#23 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — Naima Bock

Below a Massive Dark Land by Naima Bock

The artist at #23 is truly a product of the world. Naima Bock was born in England, to a Greek mother and Brazilian father. As a child she spent equal time in England and São Paulo. Living in two global metropolises, each an order of magnitude larger than New York City, has got to have a positive influence on your outlook on living. The myriad cultures of both locations, and of both parents, must have helped shape Bock’s view of music, because the amalgam of sound she produces has hints of many cultures and ideas, resulting in a sounds all her own.

Hit play on the video above, for the song “Gentle,” and you’ll hear a little bit of Aimee Mann’s guitar folkiness, a touch of Fiona Apple’s instrumentation, and a pinch of Dolores O’Riordan’s yodel. But there’s no mistaking Bock for any of those three, as she is quite unique. Below a Massive Dark Land, Bock’s second album since departing the London-based post-punk band Goat Girl, is lovingly assembled from acoustic guitar, horns, woodwinds, and drums. Generally quiet, with punctuations of loud, it sounds orchestral and intimate, as if Bock is leaning over your shoulder to whisper something in your ear while a small cacophony of brass happens in the loft space above you.

Listen and watch the video for “Kaley,” and you’ll hear something a bit more traditional indie-pop. “Feed My Release” is more acoustic guitar driven, quieter and subdued. “Lines,” released over a year ago as the first single from this album, eschews most of the horns for violin, electric guitar, and a Rhodes piano. There’s so much to love about these songs: the instrumentation, Bock’s vocals, and the band’s backing vocals. It all comes together magically, everything produced to a pristine, clear finish.

But don’t be thinking Bock is merely a studio-assembled band. Watch her KEXP Live Performance from this past September, where she is backed by a full six-person band in the KEXP live room, faithfully reproducing four of the album’s songs.

I haven’t yet heard Bock’s debut album Giant Palm (both albums are out on SubPop Records), but from what I’ve read, the two albums are very similar – that is to say, they’re both great. I can’t wait to dive into that earlier record, and I also can’t wait for you to experience either one. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

__________________________________________

24. Mahashmashana by Father John Misty
25. Strawberry Hotel by Underworld
26. Faith Crisis Pt 1 by Middle Kids
27. Romance by Fontaines D.C.
28. Here in the Pitch by Jessica Pratt
29. Brand On The Run / Our Brand Could Be Yr Life by BODEGA
30. People Who Aren’t There Anymore by Future Islands
31. White Roses, My God by Alan Sparhawk

Subscribe to the Top 31 playlists!

Full Albums
All albums in their entirety

• Apple Music Full Album Playlist
• Spotify Full Album Playlist
• YouTube Music Full Album Playlist

Radio Station
The best song pulled from each album

• Apple Music Radio Playlist
• Spotify Radio Playlist
• YouTube Music Radio Playlist

View all previous years’ Top 31s

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

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.

__________________________________________

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

There are many ways to listen to the 2022 Bacon Top 31. Subscribe now and enjoy the new albums / songs as they are revealed on the countdown!

Full Album
All albums in their entirety.

• Apple Music Full Album Playlist
• Spotify Full Album Playlist
• YouTube Music Full Album Playlist

Radio Station
A single song selection pulled from each album.

• Apple Music Radio Playlist
• Spotify Radio Playlist
• YouTube Music Radio Playlist

View all previous Bacon Top 31s

#2 on the 2020 Bacon Top 31 — Fiona Apple

Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple

Fetch The Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple’s fifth studio album, took five years to create and only a day or two to become one of the best, universally acclaimed albums of 2020. It was released on April 17, about a month into the Covid–19-related lockdown in the United States. At the time, we had no idea how long this thing was going to last, and we hadn’t yet properly adjusted to the slower, insulated pace of working from home. The album’s title and theme, as stated by Apple, “Fetch the fucking bolt cutters and get yourself out of the situation you’re in.”

Knowing that the theme had been established well before the coronavirus had hit and we didn’t know what was coming, that’s one hell of a serendipitous coincidence. Screenwriter/author Bess Kalb said it best when she tweeted on the day of the release, “Fiona Apple was waiting for the entire world to descend into restless melancholic rage and then once we all started pacing in our kitchens in our underwear in the middle of the night she was like, ‘You’re ready.’”

