#13 on the 2023 Bacon Top 31 — Indigo De Souza

January 19, 2024 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

All of This Will End by Indigo De Souza

There are many ways an artist can pay homage to an earlier time or work, and there’ve been a number of artists on this year’s Top 31 who are clearly referring to something previous. Teenage Sequence is kinda LCD Soundsystem. Greg Mendez is kinda Elliott Smith. Tennis, Kate Bush. Ratboys, Pale Jay, and Anohni equal Big Thief, Lee Fields and Nina Simone, respectively. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Indigo De Souza, the Asheville, North Carolina-based, American-Brazilian singer-songwriter, whose fantastic third album All of This Will End is coming in at #13, is also phoning in directly from the referential dept. Take some Courtney Barnett rock n’ roll fuzz, some Liz Phair directness, and even some of Alanis’ production, and you’ll end up smack dab in the middle of this De Souza record. While it’s not breaking new musical ground (what is anymore, really?), it’s hitting all the right indie rock spots.

De Souza is blunt. The title of the new album is, as you might expect, related to the finality of everything. She told WhyNow.co.uk, “I know that I am fleeting and I’m dying.”

“I named the album All of This Will End because it took me a while to accept that. Once I was able to accept that, feel less afraid of it but more open to it and curious about it, my life started to become more meaningful because accepting you are a temporary thing is what gives way to meaning and intention and connection. “It doesn’t give way if you think you’re special and you’re never gonna die, or if you’re so afraid of death you can’t even think about it. I know the people I love are going to die and so am I, so I love them even more, and I put so much time and effort into showing up. “I basically do as much as I can to shine a light on any corner I can reach. Any corner beyond what I know is beyond my control. I try to pour as much intention into everything I do, as much as I can, because I want people to feel included and safe. I know how lonely it is to be alive, so it feels important to create community if it’s possible at all.”

That loneliness and finality shines through in the lyrics scattered throughout All of This. But the album is not sad and lonely – it is triumphant, loud, and in your face in the best way. Give the song above, “Smog,” a listen and you’ll see. Or watch one of the other videos from the album: “Younger & Dumber” (the quietest song on the album) and “You Can Be Mean” (not so quiet). Then put the album on when you’re angry at the world and want to take out your frustrations. You’ll be glad you did.

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#6 on the 2022 Bacon Top 31 — Sharon Van Etten

January 26, 2023 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

We've Been Going About This All Wrong by Sharon Van Etten

It’s been three years since we last heard from Sharon Van Etten on the Top 31. Her fifth album, a tour de force called Remind Me Tomorrow, was #5 in 2019. Five years prior to that, the fantastic Are We There was #4 in 2014. Go back two more years and you’ll find her third album, the Aaron Dessner-produced Tramp, at #13 in 2012. And now with her sixth album, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, is here at #6.

With four albums in the Top 31 over the last 12 years, she is the most decorated woman on the Top 31, a fantastic achievement by any measure, but a somewhat dubious and shameful honor for me personally. Van Etten’s first two albums, Because I Was in Love, and epic, both came out in 2009 and 2010, just as the Bacon Review was getting started, and my head was in a different space then. In my review of Tomorrow I wrote “In the beginning, the Top 31 was a lot more subconsciously, and therefore outwardly, male-centric.” What an understatement. Out of the 31 artists featured in the Top 31 in 2009, only five bands with female singers made the list. 2010 had three, if I stretch a little and qualify Belle & Sebastian. 2011: two. One year like that, it’s an anomaly. Two, it’s an interesting bit of problematic trivia. But three (and I stopped counting there; it’s likely even more years than that) and it’s a pandemic of aural blindness.

Last year, the number had gotten up 13. More respectable, but still not quite half. By the time this year’s Top 31 is done, I’ll have charted 19 albums that feature lead singers that are women. I didn’t enact some level of overt corrective measure, or create some artificial level or number that had to be filled by woman-led bands. I just charted what I truly loved this year. There has a been a definitive, quantifiable shift in my taste in music over the last 14 years. I don’t deserve notoriety for this achievement, but that won’t stop me from feeling a little bit better about my own personal balance.

At this point, the quality of Van Etten’s output is so great, it’ll be a surprise if she ever produces something that doesn’t fall into the Top 10. In the three-year void between Tomorrow and All Wrong, her 2nd album, 2010’s Epic, hit its 10th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Van Etten released a new deluxe version of the album (naturally called epic Ten) that included a track-for-track remake by various artists, including Bacon Review stalwarts Big Red Machine (#13 in 2018 and #2 in 2021), Idles (#16 in 2018 and #24 in 2020), Courtney Barnett (#5 in 2015, #8 in 2018, and #5 in 2021) and Fiona Apple (#1 in 2012 and #2 in 2020). When your career affords you the ability to gather Bon Iver, Courtney Barnett, and Fiona Apple to cover your own songs and release it as a bonus to your own reissued album, you know you’ve made an impact on people. My love of her music is well documented, but clearly there is no question as to her greatness.

