#0 on the 2021 Bacon Top 31 — Rostam

Changephobia by Rostam

The 2022 Bacon Top 31 will be kicking off in earnest on Sunday, per usual. I’m here a couple days early to correct a year-old mistake. Back in January, midway through the 2021 Top 31, my lovely wife, Anna, began speculating what my top 5 of 2021 would be. She had the benefit of knowing what picks #16–#31 were, because I’d been publishing those picks daily throughout the first half of January. And she had the added benefit of me having pushed all kinds of music on her throughout the year, so she already had a strong feel for what I’d been liking.

She started rattling off a few names that would land near the top the 2021 list. “War on Drugs for sure, and Big Red Machine. Nation of Language…” — the corners of my mouth start to curl up as she goes through her mental musical rolodex — “Fleet Foxes… Rostam? His new one came out this year, didn’t it?” — and my expression shifts immediately, from a smirk to mild panic.

My mind starts racing… Rostam! I haven’t listened to him in a couple months, but damn Changephobia is a great album… Did we start listening to it in 2021 — when did it come out? I quickly bring up Wikipedia: released June 4, 2021. SHIT. Now what do I do? The rest of the Top 31 is already locked in… there’s no way to fit it in without pulling something else out, and I’m certainly not cutting something from my remaining top 15 of the year to make room for a clear Top 10 album.

So I resolve to amending the list. I’ve had to do it once before, back in 2014, after all. Changephobia will just have to be a #0 for 2021, out of the official ranking for the year but every bit as important as the rest of the list. I knew what I needed to do, but then time got away from me, the rest of the year flew by, and here we are on the cusp of the 2022 Top 31, and I’m finally writing about one of the best from 2021.

You may not know who Rostam is, but if you’re reading this, chances are you’ve heard me talk about him before. His full name is Rostam Batmanglij (رستم باتمانقلیچ in his Iranian parent’s native Persian¹), and he has been all over the Bacon Review since it began in 2009:

• He was a founding member of Vampire Weekend whose albums hit #6 in 2010 and #3 in 2013. He left the band prior to their fourth album, but he still produced a couple songs on that album, which hit #3 in 2019.
• He produced and co-wrote two songs on Hamilton Leithauser’s debut solo album, which hit #11 in 2014.
• He wrote one and produced another song on Frank Ocean’s Blonde (#4 in 2016)
• Wrote and produced three songs on Francis and the Lights’ debut album (#21 in 2016)
• He and Hamilton Leithauser released a joint album that hit #19 in 2016).
• and he produced Haim’s Women in Music Pt. III which hit (#19 in 2020

That is no fewer than eight separate Bacon Top 31 albums he’s been an integral part of, and I left his 2nd full-length album off the 2021 list. Ugh, I hate myself². At least I’m making up for it here. Changephobia is a lovely album. I got to see him perform solo for the first time in August 2022, at Neumos. Despite him lacking a full-bodied stage presence (this was his first show post-covid, and he’s not used to owning the spotlight on his own – look at that laundry list of big names he’s propped up on his shoulders, above), it was a magical experience.

Changephobia is a great follow-up to his 2017 debut, Half-light, which was my #2 album of 2017. If you’ve not heard either album, I urge you to do so. Hit play on the video above to hear his voice first hand (and don’t miss the who’s who of guest stars in that video: HAIM, Charli XCX, Wallows, Kaia Gerber, Remi Wolf, Nick Robinson, Bryce Willard Smithe, Samantha Urbani, Demi Adejuyigbe, Seth Bogart, Huck Kwong, Ariel Rechtshaid, Matt DiMona, Ghazal Hashemi, Carter Howe, Julian McClanahan, and Chris Paloma all make an appearance in the back of that cab).

If listening to his original music doesn’t cut it, then listen to these two non-album covers he’s done: Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” and the Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York,” which I had on repeat all Christmas season this year. The man is a genius, and I can’t wait to hear what he does next.

And that is how we finally wrap up the previous year here on the The Bacon Review. This is a one-person operation over here, desperately needing a systems manager / editor. Until I magically get a budget and an ability to hire, mistakes will continue to be made, but I’ll do everything I can to stop them from happening! In the veritable words of Matthew Wilder, “Ain’t nothing gonna break-a my stride, nobody gonna slow me down, oh no, I got to keep on moving.” See you on Sunday to start up the 2022 Top 31!

