Courtney Barnett — Pedestrian at Best

I first fell in love with Courtney Barnett when she opened for Sharon van Etten at the Neptune last July. I reviewed that show for The Sun Break, and I had this to say about Ms. Barnett:

I had not done my homework, and came into the set totally unprepared for the onslaught I experienced. Barnett, from Melbourne, Australia, is an absolute joy to watch perform, playing her left-handed guitar (labeled “when i was an alien”) without a pick. She wore her guitar with the strap hung around her neck like a necklace, allowing the guitar more freedom to move about.

I’ve been listening to Barnett’s recorded music for the last 12 hours, and the disparity heard between the live performance and the studio recordings is large. That’s not to say that either is bad or incorrect. On the contrary, they both stand out in their own ways. The recorded works would best be described as “singer/songwriter.” Not necessarily understated, but not rocking either. Liz Phair-style sparseness, with jangly guitar and garage-style drums allows Barnett’s doubled-up voice on the recordings to shine through.

Up to that point, the extent of her recorded music was a double EP. Her full-length debut, Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, came out March 23. I just downloaded it, and I’m diving in. And thank you to Mr. Defective Yeti, Matthew Baldwin, for reminding me that I’m not an airline pilot or heart surgeon.

Belle & Sebastian — Nobody’s Empire

Believe it or not, Belle and Sebastian has been around for twenty years. The band formed in 1996 with neither a Belle nor a Sebastian in the band, which remains true to this day. That was the year they recorded and released their first two (beautiful) albums Tigermilk and If You’re Feeling Sinister. This past January, the band released their ninth studio album, Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance.

I’ve been listening to this album for a couple months now and it’s really grown on me — the first Belle and Sebastian album to win me over in a very long time. It’s a departure from the late 90s / early oughts B&S albums I learned to love, but if you’ve liked more recent Belle and Sebastian, then this album will feel just right. A little more disco, a little more dancey, new Belle and Sebastian is more upbeat and exciting than the melancholy music you may have first heard from them nearly two decades ago.

The song above, “Nobody’s Empire,” isn’t the best song on the album, but it’s a good example of what you can expect. Plus, it’s fun to watch actress Tamzin Merchant lip sync to Stuart Murdoch’s lyrics. Definitely check out the rest of the album. It’s worth it. And if you’re able, get tickets to see them at the Paramount tonight. It‘s going to be great.

Snoop Dogg — Peaches N Cream

I am way out of touch on the movements of Snoop Dogg, apparently, as I’ve just learned he’s released an album every one or two years since 1993. He’s now poised to release his thirteenth album, BUSH, due to hit the proverbial shelves on May 12.

“Peaches N Cream” is the first single from the Pharrell Williams-produced album, and it is funky. Snoop’s style of rap is very distinctive, but when it’s thrown on top of Pharrell’s well-produced dance beats and Charlie Wilson’s backup vocals, it transcends into greatness.

The above video is the fantastic lyric video that was released last week, directed by special-effects wizards Wolf & Crow. And just yesterday they released another video for the song, this time featuring Snoop, Pharrell and Wilson, in a trippy, funked-out visual feast.

I don’t know if I’ll ever feel comfortable singing the words “Damn her ass is so big,” but I’ll be damned if I don’t thoroughly enjoy this song.

Tweedy — Low Key

I’m not sure how Sukierae, the new album from Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco) and his son Spencer (from their new duo, simply called Tweedy), released last September, went unnoticed. But what’s done is done.

Check out the insanely star-studded video, for the song “Low Key” directed by TV’s Ron Swanson (the everyman’s man Nick Offerman). Low key is about how exciting the song gets, so the title is apropos. The video is fun, and the song isn’t exactly off-putting, either, so I’ll happily put it up on the Bacon Review.

Watch for guest appearances by Melissa McCarthy, Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter, Mavis Staples, Steve Albini, Chance the Rapper and Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, as well as bit parts by always-scary Michael Shannon and always-funny John Hodgman, among many many others.

