Welcome to the 16th annual Bacon Top 31. I love sharing new music that I enjoy with others, and that’s what the Top 31 is all about. It’s where I share my top 31 albums of the previous year, in descending order, one a day throughout the month of January. For each album, I write a little bit about the history of the artist, their presence (if any) on past Top 31s, and why this particular album was special to me in 2024.

In addition to being a judgmental sharer of the music I love, I’m a visual person. As part of my reviews, I share at least one music video from each album, if there are any of available to share. My music blogging started back even before the invention of YouTube in 2005: I had a strong desire to share the cool music videos that I’d come across on the still-young internet. I love how a music video can bring music to life in a whole new way.

The Bacon Top 31, as well as my taste in music, has been through a lot these past 16 years. Sure, I’ve settled into the half-century mark squarely in the “sad dad” scene, but my musical loves have grown out in strange and interesting ways, influenced by my wife and kids, but also by my own pointed efforts in broadening my horizons. A few years back I did a survey of female voices over the past Top 31s, and was appalled to find out that there was very little representation of women in my tastes. These last few years, that has changed drastically.

I plan to do some further cross-year examination into genres where I feel like I’ve grown considerably, but that will have to wait so as not to spoil the fun of revealing who I’ve been listening to and loving these past 12 months. For now, I’m glad that you’re here – and if this is your first year reading, or if you’ve been with me since 2009, I hope you enjoy these next 31 days of reviews. Let the Top 31 begin!

White Roses, My God by Alan Sparhawk

Mimi Parker, longtime wife of Alan Sparhawk, who together formed the core duo of the band Duluth, Minnesota band Low, lost her battle against ovarian cancer at the age of 55 on November 6, 2022.

Low only appeared on the Top 31 one time, for their final album Hey What, at #10 in 2021. I was a fan of Low off-and-on for most of their 30-year history, and while I didn’t love every one of their 13 albums, and never once saw them live, their Christmas EP has been played religiously (ha ha) in my house since I first heard it over two decades ago. Low was iconic, despite never having had a hit single, and the music Sparhawk and Parker made together will continue to live on atop an indie rock pedestal of high regard.

Friends, it’s hard to put the universe into language and into a short message, but

She passed away last night, surrounded by family and love, including yours. Keep her name close and sacred. Share this moment with someone who needs you. Love is indeed the most important thing.
— LOW (@lowtheband) November 6, 2022

White Roses, My God is Sparhawk’s first foray into what comes next, his first attempts at creating something when half of his creative soul has been torn away. The album is rudimentary in its execution, very much unlike anything Low created, but it’s also somehow very much Sparhawk. The electronic sounds, the mutated vocals singing seemingly stream-of-consciousness lyrics, the album is not an easy listen. I can’t imagine what it would be like to listen to the album without knowing its provenance. But in the context of Sparhawk’s life, it makes perfect sense.

The second song on the album, “I Made This Beat,” appears childlike, with Sparhawk singing the title over and over again throughout. It is simple, droning, and on its own: fairly unlistenable. But with the context of understanding that Mimi Parker, the main person who played the drums in Low, the one responsible for the beat of all Low songs, is no longer able to make the beats for Sparhawk. He isn’t just searching for something to sing to carry over the top of the beat he’s made — he’s wallowing in the fact that it was he who had to make the beat, because he has lost his previous source for such creation.

Since Parker’s passing, Sparhawk has thrown himself into music-making, in a creativity-as-mourning shift. In addition to recording and releasing White Roses, he’s:

formed a funk band called Damien, with he and Parker’s son
joined another funk band called Derecho Rhythm Section, which features both of their children
created a Neil Young covers act called Tired Eyes, and
formed a noise-rock band called Feast of Lanterns

According to Pitchfork, next year he’s releasing a collaborative album with Duluth bluegrass group Trampled by Turtles. And he even plays on the Father John Misty record that came out in November (more to come on that).

Low, and Mimi Parker, will be deeply missed. But their music will live on. Thankfully for us, Sparhawk himself has no plans of receding into the background. He is carrying on, and we are all the better for it.

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There are many ways to listen to the 2024 Bacon Top 31. Subscribe now and enjoy the new albums / songs as they are revealed on the countdown!

Full Albums
All albums in their entirety

Radio Station
The best song pulled from each album

View all previous years’ Top 31s

Hey What by Low

We’re entering the Top 10 with an explosion of sound. Hey What, the 13th album from Duluth, Minnesota band Low is the loudest, most distorted album on the 2021 Top 31. And it is glorious.

My love of Low has had its ups and downs. I like to think I’m attracted to most if not all kinds of music, but I have my limits. Low often falls outside of those limits – too noisy, too disparate, too unapproachable. The last Low album I loved was 2005’s The Great Destroyer, and it, too, is glorious. But that was 16 years and seven albums ago. Consequently, you’ll notice a distinct lack of Low on the Top 31. Enter Hey What.

It would be foolish of me to say that Hey What is approachable. It most certainly is not: excessive amounts of distortion, feedback, reverb, electronic noise and the band’s signature dissonant harmonies from dual leads Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker make for an album that is far from an easy listen. Consequently, to love this (and any previous) Low album is a somewhat singular affair, calling for expensive headphones, a dark room, and a healthy side of THC. Assemble those ingredients, lie down, and feel yourself almost literally melt into the carpet.

There are a number of videos out from the album. I particularly like the song “Days Like These,” so I featured it above, but I’d be hard-pressed to determine a favorite. Nonetheless, please enjoy these other visual delights:

“White Horses”
“I Can Wait”
“Disappearing”
“Hey”
“More”

For the first time in their career, Low is a true duo. The core of the band has always been married couple Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, but there’s always been at least one other person performing instruments alongside them since their inception 28 years ago. With the departure of their longtime bassist Steve Garrington in 2020, Sparhawk and Parker moved forward with writing and creating Hey What on their own.

They are quite possibly the quintessential working couple. The two have recorded and performed together for the entire history of the band, through the birth of two children, and here they remain, 28 years later, at the pinnacle of their musical careers, with no sign of stopping. Their music is unmistakable thanks to their uniquely harmonized vocals. They’ve found a sound and stuck with it, unabashedly doing things their way, to great effect.

There are many ways to listen to the 2021 Bacon Top 31. Subscribe now and enjoy the new albums / songs as the countdown is completed!

Full Album
All albums in their entirety.

Radio Station
A single song selection pulled from each album.

View all previous Bacon Top 31s

#31 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — Alan Sparhawk

#10 on the 2021 Bacon Top 31 — Low