In addition to my personal favorite from the album, “Mistakes,” shown in the video above, Van Etten has released a number of videos of songs from the album:

“Headspace”
“Used To It”
“Porta” (which also has a “making of”)

Get your hands on We've Been Going About This All Wrong. It is stellar, start to finish. Even if you’ve not connected with her music to date, give this one a full chance to sink in. You will not be disappointed.

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7. SOS by SZA
8. Wet Leg by Wet Leg
9. Chloë and the Next 20th Century by Father John Misty
10. Big Time by Angel Olsen
11. Ants From Up There by Black Country, New Road
12. Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To the Sky by Porridge Radio
13. I Walked with You a Ways by Plains
14. The Last Goodbye by Odesza
15. A Light for Attracting Attention by The Smile
16. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar
17. Inside Problems by Andrew Bird
18. Laurel Hell by Mitski
19. Full Moon Project by Phosphorescent
20. Skinty Fia by Fontaines D.C.
21. I Love You Jennifer B by Jockstrap
22. Too Much to Ask by Cheekface
23. Dripfield by Goose
24. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You by Big Thief
25. And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow by Weyes Blood
26. NOT TiGHT by DOMi & JD BECK
27. Preacher’s Daughter by Ethel Cain
28. Live at KEXP, vol. 10 by Various Artists
29. All You Need Is Time by Daisy the Great
30. Cool It Down by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
31. CAPRISONGS by FKA twigs

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#5 on the 2021 Bacon Top 31 — Courtney Barnett

January 27, 2022 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

Things Take Time, Take Time by Courtney Barnett

Welcome to the Top 5 of 2021! Courtney Barnett has been so consistently prominent in my active playlists, it feels as though she’s been around forever. I had thought of starting this review of her latest fantastic release, Things Take Time, Take Time, with something along the lines of “Courtney Barnett’s entire solo career has been charted on the Bacon Top 31.” While that statement is entirely true, it lacks the proper oomph when I look back and realize, dumbly, that Barnett has had only two previous albums: 2015’s Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (#5 that year), and 2018’s Tell Me How You Really Feel (#8 that year).

Check out my earlier reviews for the history of the Melbourne, Australia-born singer/songwriter. Since her last album album, her guitar-playing has gotten even more electric, and thanks to the pandemic, it’s being given more prominence. Unlike past albums, Things Take Time has only two musicians on the entirety of the album, creating a sound that is more sparse and direct than previous efforts. Barnett still brings her unbelievably slow, nearly spoken-word vocals to the fore, while also filling in guitar, bass, piano. And Stella Mozgawa plays drums, percussion, and keyboards.

With her third album here in the Top 10, I think it’s safe to say I’ve got a thing for Barnett. She’s got a sense of humor, irony, and pun that comes through both in her lyrics as well as her videos. In addition to “Before You Gotta Go,” featured above, check out “Rae Street,” “If I Don’t Hear From You Tonight,” and “Write a List of Things to Look Forward To.”

Courtney Barnett continues to refine her delivery for the better. Even if you haven’t enjoyed what she’s put out so far, I recommend checking out Things Take Time. It only takes one full play to start to understand the nuances and beauty of her craft. Give it a play, you won’t regret it.

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6. Little Oblivions by Julien Baker
7. Valentine by Snail Mail
8. sketchy. by tUnE-yArDs
9. A Very Lonely Solstice by Fleet Foxes
10. Hey What by Low
11. Local Valley by José González
12. Head of Roses by Flock of Dimes
13. The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows by Damon Albarn
14. Collapsed in Sunbeams by Arlo Parks
15. Loving In Stereo by Jungle
16. Flying Dream 1 by Elbow
17. Screen Violence by Chvrches
18. Blue Weekend by Wolf Alice
19. Mainly Gestalt Pornography by Pearly Gate Music
20. Peace Or Love by Kings of Convenience
21. These 13 by Jimbo Mathus & Andrew Bird
22. Mr. Corman: Season 1 by Nathan Johnson
23. Home Video by Lucy Dacus
24. I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico by Various Artists
25. Siamese Dream by Fruit Bats
26. NINE by Sault
27. Observatory by Aeon Station
28. The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania by Damien Jurado
29. A Beginner’s Mind by Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine
30. Where the End Begins by Knathan Ryan
31. Private Space by Durand Jones & The Indications

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#24 on the 2021 Bacon Top 31 — Various Artists

January 08, 2022 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico by Various Artists

Here at #24 we’re crossing off a couple of unexpected scorigami-like firsts here at the Bacon Top 31. I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico, the lovely full-album cover of the seminal debut album Velvet Underground & Nico, is not only the first time I‘ve featured not one but two full-remake cover albums on the Bacon Top 31 in the same year, but, somewhat unbelievably, it’s also the second time a full cover of this particular 1967 album is appearing on the countdown.

