#11 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

If You Leave by Daughter

On the bubble of the Top 10, here’s English trio Daughter to darken and depress your day. Igor Haefeli plays soundscapes and rolling hills of notes on his guitar. Drummer Remi Aguilella builds the excitement with well-timed, sparse, tribal-like percussion. And lead singer / songwriter Elena Tonra, with her diminutive frame and whisper-like voice, makes the band feel somewhat like that older dog at the pound that you just can’t resist taking home to give some proper love. Tonra plays a guitar in the band as well, her pad-of-the-fingers picking creates notes that are the perfect counterpart to Haefeli’s sonic chorus.

The band suffers from the Sigur Rós Malady, where each song starts off super quiet and builds to a crescendo, a cacophony of sound that’s as exciting and energetic as a lightning storm. And that’s not the only thing they have in common with the band from Iceland. I got to see Daughter play at Neumos back in May, which is when I discovered that Haefeli plays his guitar with a bow, just like Jónsi does. In my review of the show, I summed up Tonra’s voice thusly:

Tonra’s voice is the most beautiful whisper you’ll ever hear, both quiet and pitch perfect, subdued just enough to make everyone in the audience lean, actively working to not miss that one amazing tone we know is coming. Tonra doesn’t appear to suffer from stage fright — she’s not one to put her back to us — but all other signs point to her being a new kind of Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, in poise and stage presence. Tonra’s stunning vocal range is in the higher registers (unlike Cat Power), but her style of singing intimate songs of breakup and heartache is a perfect match.

The encore of that performance was one for the ages, but unfortunately they played a song you won’t find on the album:

The band played a good array of songs from all three recorded works, and when they finally left the stage after their most well-known song, “Youth,” I got the impression there would be no encore. What could they possibly play, as we’d heard everything we expected to hear? After we gave our best, longest, loudest cheers, the band did indeed come back out on stage, to play the one song I’d heard before and expected them to not play: a cover of Daft Punk’s brand new single “Get Lucky.” When they played the song in late April on BBC One, I’ll admit I listened to it many many times on repeat. So much so that now, when I hear the original Daft Punk version, it sounds like a cover of the Daughter version. Hearing their cover live on stage at Neumos was the perfect capper for the evening.

You may be thinking it’s impossible that there could be ten albums better than this one that came out this year. Just wait and see, the best is yet to come!

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12. Pedestrian Verse by Frightened Rabbit
13. The Silver Gymnasium by Okkervil River
14. The Next Day by David Bowie
15. Reflektor by Arcade Fire
16. We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic by Foxygen
17. Lanters by Son Lux
18. Howlin’ by Jagwar Ma
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

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#12 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Pedestrian Verse by Frightened Rabbit

I haven’t done any exhaustive research, but I’d wager that I’ve written more about Frightened Rabbit than any other band, here on The Bacon Review as well as over at Another Rainy Saturday. If you follow me, you know they’re one of my absolute favorites.

They’re from Scotland. They play straight-up indie rock, with accents. And they mainly sing songs about heartache and loss, but in the hardest rocking way possible. If this description fits your tastes, you really can’t get any better than this.

I’m not going to say much more about them here. I’ve said so much already, I’d like to hear what you have to say now. Give the song above a listen, download Pedestrian Verse, their 4th full-length (the last three of which are in near-constant rotation over here at Bacon HQ). Enjoy.

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13. The Silver Gymnasium by Okkervil River
14. The Next Day by David Bowie
15. Reflektor by Arcade Fire
16. We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic by Foxygen
17. Lanters by Son Lux
18. Howlin’ by Jagwar Ma
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

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#13 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

The Silver Gymnasium by Okkervil River

The last time Okkervil River appeared on the Calendar, they were bringing up the rear with their less-than-stellar offering, I Am Very Far. I thought that album would be the band’s swan song. They’d had a great run in the mid-oughts, with Black Sheep Boy and The Stage Names, but with 2008’s The Stand-Ins the band started to head south, for what I thought would be their final hurrah. I’m so glad to report that I was wrong, as here they are again, this time in the much more favorable #13 spot, with their seventh full-length album The Silver Gymnasium.

This is a great and apparently very personal album for lead singer Will Sheff. There are multiple videos talking about the genesis of this album, and now there’s even a Kickstarter campaign to make a short film about my favorite song from the album, “Down Down The Deep River.”

