#5 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Are You Serious by Andrew Bird

There seems to be a bit of a recurring theme happening in the Bacon Top 31: persevere, and greatness will come back to you. DJ Shadow, Band of Horses, Yeasayer — these bands have all been around for quite a long while, but it wasn’t until their umpteenth album came out that they found the greatness they once enjoyed much earlier in their careers. The same can be found here at #5, with Andrew Bird and his 13th studio album Are You Serious.

This is Bird’s best album yet. He’s clearly matured as a songwriter, and his songs — written with the creative flourish of an accomplished poet — are damn near perfect. There are a number of high points in this album, but none so fantastic as “Left Handed Kisses,” a dueling duet sung with the captivating Fiona Apple (who is no stranger to the Top 31, her most recent album having reached #1 back in 2012). (I posted the video for “Left Handed Kisses” back in March)

If Serious is Bird’s best album, “Kisses” is his best song ever. From the sparse guitar, the powerful interplay between Bird and Apple, down to the beautifully strong lyrics such as:

For it begs the question
How did I ever find you?
Now you got me writing love songs
With a common refrain like this one here, baaa-aaa-aa-by

The “baby” at the end of that song is drawn out across many notes, the common refrain heard in many a love song across all of folkdom. The coda at the end of the song is what slays me, sung in alternating lines from Bird to Apple and back again:

Now it’s time for a handsome little bookend
Now it’s time to tie up all the loose ends
Am I still a skeptic or did you make me a believer?
If you hesitate, you'll hear the click of the receiver

No, they’re not talking on the phone. The “click of the receiver” is the metaphorical hang-up at the end of a bad relationship. And it’s those little hoops that Bird’s lyrics make you jump through that I absolutely love. This album is full of them. If you’re a fan of great lyrics, beautiful violin, and semi-quiet background songs (“don’t be thrown by “Capsized,” shown in the video above. This is one of the more rocking songs on the otherwise subdued album), this one is definitely for you.

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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

#12 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Amen & Goodbye by Yeasayer

The band at #12, Brooklyn, NY’s Yeasayer, thrives on the bizarre and the gross. They like to push the limits of what you’re able to withstand as a consumer of popular media, to make you question your long-held beliefs about what is palatable. In a similar fashion to Tool, their videos tend to feature otherworldly elements that leave you striving for some semblance of normal. But unlike Tool, and in stark contrast to the similarities in their music videos, the band’s music isn’t as off-putting to the masses.

In past Top 31s, (#4 in 2010, #30 in 2012) I’ve compared their sound to Duran Duran. This album is less so. It’s more unique, and somehow more Yeasayer-sounding. This is progress. I loved their 2010 sophomore album, Odd Blood, but their 2012 album Fragrant World barely made the Top 31 that year. Amen & Goodbye, while not exactly the same as Odd Blood, is much more connected to that older sound that I loved.

I don’t think I expected Yeasayer to stick around as long as they have. They don’t seem to garner a whole lot of attention, and their off-putting videos and graphics (see above) would seem to drive people away from their music. But I suppose I’m not that unique in my love for them. Here’s to many more years of great Yeasayer albums.

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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

Yeasayer — I Am Chemistry

Remember that feeling when you played Yeasayer’s awesome 2010 album Odd Blood for the first time, and the opening track “The Children” was so off-putting you wanted to stop the music and throw your headphones out the window?

Prepare yourself. Yeasayer have a new album coming out. Amen & Goodbye, due April 1.

The song in the video above, “I Am Chemistry,” isn’t amazing (yet) but it’s certainly classic Yeasayer. But the video itself is… a sight to behold. Watch it. And don’t give up on it. Wait at least until the dance break around the 2 minute mark. It was directed by a group called New Media Ltd, and I can’t find anything else about the group, but the stop-motion figures are all based on the creepy artwork for the new album, created by sculptor David Altmejd. You can see a few tastes of the artwork on Yeasayer’s website, where they have a handful of teaser videos. Enjoy (?).

Vinyl Jacket — Safari

Sometimes an encounter with a band feels entirely random. Take Vinyl Jacket, for instance. I was quietly enjoying the new We Were Promised Jetpacks single “Safety In Numbers,” and, as SoundCloud does, it continues unabated into something else once the song you’re listening to ends. Thank you, SoundCloud, for pointing me to Vinyl Jacket. The song above, “Safari,” is about as catchy a tune as you can ask for.

Sounding seemingly like a mix of Yeasayer and Vampire Weekend, Vinyl Jacket is four guys from small town England playing songs that sound as if they originate from a sunny equatorial country. They only have seven songs released to date (three recorded in 2013 and released in the UK in April of this year, and four more released as two separate singles, also in the UK, from 2011). No word on when a full-length album will come out, or if they’ll be properly distributed here in the states, but I’m clamoring for more.

I hope they can expand their sound to cover more ground, but I’m dubious that’s possible. Perhaps they’re only one-hit-wonder material. Fingers crossed that that’s not the case.

#30 on the 2012 Musical Bacon Calendar

Fragrant World by Yeasayer

I always find the bottom five or so albums the most difficult to pick. Because I’d say any album that falls outside of my Top 25 of the year, but still had more than a handful of plays in my rotation, is somewhat worthy of a spot on the Calendar. But with only spots 26 through 31 left for about 10-20 albums to fight over, it becomes more difficult for me to not just simply pick arbitrarily.

Yeasayer’s 2012 album, Fragrant World, fits that category. I just didn’t listen to the album all that much. Not for lack of trying or caring, there were just 29 more interesting albums grabbing my attention. But, given Yeasayer’s track record (decent debut album, phenomenal sophomore record) I picked up the new album again when planning out this year’s calendar, and found myself really enjoying it. Perhaps you will, too.

Yeasayer ranked in the Top 5 on the Calendar with their 2009 album Odd Blood, which I still find myself drawn to often. Fragrant World is not Odd Blood. But the Brooklyn band has found an interesting crossroads of sound that continues to work very well. Mining the sound of Duran Duran from the 80s, mixing it with slightly tribal, afro-dance beats and strange electronic instrumentation, the music is a bit difficult to convey in words. But listen to the video above and you’ll get it (you can start watching about halfway through, when some fairly sophisticated CGI effects kick in and make for a very interesting video). It’s as if the instruments the band are playing in the video are not plugged in — those sounds playing sound nothing like what those instruments should sound like.

And that’s part of the charm. Where did that sound come from, you’ll hear yourself asking, while you subconsciously move your head to the beat. Ah, caught you, didn’t I? See that? It’s infectious. Yeasayer. Check them out.

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31. Reign of Terror by Sleigh Bells

What is the Bacon Calendar?

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