#11 on the 2022 Bacon Top 31 — Black Country, New Road

January 21, 2023 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

Ants From Up There by Black Country, New Road

My guess is that this may be the last surprise of the 2022 Top 31. Sure, you might be surprised by the order in which I place my Top 10, or you might be surprised to find your particular favorite wasn’t one of mine. But I would be surprised if you don’t read the Top 10 as they’re revealed over the next ten days, nod your head at each one, and think “yep, ok, I can see that.”

Not so for Black Country, New Road, here at #11, which you’ve likely not ever heard of, despite some modest level of critical acclaim. And if you have heard of them, then you no doubt know why I’m placing them way up in my top albums of 2022. Known as BC,NR because, well, it’s a lot easier to write and it’s also awesome to have a comma in an abbreviation, the band met in Cambridgeshire, England, in 2018. They named themselves after the subject found at a click of the “random article” button in Wikipedia: Black Country New Road, a street in the West Midlands. Ants From Up There is their second album, recorded with seven members: Tyler Hyde (bass), Lewis Evans (flute, saxophone), May Kershaw (keyboards), Georgia Ellery (violin), Charlie Wayne (drums), Luke Mark (guitar), all of whom played their instruments deftly while singing backup to frontman, guitarist, and principal lyricist Isaac Wood.

Wood’s voice is low, with a vibrato that makes your subs shake — not quite as low as Ian Curtis, not quite as smooth as Justin Vernon, but every bit engaging. His lyrics have a literary lilt to them that don’t quite paint a story, but lead you to the next word, verse, and chorus as if compelled by tendrils of sound. And much to everyone detriment, there will be no more BC,NR albums with Wood at the helm. Four days before the release of Ants, Wood and the band announced on Instagram that he would be stepping away from the band, from the limelight, permanently. His mental health had been suffering greatly, and he needed to take care of himself.

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A post shared by Black Country, New Road (@blackcountrynewroad)

I first heard the album probably a week or so after it debuted on February 4, 2022. It filled me with such excitement, when I first started trying to learn more about the band I was devastated to find the post above and learn I’d never be able to experience the excitement Wood brings to the stage. I listened more and more to Ants over the coming months, and hit a point where I couldn’t put the album down. Pulling from the same influences as Beirut, Neutral Milk Hotel, the Decemberists, Slint, Noah and the Whale, BC,NR bring together heavy orchestration, ivy league intelligence, and prog-rock turns that leave you breathless. This is the album you need to fill the Arcade Fire-sized void left behind because of Win Butler’s sexual misconduct.

You’ll recognize violinist Georgia Ellery’s name, as she is one-half of Jockstrap, featured at #21 just 11 days ago. I’m pretty sure that’s the first time an artist has been an integral part of two separate bands featured on a single Top 31. When Wood announced his departure on January 31, the band had to cancel their upcoming tour and weren’t sure where this would lead them. A few months later, they had picked themselves back up and were touring again, now as a six-piece, with Hyde, Kershaw, Evans, and Wayne taking turns on lead vocals. I have not been able to see this incarnation of the band, but the strength of these songs and these musicians makes me believe it’s still every bit as strong.

Ants came out a year after those original seven band members released their debut, For The First Time, in February, 2021. I missed their debut, and based on how much I love Ants, a fairly sizable oversight on my part. I’m curious to see where the band will go next. I enjoy the Wood incarnation of the band, and am patiently waiting to see what the band will put together next. “Concord,” shown in the video above, is probably my favorite song on the album. But if you like it, I encourage you to explore the rest of the album.

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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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#15 on the 2020 Bacon Top 31 — Nation of Language

January 17, 2021 by Royal Stuart

Introduction, Presence by Nation of Language

Throughout 2020, when I wanted to listen to something released in 2020, but be swept back to the simpler emo/goth days of the late 20th century, Brooklyn’s Nation of Language would be there for me. If I were to play their fantastic debut album, Introduction, Presence, for you, and I didn’t tell you who it was, I fully believe you’d wrinkle your brow and say, tentatively, “is this… Joy Division?” or “…Depeche Mode?” or “…The Cure?” depending on the song I put on. Yes, the band’s impersonation of our synth-pop heroes from the 80s and 90s is really that good.

No, I haven’t put any eyeliner on while listening to them, but lord I hope the kids are (please, somebody with a connection to teens or 20-somethings, gather intel and report back). The trio, Ian Richard Devaney on vocals, guitar, percussion; Aidan Noell on synth and background vocals; and Michael Sue-Poi on bass; started on their pilgrimage to another era back in 2016. Since then they’ve released amazing single after amazing single, slowly building up enough songs to compile it into this lovely debut album.

Introduction, Presence doesn’t really have a breakaway hit for me to point you to. Rather, the feeling the album evokes is an entire world I wish I could go back to. I know I’m being exceedingly glib about the late twentieth century (hello white privilege!) but it’s less of an era and more of a younger age sort of longing. The freedom, lack of responsibility, and excess amount of disposable income that comes with youth is what this music reminds me of. But that’s also a great reality check, as I put it on the page. Yes, life was different then. But I also didn’t have my son, who is twelve now. Or my daughter, who is three. Or my lovely wife, who is… not three. Listening to Nation of Language allows me to think of that previous life fondly, and to spread that joy around my currently life. Give it a listen, as I know you’ll find that joy, too.