This is a classic Okkervil River song. If you liked Black Sheep Boy, then this album is for you. It lacks the bombast of songs like “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe,” but there are plenty of hooks to sink your teeth into. The above video is for a remix of the song “Stay Young.” While I like the original song more than the remix, this version is still quite interesting. I linked to the original version video a month ago, as well as a lyric video for “It Was My Season” back in June, both of which are well worth checking out.

Those songs should be more than enough to convince you this is a renewed band. Sheff seems revived and ready to tackle the world. Pick up the album and there’s a chance you will be, too.

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14. The Next Day by David Bowie
15. Reflektor by Arcade Fire
16. We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic by Foxygen
17. Lanters by Son Lux
18. Howlin’ by Jagwar Ma
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

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#14 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

The Next Day by David Bowie

What could I possibly write here that would push you to listen to this amazing new album by David Bowie if you haven’t already listened to it?

Just do it. Don’t sit here any longer. Go buy the album, and marvel at the fact that a 66 year old man can still make fantastic and relevant rock ’n’ roll music in 2013. Nobody can hold a candle to what this man has accomplished in his career.

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15. Reflektor by Arcade Fire
16. We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic by Foxygen
17. Lanters by Son Lux
18. Howlin’ by Jagwar Ma
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

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You Me & Apollo: We Got a Roof

Just bought tickets to see Colorado’s You Me & Apollo at a show the first week of January, based 100% on their performance in the video above. No idea what the rest of their stuff sounds like, but I see they were at Doe Bay earlier this year, and that’s enough of a reputation for me to be interested. Looks like they’re playing TIMBRRR! later in the month, too.

#15 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Reflektor by Arcade Fire

And so it was writ: every three years, as the stars and moon align over Montreal, Quebec, Arcade Fire shall bestow upon the people an amazing indie rock album. This has proved true with uncanny regularity for the past 12 years, and you can look for the next one to come out in 2016, I’m sure.

The band’s last album, The Suburbs, landed at #8 on the 2010 Calendar. At this juncture, I don’t really care to listen to that album any more, but I find myself drawn to their first two albums, Funeral (2004) and Neon Bible (2007), with continued consistency. Don’t let the fact that I’m ranking this year’s album, Reflektor, lower than I ranked their last album even though I no longer wish to listen to that album. I’m fairly certain I like this new album much more than The Suburbs. There just happened to be a lot of good music to come out this year, so Reflektor finds itself at the mid-way point.

This new album has the band in a disco kind of mood. It’s a very danceable album, and if you listen to the album with headphones while sitting at your desk at work, I defy you to keep your foot from tapping and your body from bouncing to the beat. It’s a long album, a two-album set clocking in at 85 minutes. And it’s not without its dogs. But those dogs are easily skippable, and they make the rest of the album shine by comparison.

The video above, for the song “Afterlife,” is gorgeous. You should definitely take the time to watch it. Directed by videographer and photographer Emily Kai Bock, it tells the story of a man and his two sons, all dreaming of the wife/mother they’ve lost. The way the dreams are depicted in the video are particularly moving. Bock has directed other videos I’ve posted in the past, such as this one for Grimes and this one for Grizzly Bear. It‘s extremely satisfying to see all three of these videos in the light of each other, an über context that isn’t there when viewing any one of them alone.

Arcade Fire made it onto the Bacon Review a couple times with other videos recently. If you missed them the first time, go back and check them out here and here.

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16. We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic by Foxygen
17. Lanters by Son Lux
18. Howlin’ by Jagwar Ma
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

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#16 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic by Foxygen

Rolling Stones, the Velvet Underground, the Kinks — these names evoke a varied number of musical memories, and each of these band’s own respective histories are so diverse that those memories and nearly-forgotten emotions must be different for each person. Which makes stating these artists as clear influences on the album at #16 all the more strange. How does a band combine the sounds of them all in a solid, cohesive, perfectly rock & roll album? Foxygen and their 2013 album We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peach & Magic are here to show you.

Foxygen has been around in one form or another since 2005. They languished in the California indie rock scene for many years before catching the ear of producer Richard Swift (who just happens to have produced one of my favorites from 2012: Damien Jurado’s Maraqopa, which came in at #5 on The Calendar last year.

