#1 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Phosphorescent

C’est La Vie by Phosphorescent

The number one album of 2018 is by Matthew Houck, aka Phosphorescent, and it’s not the first time he’s enjoyed the top spot of the Top 31. His last album, Muchacho, was #1 back in 2013 (and the album before that was #20 in 2010, one of many rankings over the past 10 years that I clearly misjudged at the time).

When I started ranking 2018’s albums at the end of December, and I grouped my potential #1 albums together, I groaned. I knew I needed to put Chvrches and Phosphorescent at the top — they were my definite favorites from the year — but had real reservations about doing so because they’d both been #1 their last time up. I’d successfully avoided having any repeat #1 albums in the past, as I think it makes a statement about the band and my tastes I’m not quite willing to accept: am I too predictable, stuck in the musical rut of middle age?

C’est La Vie, Houck’s 9th studio album, and his first in five years, is every bit as good but very different from Muchacho. That’s because Houck is in a vastly different space than he was five years ago (and so, too, am I). In that span, he managed to have not one but two children, get married, and move to Nashville. While his previous albums have been chock full of heartache, pain, and suffering, C’est La Vie bubbles with life and happiness.

Just listen to the track above, “New Birth in New England.” This is not the voice of a drunkenly depressed man, this is bouncy joy. Smack dab in the middle of the song, the bridge is a quiet moment — the slide guitar slows down, the hymnal angel chorus chimes in, and the familiar woosh woosh woosh sound of a sonogram, that first heartbeat that expectant parents hear, proving that there’s life growing inside the mother’s belly, wafts up from the depths. If you haven’t yet been through pregnancy, then that sound may not be familiar to you. But as a father of two, it’s oh so familiar, and comes with such joyous weight, it’s hard not to well up with happy tears any time I hear it. The specific recording on the song is from the first time Houck heard his own daughter’s heartbeat. Magical.

Later on in the album, the song “Beautiful Boy” plainly states the subject of the song — Houck’s now five-year-old son. It’s an ode to every parent’s everlasting fear of being unable to protect their children enough. It’s gut-wrenching and wonderful at the same time. The music of Phosphorescent always seems to pull at those dual strings, but in the past the direction being tugged has been downward. It’s a lovely feeling, finally being pulled in the other direction by a voice I’ve been loving for so many years.

One of the great joys of marriage is being able to share all the things you love, and having your partner fall in love with some of those things as well. My wife patiently tolerates my constant music playing, and she often likes what she hears. She will latch onto certain sounds, especially if they’re loved by the children as well. Phosphorescent held a special place in my heart long before I met my wife, so it was with even more joy than usual that I excitedly watched her own blossoming love of the band. In November, I got to take her to her first Phosphorescent show, and Houck did not disappoint. His performance of “Wolves” (which I managed to record), is performed solo, and shows the full range of his vocal talents. After the song’s few verses, Houck pushes his voice through a repeater, layer upon layer, until it mimics the pack of wolves he sings about. It’s gorgeous and deeply moving.

C’est La Vie has a special power. It feels innocent enough your first couple times through. But then you catch yourself humming the tunes when you’re not listening, filling in the quiet moments with little spoken phrases you can’t quite place. You invariably hear yourself, question the little tune’s origin, and then finally put it together. It surprises you like a random toy left out that’s imbued with the power of phosphorescence — you forget it’s there until you turn out the lights.

Pick up C’est La Vie. And then every other album Phosphorescent has released. After ten years of charting my Top 31 of the year, I can honestly say there’s never been someone as consistently good as Matthew Houck. Join me while I rejoice in his music; you will be pleasantly rewarded, every time.

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2. Love Is Dead by Chvrches
3. Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) by Car Seat Headrest
4. Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe
5. The Horizon Just Laughed by Damien Jurado
6. Chris by Christine and the Queens
7. Wanderer by Cat Power
8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett
9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak
10. Ruins by First Aid Kit
11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers
12. Loner by Caroline Rose
13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine
14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#2 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Chvrches

Love Is Dead by Chvrches

Just barely missing out on their second #1 album in a row, here’s Glasgow, Scotland’s Chvrches with their third fantastic album, Love Is Dead. Chvrches (pronounced “churches”) has been a mainstay on the Top 31 since their debut album came out in 2013 and was #4 that year. Two years later, their follow-up, Every Open Eye, was the best album of 2015. And this new album marks their third straight 4th-or-better release, a phenomenal run by any standards.

Clearly I have a bias, but dancey pop music really doesn’t get any better than Chvrches. The trio, featuring Lauren Mayberry on lead vocals, and Martin Doherty and Iain Cook on synths and additional vocals, is defining an entire genre of sound for a generation. Just looking back at the lower albums in this year’s Top 31, Chvrches fingerprints are all over. Janelle Monáe, Christine and the Queens, and Wye Oak are all producing similar sounds, and that’s just within the Top 10. But Chvrches is the best.

My family agrees. I had the immense pleasure of taking my son to his first-ever, true concert, seeing Chvrches this past September, and it was glorious. The band put on their usual amazing set, and Mayberry bounced around the stage, amping up the crowd. My son is not one for big displays of emotion in public, so catching him singing along quietly to himself during the songs he knew was a big highlight for me. And if Dirty Computer is my daughter’s favorite album ever (she’s 15 months old), then Love is Dead is definitely her 2nd favorite. You should see the smile across her face when she hears those keyboards kick on.