I’ve been a devoted fan of Apple’s since her third album, Extraordinary Machine, which came out in 2005 after two years of fights with her label and the online leak of the original recordings in 2003 before Apple re-recorded everything and released it in earnest. It’s a great story about a great album, and she hooked me with all of it. Her even better fourth album, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw & Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do, was my #1 album of 2012. It’s been 8 years since that album came out, and aside from a duet with Andrew Bird on his 2016 album Are You Serious (#5 that year), we’d not heard much from Apple since that last album, which made the release of Bolt Cutters all the more unexpectedly perfect.

The album takes cues from The Idler Wheel’s sparse compositions, but Apple explores more of her raw and wild side on the newer album. Lots of non-musical objects became fodder for Apple to clang, beat and hammer on while she recorded the bulk of the record from her home using GarageBand on her Mac. Other found / unexpected sounds permeate the album, such as a kennel full of barking dogs at the end of the title song.

The album felt perfect for 2020 in so many ways, as if Apple had been living in self-inflicted isolation in preparation for what was to come. Since putting it at my #2 for the year, I see that Pitchfork ranked it #1, and NPR also ranked it #2, so I know I’m not the only one who feels this way. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you need polish, something “clean” to wash away the insanity of 2020. But for me I like to get address the insanity head on. (As if reading my other reviews from this year didn’t already inform you of that fact.) Immersing myself in the insanity just a bit helps me process it, and I’m so glad Fiona was there to hold my hand. I’m guessing you have a lot left to process from 2020, too, so please allow me to point you to Fetch The Bolt Cutters. You won’t be disappointed.

__________________________________________

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

Subscribe to the 2020 Bacon Top 31 playlist: Apple Music / Spotify
All Top 31s

#23 on the 2017 Bacon Top 31

Capacity by Big Thief

Oh, Brooklyn. It must be nice having so much indie rock talent just laying around. Such as Big Thief, whose sophomore album Capacity comes in at #23 on the Top 31.

Nothing about Big Thief is shockingly good; the band fails to shock at every turn. Instead, this is a great, quiet, peaceful album that may just put you to sleep if you’re not careful. If you’ve enjoyed other female singer-songwriter acts I’ve featured in the past, such as Sharon van Etten or Fiona Apple, then you’ll find something to enjoy in this album. Adrianne Lenker’s voice is low and steady, and will cause you to lean in just a bit to truly hear what she’s trying to say.

I was not familiar with Big Thief before this album hit my radar, so I can’t speak to their first album, Masterpiece, which came out in 2016, although in poking around the internet it looks as if I should have heard. Excuse me, I have some further listening to get to.

__________________________________________

24. The Tourist by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
25. CCFX EP by CCFX
26. Woodstock by Portugal. The Man
27. MASSEDUCTION by St. Vincent
28. On the Spot by Hot 8 Brass Band
29. A Deeper Understanding by The War on Drugs
30. Planetarium by Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, & James McAlister
31. A Moment Apart by Odesza

Subscribe to the 2017 Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2016 Top 31s

#5 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Are You Serious by Andrew Bird

There seems to be a bit of a recurring theme happening in the Bacon Top 31: persevere, and greatness will come back to you. DJ Shadow, Band of Horses, Yeasayer — these bands have all been around for quite a long while, but it wasn’t until their umpteenth album came out that they found the greatness they once enjoyed much earlier in their careers. The same can be found here at #5, with Andrew Bird and his 13th studio album Are You Serious.

This is Bird’s best album yet. He’s clearly matured as a songwriter, and his songs — written with the creative flourish of an accomplished poet — are damn near perfect. There are a number of high points in this album, but none so fantastic as “Left Handed Kisses,” a dueling duet sung with the captivating Fiona Apple (who is no stranger to the Top 31, her most recent album having reached #1 back in 2012). (I posted the video for “Left Handed Kisses” back in March)

If Serious is Bird’s best album, “Kisses” is his best song ever. From the sparse guitar, the powerful interplay between Bird and Apple, down to the beautifully strong lyrics such as:

For it begs the question
How did I ever find you?
Now you got me writing love songs
With a common refrain like this one here, baaa-aaa-aa-by

The “baby” at the end of that song is drawn out across many notes, the common refrain heard in many a love song across all of folkdom. The coda at the end of the song is what slays me, sung in alternating lines from Bird to Apple and back again:

Now it’s time for a handsome little bookend
Now it’s time to tie up all the loose ends
Am I still a skeptic or did you make me a believer?
If you hesitate, you'll hear the click of the receiver

No, they’re not talking on the phone. The “click of the receiver” is the metaphorical hang-up at the end of a bad relationship. And it’s those little hoops that Bird’s lyrics make you jump through that I absolutely love. This album is full of them. If you’re a fan of great lyrics, beautiful violin, and semi-quiet background songs (“don’t be thrown by “Capsized,” shown in the video above. This is one of the more rocking songs on the otherwise subdued album), this one is definitely for you.

