#23 on the 2020 Bacon Top 31 — The Avalanches

January 09, 2021 by Royal Stuart

We Will Always Love You by The Avalanches

“Well-known vocalists singing atop dreamy electronic music” has always been a favorite genre of mine, yet somehow The Avalanches have eluded me until now. Granted, they’ve only released three albums in their 23 years as a band, but all three are phenomenal, and I’m ashamed to have missed out on them until now. It’s ok, go ahead and laugh, I deserve it. But if you, too, haven’t heard of them before, have I got an album for you!

We Will Always Love You, at 71 minutes long, might actually be better bylined “The Avalanches and a mind-boggling number of collaborators.” A cake of fantastic original instrumentation blended with hundreds of samples, with the icing of roughly twenty “with…” names scattered across the 25 songs on the album. To whit (along with links to the videos):

“The Divine Chord” with MGMT and Johnny Marr, shown above
“Running Red Lights” with Rivers Cuomo and Pink Siifu
“Interstellar Love” with Leon Bridges
“Take Care In Your Dreaming” with Denzel Curry, Tricky & Sampa The Great
“Wherever You Go” with Jamie xx, Neneh Cherry and CLYPSO
“Reflecting Light” with Sananda Maitreya and Vashti Bunyan
“We Will Always Love You” with Blood Orange
And other song collaborations without videos featuring Orono, Perry Ferrell, Cola Boyy, Mick Jones, Kurt Vile, Karen O, Cornelius and Kelly Moran

Additionally, there’s another video medley of songs from the album, blended together as a film of experimental choreography created using 3D volumetric capture techniques in collaboration with TEM Studios and Rambert Dance London.

Whew! Impressive, to say the least. If you like Washed Out or Odesza, you’re going to absolutely love this record. Jump on it ASAP.

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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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#30 on the 2020 Bacon Top 31 — Tricky

January 02, 2021 by Royal Stuart

Fall to Pieces by Tricky

Whereas the album at #31 was bubbly, dancey and fun, the album at #30 is the polar opposite: dark and moody — and if you dig a little deeper on it, depressing.

Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws, aka Tricky, has been around a long time, and he’s had his share of tough times. His stellar 1995 debut album Maxinquaye was rooted in feelings about his mother, who had died when he was only four years old. Just a month after the release of that album, his daughter Mina Mazy was born. Tricky’s musical career has shadowed his daughter’s life ever since, each progressing through ups and downs over the 24+ years from her birth.

Sadly, Mazy took her own life in May 2019, and it hit Tricky as it would any parent who’s child has died. He receded from the public eye, pulled into himself, and didn’t write anything for a long while. He eventually turned back to music, just as the global pandemic was warming up. The 13 albums he’d released up until her death were the end of a 24-year chapter in his life. (Check out his album False Idols at #30 back on the Top 31 of 2013.) Fall to Pieces, released in September 2020, is the result of all that pain and suffering, and the beginning of the next chapter.

On the surface, the album feels very Tricky. He is the master of trip hop, after all, and he doesn’t let his longtime fans down here. But the lyrics and stories the album builds over its scant 28 minutes leave you with a sense of foreboding and loneliness that hit exactly the right target for me over the last year. I sometimes seek out music that expands upon my inner darkness — it helps to spill it out into the world, get it out of my head and into my surrounding space (even if it is just in my headphones).

Yesterday I watched this great KEXP at home performance and interview with Tricky. After a handful of remote video songs, Tricky and DJ Larry Mizelle, Jr talk about his career and what went into making this album. Tricky is quite humble, and forthcoming about his journey after the death of his daughter. He’s in therapy for the first time (at 52!), and he’s nowhere near the end of recovering from the loss.

“I’m getting stronger. The secret now is finding what the point is of being here. I’m getting there, gradually.”

He also talks about the new material he’s started working on with the legendary Lee “Scratch” Perry, for a future album he’s already named Lonely Guess which will hopefully come out this year. While we anxiously await that new material, check out the moving Fall to Pieces. It’s short, and worth every minute.

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

#30 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

December 02, 2013 by Royal Stuart

[Video above is NSFW!]

False Idols by Tricky

It’s been about 15 years since I’ve paid any attention to Tricky, a 45-year old trip hop musician from Bristol. While he’s continued to release album after album since his stellar debut Maxinquaye back in 1995, none of them managed to hit my radar until now. False Idols, Tricky’s tenth, feels like it could be a collection of unreleased tracks from his seminal debut.

According to an article I found via Wikipedia, Tricky feels “This album is about me finding myself again.” While that might sound like trite bullshit, I concur wholeheartedly. This is the Tricky I used to love. In the interview, he continues:

“Of all my records, the majority of people are into Maxinequaye,” says Tricky. “That’s because it was a time and a place. Maxinquaye was a part of their life. Some people say it was the soundtrack to their youth. You can’t challenge that. But musically [False Idols] is a better album.” He pauses before adding, “Of course I know that people might not agree with that.”

I’m not willing to say False Idols is better than Maxinquaye. But it’s an apt follow up, albeit 18 years later. If you have any love in your heart for Tricky’s 1995 debut, you should check out his new one. If you’re only right now hearing about Tricky for the first time, I’d be very curious to know what you think of his music. I’m definitely a biased listener when it comes to Tricky, so I’m unable to judge appropriately whether this new album fits within today’s music scene. Do tell!

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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