I’m not familiar with Foxygen’s pre-Swift recordings, so I can’t speak to how much of an influence he’s had on the band. But what I do know is there’s now two stellar Richard Swift-produced albums, and I’m anxious to hear what he does next. But before we get to that, you should give Foxygen a listen. In addition to the influences I mentioned above, you can hear other influences as well (like Belle & Sebastian in the above video for “San Francisco”). The album definitely harkens back to an earlier time, and depending on which passage you’re listening to currently, that time could vary by about 50 years. Something tells me the album will last for a similar length of time.

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17. Lanters by Son Lux
18. Howlin’ by Jagwar Ma
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

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#17 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Lanterns by Son Lux

Sometimes work by one artist sounds so derivative of another that you start to question its validity. Is this a pseudonym? Is this a result of past collaboration? Complete plagiarism? This is true of Son Lux’s third album Lanterns. I was not familiar with Son Lux’s work prior to this album, although I’ve since learned he’s got quite the storied past, such as having once been labeled “Best New Artist” by NPR’s All Songs Considered back in 2008.

The album I most easily compare Lanters to is the #3 album from three years ago: Sufjan Stevens’ Age of Adz. To my ear, the similarities are quite stark, especially on Lanterns’ peak, “Lost it to Trying,” featured in the video above. That song would fit right onto Age of Adz without any reworking needed. The rest of Lanterns has similar Adz overtones, hinting at an underlying dementia or sickness on the part of the performer.

That performer would be Ryan Lott, who is the one-man tour-de-force behind Son Lux. Lott’s even worked directly with Stevens, as part of the strange EP the two of them released with rapper Serengeti as the collective s / s / s. Did Lott have something to do with Adz, which came out a couple years before Beak & Claw, the single fruit of labor from the s / s / s collective )(although apparently another is in the works)? Unless Stevens admits to the collaborators he worked with on Adz, we’ll never really know.

The good news you can take from this is, if you liked Age of Adz, you’ll like Lanterns. Just pretend it’s a Sufjan Stevens album and you won’t even know the difference. Promise.

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18. Howlin’ by Jagwar Ma
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

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#18 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

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?

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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

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#19 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Impersonator by Majical Cloudz

I really wanted to hate this band, based on its name alone. Majical Cloudz? That’s the best you could come up with? And the PR push behind this album was so overbearing — it came up as the ad leading into all YouTube videos I watched for what felt like a 3-month span earlier this year — that added to my desire to not want to like them. But then I’d hear them on KEXP. Or maybe because I heard that one song in the ads SO many times it seared onto my brain and I just had to check them out.

Either way, here we are at #19, with a band and an album I actively wanted to dislike and couldn’t. I’m fairly certain you won’t like them. It takes a certain kind of person to tolerate this sort of stark emotion. If you’re a fan of James Blake, you might give Majical Cloudz a shot — but be prepared to go deep and long. There is no light, no happiness, no serendipity in this music.

Majical Cloudz is a duo from Montreal, comprised of Devon Welsh (singing and writing) and Matthew Otto (producing). The band was originally a solo project of Welsh’s. Otto joined him on an EP before collaborating with Welsh on Impersonator, his 2nd full-length album. I have not heard any of the prior material, and I’m not very compelled to go check it out.

I’m sorry. This review is terrible. Here’s an album I clearly like, at least well enough to put it in the top 20 of the year, yet can’t bring myself to admit to it. Part of me feels like this music won’t stand up to time. That in a year, I’ll look back and laugh to myself at the fact that it’s on the countdown at all, kinda like I did a couple weeks ago when I discovered that I put Alt-J at #2 on the Calendar last year. But that’s how music is. Some of it is fleeting, some of it sticks around. If you can figure out why that is, you’d be a rich man.

While you’re thinking about that, listen to some Majical Cloudz. They might point you in the right direction.

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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

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#20 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Dream Cave by Cloud Control

This is not the first band from south of the equator to appear on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar, (see Lorde at #28), and it won’t be the last. But this is the first appearance of Cloud Control, a band from outside of Sydney, Australia, whose second album Dream Cave is just gorgeous.

Falling somewhere between the Beach Boys and Grouplove, the band creates psychadelic pop soundscapes. Lots of reverb and echo, harmonies and happiness, like Animal Collective if they actually wrote pop songs with any kind of obvious structure. Cloud Control don’t sound like they’re from Australia (what would that sound like?), but before learning about the band, I’d assumed they were English, as they have that London rock ’n’ roll appeal.