It really feels as if Chvrches can do no wrong. Three albums, all at or near the top of their respective years’ releases. There are some great songs on this new album. “Miracle,” shown above, is one. There are two other videos from the album: “Get Out” and “Graffiti.” Matt Berninger, lead singer of Bacon Review favorites The National, also makes an appearance, on the song “My Enemy.” That song is a result of the two bands being on the same bill at Treasure Island Music Festival back in 2015, when Mayberry joined The National on stage for their song “I Need My Girl.” I love it when the bands I love have unexpected chance encounters and then decide to make music together.

With every new Chvrches album, I think maybe they’ve hit the peak, and the next one will see them backsliding. But then the new album comes out and it’s stellar. I like this kind of trajectory, and I look forward to listening to new and great Chvrches albums for the rest of my life.

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3. Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) by Car Seat Headrest
4. Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe
5. The Horizon Just Laughed by Damien Jurado
6. Chris by Christine and the Queens
7. Wanderer by Cat Power
8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett
9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak
10. Ruins by First Aid Kit
11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers
12. Loner by Caroline Rose
13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine
14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#3 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Car Seat Headrest

Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) by Car Seat Headrest

Here we are at the top 3! This year was, as has happened in a few years past, difficult to pin down. But when this has happened in the past, it’s been a matter of “nothing is jumping out at me as a strong #1.” This year is different, in that there were so many phenomenal albums by bands that I love, they could all have qualified as #1 for the year. But countdown lists can’t have ties, especially not at the top, so here we are at very strong #3 with Car Seat Headrest.

You may remember Car Seat Headrest from their last album, Teens of Denial, which hit #7 in 2016. Hailing from Seattle, the band’s lead singer/songwriter Will Toledo is a wordsmith of the highest order. Writing very close to his heart, Toledo spins tales of typical rock & roll fare — love, loss, family — but with a reality seldom encountered in today’s songs.

Twin Fantasy (Face to Face) is not 100% new material for the band — it’s actually a complete re-recording and reworking of an album Toledo put out in 2011, five albums ago. I have not heard the original Twin Fantasy, but given this is a re-recording and reworking of that album, I’ll feel safe not calling it a rerelease (and thereby disqualifying it from Top 31 contention).

There are so many great songs on this album, but unfortunately only one video, for the song “Nervous Young Inhumans,” featured above. I implore you to listen to my favorite track from the album, “Bodys,” a song I’ve bounced around to in my living room with my daughter in my arms many many times. There’s a lot of repetition of lyrics on the album, to the point where the sentiment of the line (such as “Stop smoking, we love you”) takes on new and deeper meaning. It’s quite effective at drawing out emotion and connection, but I can’t quite put my finger on why.

I had the pleasure of seeing Car Seat Headrest for the first time last year, and it was well worth the wait. My god, this band can rock. Teens of Denial was a great album on its own, but Twin Fantasy is a whole other level. Check it out ASAP.

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4. Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe
5. The Horizon Just Laughed by Damien Jurado
6. Chris by Christine and the Queens
7. Wanderer by Cat Power
8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett
9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak
10. Ruins by First Aid Kit
11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers
12. Loner by Caroline Rose
13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine
14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#4 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Janelle Monáe

Dirty Computer by Janelle Monáe

My daughter’s favorite album of her 15-month life is an exceedingly catchy, exceedingly raunchy album by the genius singer, songwriter, actress and producer Janelle Monáe. It just so happens to (thankfully) be one of my favorites of the year as well. Monáe is one of those people who is so insanely talented at everything she does that you kinda want to hate them. Like Justin Timberlake, Monáe can sing, dance, write, act, is drop dead gorgeous and can seemingly do no wrong. What an asshole.

If you haven’t yet heard of Monáe, you’ve probably seen her. She had a couple of great recent supporting roles: one in the Oscar-winning Best Picture of 2016 film Moonlight (her big screen debut), and another in the Oscar-nominated Best Picture of 2016 film Hidden Figures. Before she’d received the script for either of those fantastic movies, Monáe had started writing what would eventually became her third album. Once shooting was done, back into the studio she went, and out came 2018’s Dirty Computer.

The album is a pop music, sex-filled dream. Some of the lyrics within would make someone who’s not been listening to artists like Prince their entire lives blush, such as:

Pynk, like the inside of your... baby
Pynk behind all of the doors... crazy
Pynk, like the tongue that goes down... maybe
Pynk, like the paradise found

or

You know I love it, so please don't stop it
You got me right here in your jean pocket
Laying your body on a shag carpet
You know I love it so please don't stop it

Listening to the album will remind you of Prince, because his signature sound is all over the album. Prince worked with Monáe on the album before his death in 2016, and “Make Me Feel,” shown in the video above, is the climax of their joint effort. Just watch that video, but be warned: while there’s not a naked part in the whole video, it definitely toe’s the line of what’s safe for work viewing. In addition to having Prince’s fingerprints all over it, the album is chockablock with guest stars as well. Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder and Grimes all make appearances.

