#10 on the 2022 Bacon Top 31 — Angel Olsen

January 22, 2023 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

When you have the voice of an angel, it can’t hurt to be given the literal name “Angelina” when you are born. Angel Olsen, born in St. Louis and now residing in Asheville, North Carolina, released her angelic sixth record, Big Time, on June 3, 2022. Except for a couple mid-tempo spots, it is a slow-burning, belly-warming album full of twang. On the sliding scale of “rock” to “country”, this album is just a hair to the right of early 90s band Mazzy Star’s She Hangs Brightly, and is every bit as good as that seminal 120 Minutes hit.

Olsen jumpstarted her career in the early 10s by touring with her friend Will Oldham, aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy, (#30 in 2009¹) as a backup vocalist and occasional duettist². Oldham has worked with nearly anyone who’s anyone, and there are a billion worse ways to get your start than to be his #2. Since then, the five albums prior to Big Time have floated around the periphery of my musical world, but haven’t hit me in the same way that this one has.

Adopted at three, Olsen’s retired parents fostered her and her seven siblings while she grew up. 31 years later, Olsen came out as queer via Instagram to her fans and directly to her parents, and introduced her new partner, days before her dad passed away. Her mother died just a few weeks later. It is this short passage of time in April and May 2021 that fueled what became Big Time. “I felt a little bit more at ease with talking about love and how I fell in love,” she told The Guardian as the album was being released. “I think after losing my parents, that brought everything to the forefront. Who cares about these other troubles in my life? It made me feel quiet. I’m older, too. I’m 35. I’m getting used to the fact that things get more complicated as we get older. You can either feel sorry for yourself or learn how to laugh deeper.” This candor is broadcast throughout the album.

She co-produced Big Time herself with producer and Laurel Canyon celebrity Johnathon Wilson, who has worked on many Bacon Top 31 albums (most notably all the Father John Misty albums that have been featured over the years). The song featured above, “All the Good Times,” is great, and as the first song on the album, it gets a little more in your face once it hits its stride. The title song has been released twice, first as the cut from the album, and then as a non-album duet with indie country star Sturgill Simpson.The second to last track on the album, a slow burner called “Through the Fires,” is gorgeous.

Olsen also released a between-albums single, “Like I Used To,” a duet with Bacon Review favorite Sharon Van Etten (#13 in 2012, #4 in 2014, #5 in 2019). It’s only now, in writing this review, I realize what a confluence of events taking place in Olsen’s life at the time this song was released. Lyrics like “change address and draw a line, show my friends the silver lines, call my family just to know they’re there” take on all new meaning.

Big Time is a wonderful, Neko Case, kd lang-esque album, and love and loss and all things worthy of singing about. Angel Olsen may have been making music for a long while, but she’s only now hitting her stride. I can’t wait to hear what comes next.

^{1. Here’s a bit of quaintness for you: in my 2009 review of his album, Beware, I call attention to how unusual it is for Oldham to have a wikipedia page dedicated solely to his discography. My how times have changed.↩}
^{2. Wow this session blew me away. And here’s a tour video of them as well. listen to her take the lead on that clip of her performing on the Bonnie “Prince” Billy tune “You Want That Picture” from 2011. I just melt when she hits that subtle yodel at 0:42.↩}

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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

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#28 on the 2022 Bacon Top 31 — Various Artists via KEXP

January 04, 2023 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

Live at KEXP, vol. 10 by Various Artists

In 2022, KEXP — the radio station that broadcasts at 90.3 on the FM dial in the Seattle area and worldwide at kexp.org — turned 50. The station has recorded countless “Live at KEXP” sessions that they then post on their YouTube channel. From those sessions, they’ve produced ten “Live at KEXP” collections over the years. These are wildly varying mixes that lovingly reflect the eclectic nature of the station and all its DJs loves and influences. And that finally brings us to why we’re here: Live at KEXP, vol. 10, my #28 album of the year.

First, a bit about the history of this much-loved radio station: it started as “KCMU” when four UW students in 1972 wanted an outlet and learning environment for journalism and on-air music to students beyond what had been previously available via KUOW, the original UW station (which had been severely reduced due to university budget cuts in the early 70s). It has been through a variety of changes over the last five decades: shifting from KCMU to KEXP thanks to an agreement with Paul Allen’s Experience Music Project in the early 2000s; a formalization of format from a mix of news and DJ-led music to only music in the 90s; and a successful transformation from solvency being provided by university or investor backing to being fully listener supported.