The video above, for their song “Scar,” is the second video they’ve released from the album, which came out back in August. (The first video, for “Dojo Rising,” was featured on The Bacon Review back in October.) I’m not sure what to make of the video, which has the lead singer of the band walking across the (assumed) Australian countryside, near the Blue Mountains where the band is from, dirty and getting dirtier (and even a little bloody) as the video goes on. The song is called “Scar,” I get it, but isn’t that taking it a bit far?

Cloud Control come through town on January 15th, at Barboza. That venue is TINY and it will no doubt sell out, so get on that ASAP.

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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

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#21 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Mole City by Quasi

It’s always great when a couple of seasoned veteran musicians who’ve been playing together for many decades creates something that totally surprises you. That’s what Quasi has done with their most recent album, Mole City, which just happens to be their 11th full-length record in the last 20 years.

In case you don’t know: Quasi are the power duo of Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss, whom you may know from many) many many many many other bands. It‘s a bit funny how many awesome projects the two of them have been in, but it’s even more awesome when they can still collaborate together on a project that totally kicks ass.

I got to see Quasi play the Tractor just before Thanksgiving, and I had a mind-blowing experience, “one I’ll be thinking back to for many years to come,” I wrote after the experience. Also in that review of the show, I wrote a bit about this album, and what I wrote there is every bit as apropos here (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!):

I haven’t clicked with a Quasi album before like I have with this one. There’s a method within the madness: hints of Flaming Lips acid trippiness, Frank Zappa kooky, and White Stripes rock ‘n’ roll, all rolled up in a fantastic, double-LP package. I didn’t pick up the album until a couple weeks ago, and I was immediately sad I hadn’t gotten it when it came out, because that meant I’d missed out on a full month of being able to absorb it.

And there you have it. Or at least you should. Get it now.

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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

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#22 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Phantogram EP by Phantogram

The band here at #22 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar is one of those bands that, when I heard them on the radio I’d say to myself “Man, I really like this song. Who sings this?” and it would almost always be Phantogram. This must have happened at least a dozen times. And even though the band has been putting out music for the last four years, 2013 was the year I started really paying attention.

I had the luxury of seeing the duo from Saratoga Springs, NY, at the amazing Treasure Island Music Festival down in the Bay Area back in October, where they opened for a little band called Atoms for Peace. They must have been super stoked to be there, because they blew everyone away by their light-show hard rock ’n’ roll extravaganza stage presence.

Then, three weeks later I had another opportunity to see them play, headlining one of the five amazing shows Barsuk Records hosted in celebration of the Seattle label’s 15th Anniversary. This time around the band had some extra players with them, and they once again blew us all away. And this was after we had just seen amazing band after amazing band leading up to Phantogram’s headlining slot. (I’d like to see you try and follow Menomena and manage to maintain the audience’s attention.)

While the band hasn’t released a full-length album since 2009’s Eyelid Movies, they’ve continued to keep their fans satiated by releasing four EPs, with the 2nd self-titled EP being the record that came out this year and made the Calendar. Just this evening, about 3 hours ago, the band announced their new full-length album Voices will be released on February 18. I’ve already reserved a slot on the 2014 Musical Bacon Calendar for it.

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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

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#23 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Julia With Blue Jeans On by Moonface

If you’ve followed the Musical Bacon Calendar in years past, then you’ve heard of the artist here at #23: Spencer Krug, who in this particular instance is performing as Moonface. You know Krug from such bands as Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake, or Wolf Parade. In all of those bands, I think it would be safe to say he was known as “the weird one.”

Krug has performed solo under a couple of different monikers. Moonface just happens to be the current iteration of what it is he’s doing now. I’ve been a fan of Krug since around 2005, when Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown-based recordings started cropping up. The last two Moonface albums he has recorded (one of which made the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar) have felt like full-band affairs, with lots of keyboards and instrumentation. This new one is much more sparse, with just Krug singing and playing piano.

Krug’s voice is not for everybody. It warbles and fluctuates, like a vinyl record that is slightly warped, combined with a vibrato that undulates like a hummingbird. But it’s this strangeness, this sound you’re not familiar with or used to, that makes him endearing. It sounds raw, like an open wound, wrought with emotion. That voice, combined with the starkness of the piano, and you’ve got a combination that’s perfect for those quiet, introspective winter nights. This isn’t running music, which his previous Moonface albums could very well have been. This is lying on the couch, thinking about way too much kind of music. And I like that.