Monáe took other cues from Prince, too, releasing Dirty Computer – An Emotion Picture along with the album. At just over 45 minutes, the film is a loose sci-fi story built around the sounds of the album. You can watch the long film and see all the music videos within, or you can watch them individually, too:

• “I Like That”
• “PYNK”
• “Django Jane”

If you’re not familiar with Monáe, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Start with listening to this album, then watch out for her next thing. I guarantee, if she hasn’t done it already, she’ll be the next megastar to host Saturday Night Live as both the host and the musical guest, and she will kill it.

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5. The Horizon Just Laughed by Damien Jurado
6. Chris by Christine and the Queens
7. Wanderer by Cat Power
8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett
9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak
10. Ruins by First Aid Kit
11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers
12. Loner by Caroline Rose
13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine
14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#5 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Damien Jurado

The Horizon Just Laughed by Damien Jurado

Now we’re getting to the point in every Top 31 where I start to doubt myself, where I start to question “is this album truly better than this other album?”, and where I have trouble coming to terms and being settled with where I place each album from here on out. Today, Damien Jurado’s amazing album The Horizon Just Laughed is #5. But tomorrow, I’ll want to put it at #2. I have to put a stake in the ground somewhere, so I guess this is it.

I’ve talked about Damien Jurado many times in the past ten years. He’s had a phenomenal run of albums, and a huge impact on my life. His three albums prior to this new one have all been in the best albums of the year each year that they were released (#2 in 2016, #0 in 2014, and #5 in 2012). No other artist has been featured so prominently in the Top 31. I love the man. So much so, my wife and I even consummated our marriage (on the dance floor — get your mind out of the gutter) by making “Kola” from Visions of Us On the Land the soundtrack to our first dance together.

Jurado turns feelings into music like no other. He grabs hold of your heart and squeezes it hard, right up to but never surpassing the edge of no return. Unlike the trio of albums he produced with Richard Swift throughout the 2010s, this new album is a self-produced triumph of lyric and sound that chronicles Jurado’s abandonment of his home for sunnier skies. It’s a love letter, a goodbye, to Washington. And there are quite a few direct references to the Pacific Northwest, not the least of which is the song featured above, “Over Rainbows and Rainier” — the high point (or low point, depending on your perspective) of the album.

There’s a moment, three minutes and 24 seconds into the song, a moment that clearly wasn’t planned, where Jurado has to stop to collect himself. That moment is all of six seconds long — a hairs breath of time, really — just after Jurado sings the line “I forgot I was human” and trips up. He later said in an interview he’d begun to tear up. Tears are not heard, obviously, but the halt in the song, the palpable pause in the verse, feels like an eternity, and you’re right there with him, arm in arm, feeling everything he’s feeling. His is a magic not many can muster.

And that’s where the beauty of self-production comes into play. Had another person produced the record, they would have pushed for another take, for Jurado to clear his head and try again. But it’s precisely this emotion, this connection to himself and to the listener, that he alone can convey.

You can pick up any one of Jurado’s last four albums (out of 16 over the last 22 years) and be blown away. At the end of my review for Visions of Us On the Land for the 2016 Top 31, I speculated that this may be the end for Jurado. He’d just finished the trio of albums with Richard Swift, and I was convinced that it was Swift that had brought the magic out of Jurado. I can’t tell you how pleased I am that I was wrong. The Horizon Just Laughed is testament that Jurado just keeps getting better and better. If you’re not listening to him on the regular, there’s no time like the present.

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6. Chris by Christine and the Queens
7. Wanderer by Cat Power
8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett
9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak
10. Ruins by First Aid Kit
11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers
12. Loner by Caroline Rose
13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine
14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#6 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Christine and the Queens

Chris by Christine and the Queens

If you’ve been paying attention to the Top 31 over these last 10 years, you’ll have noticed a strong affinity for indie pop that makes you want to jump up and down and pound your fist. Starting with my very first #1 (Passion Pit’s Manners), and then again with CHVRCHES at #1 in 2015 with Every Open Eye, I love me some catchy, synth-fueled pop. 2018 was a good year for this genre, as witnessed by the appearance of Wye Oak at #9 and Superorganism at #18, but now we can add an even better album to that mix: the sophomore album from French singer/songwriter Héloïse Letissier, otherwise known as Christine and the Queens, or Chris for short (which also happens to be the name of said album).

Letissier is a truly global singer, in that she has released both of her albums in their native French as well as in English. Some of the songs blend together French and English, because this is pop music and voice is just another instrument, really. I’ve not yet heard her 2014 debut, Chaleur humaine, but it sounds like I should rectify that soon given the acclaim that was heaped upon it by The Guardian, The Independent, Mojo, and NME (who all named it one of the best of 2014). I can’t get enough of this new album, though, in both languages.

When I first heard “Damn (what must a woman do)” on KEXP, I quickly reached for my phone to try and Shazam it, thinking it was some new amazing previously unreleased Michael Jackson bombshell of a song. Based on the power of that one song (which, unfortunately, doesn’t have a video, but you can listen to it here), I picked up the full length Chris, which comes as a double album — first the English versions and then the French. While her first album was recorded fully in French and then had the English words injected into it, Chris was written bilingual-ly from the beginning. If the song didn’t work in both English and French, it was reworked until it did, to amazing effect. At times, Letissier likes to use syllables and pieces of meaningless words in her songs, using her voice as an additional instrument rather than to convey any sort of overt meaning. A form of skat for the pop generation.