__________________________________________

6. Lemonade by Beyoncé
7. Teens of Denial by Car Seat Headrest
8. Goodness by The Hotelier
9. The Mountain Will Fall by DJ Shadow
10. Junun by Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood & The Rajasthan Express
11. The Hope Six Demolition Project by PJ Harvey
12. Amen & Goodbye by Yeasayer
13. Sea of Noise by St. Paul & The Broken Bones
14. You Want It Darker by Leonard Cohen
15. Painting Of A Panic Attack by Frightened Rabbit
16. Why Are You OK by Band Of Horses
17. Not To Disappear by Daughter
18. Sunlit Youth by Local Natives
19. I Had a Dream That You Were Mine by Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam
20. ★ by David Bowie
21. Farewell, Starlite! by Francis and the Lights
22. This Unruly Mess I’ve Made by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
23. LNZNDRF by LNZNDRF
24. Puberty 2 by Mitski
25. Light Upon the Lake by Whitney
26. A Corpse Wired for Sound by Merchandise
27. Away by Okkervil River
28. case/lang/veirs by case/lang/veirs
29. Love Letter for Fire by Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop
30. Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future by Underworld
31. Preoccupations by Preoccupations

Andrew Bird with Fiona Apple — Left Handed Kisses

When an artist I’ve had a decades-long affinity for releases something that surprises me in its newness, I’m in heaven. As it was for me today with “Left Hand Kisses,” a dueling duet sung between the eccentric violinist Andrew Bird and the equally eccentric Fiona Apple.

I haven’t fallen so hard for a song in a very long time, and I’m damn near ready to declare this to be Bird’s best song ever. I do realize how foolish that sounds, having only heard it for the first time today. The song is from Bird’s ninth studio album, Are You Serious, to be released on this upcoming April Fool’s Day.

It‘s not the beautiful counterpoint that Apple brings to the song that bowled me over, but that certainly doesn’t hurt (especially considering her own own masterpiece was my #1 album of the year in 2012). It’s the structure of the song, the battle between the two, the laissez faire way in which Bird sings “now you got me writing love songs with a common refrain like this one here, baaaaaaaaaaby.” It hits me, just so.

Bird will be playing the Showbox at the Market in May, which is absolutely tiny venue for such a gigantic talent. Will I see you there?

#1 on the 2015 Bacon Top 31

Every Open Eye by Chvrches

You could see this one coming a mile away. I’ve talked a lot about this album all year, and the Top 31 is chockablock with bands that sound just like this band. But none of them are as good as Chvrches.

You may remember them from their debut album, The Bones of What You Believe, which was #4 in 2013. I didn’t think Bones could be topped, and when I first heard Every Open Eye, I’d believed that. And then I listened to it again. And again. And again. I’ve been listening to it pretty much non-stop since it arrived in late September. That‘s when I knew.

Chvrches is a trio from Glasgow, Scotland. Lauren Mayberry sings lead vocals (and sometimes plays synthesizers and samplers). Iain Cook plays synthesizers (and sometimes guitar, bass, and sings backup vocals — and even lead on a couple songs). And Martin Doherty also plays synthesizers and samplers (and sings backup vocals). Strong female-led vocals on top of synthesizers; Chvrches is defining the synth-pop genre, one glorious song after another.

The video above, for “Empty Threat,” is a fun video, but it’s not the best song on the album. That would have to be “Clearest Blue,” but sadly there’s only a lyric video for that song. You can also see a video for “Leave a Trace” and a couple other lyric videos. “Clearest Blue” is the climax of this album, and demonstrates what makes this band so great. There’s nothing truly surprising about what they do. It’s derivative pop, but isn’t that what pop is all about: taking a well-defined set of tools and changing things around slightly to make it your own? That’s what Chvrches does, and they do it superbly.