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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

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#24 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Uncanney Valley by The Dismemberment Plan

Some bands have unbelievably bad names and succeed in spite of them. Death Cab for Cutie is probably the best known example of this, but a similar story can be found in Washington D.C.’s The Dismemberment Plan, although with less universal success. You’ve probably not heard of The Dismemberment Plan. Their heyday was ten years ago, when they saw heavy rotation on KEXP and the like for songs from their fantastic albums Emergency & I and Change. The band broke up in 2003, and formally reunited in 2011. Uncanney Valley is the eventual result, after a couple years of touring, writing and recording.

Their sound is a mix of punk rock and white boy hip hop, and various points in between. Travis Morrison has the somewhat grating voice of your best friend from middle school’s older brother. The band mixes guitars, drums, bass, and fuzzy electronics to create a wall of sound that doesn’t really sound like anything you’ve heard before. While less so on this new album, Morrison and the band have always amazed me in their ability to have endearing, close-in stories to share while five minutes later screaming in your ear at the top of his lungs, barely listenable.

Uncanney Valley won’t ever be my favorite Dismemberment Plan album, but it does show the promise of longevity. I find new things I like about it in every listen, and I hope the band will continue to write and perform. Plus, look at that video above, for the best song on the album, “Waiting.” How can you not want to enjoy a band that has signers in the video, having fun with the band?

I picked The Dismemberment Plan for #24 because I think there are 23 albums better than this one this year. Strangely, the day this post goes live — Sunday, Dec. 8 — I’ll have just seen the band live the night before. (And this isn’t the first time this has happened this year — I saw Lorde the night before I reviewed her album at #28 on Dec. 4.) I hope these new songs held up well in the live environment, and that it was a good show. Look for my review of the show to come tomorrow, Monday, Dec. 9.

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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

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#25 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Event II by Deltron 3030

Whether you know it or not, you’ve been a fan of Deltron 3030 for a very long time. The “alternative hip hop supergroup” is made up three mainstays of the music industry from the past 20+ years: Dan the Automator, producer; Del the Funky Homosapien, rapper; and Kid Koala, DJ. You may or may not be able to recall those names, but you definitely know their songs.

Del, who just happens to be Ice Cube’s cousin, first touched fame back in 1991 with his song “Mistadobalina” (Mr. Bob Dobalina). Dan the Automator has released his own albums since 1989 and has produced acts as varied as Dr. Octagon, DJ Shadow, Ben Lee, Kasabian, and Cornershop (“Brimful of Asha,” anyone?). Kid Koala, DJ extraordinaire, has been recording and performing since 1996. Together, the three of them put together an amazing concept hip-hop album back in 2000 simply called Deltron 3030.

Prior to the launch of that album, Del and Dan had teamed up with Damon Albarn (the lead singer of Blur) on the initial incarnations of what eventually became Gorillaz. After the release of Deltron 3030, Albarn joined Del, Dan, and Koala along with artist Jamie Hewlett to create the first full-length self-titled Gorillaz album, which sold 7+ million copies. That was in 2001.

At that point the Deltron crew split, creating many things separately, all too big separately to concern themselves with reuniting. Until they did. Event II is very much in keeping with the work the group did thirteen years ago. It follows the same dystopian futuristic storytelling, the performance interludes (performed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, The Lonely Island, and others), as well another slew of amazing guest appearances (Zach De La Rocha, Mike Patton, Damon Albarn) throughout.

If you’ve connected with any of the music or bands mentioned above, then you should check out Event II. It will transport you to two different times at once: the distant future, through Del’s sci-fi storytelling, and to the early years of the 21st century, when you first fell in love with what these guys are capable of. Jump on your hoverboard and ride over to the record store and pick it up.

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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

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#26 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

#26 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Wise Up Ghost by Elvis Costello and The Roots

You already know and love one or both of these artists. Between the two of them, Elvis Costello and The Roots have 69 years of experience in the music business. And by listening to this album, you’d think that all of those years were designed specifically to lead them to this intersection of sound.

Wise Up Ghost has the best of both worlds. It’s a funky, horn, drum and guitar infused ride, and there’s really not much more I need to say about it. If you haven’t yet heard it, start with the song above, “Walk Us Uptown.” Surely you’re intrigued enough by these names alone to want to hear more; they do my work for me.

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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

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#27 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Us Alone by Hayden

Click play on the above video, and just watch/listen. Don’t read anything more; come back when you’ve heard the whole song… (I just hit play on the video myself, got to the end, and started it over again, unable to type another word until I’d listened to the whole song all the way through two more times on top of the 50 bajillion times I’ve already played it this year.)