Be sure to watch and listen to the above video, and then explore some other videos from the album:

• “La marcheuse”
• “5 dollars”
• “Doesn’t Matter (Voleur de Soleil)” or in English “Doesn’t Matter”
• “Damn, dis-moi” (shown above) or in English “Girlfriend”

Letissier is only going to get bigger. She’s working towards taking over the world, and you‘d better get on this train now, lest you be left behind.

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7. Wanderer by Cat Power
8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett
9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak
10. Ruins by First Aid Kit
11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers
12. Loner by Caroline Rose
13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine
14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#7 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Cat Power

Wanderer by Cat Power

Cat Power has been soothing the world with her sultry voice for over twenty years, since her debut Dear Sir in 1995. The trajectory of her creative output has steadily slowed since that first album, having three releases between 1995-1996, then two releases two years apart, two releases three years apart, one four years after that, and then finally Wanderer, her tenth album, six years later. Despite ten albums in 23 years, only two of those have been released since the Top 31 began in 2009, and I don’t think I’ve once mentioned her in that span. Her 2012 album, Sun, did not impress me. And yet, I’ve listened to her music pretty regularly since her critically-acclaimed 1998 breakthrough album, Moon Pix, recorded with a couple members of the Dirty Three to great effect. She did have a track on the oft-mentioned Dessner-brother produced Red Hot compilation Dark Was the Night, which was #10 in 2009, and that’s the closest I’ve ever come to discussing Cat Power.

This post has been a long-time coming, I suppose. Her real name is Chan Marshall, and apparently she was discovered opening for Liz Phair in 1993 by members of Sonic Youth and Two Dollar Guitar. That’s a good way to get started on the right foot in the music business. Since the above-mentioned Moon Pix she’s had a slew of amazing albums that all would have been on the Top 31 had it existed, including 2003’s You Are Free (which happens to feature Dave Grohl and Eddie Vedder) and The Greatest in 2006 (featuring phenomenal Mempis-based studio musicians for an entirely unique feel).

Marshall has a way of stripping down a song to its bare essence, drawing you ever closer to the speaker in an attempt to hear the parting of her lips and the dancing of her tongue on the back of her teeth. In addition to her own fantastic songs, she is the master of the cover, having released two full albums of covers (The Covers Record in 2000 and Jukebox in 2008). Her gift is to make these songs her own, barely recognizable from the original. My favorite track on Wanderer is actually a cover as well, of of Rihanna’s 2012 song “Stay”. You must hear this song — thankfully there’s a video for you to be able to do just that.

The video above, for the song “Woman,” features Lana Del Rey on harmonies and background vocals. It was the first single for this new record, and it does a good job of summing up Cat Power and her ups and downs over the years quite well:

I’m a woman of my word, now haven’t you heard?
My word’s the only thing I’ve ever needed
I’m a woman of my word, now you have heard
My word’s the only thing I truly need

Her word, above all else, is what has carried her through many different phases of her life, and will continue to do so. If you’ve not heard of Cat Power before now, you’ve been living under a rock. Wanderer is a perfect way to get into her, and that album will bleed into her previous records quite nicely. You’d best get started — you have a lot of ground to cover.

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8. Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett
9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak
10. Ruins by First Aid Kit
11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers
12. Loner by Caroline Rose
13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine
14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#8 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Courtney Barnett

Tell Me How You Really Feel by Courtney Barnett

By now you’ve no doubt heard of Melbourne, Australia’s Courtney Barnett. Her debut full-length, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit was #5 in 2015, and both that album and her phenomenal follow-up, Tell Me How You Really Feel here at #8 were KEXP listeners’ #1 album in each of their respective release dates (2018, 2015).

Barnett is a relentless performer, and there are lots of good videos out there to take in for this album:

1. She and her band performed all 10 songs from this album on a pier in Atlanta.
2. Speaking of KEXP, there’s also a fantastic set from her in-studio there back in November.
3. Her hour-long performance at the Pitchfork Music Festival in July.
4. Another radio set, this time for LA’s KCRW in June.
5. And old-fashioned music videos for a few of the songs as well:

• Need a Little Time (featured above)
• Charity
• Sunday Roast
• City Looks Pretty
• Nameless, Faceless

I had the pleasure of seeing her live myself back in October, at the rather large Paramount Theatre, and it was great. She is an amazing guitarist, wielding the instrument like a battle axe and throwing herself all over the stage. She not so much as sings as talks through her songs, with lyrics full of straightforward yet intimate stories about her rather colorful life.

This album took a little bit longer to grow on me than her debut. But once it hooked me, I couldn’t put it down. There’s something about her delivery that keeps me involved despite my inability to define that thing. Maybe you feel the same way?

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9. The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak
10. Ruins by First Aid Kit
11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers
12. Loner by Caroline Rose
13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine
14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

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2009-2017 Top 31s

#9 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Wye Oak

The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak

Much like First Aid Kit at #10, Wye Oak is a duo that have been making music together for over ten years. Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack met while they were both in high school in Baltimore, and they’ve released six albums since then, all on Merge Records. You may also have heard Wasner with Dirty Projectors or Stack when he toured with the National / Menomena offshoot El Vy.

