#14 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — Sunset Rubdown

January 18, 2025 by Royal Stuart in Top 31, 2024

Always Happy to Explode by Sunset Rubdown

I have an infatuation with Spencer Krug, the principal songwriter, lead vocalist, and creative force behind Sunset Rubdown, whose fifth album Always Happy to Explode has risen with a bullet all the way up to #14 on my Top 31 of 2024. If you don’t recognize Krug’s name, you’ll probably recognize his voice. Go ahead and hit play on the video above, for the song “Reappearing Rat.”

My infatuation with the man is plain as day: I’ve written about Krug numerous times, thanks to his efforts as half of the singing/songwriting of Wolf Parade, as well as his solo-ish work as Moonface. Those two Krug projects have appeared on my Top 31 six times: #17 in 2010, #27 in 2011, #23 in 2013, #14 in 2017, #31 in 2018, and #26 in 2020.

Krug, 47, from Penticton, British Columbia, first hit my radar on Wolf Parade’s 2005 album Apologies to the Queen Mary, and I loved Sunset Rubdown’s 2006 and 2007 albums, Shut Up I Am Dreaming and Random Spirit Lover, respectively, as well as Wolf Parade’s 2008 album At Mount Zoomer. In my inaugural year of Top 31s (2009) I somehow missed Sunset Rubdown’s album Dragonslayer, but nearly every other album release that Krug has been a part of in the ensuing years has ended up in my Top 31 (his three true solo albums released in the Covid years 2021-2023 barely missed the cut as well).

His voice is entirely unique, unlike any other singer you’ll hear. While I can’t define his voice by saying that he sounds like any other singer, it’s easier to compare his voice to the not-unpleasant sound of a cat whose tail has been stepped on. (The sound of his voice is not-unpleasant, but I’m sure the cat whose tail gets stepped on feels much different). And in case you couldn’t tell from the wealth of albums and bands mentioned above, the man is prolific. He’s been a part of 26 album releases since 2002, an average of more than one album a year – not the same pace as King Gizzard, but he’s close.

This great new Sunset Rubdown record, Always Happy to Explode, is coming at us a full 15 years after the previous Sunset Rubdown album. When they released Dragonslayer in 2009, they soon thereafter disbanded quietly. No official announcement, but also no hint of anything new coming out. Of course Krug had his many other alternative creative outlets he was able to tap into in the ensuing years, with no real reason to go back to the Sunset Rubdown well. But then, according to Wikipedia, Krug had a dream in which a reunion with the band did happen and it was enjoyable. So he acted on that dream, called up his previous bandmates, and together they decided to put a tour together, because why not? That was 2023.

From the success of that tour came the drive to record together. Krug has maintained a Patreon account since 2019, where he releases a newly-written song every month. From those songs, the Sunset Rubdown crew chose nine songs to recombine and rework and record, and thus we now have a fantastic new Sunset Rubdown record.

It must be magical to be in Spencer Krug’s creative circle. To be given a call, out of the blue, to suggest you join him on tour, have a great time, and then, hey, let’s get in the studio and remake some of these 60 songs I’ve self-released over the last five years. I want to be in that circle, but I’m no musician. So I’ll gladly take all the creativity he puts out into the world and consume it with fervor. I don’t yet subscribe the Patreon, but I’m about to change that. He’s given me lots of joy over the last 23 years, and it’s the least I can do to repay him. That, and gushing about him here on The Bacon Review. Enjoy the music!

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#26 on the 2020 Bacon Top 31 — Wolf Parade

January 06, 2021 by Royal Stuart

Thin Mind by Wolf Parade

Starting up this review, the first thought I had was “it wouldn’t be a Top 31 if a Spencer Krug or Dan Boeckner band wasn’t on it.” While that’s not entirely true, with the latest Wolf Parade album here at #26, these two men have now appeared on 66% of my Top 31s: three times combined as Wolf Parade (#17 in 2010, #14 in 2017, and now Thin Mind in 2020; Krug thrice as Moonface (#27 in 2011, #23 in 2013, #31 in 2018); and Boeckner twice (with The Divine Fits at #11 in 2012 and The Operators at #31 just last year). The men are prolific at making great rock music.

Thin Mind is Wolf Parade’s fifth LP, and they continue to build upon the same formula that brought them to mass stardom with Apologies to Queen Mary back in 2005. There isn’t much “new” about this new album — it’s still unmistakably them, thanks to the unique vocals from Krug and Boeckner. According to the album description by their label, the always-great Seattle-based Sub Pop Records, the subject matter of this collection of songs is all about how “…the way that being around too much tech has made our focus thin” according to Krug, but I would never know it. My love of Wolf Parade is purely about the music and the voices-as-instruments of the two lead singers. The same guitar-driven hooks dominate, the bouncy Modest Mouse-like choruses get you banging your head in just the right way.

