There is no light, no happiness, no serendipity in this music.

Majical Cloudz is a duo from Montreal, comprised of Devon Welsh (singing and writing) and Matthew Otto (producing). The band was originally a solo project of Welsh’s. Otto joined him on an EP before collaborating with Welsh on Impersonator, his 2nd full-length album. I have not heard any of the prior material, and I’m not very compelled to go check it out.

I’m sorry. This review is terrible. Here’s an album I clearly like, at least well enough to put it in the top 20 of the year, yet can’t bring myself to admit to it. Part of me feels like this music won’t stand up to time. That in a year, I’ll look back and laugh to myself at the fact that it’s on the countdown at all, kinda like I did a couple weeks ago when I discovered that I put Alt-J at #2 on the Calendar last year. But that’s how music is. Some of it is fleeting, some of it sticks around. If you can figure out why that is, you’d be a rich man.

While you’re thinking about that, listen to some Majical Cloudz. They might point you in the right direction.

__________________________________________

20. Dream Cave by Cloud Control
21. Mole City by Quasi
22. Phantogram by Phantogram
23. Julia With Blue Jeans On by Moonface
24. Uncanney Valley by The Dismemberment Plan
25. Event II by Deltron 3030
26. Wise Up Ghost by Elvis Costello and The Roots
27. Us Alone by Hayden
28. Pure Heroine by Lorde
29. Shaking the Habitual by The Knife
30. False Idols by Tricky
31. Let’s Be Still by The Head and the Heart

2012 Musical Bacon Calendar
2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
2010 Musical Bacon Calendar
2009 Musical Bacon Calendar

December 30, 2012 by Royal Stuart

#2 on the 2012 Musical Bacon Calendar

An Awesome Wave by Alt-J

Sometimes you hear a song and your immediate reaction is mixed. On one hand, “this song is AWESOME.” On the other, “something is off. I’m going to hate this in 6 months.” You know those bands. The ones that create an absolutely of-the-moment song that sounds great, gets tons of airplay, burns everyone out on their work, and then falls off into obscurity never to produce another good song. The signs pointing to “one hit wonder” are many and bright, so I’m rarely wrong when I have this feeling. But I’m also not afraid to admit when I’m wrong.

∆, pronounced “Alt-J” — named after the keyboard combination you type on a Mac to make a Greek Delta symbol: “∆” — certainly seemed like a flash in the pan. Their song “Something Good” was in daily rotation on KEXP, and I did like the song quite a bit. But at the same time, the negative backlash I was hearing from my local circle of trusted music critics was influencing my desire to listen to the band. Hearing great things about the band in other places finally pushed me over the edge. I bought the album, and quickly fell in line with the others who were heaping positive comments on the band. When an album causes wild fluctuations in opinion, like “#1 of the year” to “4.8 out of 10,” you know they’re doing something right.

Alt-J is made up of four guys from Leeds, England, who met in college in 2007. They worked and perfected the songs on An Awesome Wave over five years before releasing it in May 2012. Their music is most easily described as techno indie pop, although most of the music is actually created by traditional analog instruments. The music is very personal at times, so it is surprising to me to see that the recorded work is not the result of one person tinkering away in Pro Tools, but is truly a collaboration of the four musicians working in a Brixton-based studio.

There are hints on many other bands in their sound, but the vocals of lead singer Joe Newman are distinct, sounding something like an affected Sting. The songs on the album are diverse and infectious, nearly every song on the album could be a hit, imminently listenable. There are a number of videos available for viewing and listening:

“Breezeblocks,” is my favorite of the bunch, but be warned: this is disturbingly violent. It’s interesting because it’s slow-motion, in reverse, showing the slow-reveal of a domestic dispute gone horribly awry.
“Tesselate,” featuring a room full of thugs having strange conversations and making random triangular symbols.
“Fitzpleasure,” with strange, digitally-enhanced dancing, shown above, and a French video version that is entirely different and not NSFW.
“Matilda,” showing a slow blend of faces.

I do like An Awesome Wave quite a bit, but I couldn’t put it at #1. There’s one more album out there that I listened to more than any other album this year, and it’s a doozy. Stay tuned for the best album of the year, to be posted tomorrow.

__________________________________________

3. Gossamer by Passion Pit
4. Lion’s Roar by First Aid Kit
5. Maraqopa by Damien Jurado
6. Shallow Bed by Dry The River
7. Valtari by Sigur Rós
8. The Heist by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
9. Heaven by The Walkmen
10. State Hospital EP by Frightened Rabbit
11. A Thing Called Divine Fits by Divine Fits
12. Some Nights by fun.
13. Tramp by Sharon van Etten
14. Fear Fun by Father John Misty
15. Love This Giant by David Byrne and St. Vincent
16. To The Treetops! by Team Me
17. The Master: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood
18. There’s No Leaving Now by The Tallest Man On Earth
19. Transcendental Youth by The Mountain Goats
20. A Church That Fits Our Needs by Lost In The Trees
21. Hospitality by Hospitality
22. Free Dimensional by Diamond Rings
23. History Speaks by Deep Sea Diver
24. A Different Ship by Here We Go Magic
25. Negotiations by the Helio Sequence
26. Moms by Menomena
27. The Sound of the Life of the Mind by Ben Folds Five
28. Shields by Grizzly Bear
29. Every Child A Daughter, Every Moon A Sun by The Wooden Sky
30. Fragrant World by Yeasayer
31. Reign of Terror by Sleigh Bells