Way back in 2009 (the inaugural Bacon Top 31), Beck’s Record Club version of The Velvet Underground & Nico was #7 on the countdown that year. The 2021 cover version, put out by the band’s original 1967 label, Verve records, is aiming to cash in on the recently released Todd Haynes documentary about the band that was in theaters earlier this year.

(It’s mildly interesting that Verve has put this together, given that one of the reasons the 1967 original suffered poor sales at first — according to Wikipedia — was because of Verve, “who failed to promote or distribute the album with anything but modest attention.”)

But they’ve put together a masterpiece. The album’s roster is like the Bacon Top 31 all-stars: Andrew Bird, Kurt Vile, St. Vincent, Thurston Moore, King Princess, Fontaines D.C., and even Iggy Pop.

Like any compilations of covers, there are some highs and lows. The Matt Berninger cover of ”I’m Waiting for the Man,” shown in the video above is one of the lows. Berninger tries to channel his inner Lou Reed, but he’s too polished and controlled to pull it off. “Sunday Morning” by Michael Stipe and Bill Frissell is gorgeous from the very first note. Sharon van Ettan’s cover of “Femme Fatale” with Angel Olsen is slowwed waaay dowwwwn, a beautifully frustrating listen. And Courtney Barnett brings her usual off-beat and -key production to the title song “I’ll Be Your Mirror,” proving her music is a direct descendant of what The Velvet Underground & Nico accomplished 54 years ago.

If you like any of the artists mentioned above, definitely check out this album. They’re essentially performing the songs of their grandparents – without them, these artists would not exist. If you don’t know the artists, but like the original album, give this one a listen. You’ll find some kindred spirits you can explore to widen your tastes.

late addition: check out this live rendiition of Andrew Bird and Lucius’ cover of “Venus in Furs”. Watching Bird put the sonic landscape together all at once is a sight and sound to behold.

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25. Siamese Dream by Fruit Bats
26. NINE by Sault
27. Observatory by Aeon Station
28. The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania by Damien Jurado
29. A Beginner’s Mind by Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine
30. Where the End Begins by Knathan Ryan
31. Private Space by Durand Jones & The Indications

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#22 on the 2020 Bacon Top 31 — Deep Sea Diver

January 10, 2021 by Royal Stuart

Impossible Weight by Deep Sea Diver

How is it that Deep Sea Diver, Seattle’s little engine that could, is seemingly everywhere in my area, but barely talked about outside of the Pacific Northwest? Impossible Weight, the band’s third full-length album in their 16+ year history, is utterly fantastic, but if you’re not my neighbor, you’ve probably never even heard of them. The album was #1 on KEXP listener’s Top 90.3 albums of 2020, yet Pitchfork doesn’t have a single article about them. It’s as if we’re watching two parallel universes battle it out right in front of us.

Be that as it may, please now consider yourself part of the inner circle. Now you know. And if you’re a long-time follower, you might have already known, as the band’s debut album appeared on the Top 31 at #23 back in 2012. On top of that, Sharon van Etten (no stranger to the Bacon Top 31), makes an appearance on Impossible Weight’s title song, creating a duet with Deep Sea Diver’s Jessica Dobson that’s entirely overloaded with singing talent. Makes me wonder if Pitchfork, in their lack of recognition of Deep Sea Diver, has a beef to pick with someone related to the band and is being spiteful.

I guess Deep Sea Diver isn’t for everybody, but if you’re a fan of female-led indie rock, you’ll love them. Someday Dobson’s name will be as well known as van Etten, or Barnett, or Phair. Until then, all we can do is enjoy them with additional fervor and shout their name from the rooftops. The rest of the world will catch up eventually.

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1. Saint Cloud by Waxahatchee
2. Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple
3. Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers
4. folklore + evermore by Taylor Swift
5. Untitled (Black Is) + Untitled (Rise) by Sault
6. RTJ4 by Run The Jewels
7. Shore by Fleet Foxes
8. Serpentine Prison by Matt Berninger
9. The Ascension by Sufjan Stevens
10. Making a Door Less Open by Car Seat Headrest
11. Dreamland by Glass Animals
12. A Hero’s Death by Fontaines D.C.
13. Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez by Gorillaz
14. Mordechai + Texas Sun EP by Khruangbin
15. Introduction, Presence by Nation of Language
16. Free Love by Sylvan Esso
17. Miss Anthropocene by Grimes
18. 3.15.20 by Childish Gambino
19. Women In Music Pt. III by HAIM
20. The Third Mind by The Third Mind
21. Superstar by Caroline Rose
22. Impossible Weight by Deep Sea Diver
23. We Will Always Love You by The Avalanches
24. Ultra Mono by IDLES
25. Visions of Bodies Being Burned by clipping.
26. Thin Mind by Wolf Parade
27. The Loves of Your Life by Hamilton Leithauser
28. Palo Alto (Live) by Thelonious Monk
29. color theory by Soccer Mommy
30. Fall to Pieces by Tricky
31. Quarantine Casanova by Chromeo