I’m somewhat disappointed to say that this is only the second time a woman has topped the Bacon Top 31 in the seven years I’ve been compiling this list (Fiona Apple did it in 2012). Not only that, but I enjoyed more women-led bands in 2015 then ever before, at 10 acts. (In 2009 there were five, 2010 and 2011 just one(!), 2012 and 2013 there were six each, and last year there were nine. This is a good trend.)

While researching for this article I came across this video of Lauren Mayberry singing a duet with former #1 one band on the Top 31, The National, at this year’s Treasure Island Music Festival. Following that, there was this fun little interview between Mayberry and The National’s lead singer Matt Berninger about that performance and other lead-singer #firstworldproblems. Watch that second video and you’ll get to hear Berninger say about The National: “We are the mop bucket of indie rock,” and Mayberry about her musical ability: “I’m the emotional litmus test.” I want to have dinner with them both.

What a great year for music. It took me a while to realize that Every Open Eye deserved to be the #1 album, but after listening to it for the hundredth time, and realizing the staying power their previous album has had in my ears, it’s clear I’m going to be listening to this band well beyond the time it would be merely embarrassing for my son to admit. I look forward to being a grandpa and reminiscing about this band. Or, who knows, maybe they’ll still be producing music then, a la The Rolling Stones. Wouldn’t that be something!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the countdown as much as I have. I’m already listening to things that will be on next years countdown, but did I miss anything this year? Let me know! I always have a couple albums that I regret not having heard sooner (like the San Fermin album Jackrabbit, which I didn’t hear until a couple weeks ago). Until next year…

__________________________________________

2. Coming Home by Leon Bridges
3. My Love Is Cool by Wolf Alice
4. Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens
5. Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett
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

What is the Bacon Top 31?
Past years’ Top 31s

#7 on the 2015 Bacon Top 31

Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes

Merry Christmas, everybody! Bluesy rock has had its day on the Top 31, but 2015 hasn’t been it, with one exception. Alabama Shakes, with their sophomore album Sound & Color, have created something entirely outstanding from — and completely antithetical to — the synth pop bands that have taken over the Top 31.

The band is led by Brittany Howard, whose strong, pushed-to-the-max voice and masterful guitar work, along with lead guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell, keyboard player Ben Tanner, and drummer Steve Johnson, present a sound unlike anything else being produced today. You’d have to go back a few decades, to the likes of Janis Joplin or the Muscle Shoals bands of the sixties, to find something comparable.

I had the luxury of seeing Alabama Shakes at SXSW in 2012 (at the famous Stubbs, opening for a back-from-the-dead Fiona Apple), just before they released their fantastic debut album Boys & Girls (which, as a major oversight, didn’t end up on the Top 31 that year). They killed it, expectedly. Listen to this album and you’ll understand why. They are powerful, heartfelt, and deep. This is a band that’s going to keep producing wonderful music. Get in on it now, lest you fall behind.

__________________________________________

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

What is the Bacon Top 31?
Past years’ Top 31s

#5 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You by Neko Case

It’s taken me a very long time to get to this point. I have of course known about Neko Case for a long time, having first fallen in love with her powerful voice on “Letter from an Occupant” from Mass Romantic, the debut New Pornographers album from way back in 2000. I’d heard many of her countryfied solo songs since then, and had even been at that infamous hail-covered Sasquatch! performance in 2006, but while I enjoyed those songs, they didn’t hook me. Five New Pornographers and four solo albums later, (as well as two early albums with Her Boyfriends) here we are with her best work to date, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You.

This album is unlike anything I’ve heard from Case previously. At times it feels very country and at others indie rock, sometimes full and at others, sparse, and it is gorgeous throughout. These songs are heartfelt and it shows. It feels very much like a New Pornographers record at times, with fast, soaring-chorus songs like “Man,” which revolves around a rocking guitar / piano solo in the middle of the short 3 minutes. In other ways, it reminds me of Fiona Apple’s #1 album from last year, with it’s pared down, nearly a cappella sadness.

“Nearly Midnight, Honolulu” is the quietest, but also the most powerful moment of the album. A terribly sad story about an experience Case had at the airport in Honolulu where she overheard a mother yelling at her young son. It is moving in its starkness. Case sings harmony with herself at points in the song, punctuating the darkness with a chorus of uplifting voices. The song is arresting, and will make you fall in love with Case, the boy that is the center of the song, and with the album itself. You can hear that song here, but I recommend hearing it in the context of the full album to really understand it.