Amason — Duvan

Here’s a kooky video from a new band out of Sweden, Amason. Amason formed in 2012 as a side project for members of other well-known Swedish bands, Miike Snow and Dungen. After releasing a few singles and an EP throughout 2013 and 2014, the band’s excellent debut album, Sky City, came out last month. Check it out.

Viet Cong — Continental Shelf

(The above video is NSFW) My well-documented love for indie-rock bands from Canada is growing. Viet Cong, from Calgary, sound a bit derivative at times, but overall they’re putting enough “new” into their work to warrant some attention. The song above, “Continentaly Shelf,” is from the band’s self-titled debut album, which came out on January 20. This song sounds so much like Spencer Krug, I looked into it. (Nope, that’s Matt Flegel on vocals. But Viet Cong and Moonface are on the same label, the fantastic Jagjaguwar out of Bloomington, Indiana) Not sure if that’s a positive or a negative for you (it is a positive in my book), but give them a listen. Their use of computer-generated fuzz throughout the seven-song album was surprisingly soothing, given the harshness of the sound. I’m curious if you agree.

The Decemberists — A Beginning Song

I can’t get this song out of my head. It’s been stuck there for a week now. It took a little while for me to discover it, and then for it to plant itself deep in my brain, as it’s the final song on the brand new album from The Decemberists, What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World. But it‘s also the best song on the fantastic new album from these Portland indie-rock stars. The album comes out Tuesday, January 20.

One question about the video: where are the string performers? There’s clearly at least one cello prominently playing throughout the song, and at the very end of the song, what sounds like a full string quartet comes in to fill out the song. Let’s see the string players!

#0 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31 (Whoops!)

Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son by Damien Jurado

Sometimes my systems fail me. I rely heavily on technology to keep me on top of my ever-expanding music collection. I utilize a smart playlist in iTunes that automatically collects only albums from the current year, and I tend to listen to things only found in that playlist as the year goes on. I do go back and listen to older things, quite often in fact, but when I’m looking for something quickly, it’s to the “2014” playlist I go. Soon it will be the 2015 playlist.

This is problematic for two reasons:

1. I believe an album should be given a fair shake before determining whether it’s worthy of the Top 31 for that year. Therefore, the timeline for the Top 31 actually runs from November 1 of the previous year through October 31 of the current year. Anything released on November 1 or after of the current year is then considered for the next year’s Top 31. But the smart playlist I use in iTunes is strictly based on the calendar year, so any albums that are released in November or December of the previous year are kept out of the playlist, and off my radar for the most part.
2. Some albums get into my iTunes and don’t have the ID3 tag for the year they were released assigned at all, essentially relegating them to the musical abyss, as the iTunes playlist doesn’t see any songs that don’t have a year assigned to them.

I clearly need a better system, as an album that I thoroughly enjoyed listening to in the first couple months of the year (and was released on January 21, 2014) disappeared from my view as the year progressed, and didn’t make it into the Top 31 due to a technical glitch (it was mislabeled as a 2013 album in my iTunes). I only discovered it was missing because I found the album mentioned in a friend’s Top 10 for 2014. That album is Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son by Seattle’s own Damien Jurado, and it is fantastic. Leaving it off the Top 31 is a huge oversight, and I am frustrated by my own technological downfall.

You’ll remember Jurado from his 2012 album, Maraqopa, which was my #5 album that year. In that review, I wrote:

I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of Jurado — he’s been making music in Seattle for [now 19] years, but his following over that time has not remained consistent, and he’s generally played venues smaller than the 1,100-person Showbox Market every time he’s played. Up until Maraqopa, I would have defined him as your typical indie folk singer/songwriter. Most if not all of his albums are quite enjoyable, but they’re fleeting. The music doesn’t hook you.

Maraqopa is different. Maraqopa intrigues right from the first note. It’s hard for me to put my finger on why this album is so much better than all his previous albums. It’s definitely more psychedelic, with off-kilter sounds, distant echoes and frayed edges. But there are also blended harmonies, intimate pauses, put together in this intricately layered tapestry of sound. Jurado’s voice remains as it always has, evoking thoughts of early Neil Young, but this time, along with the beautiful orchestration, there are hints of Nick Drake, as if he were haunting the recording studio when the album was being put to tape.

Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son is a companion album to Maraqopa, in both tone and story. “[Maraqopa] was based on a dream I had about a guy who disappears,” Jurado said in the trailer he created for the new album back in 2013. “He leaves the house with no form of identification or anything and he decides he just wants to disappear. This new record is sort of a sequel to Maraqopa… it is about a guy who disappears on a search, if you will, for himself and never goes home.”

J Tillman (aka Father John Misty) wrote an essay about the new album for Spin Magazine that’s also worth reading. It starts with “Damien is out of his goddamn mind” and gets better from there.

This album is every bit as good as Maraqopa, and I probably would have ranked it in the Top 10 if I’d continued listening to it throughout the year. Technology. Ugh. For all the efficiencies it allows, it introduces new hurdles and gaps that leave me wanting. Perhaps it’s time for a reduction in reliance on technology. Even so, happy new year, and enjoy this album. It’s worth getting both this and Maraqopa if you haven’t yet. Do it now.

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1. Mended With Gold by The Rural Alberta Advantage
2. The Take Off and Landing of Everything by Elbow
3. They Want My Soul by Spoon
4. Are We There by Sharon Van Etten
5. And The War Came by Shakey Graves
6. Nicky Nack by tUnE-yArDs
7. Not Art by Big Scary
8. The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett by Eels
9. Owl John by Owl John
10. LP1 by FKA Twigs
11. Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser
12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#1 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

Mended With Gold by The Rural Alberta Advantage

My choice for #1 this year has no doubt flummoxed a few of you, and is completely obvious to a few more. The Rural Alberta Advantage are a polarizing kind of group, one that I’ve loved for the entirety of their short musical careers, and one I am continually surprised by their rather meager following. This trio from Toronto is consistently great, as evidenced by all three of their full-length records having been placed in my Top 10 for each of the years they came out. (Their debut, Hometowns, was #6 in 2009, and their 2011 album, Departing, was my #2 that year.)

Even though their name is unnecessarily complex, the songs that The Rural Alberta Advantage play are simple. The lyrics tend not to be obtuse in their telling of loss, love and life. The chord structures chosen by lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Nils Edenloff are basic. The keyboards played and background vocals sung by Amy Cole are straightforward. But just because something lacks surprise doesn’t mean it’s not fantastic. Sometimes expected, tried and true is exactly what is needed. And that’s what the RAA have given us with this album.

There is one surprise in the band: drummer Paul Banwatt. I could write an entirely different post just about his drumming on all three of the band’s albums. With Mended With Gold, the RAA nicely modified the levels of each player to showcase their strengths. There are multiple opportunities for Banwatt to blow us away with his frenetic percussion and Cole to shine as her voice rings clear as a bell when paired with Edenloff’s nasal lead vocal.

One could argue that the RAA’s new album, Mended With Gold, isn’t as good as the critically-acclaimed 2014 output from, say, The War on Drugs (my #13), or Run the Jewels (my #28), and according to KEXP listeners and Pitchfork writers, who respectively ranked those bands as their #1 albums of the year, you’d be right. From what I can tell, The Rural Alberta Advantage didn’t make any other countdown’s #1 slot, and it looks as if they didn’t make many year-end countdowns at all.

And that’s not to say those other countdowns are wrong. The Bacon Top 31 isn’t a compilation of opinions. It’s my opinion, and mine alone. And I’m not judging albums on technical merit or the place they hold in the echelon of all recorded music. A lot goes into what makes a #1 album for me, and the decision to put this album at #1 was not easy (as you could tell by my review of Elbow’s brilliant album at #2). It just shows that the RAA’s amazing Mended With Gold played a bigger role — the biggest role — for me this year. That’s it. Nothing scientific here. In the future, when I look back on 2014, Mended With Gold will be the album I remember as the soundtrack for the year.

I listened to this album, and the band’s other two albums, a lot in 2014. It’s been a very up and down year for me, personally, and the liveliness of the RAA catalog has stuck with me and helped me through it all. These songs were never background material — they were always front and center, demanding my attention and distracting me when I wanted it most.

