#27 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — Fontaines D.C.

January 05, 2025 by Royal Stuart in Top 31, 2024

Fontaines D.C. have managed a feat very few other bands have: they’ve released four albums as a band, and all four of those albums have been on the Bacon Top 31: their debut, Too Real was #26 in 2019, A Hero’s Death was #12 in 2020, and Skinty Fia came in at #20 in 2022. Their fantastic fourth album, Romance, is coming in at #27 here in 2024. That’s an impressive run of great albums.

Romance feels different from the band’s past post-punk efforts. This album is darker, more The Cure-like, with a little more force behind it, reminding me of Clinic’s 25-year-old (!) album Internal Wrangler. There’s still Grian Chatten’s Irish-accented, more sung-than-spoken lead vocals, and the four other members building out the music. But there’s more depth to the songwriting that didn’t used to be there. Hit play on the video above, for their song “Starburster.” The monotone verses that lead into the deep-breath chorus immediately puts you on edge. Then at the bridge of the song, you’ll hear Chatten channeling his best Damon Albarn.

These are all positive shifts in the music from Fontaines, but let’s also talk about the videos. “Starburster” above is a strange, alien mystery of a narrative. Chatten uses an inhaler to fill in on the song’s deep-breath choruses, and the story shifts at each breath. Crazy makeup and costumes abound, all in an off-kilter way that makes you feel uneasy. Then there’s the video for “Here’s the Thing,” which features a girl mocked for her high-school talent-show riverdance set who then finds a supernatural girl group to enact revenge on the mockers.

The craziest video is for the song “In the Modern World.” Ewan Mitchell, aka Game of Thrones’ Aemond Targaryen, takes center stage, as a low-life who engages in non-sactioned car-jitsu in public settings. Pretty sure you won’t know what car-jitsu is any more than I did, so watch the video and you’ll get a sense for it. Yes, it’s a real sport. And yes, it’s ridiculous.

The most “normal” video of the bunch is for the song “Favourite,” which leans heavily on old home video footage from the band members’ families, jumping around in the band’s history from birth to now. It actually feels kinda pleasant, especially when compared to the other three videos.

I’m loving this shift in musical direction for Fontaines D.C., and I’m not the only one: KEXP listeners voted Romance as the #1 album of 2024. While I can’t make it number one, it does speak to the strength of the music that came out this year that I’m only able to put it in at #27, through no fault of Romance. Give it a listen, even if you haven’t liked Fontaines in the past. You may be pleasantly surprised.

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#13 on the 2021 Bacon Top 31 — Damon Albarn

January 19, 2022 by Royal Stuart

The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows by Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn’s newest record, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows, was created in isolation in his home outside of Reykjavik, Iceland during the pandemic. That point is important, because it gives this slower, introspective album the perfect sense of place.

After starting in on a commissioned project with some native Icelandic musicians, Albarn had to shift course due to the pandemic – they could no longer get together and jam. According to Pitchfork, What was going to be an “orchestral interpretation of the land outside his living room window” became the foundation for a new solo album that he eventually brought to life with two musicians he had a long history with: Simon Tong (guitarist for the Verve and for Albarn’s side project The Good, The Bad, & the Queen) and frequent Gorillaz collaborator Mike Smith.

A view of Esja in Reykjavík, Iceland. The landscape inspiring 'The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows': https://t.co/2L231hVJiu pic.twitter.com/NljvMSA084
— Damon Albarn (@Damonalbarn) November 29, 2021

The collection of songs that emerged from that curvy road of creation is not a Blur or Gorillaz album. It’s not full-on pop, nor digital craziness. But Albarn’s voice is unique, with or without collaboration, and his music always invariably sounds like him. If you’ve ever thought “I want a Blur album without the heavy guitars” or “This Gorillaz stuff would sound great if it didn’t have all that digital distortion,” then Fountain is for you.