Wolf Parade was prominently on my brain in 2020 not just because of this great new album. They were also one of the last bands I saw live (February 11, 2020) before our ability to gather anywhere in public dried up thanks to Covid-19 lockdowns. The band always puts on a stellar live show, and while I was sadly missing watching live performances throughout the remainder of the year, the memory of that show, on The Showbox stage, has helped carry me through the drought. Putting the album on in my house takes me back there, every time.

Even though you weren’t there with me, maybe the album can do the same for you. Put it on, close your eyes, and imagine you’re standing on the upper level of The Showbox, ear-plugged, just to the left of the sound board, with a great view over the heads of the crowd on the floor. Now lean back and enjoy the experience. Soon we’ll get to go back there in person.

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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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#31 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Moonface

January 01, 2019 by Royal Stuart

Happy new year, and welcome to the 2018 Bacon Top 31! I started counting down my top 31 albums of the year in 2009, so this year’s countdown marks my tenth such list. Ten years of listening to many many albums and culling from that experience the 31 best albums each year. By the end of the 2018 list, we’ll have collectively discussed 310 albums in that span — no doubt a larger number of albums than most readers even have in their personal collections.

The Top 31 began in 2009 as a form of promotional payment to the artists I was discovering and listening to (often illegally) for free. I don’t know how many actual album purchases resulted from my touting, but knowing that number was greater than zero helped me set aside the minor tinge of guilt I felt in not paying the artists directly for the music I was listening to. I was an avid show-goer back then, and I documented the shows I went to, writing about them for a handful of small-time Seattle blogs that got me into those shows for free.

Now, ten years on, profit-by-album-purchase for these artists is all but dead, as subscription-based streaming has taken over — note I now post a link to an auto-updating 2018 Bacon Top 31 playlist via Apple Music, if you happen to be a subscriber like me. Even listening to full albums, rather than individual songs, feels like it may be antiquated. (Be that as it may, I still prefer listening to an album from song 1 to the end.) Through streaming, the artists get a very small payment each time you listen to one of their songs, but it’s much less than they would have gotten through the purchase of a full, physical-copy album. Now, apparently, with the sale of recorded music no longer a viable way to make a living as a musician, the artists look to touring as their way to break even (at best); promoting these musicians and spreading the word about when they’ll be on tour is more important than ever.

I’ve grown in years and my family in number, so show-going doesn’t happen nearly as often as it used to for me. I like going to shows, but if I can’t have a comfortable seat near the front, I’d just as soon skip the live performance. So, the way I experience music now is almost exclusively as background to the everyday events of my life, and that has shaped my tastes: it’s now way more difficult to listen regularly to albums like These Four Walls, the phenomenal and phenomenally loud #5 album of 2009 by We Were Promised Jetpacks. Does my age cause me to prefer something more mellow to listen to, or does the nature of how I listen force my hand? Over the coming year I hope to look at this ten-year dataset to see if I can answer questions like these. I’m not sure what things I’ll uncover, but I’m excited at the prospect of the prospecting.

As for 2018, it was another shitty year, politically, but another amazing year, personally. The music I listen to every day continues to play a big part in my and my family’s lives. Unlike last year, when I struggled to claim any one album as “the absolute best,” this year poses a similar-but-different problem for me in the top spots of the list. I won’t go into any detail here lest I give too much away, and maybe things will be more clear towards the end of the month. All will be revealed eventually, but for now, here’s #31!

This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

Spencer Krug, I can’t quit you. While his name isn’t a household name, you most certainly would recognize his unique, warbling vibrato. Krug is the extremely prolific singer/songwriter behind many albums I’ve listened to over the last 12+ years. He’s appeared four times in previous Top 31s, twice as Moonface (#27 in 2011, #23 in 2013) and twice as half of the unstoppable Wolf Parade (#17 in 2010 and #14 in 2017). If I’d been doing the countdown prior to 2009, his 2006 and 2007 Sunset Rubdown albums would have certainly been on the list, along with Wolf Parade’s 2005 and 2008 albums. I somehow missed his 2009 Sunset Rubdown and 2012 and 2016 Moonface albums, but I aim to go back and listen. I’ve also heard his two Swan Lake albums (2006 and 2009), but they’re the only albums in the bunch that haven’t stuck with me over the years.

That’s a lot of consistent output for one man. And unlike prolific songwriters like Mark E. Smith of the Fall or Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices, Krug seems to have found the secret sauce to keeping his bandmates happy and engaged through his prolifery: have multiple and different outlets for your creativity. Instead of alienating his bandmates and cycling from one session musician to the next, Krug puts out nearly an album a year and manages to stay in his bands’ good graces.

(Did you catch that? I just made up a word. Please reach out to my legal team for permission to reuse “prolifery” before you drop it into your own missives.)

This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet, the fifth Moonface full-length, is typical Krug. Dreamy, meandering lyrics over a beautifully dissonant combination of digital and analog sounds. Keyboards, saxophones, vocoder and steel drums play large roles across the album. It’s magical, and well worth a listen on your favorite streaming musical subscription. As I write this, I’m starting to talk myself into thinking this album should be higher than #31 for the year. But this is where I placed it when I first cut the list (earlier today), so I’m going to stick to that — future regrets be damned.