<sup>1. Isn’t that language just beautiful to look at? I love Arabic script, and may someday learn to write a language that uses it just so I can make calligraphy with it.↩
2. The technological reason that led to the omission is just plain dumb: I use a smart playlist in Apple Music to pull together all the albums I download for a given year. The 2021 version had two new rules applied to that playlist that I thought would help me greatly: I told it to exclude anything with “single” or “ep” in the name. Guess what two letters appear next to each other in the word “Changephobia.” Worry not, the 2022 smartlist does not have those rules repeated.↩</sup>

#19 on the 2020 Bacon Top 31 — HAIM

Women In Music Pt. III by HAIM

At this point in the countdown, at the high end of the top 20, almost the halfway point, I want to acknowledge how each day this past week has been progressively more and more difficult to write these posts. The past week has been very chaotic here in the United States, and the next week — until we’re safely past Biden’s inauguration — is looking to be even moreso. Music is most often an escape for me, but the noise of the world is starting to drown it out. For now, I feel the draw to keep up the pace, but there may come a time in the next week where either I can no longer concentrate on anything but the insanity, or — and more likely — I feel I should no longer distract from what is happening out there with my pithy reviews. If such a time comes up, rest assured it will just be a short break, and not a forever move. We all need closure, in so many ways.

/digression

Yesterday’s band made the point of not creating Top 40 radio-friendly pop music, and today’s band is the yin to its yang. The three sisters known solely by their surname HAIM have really outdone themselves on their third album, Women in Music Pt. III. The album is anything but a collection about women in music, presenting a biting collection of songs that paints the difficult picture of being a woman in the music business.

The sisters pull together all the right elements for a pop-rock masterpiece, including personal difficulty and tragedy, fantastic writing by the three sisters and Ariel Rechtshaid and Rostam Batmaglij, who also produced and engineered the album (the same Rostam who was not only a former member of Vampire Weekend, but who also appeared all the way up at #2 with his own solo debut album back in 2017 – a good reminder to put that album back into the rotation. Man, it’s so good.).

I’ve had trouble getting into HAIM in the past — their first two albums felt a bit vacuous. But Women is just a great time, all the way through. Another addition to the great team the band has collected for this album is their video producer, who is none other than Paul Thomas Anderson. He directed the above video, for the fantastic song “The Steps” as well as four other videos for the album: “Now I’m In It,” “Summer Girl,” and “Hallelujah.” He even took the photo used on the album cover.

This album is the complete package. You best get on it if you haven’t already.

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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

Subscribe to the 2020 Bacon Top 31 playlist: Apple Music / Spotify
All Top 31s

#3 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — Vampire Weekend

Father of the Bride by Vampire Weekend

When I first heard Father of the Bride, Vampire Weekend’s fourth album, I wasn’t into it. Rostam (Batmanglij, whose solo album Half-Light was #2 in 2017) had left the band, and I was letting that fact cloud my enjoyment of what lead singer/songwriter Ezra Koenig had been able to put together on his own. It was too catchy, too poppy, too giddy, and it didn’t offer enough diversity upon first listens. But over time, I kept reaching back for it, without really knowing why. Then, somewhere around the 10th time through the album, I realized I knew all the songs, I would happily sing along to most of it, and I had nothing but positive feelings about the album. It had somehow turned a corner in my head, and then never looked back.

The first three Vampire Weekend albums were collaborative efforts between Koenig and Rostam, and they were all fantastic (their 2nd album, Contra appeared at #6 in 2010 and Modern Vampires of the City appeared at #3 back in 2013). When Rostam left the band, it clearly hit Koenig hard, as there was a six year gap between when their previous album came out and this new one. But the wait has proven worth it.

Nearly exactly like Bon Iver (discussed back at #9), Vampire Weekend’s first four albums have been unbelievably good. Like Bon Iver, their first album came out in 2008, and their most recent fourth album came out in 2019. Both bands have produced a fantastic, if limited, body of amazing music in that time. Just four albums, in 12 years time. This isn’t scattershot, push a bunch of stuff out there and see what sticks. Instead, this is studied, worked and reworked music, signs of an artist / group of artists never being satisfied with their work, and not knowing exactly when to stop. It makes you wonder: how much would you like the work if they’d stopped working on it five months prior? What about five months after? Somehow, they find that magic formula and release it just when it strikes gold.