The video above, for the song “Royal Morning Blue” is the only video from the album that features Albarn. But there are a series of video clips set to the music that you can watch while listening. If you like consuming your music with visuals, as I do (full on MTV generation here), these vignettes are perfect for the music.

It feels as though Damon Albarn has been somewhere in my shortlist of “current rotation” albums for most of my life. I wrote about his prolific output in my review of the second album from his side project The Good, The Bad, & the Queen’s second album (2018’s Merrie Land, #23 that year). I’ve updated what I wrote then to include what has come out since:

Blur released their first album, Leisure, in 1991. Including that seminal album, Albarn has been a principle part of the production for eight Blur albums (2015’s The Magic Whip was #21 that year), [seven] Gorrilaz albums (2020’s Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez was #13 that year), six various collaboration albums, two albums with the collective known as The Good, the Bad & the Queen, and [now two] solo albums.

That’s a mind-blowing 25 albums in 30 years. A spry 53 years old, Albarn doesn’t show any sign of slowing down his output. Where he will head next is anybody’s guess, but take my hand and we’ll skip along with him, together.

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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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#13 on the 2020 Bacon Top 31 — Gorillaz

January 19, 2021 by Royal Stuart

Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez by Gorillaz

Damon Albarn is a musical chameleon. He got his start with Blur in the early 90s (whose 8th album The Magic Whip was on the Top 31 at #21 in 2015). He’s also appeared on the Top 31 with The Good, The Bad and the Queen (#23 in 2018). And what started as a side project in 2005, Gorillaz has lately become Albarn’s main gig. The band’s seventh album, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez appears here at #13 for 2020.

I’d lost interest in Gorillaz, despite my ongoing love for Albarn’s music. I haven’t loved anything he’s done with Gorillaz since their 2005 Danger Mouse-produced sophomore album Demon Days, and consequently the four albums prior to Song Machine that were released between 2010 and 2018 did not make the Top 31 cut. I’m glad that 2020 saw the release of another great Gorillaz album.

For those of you living under a rock, Gorillaz is a “virtual” band, with four fictional animated characters illustrated by Tank Girl-creator Jamie Hewlett. Musically, the band’s songs are principally created by Albarn, with a large collection of support characters and guest stars coming in to flesh things out. Since 2016, the band’s song creation duties have been shared with a third member of the band, Remi Kabaka Jr., who mans the lead percussion and produces the songs. Together they create a wide variety of digitally-created music with Albarn taking the lead on vocals, often singing with guest starts.

Song Machine started at the beginning of 2020 as a web-only music video series, a collection of singles released monthly with guest stars appearing on each song. There was no intention of releasing the songs as a full album. But, much like all the other plans launched in the first couple months of 2020, things changed. And we’re all the better for it.

The guest stars on Song Machine, Season One are what propelled this album into a prominent spot of my 2020 playlist. Robert Smith, Beck, St. Vincent, Elton John, and Peter Hook (among many many others) appear on the album. Not only do they lend their voices to these songs, but the songs they appear on shift tonally to the range that these voices are known for. So the album often sounds less like a Gorillaz album, and more like a movie soundtrack filled with great pop songs.

The album is very easy to love. Even if you’ve not been a fan in the past, I recommend checking it out. You just may surprise yourself.

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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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#23 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — The Good, the Bad & the Queen

January 09, 2019 by Royal Stuart

Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen

Damon Albarn, despite all expectations to the contrary, has staying power. Having far outgrown the quibbles he and his first band, Blur, had with competing London rockers Oasis, Albarn has accomplished so much in his musical career that it’s astounding to think he’s only 50 years old, with so much more living — and, presumably, music — left to do.

Blur released their first album, Leisure, in 1991. Including that seminal album, Albarn has been a principle part of the production for eight Blur albums, six Gorrilaz albums, six various collaboration albums, one solo album and now, with Merrie Land, two albums with the collective known as The Good, the Bad & the Queen. That’s 23 albums in 27 years, an astounding feat for anyone. His 23rd album, here at #23; I swear I didn’t plan that.