The mission of the station has never wavered: “to enrich [listeners’ lives] by championing music and discovery. [The station’s] vision is a connected and compassionate world embracing curiosity and a shared love of music.” They mean it when they say “KEXP: Where the music matters.” While I can’t pinpoint the connection exactly, it’s safe to say that I wouldn’t have the love of music that I do without KEXP in my life. And KEXP has truly been “in my life”:

While my wife and I were in the hospital for the birth of our daughter, we made a request to the station during a quiet moment in the delivery room that was played on air by John in the Morning, along with a sharing of our story, and heard live on our personal speaker in the room
It is KEXP I think of when I think back to my personal experience around 9/11 – with my alarm going off early in the morning to the sounds of KCMU in 2001, John’s telling of the first plane hitting the Towers is as clear in my head now as it was that morning
At the start of the pandemic, the station adapted quickly to the new rules of society, figuring out how to broadcast from DJ’s homes, and the station’s secondary motto “You are not alone” became a powerful mantra to listeners worldwide, including me and my family. The support the station provided then continues today as the station digs deeper into the support that the station brings to our lives through the music and stories they share.

Having been a Gold Club member multiple times over the years, and privy to the secret stage shows the station held in the tiny Children’s Theater at the Seattle Center during Bumbershoot, I’ve been witness to many intimate and monumental musical performances thanks to the station. It’s those types of performances that fill out the Live at KEXP releases, and Volume 10 is no exception. There’s “En La Front” from a 2022 performance by Argentinian singer/songwriter Barbi Recanati next to “Lump” from a 1995 performance by The Presidents of the United States of America, a 1997 Modest Mouse performance of “Dramamine” (that will simply bring you to tears due to the recent untimely passing of MM drummer Jeremiah Green due to cancer) next to “Legend Has It” from the 2017 Run the Jewels set linked in the video above. My personal favorite from the album is “Süpürgest Yoncadan” from the 2019 performance by (new to me and the Bacon Review) Turkish psych-rock band Altin Gün shown at the top of this post.

I am (we are) so lucky to have an outlet as consistently strong as KEXP to introduce me (and you) to new music from around the world that I (we) would never hear otherwise. I mentioned earlier that the station is listener supported, and consequently the album is not available to hear on the streaming services. You’ll need to go to your local (Seattle) record store to pick up the vinyl, or you can pay (minimum $10) to download the album from Bandcamp. Or of course you can just peruse the full library of performances on KEXP’s Youtube channel. All proceeds from the vinyl and from the album go directly back to the artists featured. And then when you’re done buying the album, why don’t you head over to kexp.org and throw the station a few bucks as well — without them we would not be talking here, today.

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29. All You Need Is Time by Daisy the Great
30. Cool It Down by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
31. CAPRISONGS by FKA twigs

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#23 on the 2021 Bacon Top 31 — Lucy Dacus

January 09, 2022 by Royal Stuart

Home Video by Lucy Dacus

Lucy Dacus has a gorgeous voice, soft and warm like a fresh-from-the-dryer flannel. She’s been on my radar since her debut album, No Burden, came out about five years ago. Natively from Virginia, the Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter has been slowly sinking her songs into my mind ever since. That pace quickened with her involvement in boygenius, the supergroup she formed with Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers back in 2018 (still waiting for a full-length from the trio…).

Home Video, Dacus’s third full-length, finally packed enough punch to push herself to the front of the queue and land her on the Bacon Top 31. Over the past few years, she’s managed to hit a level of intimacy and directness with her songwriting that is in direct contrast to the smooth beauty of her voice. The influences of Baker and Bridgers are clear (they each appear on the album on a handful of songs). But I also hear less likely influences, like Neko Case, St. Vincent, and Sharon van Etten. If any of those names are favorites of yours, you need to add Lucy Dacus to your list.

As part of the promotion for Home Video, Dacus appeared on the Song Exploder podcast. If you’re not familiar, Song Exploder, created and hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway, is great: artists come on and go into deep detail around a song of theirs – how it came into being, how it was performed and recorded in the studio, what it means to them, etc. The particular brilliance of the podcast is that Hirway mostly edits himself asking the artist questions out of the podcast. This leaves us, the listener, with the artist having a direct, seemingly 1-on-1 conversation with us, describing their songs in intimate detail.