The band played the Croc this year, back in October, to their first ever sold-out show in Seattle, and I was there. The set they played matched closely with the two previous times I’d seen the band, and the new songs from Mended With Gold fit right in. This new album is the RAA’s best yet, as the strength of the new songs when paired with the older songs clearly showed during their set.

And there we have it, my Top 31 albums of 2014. Now having compiled this list for 6 years, I feel I’m finding my groove. I’m always thinking about the list throughout the year (I’m already listening to things that will definitely be on the 2015 list). And by the time November rolls around I start shaping the list, questioning what will be in the Top 10. This year was no different than previous years, in that things continued to move up and down as the month of December crept on. And the Top 5 were shuffling around right up until I posted tUnE-yArDs at #6.

It’s always fun trying to look at these albums objectively, picking apart exactly what it is that draws me to them. That’s really why I elect to write about each album. It gives me perspective, on music, and on the year. So here’s to another year of great music. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening as much as I have.

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2. The Take Off and Landing of Everything by Elbow
3. They Want My Soul by Spoon
4. Are We There by Sharon Van Etten
5. And The War Came by Shakey Graves
6. Nicky Nack by tUnE-yArDs
7. Not Art by Big Scary
8. The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett by Eels
9. Owl John by Owl John
10. LP1 by FKA Twigs
11. Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser
12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#2 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

The Take Off and Landing of Everything by Elbow

Deciding which band would take the number one spot and which band would be relegated to number two this year was particularly difficult. I love the band at #2: Manchester, England’s Elbow. And their 2014 album, The Take Off and Landing of Everything — their sixth — is by far my favorite of all their recordings. Even when I started writing this review, I waffled, thinking, “Maybe the band at #1 should be #2 and this album should be #1.” Talk to me tomorrow, or next week, or next month, and I might actually regret having not made this album #1. But here we are, at #2, which is a perfectly fine place for any band to be.

This band, and this album, are all about subtlety. Sure, there are plenty of bombastic moments, full of horns, strings, and keyboards. But it’s the quieter moments, of which there are many, that move this album to the near-top of the list. There’s the lazy beat of “This World Blue,” which hesitates for what feels like an eternity two minutes into the song (at 2:05, specifically), and then again at 4:29. Only then does the full sound of the song hit you, and there’s nearly 3 minutes of song left to go.

And then there’s “Fly Boy Blue/Lunette,” which I posted the video for way back in January. There’s that seminal moment, 3 minutes and 7 seconds into the song, when the key changes, the timing changes, and it becomes a completely different song yet somehow, impossibly, holds together.

Take “My Sad Captains,” which is featured in the video above. At six minutes, it comes in just over the average of all the songs on the album (that average being 5 minutes, 43.5 seconds across all 10 songs), and yet you want it to go on longer. It’s slow, methodical, and beautiful in its telling of “missing my friends that have dropped out of the drinking culture that we all met in, or moved away, or died,” as lead singer/lyricist Guy Garvey said in an interview in Q magazine back in February 2014. If you’re over 35, you’ve experienced that sort of life change, and the song just resonates unbelievably well.

There are quite a few videos the band has created for this album. In addition to “Fly Boy Blue/Lunette” and “My Sad Captains” (above), three other videos can be found:

• “New York Morning”
• “Real Life (Angel)”
• “Charge”

A couple friends and I had a little Memorial Day Weekend adventure this year to make sure we were able to see Elbow in concert. The band was coming through town to play Sasquatch, and there was no way we were going to be able to go there. So instead we bought tickets for the band’s Vancouver, BC performance at the Commodore Ballroom. It was worth the trip. Garvey is a consummate showman, crooning and gesturing to the crowd, working the stage, bringing us all along with him. There were no horns touring with the band, which was a little bit of a letdown, but the rest of the band was able to fill in those missing parts from the new album, substituting in keyboards and guitars. The Commodore is a great space, similar in layout to the Showbox Market, but a bit larger. It was the perfect spot for the band.