The Good, the Bad & the Queen is by all measures a proverbial “supergroup”, featuring the aforementioned Albarn as the principle lyricist/vocalist, and a band made up of: The Clash’s bassist, Paul Simonon; The Verve’s guitarist, Simon Tong; and “perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived” (according to Brian Eno), Tony Allen. (Allen was the drummer and musical director for Fela Kuti’s band Africa from 1968-1979, whose work was the main influence for the Talking Heads’ album Remain in Light that was covered so beautifully by Angelique Kidjo and appeared at #30 just a week ago. So if you follow the bouncing ball: Tony Allen created Afrobeat with Fela Kuti, which in turn influenced the Talking Heads which was then covered by Kidjo and now the originator appears here in an entirely different context. I just blew my own mind.)

Merrie Land is the supergroup’s second album, but is markedly different from their 2007 debut, which was produced by Danger Mouse and was created under very different political circumstances. Albarn has stated that the new album, which was produced this time around by Tony Visconti (who — get this — won a grammy for his production of Angélique Kidjo’s 2007 album Djin Djin), is rooted in his personal goodbyes to the pre-Brexit Great Britain. Listen closely to the dark lyrics, and you can figure out exactly where Albarn’s loyalties lie.

Albarn takes the visuals of the music to new heights, with the album cover featuring an image from a 1945 horror film called Dead of Night where a ventriloquist is taken over by his dummy. Going further into the ventriloquist arena, Albarn dons dummy makeup and stars in a lip-syncing video for each song from the new album:

That’s a level of dedication to creative output that most musicians don’t or won’t tackle, but Albarn gives out like candy, and it’s much appreciated. If you’ve ever been a fan of Albarn in any of his many incarnations, then you should check out Merrie Land right now.

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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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#21 on the 2015 Bacon Top 31

December 11, 2015 by Royal Stuart

The Magic Whip by Blur

We’re going from an uncategorizable band at #22 to an ultimately categorizable one here at #21 in Blur, the undisputed kings of modern Brit pop (if you Oasis fans haven’t yet given up, there’s no time like the present). It’s pretty amazing that a band can break up due to infighting between the lead guitarist and principle songwriter in the middle of recording an album (2003’s Think Tank, their last album) and then reunite and put out a new album 12 years later that sounds as if they never took a break. But that’s exactly what Blur has done.

Now, this isn’t their best album. Not by far. But compared to what else has been released in 2015, this is a great album in its own right. I first talked about The Magic Whip here back in June, when they released the video for “Ong Ong.” I think the “Ong Ong” video is far superior to the video above, for the song “Lonesome Street,” but I like to offer up a variety of musical sights and sounds to the handful of you that are actually paying attention.

If you’ve liked Blur in the past, get this album now. If you’ve liked Gorillaz, The Good The Bad and the Queen, or solo Damon Albarn, you will like this album. If you’re a fan of solid Brit pop, this album is for you. Do it. Now.

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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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Blur — Ong Ong

June 03, 2015 by Royal Stuart

When Blur released their fantastic first album, Leisure, I was 17, and I was addicted to MTV’s alternative-music video show 120 Minutes (they brought it back! Who knew?) (incidentally: HOLY CRAP). I would record the show every week and devour it throughout the week until the next episode came out. Blur’s first hits, “She’s So High” and “There’s No Other Way,” hooked me instantly, and I’ve been a fan of the band ever since.

They’ve had their ups and downs. I’ve always kept an ear on lead singer Damon Albarn’s many side projects. But it’s been a long time since Blur has released any new music, and even longer since they produced anything that was worth repeated listening.

I’m happy to report their first album in 12 years, The Magic Whip, is exactly that. It’s good. It’s classic Blur. While there isn’t a “Tender” (what is up with this “official video” version of the song — blech), “Girls & Boys,” or “Song 2,” this album is solid from start to finish. Give it a few listens before moving on — I assure you it will hook you, too.