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2009-2017 Top 31s

#14 on the 2017 Bacon Top 31

January 18, 2018 by Royal Stuart

Cry Cry Cry by Wolf Parade

I don’t remember disliking Wolf Parade, but apparently I did. I just reread my post for the band’s third album, Expo 86, which was #17 in 2010. In it, I discuss how much I used to hate Wolf Parade and why.

That, apparently, was a long long time ago. Because now I really like Wolf Parade, and I especially like their fourth album, Cry Cry Cry. Their music is not surprising — each album sounds like an extension of the previous one. But the formula they’ve managed to create for themselves works very well. As I mentioned in my 2010 post:

The band has an interesting dynamic. Two lead singers, who each write separate songs for the band to perform, each with a different aesthetic. Dan Boeckner is the more poppy of the two, writing songs with upbeat hooks that appeal to a greater audience. Spencer Krug, (my favorite and lead singer for another fave band of mine, Sunset Rubdown), is decidedly more eccentric in his song construction.

The video linked above is a dual video for two songs from the album, “King of Piss and Paper” (written by Krug) and “Artificial Life” (written by Boeckner). So you can get a taste of both sides of the band.

Sadly, the website I linked to in the post above, for Spencer Krug’s band Sunset Rubdown, is no longer. But it looks like his other solo project, Moonface, has a website that is still going strong. His second Moonface album Julia With Blue Jeans On was #23 in 2013. He even released a 2-song thing earlier this year, apparently. Excuse me while I go listen to that.

OK, I’m back. That was NOT what I expected it to be¹. Anywho, Wolf Parade is awesome, and this album continues to prove that face. Run out and buy it now.

^{Turns out there’s an electronic artist out there that is also going by the name Moonface, and Apple Music thinks those two Moonface bands are the same entity. Clearly they are not, but I’m not sure where to go to get it corrected. I reached out to Spencer Krug’s US PR guy (as listed on the Moonface website) in a lame attempt to do something.↩}

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15. Pure Comedy by Father John Misty
16. Shake the Shudder by !!!
17. La La Land (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by La La Land
18. The Underside of Power by Algiers
19. What Now by Sylvan Esso
20. 50 Song Memoir by The Magnetic Fields
21. Plunge by Fever Ray
22. DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar
23. Capacity by Big Thief
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

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2009-2016 Top 31s

#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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Viet Cong — Continental Shelf

February 02, 2015 by Royal Stuart

(The above video is NSFW) My well-documented love for indie-rock bands from Canada is growing. Viet Cong, from Calgary, sound a bit derivative at times, but overall they’re putting enough “new” into their work to warrant some attention. The song above, “Continentaly Shelf,” is from the band’s self-titled debut album, which came out on January 20. This song sounds so much like Spencer Krug, I looked into it. (Nope, that’s Matt Flegel on vocals. But Viet Cong and Moonface are on the same label, the fantastic Jagjaguwar out of Bloomington, Indiana) Not sure if that’s a positive or a negative for you (it is a positive in my book), but give them a listen. Their use of computer-generated fuzz throughout the seven-song album was surprisingly soothing, given the harshness of the sound. I’m curious if you agree.

#23 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

December 09, 2013 by Royal Stuart

Julia With Blue Jeans On by Moonface

If you’ve followed the Musical Bacon Calendar in years past, then you’ve heard of the artist here at #23: Spencer Krug, who in this particular instance is performing as Moonface. You know Krug from such bands as Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake, or Wolf Parade. In all of those bands, I think it would be safe to say he was known as “the weird one.”

Krug has performed solo under a couple of different monikers. Moonface just happens to be the current iteration of what it is he’s doing now. I’ve been a fan of Krug since around 2005, when Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown-based recordings started cropping up. The last two Moonface albums he has recorded (one of which made the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar) have felt like full-band affairs, with lots of keyboards and instrumentation. This new one is much more sparse, with just Krug singing and playing piano.

Krug’s voice is not for everybody. It warbles and fluctuates, like a vinyl record that is slightly warped, combined with a vibrato that undulates like a hummingbird. But it’s this strangeness, this sound you’re not familiar with or used to, that makes him endearing. It sounds raw, like an open wound, wrought with emotion. That voice, combined with the starkness of the piano, and you’ve got a combination that’s perfect for those quiet, introspective winter nights. This isn’t running music, which his previous Moonface albums could very well have been. This is lying on the couch, thinking about way too much kind of music. And I like that.

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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

November 18, 2013 by Royal Stuart

Spencer Krug, he of the many different music projects (including Sunset Rubdown, Wolf Parade, Swan Lake, Frog Eyes) has a fourth release from his most recent project Moonface. This new album, Julia with Blue Jeans On, is the most sparse thing I’ve ever heard from Krug. It’s just him and a piano, and that’s a-ok with me. Krug’s unmistakable voice is haunting on a good day. In this new work, it’s downright suicidal. But in a good way.