Aside from a couple songs that made it to my ears over the years, The Louder I call, The Faster it Runs is the first full album from Wye Oak that I’ve heard, and it’s phenomenal. The title song, shown above, is what hooked me on it. There was a brief time back in the spring of 2018 when I couldn’t stop listening to this song. And now I see that there’s a vastly different version of the song shown here in this video, where the band performs the song in the woods, removing the electronics and playing analog instruments, allowing the song, stripped back, to reveal something entirely different. There’s also a video for “It Was Not Natural”, another great song off this album.

The duo employs a mix of guitar, keyboards and drums, with Wasner’s crystal-clear voice punching through the din. The title song draws you in, but it’s the contrasts from songs like “Symmetry” and “Over and Over” that keeps you there. Pay attention to Stack’s drumming — as there’s nothing typical about the beats he picks. Don’t make any judgments on this album until you’ve listened to the whole thing, as I’m convinced there’s something here for everybody.

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10. Ruins by First Aid Kit
11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers
12. Loner by Caroline Rose
13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine
14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

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2009-2017 Top 31s

#10 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — First Aid Kit

Ruins by First Aid Kit

Breaking into the top 10 of 2018, here’s Swedish duo First Aid Kit appearing again with their fourth album, Ruins. (They first appeared on the Bacon Top 31 with their sophomore album Lion’s Roar at #4 in 2012 and then Stay Gold at #17 in 2014.) Sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg, like The Decemberists back at #14, have found a formula that works well for their unique talents. But the difference here is that their music is timeless. Rooted in country, theirs is not a new sound, but it’s not an old sound, either.

Voices like butter, harmonies like satin sheets, these two have been making hit after hit since they first started recording music back in 2007 when they were both still in their mid-teens. By sheer coincidence, the sisters’ younger brother was in kindergarten with the daughter of Fever Ray / The Knife’s Karin Dreijer Andersson, and mother Söderberg encouraged Dreijer to listen to her daughter’s songs on Myspace. Achieving popularity in Sweden came shortly after they signed and recorded with Dreijer’s music label, Rabid Records. But it wasn’t until Robin Pecknold, lead singer of Fleet Foxes, came across the sisters’ cover of his song “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” and subsequently discussed it on his own band’s webpage did the duo start to get international fame.

Listen to the song in the video above, for “It’s a Shame,” and you can see why these big name artists wanted to be attached to First Aid Kit. Put on the album and the difficulties of the day just slough off. There’s a couple more fun videos from this new album, for Rebel Heart and Fireworks. This band, and this record, will be one I listen to often probably for the rest of my life.

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11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers
12. Loner by Caroline Rose
13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine
14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#11 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Young Fathers

Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers

Turns out We Were Promised Jetpacks aren’t the only Scottish band in this year’s Top 31. Introducing Young Fathers, a trio of young men out of Edinburgh. Cocoa Sugar is their third album, but the first I’ve heard, and it blends rap, R&B and rock n’ roll into a pastiche of sound that defies convention. Amazingly, this album is apparently the most accessible of them all, according to Pitchfork. It does take a few listens to sink in, but eventually that light bulb turns on and it’s so worth it.

The band’s tonal divergence comes from the diversity of the men in the band. Alloysious Massaquoi is a Liberian who moved to Edinburgh at the age of four; Kayus Bankole was born in Edinburgh, to immigrant parents from Nigeria, and spent many years living in the US and Nigeria in his early years; and Graham "G" Hastings was the only member of the band to have been born, raised, and remained in Edinburgh. The three began performing together as teens. It’s impossible to know who is responsible for what on the record, such is their musical acuity.

Sometimes sounding like TV on the Radio, I think the best way to define the band’s sound is “as if the Red Hot Chili Peppers decided to not make commercial drivel and instead veered into the even more strange after their seminal 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik.” (They both even have “Sugar” in the name!) The video above, for the song “In My View,” is the most traditionally catchy song on the album, so if you don’t like it, you probably won’t like the rest of the album. I had this song stuck in my head for weeks this past summer. You can watch videos for two other album tracks, to get a good sense of how the band shifts gears: “Toy” and “Lord” are both great in their own way.

Give this album a listen — I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. On the fourth or fifth run through, think of RHCP, and tell me if you don’t hear it, too. It’s there, just under the surface, and once it occurred to me I couldn’t not think it. I love how music works in the brain.

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12. Loner by Caroline Rose
13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine
14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#12 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Caroline Rose

Loner by Caroline Rose

Add another hard rocking female singer to the ever-growing 2018 Bacon Top 31 list. If you’ve not yet heard of Caroline Rose, then you’re in for a real treat. The song featured above, “Money,” is what drew me in, and it’s really fun, but don’t get fooled into thinking this is what the rest of her music sounds like. This album is full of smart, gritty pop rock that will have you singing along in no time.

Rose has accomplished quite a bit for being only 28. The fabulous Loner is her third full-length, although is a sharp turn in musical direction. Her previous two albums fall more into the alt.country genres, and fell flat, critically. Loner took her four years and lots of soul-searching iteration to arrive at this joyfully sarcastic record. Watch the other videos that she’s released for the album, and you’ll see that snide satirical humor come out: “Jeannie Becomes a Mom,” “Bikini,” and “Soul No. 5.”