For her episode, Dacus talked about “Thumbs,” my absolute favorite song on the album. This song is a gut punch. Hearing how it came together and how personal it is to Dacus is amazing. Even if the album on the whole isn’t your bag, I don’t see how you can’t love this song, and I recommend listening to the podcast just to hear it.

Pfffft. There’s no way this whole album isn’t your bag.

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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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#23 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — Orville Peck

January 09, 2020 by Royal Stuart

Pony by Orville Peck

When country music makes it onto the Top 31, it usually has a hard time being fully classified as “country music.” Phosphorescent, Neko Case, First Aid Kit — in a certain light, these could all be classified as country, but usually aren’t. This is untrue of the obscured and befringed Canadian artist Orville Peck, whose wonderful debut album Pony couldn’t fall into any other genre than Country with a capital “C.” This isn’t “my wife left me, my dog died, and I accidentally got drunk” kinda country, but it does feature rodeos, horseback riding, and a Johnny Cash name-drop in all the right ways.

You may not have heard of Peck, but you’ve likely seen him. His visage is quite memorable; he’s always seen in a lone-ranger style mask with fringe attached and hanging down to his shoulders, fully obscuring all but his eyes and most of his jawline and neck when at rest; atop that he wears a standard-issue, not-quite 10-gallon cowboy hat.

Despite his public-facing disguise, his identity is known, but remains unconfirmed by Peck himself. So I won’t perpetuate the information here. What I can tell you is he’s Canadian, he’s gay, he commands a magical baritone voice, and his stage presence is second to none. The mystery certainly contributes to what I and so many other people like about him, but once you learn the truth of who he is, that doesn’t quell the fervor people feel for him.

I’d been hearing of Peck (which is different from hearing Peck) since the beginning of the year. I found him intriguing, but didn’t scratch that itch until he was on the bill at the inaugural Thing NW music festival. He played to a crowd that sardined itself into the covered McCurdy Pavilion about midway through day 1, and ended up being the highlight for many at the festival. A friend of mine’s 10-year old daughter fell so madly in love, she bought a tee (he’s smoking a cigarette! *gasp*) and then created her own Peck costume for halloween. Such is the charisma of Mr. Orville Peck, winning fans over at all ages.

I trust we’ll have much more to love about Peck in the years to come. We’re just at the tip of the iceberg. Give this album a listen now, so you can say “I was there when…”

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24. Hyperspace by Beck
25. Eraserland by Strand of Oaks
26. Dogrel by Fontaines DC
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

#30 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — The New Pornographers

January 02, 2020 by Royal Stuart

In the Morse Code of Brake Lights by The New Pornographers

By now you must have heard of the Canadian supergroup The New Pornographers. They’ve only ben around for some 22 years, and have released 8 albums in that time (not to mention the 25+ solo and other-group albums released over that same period by band members Carl Newman and Neko Case—and formerly Dan Bejar, from Destroyer—including some that have featured previously on the Top 31 in various forms). There’s not much more I can say about them that you haven’t heard from me before.

In the Morse Code of Brake Lights isn’t their best effort, but even their “just good not great” albums are better than most. Their 2017 album, Whiteout Conditions, didn’t make that year’s countdown, but their phenomenal 2014 album, Brill Bruisers, was at #18 that year. Neko Case is by far my favorite member of the band, and her last two solo albums have also been featured on the Top 31, at #17 in 2018, and #5 in 2013. Per usual, she features prominently on Morse Code.

“The Surprise Knock” is my favorite track on the album. The video above, for the song “Falling down the Stairs of Your Smile” is one of their less-dynamic songs, but the Neko-led chorus still kicks ass. Give the whole thing a listen—if you’ve liked the New Pornographers in the past, you’ll find the formula continues to work quite well on this album, too.

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31. Radiant Dawn by Operators

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2009-2018 Top 31s

#17 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Neko Case

January 15, 2019 by Royal Stuart

Hell-On by Neko Case

The list of edgy female rockers featured in the 2018 Top 31 continues to expand, adding veteran of the genre, Neko Case. You’ll know her as the one with the most resonant voice among them all, but that doesn’t make her songs have any less bite. Even as you’re enjoying her lullabies and her lilt, it’s her master of story and lyrics that brings that vitriol forward. And it’s gorgeous.