Back on Christmas Day, a podcast that I love called Song Exploder released an episode featuring Koenig, talking about the making of the song “Harmony Hall”. I recommend giving it (and every other episode of the podcast) a listen, because it provides so much insight into the struggle, joy, pain, and elation that goes into writing music, as spoken by the artists themselves. Without listening to it, I never would have paid attention to the lyrics of the song:

Anger wants a voice, voices wanna sing
Singers harmonize 'til they can't hear anything
I thought that I was free from all that questionin'
But every time a problem ends, another one begins

It’s actually a quite dark song. The main line of the song, “I don’t wanna live like this, but I don’t wanna die,” is actually a reprise of that line from a previous Vampire Weekend song, “Finger Back” from Modern Vampires of the City. So much is said in that sentence: I’m not depressed or sad enough to kill myself, but I really don’t like how my life is currently. It’s a problem I think most everyone can relate to, and it’s that kind of turn of phrase that Vampire Weekend, and Koenig in particular, is great at.

Father of the Bride is not your typical Vampire Weekend album. But Vampire Weekend is no longer your typical Vampire Weekend. I’m glad Koenig was able to move on in such a great way, after his critically successful third album resulted in the departure of his songwriting partner. I’m anxious to see where they both head next.

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4. Two Hands + U.F.O.F. by Big Thief
5. Remind Me Tomorrow by Sharon Van Etten
6. I Am Easy to Find by The National
7. 5 + 7 by Sault
8. Giants of All Sizes by Elbow
9. i,i by Bon Iver
10. Kiwanuka by Michael Kiwanuka
11. The Destroyer (Parts 1 + 2) by TR/ST
12. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? by Billie Eilish
13. Cheap Queen by King Princess
14. Anima by Thom Yorke
15. Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Parts 1 + 2 by Foals
16. Gallipoli by Beirut
17. My Finest Work Yet by Andrew Bird
18. Four of Arrows by Great Grandpa
19. Designer by Aldous Harding
20. Norman Fucking Rockwell! by Lana Del Rey
21. Our Pathetic Age by DJ Shadow
22. Juice B Crypts by Battles
23. Pony by Orville Peck
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

Subscribe to the 2019 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2018 Top 31s

#4 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

(video above is NSFW)

Blonde by Frank Ocean

I’m not gonna lie: I like the sound of extreme autotune. So long as it’s being used to push the limits, calling attention to its own “digital-ness,” then I’m all for it. You heard this quite prominently in Francis and the Lights, back at #21 on this year’s Top 31. And here we are all the way up at #4 with another heavily autotuned masterpiece, Frank Ocean’s Blonde.

Like Beyoncé at #6, Frank Ocean is a name I knew but didn’t pay much attention to before 2016. This is only Ocean’s 2nd release, coming out four years after his widely-acclaimed pop debut Channel Orange. I listened to Channel Orange back in 2012, but dismissed it as being way too over-hyped. I’m glad I didn’t give up on Ocean for good, because Blonde kills.

Not to beat a dead horse, but probably for the same reasons I love Beyoncé’s album so much, the endless sea of stellar partnerships makes this album so great. There are a TON of guest artists on this album, from André 3000, to Beyoncé herself, James Blake, Rostam Batmanglij (featured at #19), and even a string arrangement by Jonny Greenwood (featured at #10). I’m pretty sure there are about 80 collaborators / personnel listed on the wikipedia page for this album). You could fill an entire Grammy awards just with the people on it.

But unlike Beyoncé’s album, this is not something for everyone. The song structure is a bit on the bizarre (which is another reason why I like it so much), but when it clicks, it’s fantastic. There are even a couple spoken-word “songs” on it that I skip outright. But I encourage you to give this at least three listens before dismissing it. If you’re like me, it’ll sink it’s claws in well before you finish the third lap, and then you won’t want to stop listening.

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5. Are You Serious by Andrew Bird
6. Lemonade by Beyoncé
7. Teens of Denial by Car Seat Headrest
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

#19 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

I Had a Dream That You Were Mine by Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam

The two gentlemen at #19 have been featured on the Bacon Top 31 a combined five times over the years, as Hamilton Leithauser is the former front man for (now defunct) The Walkmen (#26 in 2010, #9 in 2012, and his solo album was #11 in 2014), and Rostam is the longtime producer and cowriter for Vampire Weekend (#6 in 2010, and #3 in 2013). So you know their first album produced together is also going to make it onto the Top 31.

Leithauser’s gravelly, strained croon combined with Rostam’s excellent production — along with their own instrumentation and a litany of backup performers — creates for a solid rock and roll album. The two first worked together on a couple songs on Leithauser’s awesome solo album, and this is the first time they’ve created an entire album together.

If you’re a fan of either of these mens’ amazing back catalogs, then you should seek out this album. They’re also coming through town in January, playing two shows at the Tractor on January 21. I’m heading to the late-night show. Will you be there?

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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