In addition to writing great lyrics and hooks, Rose plays most of the instruments on her album, a true prodigy of music. She also co-produced the album, along with lead singer/songwriter of the English band The Bees (otherwise known as A Band of Bees here in the states), Paul Butler. Quick-strummed guitar, staccato keys and organ, basic drums and bass guitar fill out the sound, all with her voice sung mostly through a gravel-filled filter that gives it just the right amount of grit.

This album is fantastic. It’s catchy in all the right ways, and any time I’ve played it for other people (unannounced), they usually perk up and ask “who’s this?” Give it a listen, and you, too, can be that person. Enjoy!

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13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine
14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#13 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Big Red Machine

2018 came and went without another #1 album by The National or Bon Iver, but it did produce something almost as good: the best “The National collaborates with another group” collaboration album yet. Introducing Big Red Machine, the self-titled debut album from Justin Vernon (aka Mr. Bon Iver) and Aaron Dessner (lead music writer for The National).

It’s almost as if Vernon and Dessner sat down and said “let’s make a Radiohead album.” Blending digital artifacts and hypnotic beats, subtle orchestration and keyboards, and an affected falsetto floating over the top, this is the best Radiohead album the band never made. Don’t get me wrong, I love Bon Iver and The National, and I love what Vernon and Dessner have done together. I’m pretty sure this album was made just for me. At times quiet and wispy, it draws you in like only the best novel can. Then, suddenly, it’s punctuated by staccato rhythms and nonsensical lyrics that cause you to sit up straight in your chair.

Dessner and Vernon’s collaboration started during the making of Dark Was The Night, the amazing Red Hot compilation album that the Dessner brothers assembled back in 2009 (#10 that year), when Dessner apparently cold-messaged Vernon on MySpace, having never met before. The two artists met for the first time at the Radio City Music Hall event surrounding the Dark Was The Night album (and featured in the video on the link of that #10 album in 2009). It took them nine years and collaborating in many ways on many things (including starting a project called PEOPLE, from which this album is by far the biggest output to date).

Yes, the project is named after the 1970’s Cincinnati Reds teams that won the World Series four times in seven years. The Dessner brothers grew up in Cincinnati, and were born right smack dab in the middle of that run (1976). If you even remotely like Bon Iver or the National, or Radiohead for that matter, then you’ll like this album. Perhaps you’ve not heard of it; thankfully your drought is now over.

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14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#14 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — The Decemberists

I'll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists

The Decemberists are a band I don’t know how to dislike. They’ve released four albums since I started the Bacon Top 31, and each one has been featured prominently: #18 in 2015, #3 in 2011, and all the way up at #2 in 2009. And now in 2018, their 8th album, I’ll Be Your Girl here at #14. And honestly, none of these last four albums are as great as their first four albums, all of which I still listen to at least once a year. Chances are more than one of those earlier albums would have been at #1 if the Top 31 had existed that year. But sadly it didn’t, so I’m left chronicling their later, less exciting but no less great output, and that’s squarely where this new album lies.

By now, nearly 20 years into their career as a band, The Decemberists have figured out what works for their brand of historical fiction rock. Lead singer Colin Meloy’s voice, affected and a bit too high to be considered “good” is always at the forefront of fantastically orchestrated and produced prog rock. What used to be sad stories about sad characters has taken a turn in this new album, with songs from a much more personal stance. Lines like “Oh, for once in my life could just something go right?” “Everything, everything, everything, everything, everything, thing, everything, everything, everything, everything, everything is awful” or the coup de gras:

I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
I've been so long lonely and it's getting me down
I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how

These are not thinly-veiled metaphors for difficulty. This is blatant, painfully obvious suffering, and it’s glorious. As the cherry on top, The Decemberists worked with photographer Autumn de Wilde to create a fantastic video for their song “Once in my Life,” shown above, which de Wilde used as a visual love letter to her 7'2" brother Jacob, and the troubles he experiences as he goes through life. It’s beautiful and sad and heartwarming all at the same time.

We’re all suffering through life in this presidency of awful, and the Decemberists are here to help you sing about it at the top of your lungs. Will I want to listen to this album forever? Probably not. But for now, in a time like today, this is perfect. Give it a listen and hear for yourself, you may find it helps you as much as it’s helped me.

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15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#15 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — We Were Promised Jetpacks

The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks

Allow me to take a tangent as I dive into #15, from the Scottish band We Were Promised Jetpacks. If you’re unable to cope with talk of someone taking their own life, consider this your cue to exit stage left.

On May 9, 2018, one of the best singer/songwriters ever to walk the earth committed suicide. Scott Hutchison, of Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit, acted out exactly what he had previously described himself as doing in his song “Floating in the Forth” and leapt to his death from the Forth Road Bridge.

Fully clothed, I'll float away
(I'll float away)
Down the Forth, into the sea
I'll steer myself
Through chopping waves
As manic gulls
Scream “it’s okay”
Take your life
Give it a shake
Gather up
All your loose change
I think I’ll save suicide for another year

That was written in 2008. He was able to “save suicide for another year” for ten years before his depression finally got the best of him, to the detriment of himself and everyone who ever heard his words. Unlike all previous deaths of actors, performers, and musicians (expected, accidental, or self-inflicted), this one was the most difficult for me, personally, in that it was so unexpected. Scott was in the prime of his life, his band was doing fantastically well, he’d just released a new side-project album called Mastersystem with his brother Grant and brothers Justin and James Lockey from Editors and Minor Victories, respectively. From everything I’d heard over the last couple years, he’d been able to rise up out of his funk and was living happily with his partner in LA.