I don’t know what it is about “Blurry Nights,” but to me this is the best song of the year, hands down. Perhaps it’s the repetitive, slow and droning rhythm guitar, or the laziness with the way Paul Hayden Desser, aka Toronto-based Hayden, allows the words to barely escape his mouth, like they’re being sung through a funnel that’s one size too small. Maybe it’s the one-octave-higher doubling by the lovely Lou Canon (also from Toronto) or the fact that Canon is Desser’s sister-in-law, and the two of them singing this chorus in unison paints an awesomely adulterous picture:

I don’t know how to do this.
But will you leave with me right now?
Nothing good can ever come from this in the long run,
but let’s not dismiss all the fun we can have tonight,
if we forget how we might feel in the morning light.

My love of this song probably has a lot to do with the way that chorus is sung. It barely holds together, with a tenuous rhyme at the end and words sung at all the wrong beats. But it’s gorgeous, and I could listen to it forever and ever.

This was my first experience with Hayden, even though Us Alone is his seventh studio album in his nearly 20 year career. Alt country has played a big party in my listening habits this year, as you’ll see as the Calendar progresses. This album fit right in.

After listening to this song and the rest of the album so many times, I’m finally feeling ready to work my way back in his history, but if you have any experience with him and have a specific album I should check out, I’m all ears.

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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

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#28 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Pure Heroine by Lorde

You’ve heard of Lorde by now. You know, Lorde: the just-turned-17 (born in 1996!) New Zealander phenom whose song “Royals” (above) is seemingly played everywhere all the time. Have you heard the rest of the album? It’s pretty damn good, too. But you and most other people will never know it, because she’s doomed to fall into obscurity just as fast as she found the spotlight.

This would be unfortunate, because Lorde is the real deal. She may be marketed as a vapid pop songstress, but there’s a lot more there there. Seriously. Go read her bio over at Wikipedia. This kid still has a lot to show us.

Pure Heroine is her debut album, one that she started when she was 15. “Royals” is definitely the strongest song on the album, but the rest of the album is well worth listening to. Her sultry voice (she’s 17!), ear-worm pop hooks, and synth-driven instrumentation is easy to listen to on repeat, over and over and over. So even though the song shows up overhead at the grocery store, through the headphones of your neighbor on the bus, or blaring from the open windows of that car that just drove by, you don’t mind. And then you find yourself humming the chorus 10 minutes later.

Side note: “Royals” is probably my 5-year-old son’s favorite song of the year, and not just because both he and I are named Royal. I want to remember this fact and remind him of it in 10 years, when he’s turning 15 and wondering what direction he should point himself in.

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29. Shaking the Habitual by The Knife
30. False Idols by Tricky
31. Let’s Be Still by The Head and the Heart

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#29 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

[Video above is NSFW! That’s two NSFW videos in a row! Trend?]

Shaking the Habitual by The Knife

The band coming in at number 29 is odd at best. From Sweden, The Knife are a brother and sister electronic music duo, and depending on what song you’re listening to, their music could be described using any of the following words: dark, unlistenable, complicated, dancey, difficult, abrasive, awesome. The relationship a listener develops with The Knife is one of miscommunication, heartbreak, and the kind of love you have trouble describing the why of to a friend.

And here we are, playing them again, and torn as ever. Shaking the Habitual is the duo’s fourth album in their 14-year history, and their first since 2006’s amazing Silent Shout. (Half of the duo, Karin Dreijer Andersson, appeared at #18 on the 2009 Musical Bacon Calendar with her solo project Fever Ray.) I first discovered The Knife thanks to a cover of their 2003 song “Heartbeats” by José González that was featured as the soundtrack to one of the most beautiful commercials for a television set you’ll ever see, back in 2005. While the song González plays sounds nothing like The Knife’s original, I was hooked on both artists.

True to form, this new album is not an easy listener. You really have to dedicate yourself to hearing it if you’re going to put it on. And if you’ve got company, be prepared for some strange looks. But it’s this uniqueness, this otherworldliness, that keeps me coming back to them. There are definitely some “songs” worth skipping on the album. But those songs that you choose to listen to? Those are going to crawl under your skin for a long while.

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30. False Idols by Tricky
31. Let’s Be Still by The Head and the Heart

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