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#26 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — Fontaines DC

January 06, 2020 by Royal Stuart

Dogrel by Fontaines DC

From one literal throwback to 70s music, now to one that’s a throwback in style if not in the time it was recorded. Fontaines D.C., a five-man post-punk group out of Dublin, fall right in line with a separate scene from Marvin Gaye’s world of the 70s. Fontaines are hard-hitting, loud and obnoxious, evoking feelings of Joy Division, The Clash and even maybe a little bit of that early-U2 fervor.

I first fell in love with Fontaines by listening to KEXP 90.3 FM, my favorite Seattle-based (but more prominently available online) radio station. They received equal airplay to the station’s #2 album of 2018, Idles (#16 in my Top 31 of 2018), and were often played back to back with that band despite not releasing their album until April 2019.

If you’re a fan of guitars, barking vocals, and music with a message, then Fontaines DC are right up your alley. If you liked Idles’ Joy as an Act of Resistance from 2018, then you’ll especially love it. Give it a listen now.

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27. You’re the Man by Marvin Gaye
28. Big Wows by Stealing Sheep
29. 1000 gecs by 100 gecs
30. In the Morse Code of Brake Lights by The New Pornographers
31. Radiant Dawn by Operators

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2009-2018 Top 31s

#7 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

January 06, 2017 by Royal Stuart

Teens of Denial by Car Seat Headrest

The album at #7 has a strong contender for my favorite song of the year. “Fill in the Blank,” by Seattle’s own Car Seat Headrest, is an anthemic, angsty, hard rocking song that has all the makings of an instant classic: fantastic chorus, insanely building bridge, loud guitars and quiet pauses. The song makes a Kramer-esque entrance on Teens of Denial, bursting into the room and causing you to jolt upright. (There’s only a lyric video available for that song, so I chose to go with “Vincent” to feature above, another great song from this album.)

Car Seat Headrest is the brainchild of Will Toledo, who is only 24, from Leesburg, Virginia, and Teens of Denial is his twelfth album release. But it’s only his first album produced via traditional studio processes, with a full band, released on Matador records. I’m not sure when he moved to Seattle, but we’re lucky to have him.

This album feels very Lou Reed, Strokes, Sex Pistols and Joy Division all while somehow being immediately current. It slams your head against the wall and makes you like it. The previous release, Teens of Style — the first Matador release — is more of a compilation of previously recorded Car Seat Headrest songs, rerecorded and reimagined. It’s good, too, but it’s no Denial. How one can record and release 11 albums and only on his twelfth really nail it is beyond me. I can only believe that he’s just getting started, here at 24, ready to take on the world.

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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

#26 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

December 06, 2016 by Royal Stuart

A Corpse Wired for Sound by Merchandise

Circling back to the 80s again (see #31), we find ourselves listening to Merchandise, from Tampa. This is not the kind of music you’d expect to come out of sunny Florida. It’s dark and brooding, somewhere in the vicinity of gothic icons like Depeche Mode, Bauhaus, and Joy Division, with industrial noise, synthesizers, drum machines and well-produced guitars filling in the melodies. Throw in a little INXS-esque pop hooks, and you’ve got a good basis for what to expect with the album. The eighties are alive and well in Tampa, apparently.

This is technically the band’s fifth album since forming in 2008, but I’ve not heard nor am I compelled to seek out their previous work (the description of this album and the band’s history on the 4AD website essentially says that even though the trio that made this album was responsible for the previous albums, this one is entirely unlike anything they’ve produced before it. There’s also a mysterious lack of information about this band; for a band to have five albums, even with a stupidly generic name like Merchandise, you should still be able to find a wikipedia page on them. NOPE.

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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

#20 on the 2015 Bacon Top 31

December 12, 2015 by Royal Stuart

Viet Cong by Viet Cong

The album that ushers us into the Top 20 came out way back in January, so it feels almost like it’s been around too long to be on this year’s countdown. It could also be that this album, the self-titled debut from Calgary, Alberta, Canada’s Viet Cong, sounds a bit like a couple other albums I’ve loved over the past few years — namely, the psych-rock sounds of Cloud Control and Foxygen that featured on the 2013 Bacon Top 31.

But there are other sounds, too: Animal Collective. Dungen. Jangly, dissonant guitar. Excellent use of both left and right channels (this is perfect for the headphone generation we’re currently living through), It’s a short album, only 37 minutes long. I mentioned when I linked to their NSFW video for the song “Continental Shelf” back in February that Matt Flegel’s vocals reminded me of Spencer Krug (from Moonface, Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, and others), but listening lately, I’ve been hearing more Peter Murphy. Listen to “Silhouettes” in the video above, and you’ll hear echoes of Joy Division, Interpol, and Editors.

The references for this album are plenty (clearly), and that’s a good thing. You will recognize and love this sound when you put it on. Then let it wash over you, and realize just how good it really is.

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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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