Even four months prior to his death, Scott spoke of the song as if those feelings were firmly in the past:

“Floating in the Forth” was a real tough one. It’s a real thing. It’s a real thought. It’s a thought that I’ve taken to a place that I’m far less comfortable with… I’ve gone 90 percent of the way through that song in real life. But at the same time it’s gratifying. It’s heartening to know that I’ve been through that, and I’ve stood there performing that song, alive and feeling good about it. It’s a tough one. My mum and dad were at the show in Glasgow. We can joke about it, but it must be really hard to hear your son sing about that.

What his death has taught me is two-fold:

1. no matter how much you think you know a famous person, you really don’t know them all
2. I have a lot to learn about depression and how it can overtake someone even when from all appearances that person is doing extremely well

Scott will be deeply missed. My heart aches just writing about him here, and now any time I put on a Frightened Rabbit album I find it impossible to let it play in the background. The music starts, and his voice and lyrics consume me until the album is done. These are not depressive feelings of my own; they are empathetic, “fuck it all” feelings for what Scott and everyone else with depression was going / is going through, and recognition of my ineptitude of being able to help them.

Perhaps this blog is my outlet for help, no matter how small and inconsequential it may be. I try to remain positive, I tout what it is that I like about these artists, and I believe it’s a good thing for them (both popular and hyper-local acts) as well as the readers. Together we get through each year, a community of people who enjoy music and the world that surrounds it.

Thank you, reader. I knew I wanted to talk about Scott’s death in the Top 31, but I wasn’t sure how to do so before now. The Mastersystem album, while interesting as an artifact, was unfortunately forgettable, and didn’t land with my favorites of the year. So I’m holding onto the tangential relationship between Frightened Rabbit and We Were Promised Jetpacks as that connective tissue. Not only are both bands Scottish (and friends with each other), but the first time I saw WWPJ perform live was on September 16, 2009, when they were opening for Frightened Rabbit.

WWPJ that year were riding high on the power of their debut album, These Four Walls, which was #5 back in 2009, and is by all accounts a fantastic album. Since then, the band released two somewhat lackluster albums in 2011 and 2014, but then finally figured out the right formula between their 2009 greatness and what they’ve learned over the last decade, releasing The More I Sleep the Less I Dream.

The album sounds more mature, but is somehow, finally, the proper follow-up to their debut that I’ve been waiting on. It’s not as loud as the debut, and that‘s a good thing. It has a refined production that has been lacking since the beginning, something that no doubt comes with the band all hovering around the end of the their 20s. If you liked who they were then, there’s no doubt you’ll like who they are now. And if you’re unfamiliar, I suggest going all the way back to 2009 before diving into this album. Even if you start with this most recent release, you will not be disappointed either way.

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16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#16 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — IDLES

Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES

This one is going to need some explanation. Upon first listen of any IDLES song, you may find yourself saying “what the fuck, Royal, this is just loud angsty testosterone-filled noise.” On the surface you wouldn’t be wrong. But if you dig a little deeper, listen to the lyrics, read a bit about the band, learn where they’re coming from, you start to see the magic in the madness. Give it a minute, and that lightbulb may turn on for you as it has for me and many others whose musical opinions I value.

IDLES are a band of five tattooed, crooked-grinned lads out of Bristol. Lead singer/songwriter Joe Talbot sings in a heavy, almost barking voice that only a punk rocker could love. The band somehow fills the void between Nick Cave, Rammstein and The Clash, but with songs structured around unexpected subject matters like toxic masculinity, hatred of tabloid journalism and the stillborn birth of Talbot’s daughter Agatha. Below the cacophonous veneer is a vulnerable, endearing group of men trying to find their way in the late 2010s.

Once you hear that pain, suffering and fear shared within these songs, the tone changes. They still function as a form of release, but instead of empathy not of testosterone. Joy as an Act of Resistance is the band’s second album, and I’ve read that 2017’s Brutalism, created before the death of Talbot’s daughter, but after the death of his mom, is equally enthralling.

Joy is full of songs I can get behind, and the band takes visual representation of their songs to a new level as well, with videos out for quite a few of the album’s songs:

• Colossus (shown above)
• Great
• Samaritans
• Danny Nedelko

I asked at the start of this year’s Top 31 “Does my age cause me to prefer something more mellow to listen to, or does the nature of how I listen force my hand?” and this album is a perfect example. I can’t listen to this album at home without getting some angry looks from my family. And I didn’t really want to listen to it at home with my family. This album is a solo-listening affair, and I just have very few opportunities for that any more. It took a lot of work to get over the hump with it, but I’m glad I did — listening in my car, in headphones at work, etc. And I implore the same of you: give it a long chance at hooking you, and you’ll be surprised.

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17. Hell-On by Neko Case
18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#17 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Neko Case

Hell-On by Neko Case

The list of edgy female rockers featured in the 2018 Top 31 continues to expand, adding veteran of the genre, Neko Case. You’ll know her as the one with the most resonant voice among them all, but that doesn’t make her songs have any less bite. Even as you’re enjoying her lullabies and her lilt, it’s her master of story and lyrics that brings that vitriol forward. And it’s gorgeous.

