#16 on the 2023 Bacon Top 31 — 100 gecs

January 16, 2024 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

10000 gecs by 100 gecs

When I first heard the 100 gecs 2019 album, 1000 gecs, it was from out of nowhere. I’d found it via an unlikely source (NYTimes’ “Best albums of 2019”), got instantly infatuated with it despite not really knowing how to listen to it, and promptly added it to my Top 31 (but near the bottom, down at #29). As the subsequent four years’ repeated listening has proven, I placed that album way too far down on the list. It was mind blowing, and unique enough that it felt like they could never match the genius and immediacy of the sound of that album. Enter 9,000 additional gecs, stage left.

10000 gecs the St. Louis duo’s fantastic and fantastically weird sophomore record, is another triumph. It’s silly and noisy and loud and catchy as hell. “It’s 10 times as good as the last one,” Laura Les told Pitchfork. Les along with her partner in crime, Dylan Brady, had a lot of pressure put on themselves after the success of their breakout, genre breaking debut. While I can’t confidently say this new album is 10x better than the debut, it does prove that 100 gecs are capable of extending themselves well beyond what I or anyone expected.

A close cousin of what the band Sleigh Bells showed us a decade earlier (#12 in 2010 and #31 in 2012), the much less polished and less consistently loud sound from 100 gecs makes them a bit less approachable. Hit play on the video above, for their song “Hollywood Baby” and you’ll see what I mean. Then view any of the other videos they’ve created from the album and you’ll understand the catchiness of it as well:

“The Most Wanted Person in the United States”
“Billy knows jamie”
“Dumbest girl alive”
“Doritos & Fritos”
“mememe”

I am once again sitting here drawing a blank as to where 100 gecs can go from this peak. But I thought this same thing back in 2019, so I’m finding it a little easier to throw my expectations out the door and simply hope for the best. Until then, I’m going to thoroughly enjoy 10000 and 1000 gecs in anticipation.

__________________________________________

Subscribe to the Top 31 playlists!

Full Albums
All albums in their entirety

Radio Station
The best song pulled from each album

View all previous years’ Top 31s

#3 on the 2015 Bacon Top 31

December 29, 2015 by Royal Stuart

My Love Is Cool by Wolf Alice

The band here at #3 on this year’s Top 31 comes with what I feel has had the most success, at least in the musical circles that I frequent. Wolf Alice, from North London, are a heavily-produced foursome led by original founding members Ellie Rowsell on vocals and backup guitar and Joff Oddie on lead guitar and backup vocals. Those two started the band as a duo in 2010, but then it grew to a traditional rock n’ roll foursome in 2012 with the addition of Theo Ellis on bass and Joel Amey on drums.

This album has been a long time coming, as My Love Is Cool is their debut, collecting the best of the songs they’ve been performing since 2012. There’s a lot of references heard throughout this album, spanning the 80s through to today. I can pinpoint sounds that remind me of all of the following: The Breeders, Garbage, Cranberries, Dubstar, Silversun Pickups, Sleigh Bells, and The Runaways. I’m sure there’s more, but that should give you a good sense of what their sound is like. Rock pop, through and through.

And the album has been heavily promoted, too, with no less than six different songs from the 13-song debut getting the video treatment. There’s “You’re A Germ,” above, and these other five videos, all of which are good songs both sonically and visually:

“Fluffy”
“Bros”
“Moaning Lisa Smile”
“Giant Peach”
“Freazy”

Go ahead and watch them all, I’ll wait here until you’re done.

Now then. I know your next move: head to your nearest online or IRL music purveyor and purchase this album. #2 coming tomorrow!

__________________________________________

4. Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens
5. Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett
6. I Love You, Honeybear by Father John Misty
7. Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes
8. Another Eternity by Purity Ring
9. Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance by Belle and Sebastian
10. Return to the Moon by El Vy
11. Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) by Lin-Manuel Miranda
12. Art Angels by Grimes
13. The Horse Comanche by Chadwick Stokes
14. Grace Love & the True Loves by Grace Love & the True Loves
15. Shake Shook Shaken by The dø
16. La Di Da Di by Battles
17. Sky City by Amason
18. What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World by The Decemberists
19. Untethered Moon by Built to Spill
20. Viet Cong by Viet Cong
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

What is the Bacon Top 31?
Past years’ Top 31s

September 09, 2013 by Royal Stuart

Sleigh Bells are back, with the title track of their forthcoming third album, Bitter Rivals, due October 8.

December 01, 2012 by Royal Stuart

Introducing the 2012 edition of the Musical Bacon Calendar. Every year here at the Bacon Review, I collect my personal top 31 favorites from the year (specifically, November 2011-October 2012) and try to apply some sort of order to the list. Invariably, the list is in flux up until the #1 album is announced on New Year’s Eve, and this year was no different.

2012 was a strange year for music.

The live music scene was on fire: Springsteen, Radiohead, Jeff Mangum (twice!), David Byrne, Sigur Rós, Roger Waters, Elvis Costello… the list goes on and on. That’s more mind-blowing live music than one person should really be allowed to see in a single year.

But only two of those bands have albums that make this year’s calendar. A lot of bands that I’ve loved over the years came out with much fanfare but ultimately unworthy new albums (Beth Orton, Cat Power, Animal Collective, The Flaming Lips, Ben Gibbard…). They did not make the cut. For the first time, I got to travel to Austin for the SXSW Music Festival, and while I had a blast getting to experience a lot of new music there, most of those corresponding albums didn’t have staying power in my musical cue. And once again, like last year and very much unlike 2009 and 2010, I don’t have a clear #1 favorite here at the first of the month. I’ll be forced to land on something by New Year’s Eve, and I definitely have ten solid albums that make up the Top 10 in the calendar, but I find myself looking for (and failing to find) a way to logically categorize and rank them, pointing to an undeniable #1. Only time will tell who wins out in the end.

For now, on to the #31 pick!

#31 on the 2012 Musical Bacon Calendar

Reign of Terror by Sleigh Bells

When Derek Edward Miller and Alexis Krauss first appeared on the Musical Bacon Calendar two years ago (at #12), they were there as the result of a very fast word-of-mouth launch of their debut album, Treats. Now, a little more seasoned, and a little more road weary, Sleigh Bells have released a second album that’s, unsurprisingly, not as good as the first. However, this summation is not a slight on the new album, Reign of Terror, which is quite good. It’s merely the result of Treats being so good that no second album would have matched its success.

Gone is the initial shock of “WHAT IS THIS NOISE?!” leaving the listener with a feeling of “Yep, that’s what I expected.” This album doesn’t push any boundaries — they’ve done all that already. Now they’re just settling into what they know. The true test will be the third album, whenever that may be. You can only sit in the same mold for so long.

Pounding guitar, drums and cheerleader vocals: these are Sleigh Bells forte. If this is the first time you’re hearing Sleigh Bells, by all means pick up Reign of Terror. Just like Treats, it will floor you from the very first strum of the guitar. The video above, for “Demons,” the 7th song on the album, is an apt representation of the entire Sleigh Bells catalog. Like it? Buy them all and blow your speakers out.

There you have it, we’re underway! Welcome to the 2012 Musical Bacon Calendar, everybody.

__________________________________________

2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
2010 Musical Bacon Calendar
2009 Musical Bacon Calendar