This album is gorgeous from start to finish, and I could be quite happy if I only had this one album to listen to for the rest of my days. If you’ve not heard of Elbow before, your first reaction will be “Damn, they sound so much like Peter Gabriel,” and you could be forgiven for thinking that. But that feeling dies pretty quickly as you start to identify these songs as Elbow songs. The Take Off and Landing of Everything is a great place to start your new obsession. Then move onto The Seldom Seen Kid, their Mercury-prize winning, platinum-selling 2008 album. Then branch out from there. 2011’s Build a Rocket Boys! was ranked on the Top 31 at #5 in 2011. Leaders of the Free World, from 2005, is phenomenal as well. SO MUCH GOOD MUSIC. And it’s all there for the taking. Hop to it.

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3. They Want My Soul by Spoon
4. Are We There by Sharon Van Etten
5. And The War Came by Shakey Graves
6. Nicky Nack by tUnE-yArDs
7. Not Art by Big Scary
8. The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett by Eels
9. Owl John by Owl John
10. LP1 by FKA Twigs
11. Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser
12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#3 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

They Want My Soul by Spoon

And now for a band that has been in near-constant rotation since the early 2000s, but has never appeared in full here in the Top 31. The band’s lead singer, Britt Daniel, showed up as part of Divine Fits at #11 in 2012, but this is the first time Spoon has made the cut. They are still in the running for my Top 10 Albums of the Oughts, and excepting a goose-egg of an album in 2010 (Transference, which didn’t even make the Top 31 that year), Spoon has been amazing for the better part of two decades.

I hold the band’s 4th album, 2002’s Kill the Moonlight as my favorite of the bunch, but Girls Can Tell, Gimme Fiction, and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga are all bunched up as a close second-favorite. Given enough time, 2014’s They Want My Soul, the band’s eighth album, could damn well prove to be their best. It is solid from start to finish, and harkens back to their early-2000s heyday. The band has remained fairly static since that time, with Daniel on guitars and lead vocals, Jim Eno on drums, and Eric Harvey on keyboards and guitars. A couple of other guys fill out the current lineup, Rob Pope on bass and Alex Fischel on additional keyboards and guitars. The original lineup formed in Austin back in 1993, and only Daniel and Eno have remained with the band in that time.

If you’re not familiar with Spoon, please crawl out from under that rock you’re currently stuck beneath and educate yourself. They play guitar-heavy indie rock. These are intelligent songs, sometimes noisy, sometimes a little psychedelic, but almost always brilliant. “Knock Knock Knock” is my favorite from the album, and in August I linked to a live performance of the song they did at KEXP that you simply must see to believe. My second favorite, “Do You,” was posted here back in September. “Inside Out,” the video shown above, isn’t the best song on the album, but it’s a damn fine song and gives you an idea just how good this album is.

If you’ve liked Spoon in the past, you will love this album. If you’re not familiar with Spoon, this album is an excellent way to fall in love with the band I’ve loved for a very long time. Either way, buy it now. You won’t regret it.

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4. Are We There by Sharon Van Etten
5. And The War Came by Shakey Graves
6. Nicky Nack by tUnE-yArDs
7. Not Art by Big Scary
8. The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett by Eels
9. Owl John by Owl John
10. LP1 by FKA Twigs
11. Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser
12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#4 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

Are We There by Sharon Van Etten

This isn’t the first time the artist at #4 has appeared on the Top 31. Sharon van Etten appeared at #13 in 2012, with her third album, Tramp. That was a great album, and Are We There, her fourth, is better by nearly every measure. In my review of Tramp, I noted that it was “a winter album,” meaning it is more dark than light, more cold than warm. Are We There is no different. This is an album that will make you feel things, most of them not fun. Depression, abuse, and pain are at the heart of this album, and it is glorious.

Van Etten is from Brooklyn, like so many other artists on this year’s Top 31. She is a master of harmony, using multiple voices to convey her beautifully wrought poetry across the length of the album. There are a multitude of players on the album (check out the wikipedia page), but Van Etten plays a number of instruments all on her own, in addition to her lead singer / songwriter duties. Guitar, keyboards, Omnichord, drums, bass, and even some handclaps are thrown in for good measure.