Case has been on the Bacon Top 31 many times over the years. Her last album, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, came in at a whopping #5 in 2013. The supergroup The New Pornographers came in at #19 in 2014, and the self-titled trio album she came out with with k.d. lang and Laura Veirs was #28 in 2016.

Case has a distinct ability to amp you up in most New Porographers songs, to belt out harrowing harmonies when singing in tandem (or trio), and in her solo work, like Hell-on, her talent really shines. Quiet, loud, immediate and slow-building — she covers it all. While Hell-on isn’t as strong from start to finish as her 2013 masterpiece, this album still rises above the din. Reach out for that voice, she’ll help carry you through to the end of the tunnel.

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18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#18 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Superorganism

Superorganism by Superorganism

And now for something completely different. Superorganism, based in London but scattered across the globe, is a band that represents the late 2010s better than any other. According to Wikipedia, the band formed as a result of lead singer Orono Noguchi finding another band, The Eversons, in her YouTube recommendations. She sought The Eversons out while they were touring Japan and she was visiting there in the summer of 2015, and they became friends mainly through bonding over their shared interest of internet memes. Seriously.

Also, Noguchi only graduated from high school in 2017, at 17, and she relocated to shack up with the band in London. The creative output of the band became their debut album, and what an album it is. Back to wikipedia, under the section “Artistry”, it says “They create original internet-age electronically-tinged indie pop music.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

These songs are full of ear worms and digital ephemera. It’s video-game overtones are well appreciated by myself as well as my 10-year-old son. He’s grown to tolerate the music I ask the family to listen to all the time but when he chooses to add something he’s hearing to his own running playlist, I know I’m onto something. The video-gameness of the songs extends into the videos the band has created as well. In addition to the one above, for “Everybody Wants to be Famous,” check out these other instant classics:

• The Prawn King
• Night Time
• Reflections on the Screen
• Something for your M.I.N.D.
• Nobody Cares
• It’s All Good

It’s albums like this that assure me my tastes aren’t all “dad rock.” This album is alive with energy, and it’s a joy to listen to. I hope you agree.

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19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#19 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — James

Living in Extraordinary Times by James

Speaking of bands past their prime still producing good music, here comes Manchester, England band James. I loved James in the mid-90s. Their Brian Eno-produced albums Laid and Wah Wah hold a special place in my heart, and I still listen to those albums once every couple of years, 25 long years after their release. I stuck with them for a few more Eno-produced albums, severing my ties with the band myself when they broke up soon after releasing 2001’s Pleased to Meet You.

Reading up on them for this post, it appears they regrouped with the same lineup just over 10 years ago, and have released six albums in that time, culminating in this beautiful album, Living in Extraordinary Times. Tim Booth, the band’s frontman, has a dynamic, often falsetto voice that makes you want to stand up and pump your fist. This new album, their 15th, has all the same things college-age Royal loved: fantastic production, huge crescendos, anthemic choruses. The song featured above, “Coming Home (Pt. 2),” is a good example. (That song, incidentally, is a sequel of one of the band’s early hits (“Come Home”) but do yourself a favor and do NOT seek out that song.)

This album is smarter and more layered than the band was when I was in college. Deep horns, multiple percussion players and orchestration all with Booth’s singsongy voice flying over the top of it. The band also differs in look, 25 years on. They’ve definitely aged, and Booth’s mop of hair has transitioned from his head (now bald) to his chin (now unfortunately goateed). It’s easy to picture the band as young men when listening to the album. If you remember James from the 90s, I recommend doing yourself a favor and giving this one a go. You may surprise yourself.

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20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

#20 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Death Cab for Cutie

Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie

Death Cab for Cutie, the little indie emo band that could, has been with me for nearly half my life. Their debut album, Something About Airplanes, came out shortly after I moved to Seattle, and connected with the early-20-something me like nothing else had before. And then their next three albums solidified their place in my brain, permanently engraved and ready to call upon when needed. There hasn’t always been love from me for the band — their four most recent albums, recorded for the much-bigger music label Atlantic, haven’t stood the same test of time (their last album to be featured on the Top 31, Codes and Keys, was #12 in 2011, but their utterly forgettable 2015 album Kintsugi was utterly forgotten).

And now Thank You for Today, the band’s tenth album (if you include their original demo album You Can Play These Songs with Chords), and their first without co-lead-songwriter Chris Walla (who departed the band just before the release of Kintsugi), somehow found its way into my go-to listens for the year. The beauty of lead singer/songwriter Ben Gibbard’s lyrics have always needed strong music to back them up (just listen to his offshoot album as Postal Service), and that’s what Walla brought to the table. Without him, the songs on this album feel transitory and ephemeral. Alternately, since I’m no longer in my 20s, maybe the dynamic range of my emotions is muted, or redirected. Gibbard continues to write about urbanism (see the above video for “Gold Rush,” all about Seattle’s insanity from the last ten years) and romanticism, but my emotional connections lie elsewhere.

I struggle to put my finger on why, exactly, given the above difficulties, but #20 is where this album gets placed. Not one of the best from the year, but better than the worst 11 out of 31 for the year. Ambiguous and inexplicable, just like the music within.

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21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s