Fifteen years! That’s how long I’ve been tracking my Top 31 albums by year. 15 years honestly doesn’t feel that long. When I started examining, categorizing, and logging what had formed my listening habits across the previous 12 months, I was 35 years years young. By the time I’m done reviewing the albums that shaped my 2023, I’ll be 50.

The little imposter syndrome voice in the back of my head says opinions on current music from a 50-year-old are less relevant now than they would have been 15 years ago. But I also know that the Bacon Review audience is special (you’re special!). Most of you have been following the Top 31 for years, your musical tastes growing older alongside my own. I do strive to push my own listening boundaries ever outward, and I am able to bring my fifty years of listening experience to more easily see the differences and similarities I hear in new music. Having an ever-expanding library of reference points is key to the enjoyment of new music here at The Bacon Review.

The music of 2023 continued its march into new and uncharted territory. But as you’ll see as the Top 31 unfolds, new music by past Top 31 bands proved to be the mainstay in my speakers. A quick count on the expected 2023 Top 31 has only 11 or 12 new-to-the-Bacon Review artists. That’s just under half of the new albums that will be featured over the next month. It feels like an imbalance to me, but I haven’t done a comparison to past Top 31s – maybe they’ve all been like that, or maybe there’s been a natural slow decline in new artists featured as the Top 31 gets older and the list of featured artists grows longer. There’s probably some mathematic principle that refers to the decline of new elements introduced to an annually-recurring list phenomenon. If you know what that phenomenon is called, please let me know.

Let’s get on with it, shall we?

Los Angeles by Jacknife Lee, Budgie & Lol Tolhurst

We’ll be starting the 2023 Top 31 off with an album from a handful of names you likely don’t recognize, but whose instrumentation you most definitely have heard before. Garret “Jacknife” Lee is an electronic artist who has been producing albums for U2, Bloc Party, Crystal Castles, The Editors, and even R.E.M.’s final studio album, Collapse Into Now (#30 in 2010). Peter Clarke, aka “Budgie,” is best known as the drummer for Siouxsie & the Banshees. And finally, Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst was the founding drummer for The Cure (he was asked to leave after Disintegration due to increasing complications from his alcoholism). Kevin Haskins, the drummer for Bauhaus, was originally in the project but had to bail early for a Bauhaus reunion tour, forever robbing the resulting album of ever achieving its full gothic glory.

Tolhurst and Budgie met while touring with Siouxsie and The Cure way back in 1979, and Los Angeles marks the first official songs they’ve created together as well as being their each of their solo debuts. Lee got involved in production on the album when Haskins left the project and the remaining drummers were feeling their work was too steeped in their gothic past. Starting anew in 2019, the trio wrote a suite of distinctly non-gothic instrumental tracks as the foundation for their budding album. The “band” was still trying to sort out what the songs would be when the pandemic hit in March 2020.

A couple of the tracks ended up in the hands of James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem), who agreed to write lyrics and sing on the album. From there, the trio brought in a number of big names: the Edge (U2 guitarist), Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream’s singer), and Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse’s singer). Joe Talbot from Idles was even going to appear on the album, but had to back out due to conflicting schedules. The resulting Los Angeles album feels a bit scattered in places, given the distinct vocal stylings of the singers who ended up performing on the record. But if you love Murphy, Gillespie, or Brock, I highly recommend checking out the album.

__________________________________________

There are many ways to listen to the 2023 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

Howlin’ by Jagwar Ma

I wonder what’s driving the new explosion in great music coming out of Australia and New Zealand. Here we are at #18 with our third band from the area (see #20 and #28 for the other two), Jagwar Ma, a trio from Sydney whose debut album Howlin’ is one of the most danceable albums on The Calendar.

The band does seem to fit a theme similar to that of Cloud Control, who’s sophomore album Dream Cave was featured here two days ago. But where Cloud Control had just a little bit of Animal Collective in their psychedelic rock and roll, Jagwar Ma have a lot of psychedelic rock and roll in their Animal-Collective-esque dance music. The video above, for “Save Me” is a very good representation of the rest of the album. They have at least two other videos for other songs from the album, “Man I Need” and “The Throw,” if you need more of a taste.

Bottom line: if you like Animal Collective, old Primal Scream, or even if you just like to move your hips every once and a while, then you should check out Jagwar Ma. Unfortunately they just came through town just this past Tuesday (I missed them, too), so we’ll have to catch them together next time they’re in town, ok?

__________________________________________

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