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#8 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Courtney Barnett

January 24, 2019 by Royal Stuart

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:

She and her band performed all 10 songs from this album on a pier in Atlanta.
Speaking of KEXP, there’s also a fantastic set from her in-studio there back in November.
Her hour-long performance at the Pitchfork Music Festival in July.
Another radio set, this time for LA’s KCRW in June.
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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#5 on the 2015 Bacon Top 31

December 27, 2015 by Royal Stuart

Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett

Much like Royal Headache — who were featured at #31 on the list — Courtney Barnett is Australian and likes to rock. Technically Sometimes I Sit And Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, is her debut album, even though we’ve been hearing her for at least two years thanks to the good EPs she’s had floating around since 2011.

We’re now in the top five of the countdown, which means you really should buy this album right now. KEXP listeners rated it #1 in 2015. I wanted to, too, but believe it or not, there are four more albums that came out this year that are better than this one.

That said, Sometimes is solid three-part rock & roll from start to finish. When performing live (example here, for KEXP, last year), Barnett sings in a low punk-rock voice, a la (ugh) Courtney Love. But recorded, her voice is a little more clear, with a bit more enunciation, reminding me of a younger PJ Harvey or Liz Phair.

As for songwriting, her lyrics are fantastic. The stories she tells, somehow both deeply personal and universal at the same time, carry you along and remind you of places you’ve been in your own life. At 27, Barnett is wise beyond her years, but it works.

There are many good songs on this album, and there are a few good videos as well. In addition to the great animation for “Dead Fox” above, there’s “Pedestrian at Best,” which I wrote about earlier this year, as wellas videos for two more great songs: “Depreston” and “Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go To The Party.” I don’t see how you can draw anything other than the same conclusion I did: this woman kicks ass.

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6. I Love You, Honeybear by Father John Misty
7. Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes
8. Another Eternity by Purity Ring
9. Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance by Belle and Sebastian
10. Return to the Moon by El Vy
11. Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) by Lin-Manuel Miranda
12. Art Angels by Grimes
13. The Horse Comanche by Chadwick Stokes
14. Grace Love & the True Loves by Grace Love & the True Loves
15. Shake Shook Shaken by The dø
16. La Di Da Di by Battles
17. Sky City by Amason
18. What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World by The Decemberists
19. Untethered Moon by Built to Spill
20. Viet Cong by Viet Cong
21. The Magic Whip by Blur
22. Savage Hills Ballroom by Youth Lagoon
23. Not Real by Stealing Sheep
24. Beat the Champ by The Mountain Goats
25. Gliss Riffer by Dan Deacon
26. Dark Bird is Home by The Tallest Man on Earth
27. Gunnera by Pfarmers
28. Swimmer to a Liquid Armchair by Ricked Wickey
29. To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
30. Live in Seattle by Moufang / Czamanski
31. High by Royal Headache

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Courtney Barnett — Pedestrian at Best

April 18, 2015 by Royal Stuart

I first fell in love with Courtney Barnett when she opened for Sharon van Etten at the Neptune last July. I reviewed that show for The Sun Break, and I had this to say about Ms. Barnett:

I had not done my homework, and came into the set totally unprepared for the onslaught I experienced. Barnett, from Melbourne, Australia, is an absolute joy to watch perform, playing her left-handed guitar (labeled “when i was an alien”) without a pick. She wore her guitar with the strap hung around her neck like a necklace, allowing the guitar more freedom to move about.

I’ve been listening to Barnett’s recorded music for the last 12 hours, and the disparity heard between the live performance and the studio recordings is large. That’s not to say that either is bad or incorrect. On the contrary, they both stand out in their own ways. The recorded works would best be described as “singer/songwriter.” Not necessarily understated, but not rocking either. Liz Phair-style sparseness, with jangly guitar and garage-style drums allows Barnett’s doubled-up voice on the recordings to shine through.

Up to that point, the extent of her recorded music was a double EP. Her full-length debut, Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, came out March 23. I just downloaded it, and I’m diving in. And thank you to Mr. Defective Yeti, Matthew Baldwin, for reminding me that I’m not an airline pilot or heart surgeon.