Case has been on the Bacon Top 31 many times over the years. Her last album, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, came in at a whopping #5 in 2013. The supergroup The New Pornographers came in at #19 in 2014, and the self-titled trio album she came out with with k.d. lang and Laura Veirs was #28 in 2016.

Case has a distinct ability to amp you up in most New Porographers songs, to belt out harrowing harmonies when singing in tandem (or trio), and in her solo work, like Hell-on, her talent really shines. Quiet, loud, immediate and slow-building — she covers it all. While Hell-on isn’t as strong from start to finish as her 2013 masterpiece, this album still rises above the din. Reach out for that voice, she’ll help carry you through to the end of the tunnel.

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18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
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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2009-2017 Top 31s

#28 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

December 04, 2016 by Royal Stuart

case/lang/veirs by case/lang/veirs

I like to consider the album here at #28 and yesterday’s Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop album) as two parts of a whole. Both albums were produced, mixed and engineered by the inimitable Tucker Martine. Both feature artists that have strong careers separate from the arrangement of people featured on these albums. And both are quiet, country-esque affairs that are better heard as background music than actively listened to.

That’s not a slight on either album. It’s not easy to make music that can bare repeated listening while being so completely unoffensive as to fade into the background like a fuzzy, flocked off-white patterned wallpaper.

You know and love these artists. Laura Veirs has been recording lovely singer-songwriter stuff since the late 90s. Neko Case has appeared on the Top 31 at least twice. k.d. lang is a legend. This is almost too much awesomeness to be contained in one record. And yet…

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29. Love Letter for Fire by Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop
30. Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future by Underworld
31. Preoccupations by Preoccupations

Neko Case — Man

January 13, 2016 by Royal Stuart

No, Neko Case doesn’t have a new album coming out (BOOOOOOO!). But what she does have is a new vinyl box set called Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule, which places all of her albums in one gorgeous 180-gram collection. So instead of a new song to promote the set, we get a great video for “Man,” from her lovely 2013 album The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, which was #5 in the Bacon Top 31.

Love the Neko. Buy all of the things.

#18 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

December 14, 2014 by Royal Stuart

Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers

The band at #18 are Canadian, but don’t hold that against them:

A super-group built over time. That is what The New Pornographers are. Even though the Pornos formed after each of the band’s most prominent members (Neko Case, Dan Bejar — who also performs in Destroyer, and de facto band leader AC Newman) had released records under solo or alternative bands, their first joint album, 2000’s Mass Romantic, has been recognized as one of the most influential indie-rock albums of the past two decades.

That’s what I wrote when I posted the first video released from their phenomenal sixth record, Brill Bruisers. The album has proven to be one of my favorites, after having tried and failed to thoroughly enjoy their past three albums. Their 2010 album Together didn’t make the countdown that year, but Neko’s most recent solo album made it all the way up to #5 last year.

They’re all excellent musicians in their own right. Throw them together and magic happens on one or two songs per album, but rarely across the full length of a record like Brill Bruisers. This is something different, something special. I highly recommend it.

Side Note: I recently learned that my favorite New Pornographers song, “Letter From an Occupant” — the only single from their 2000 debut album Mass Romantic — gives sole songwriting credit to Neko Case. I had previously thought Newman was the driving force behind the band. Now, armed with this new information, my whole world has been shaken to its core. If I thought I could love Neko more…

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19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

The New Pornographers — War on the East Coast

July 23, 2014 by Royal Stuart

A super-group built over time. That is what The New Porngraphers are. Even though the Pornos formed after each of the band’s most prominent members (Neko Case, Dan Bejar, and de facto band leader AC Newman) had released records under solo or alternative bands, their first joint album, 2000’s Mass Romantic, has been recognized as one of the most influential indie-rock albums of the past two decades.

Fun fact about the amazing video above: even though AC is lip syncing throughout, it’s actually Dan’s voice we hear singing. I am not as drawn to the songs in the New Pornographers’ repertoir that don’t feature Neko’s powerful vocals, but this song, “War on the East Coast,” is an instant classic.

Bejar, with his band Destroyer, has made quite a name for himself. And Neko’s last solo record was my fifth favorite album last year. But when those two combine to sing and play Newman’s lyrics and power chords, magic happens. Brill Bruisers, the supergroup’s sixth record, comes out August 26th. I will be the first in line to pick it up.

#5 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

December 27, 2013 by Royal Stuart

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.

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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