Case and the band recorded a set for Austin City Limits earlier this year, and it will be airing on PBS on January 11. Here’s a preview of the show, with them performing the song “Man” mentioned above. The video above is apparently the only actual video released from this album to date, and it’s a stupid lyric video, which I don’t care for. Be that as it may, it‘s a great song from an amazing album, one that I know you, too, will love.

__________________________________________

6. In Focus? by Shugo Tokumaru
7. Psychic by Darkside
8. AMOK by Atoms for Peace
9. White Lighter by Typhoon
10. Hummingbird by Local Natives
11. If You Leave by Daughter
12. Pedestrian Verse by Frightened Rabbit
13. The Silver Gymnasium by Okkervil River
14. The Next Day by David Bowie
15. Reflektor by Arcade Fire
16. We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic by Foxygen
17. Lanters by Son Lux
18. Howlin’ by Jagwar Ma
19. Impersonator by Majical Cloudz
20. Dream Cave by Cloud Control
21. Mole City by Quasi
22. Phantogram by Phantogram
23. Julia With Blue Jeans On by Moonface
24. Uncanney Valley by The Dismemberment Plan
25. Event II by Deltron 3030
26. Wise Up Ghost by Elvis Costello and The Roots
27. Us Alone by Hayden
28. Pure Heroine by Lorde
29. Shaking the Habitual by The Knife
30. False Idols by Tricky
31. Let’s Be Still by The Head and the Heart

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

Fiona continues to release videos from her #1 2012 album The Idler Wheel…. This time, in a video directed by her former beau (and one of my all time favorite directors), Paul Thomas Anderson.

This video has a very 60s vibe to it, but it accurately captures pretty much everything that happens in this subdued song. I’m assuming that’s Fiona’s sister there, singing with her in the video, as it is her sister that sings with her on the album on this song.

#1 on the 2012 Musical Bacon Calendar

The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw & Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do by Fiona Apple

The #1 album of the year, Fiona Apple’s crazily-named The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw & Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do, is the most perfect 43 minutes of music produced this year. If you’re not familiar with anything Apple has done since she pranced around in her underwear in that video back in 1997, this selection may feel like it’s out of left field.

While I definitely had a crush on Apple because of that video 15 years ago, my musical maturity helped me recognize her amazing songwriting ability when she released her third full-length, Extraordinary Machine, in 2005 (after much controversy). That album caught me totally off guard, and is definitely one of the best albums from the first decade of this millennium. (Check out Zach Galifianakis in the awesome song “Not About Love,” from that album.)

But The Idler Wheel… is better than that. After eschewing the limelight for six years (except for a few notable moments, including one where she performed Elvis Costello’s “I Want You” and made me feel like she definitely wants to kill someone, if she hasn’t already), Apple has released an album that is so sonically different from where she started, she’s practically creating a new genre of music all for herself.

This album is raw emotion, performed on piano and sung by the most scorned person on earth. Apple’s ability to channel her stories, her feeling, her gut into the form of song is unmatched by any other current musician. This is not the music of some emaciated 19-year-old in her underwear, this is the sound of a woman whose emotional state is not quite sound, whose medicine is her ability to pour it out of herself, unfiltered and without abatement.

The sound of the record is best described as sparse. There are very few instruments, some found-object sounds, and Fiona and her piano. And it’s a hard-hitting thing of beauty, like a rainbow seen over an area devastated by tsunami. If you’ve not listened to Apple in the past ten years, you owe it to yourself to pick up this album. The only familiar piece of the puzzle will be Apple’s profound voice. The most stark difference will be the lack of instrumentation. It’s not just raw lyrics, but raw sound. And it’s something everyone should feel and hear.

And with that, I wrap up 2012. It’s now 5 minutes before midnight on the last day of 2012; I’m making it just under the wire with my final post of the year. This has been a phenomenal year for music. SO many good records, so many albums that will remain with me well into the future. There are already a number of albums on the horizon that I’m looking forward to (you can follow my utility Twitter account @BaconTunes to see what albums and upcoming Seattle-based shows I’m specifically looking forward to, if you’re interested). If it’s anything like 2012, this is going to be a doozy.

__________________________________________

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

What is the Bacon Calendar?

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

She’s still got it.

Fiona Apple, with “Every Single Night” from her new album The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do. Got to see her at SXSW back in March and was able to confirm my teenage crush is still in full swing.