Back in July I had the immense pleasure of seeing Van Etten and her band live at the Neptune. I wrote about the experience for The Sun Break:

Van Etten’s band (Darren Jessee (from Ben Folds Five) on drums, Doug Keith on guitar, Heather Woods Broderick on backup vocals and additional keyboards, and Brad Cook (from Megafaun) on bass) was very much on point, professional, and thoroughly enjoyable. And with Van Etten playing acoustic guitar, electric guitar, omnichord, organ and piano in addition to singing with the most powerful voice we’d hear that evening (and that’s saying something), the crowd was hanging on her every syllable.

and more:

Van Etten’s music is slow but not glacial. Languid but not weak. Sleepy but not tired. Listening to it, you can’t help but feel. Sadness, happiness, anger, joy — they’re all there, sometimes all at once. Amazingly, she is able to translate this feeling to the stage, performing these somewhat depressing songs with giddiness and a smile. “I’m weird, I’m totally weird. Is that ok with you?” she said, halfway through her set, and then she picked her nose. Seriously. It was such a menagerie of feelings, it could have been mistaken for schizophrenia.

But her set held together very well. Van Etten’s May 2014 album Are We There is one of my favorites of the year so far, and the songs got even better when heard live. The highlight of the album for me, “Your Love is Killing Me,” with the brutal first half of the chorus slowly singing “break my legs so I won’t walk to you; cut my tongue so I can’t talk to you; burn my skin so I can’t feel you; stab my eyes so I can’t see” is even more powerful sung right in front of you.

That song is featured in the video above. It slays me, every time. She has a number of other videos out from Are We There:

• “Taking Chances”
• “Every Time the Sun Comes Up”
• “Our Love”

They’re all great, just like the rest of the album, which, if you haven’t been convinced by now to run out and purchase, well…there’s just no hope for you.

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5. And The War Came by Shakey Graves
6. Nicky Nack by tUnE-yArDs
7. Not Art by Big Scary
8. The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett by Eels
9. Owl John by Owl John
10. LP1 by FKA Twigs
11. Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser
12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#5 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

And the War Came by Shakey Graves

The band at #5 is actually the work of just one man, sometimes actor Alejandro Rose-Garcia. When he’s not trying to expand his acting career (he was on Friday Night Lights and Sin City 2!), he’s creating and performing folky, americana music as Shakey Graves. And the War Came is his second album, and it’s no joke that I’m placing it in the top 5 of the year. It is solid from start to finish.

In the same vein as Prince or Matthew Houck (aka Phosphorescent, last year’s #1 band), Rose-Garcia performs most of the instruments on the album. He does have a few guest stars, most notably Esmé Patterson, who shares songwriting credit with Rose-Garcia on three songs on the album and lends her beautiful voice to the harmonies on those same three songs (including “Dearly Departed” above).

Rose-Garcia resides in Austin, Texas, and he sometimes sings with a purposeful, lazy drawl (most prominent on the track “Pansy Waltz”), lending a flare of Nashville to the songs. Overall, the album feels very alt.country, in a good way. The stories he tells on the album revolve around relationships and living life. As he said in this interview on NPR’s World Cafe, this album is about “what it means to love and be loved. It’s a responsibility album.”

“Dearly Departed” is the most approachable song on the album, but it verges on cringe-worthy in all of its hand-clap glory. I fear it could reach the same level of over-played insanity that the Lumineers (fellow Dualtone label-mates), Of Monsters and Men, or Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros have reached in years past. You can see Rose-Garcia and Patterson perform the song live on Conan, from a show back in October. I also recommend this live set on KEXP, from back in August. Four great songs, and you can really see the talent bubbling over.

I love this album. I can’t recommend it enough. Get. It. Now.

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6. Nicky Nack by tUnE-yArDs
7. Not Art by Big Scary
8. The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett by Eels
9. Owl John by Owl John
10. LP1 by FKA Twigs
11. Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser
12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#6 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

Nicky Nack by tUnE-yArDs

This is the second Top 10 appearance by the artist at #6, Oakland’s tUnE-yArDs. In 2011, the band made it all the way up to #4 with their second album, W H O K I L L. In that review, I wrote about the band:

tUnE-yArDs is an extension of one very talented person’s musical experimentation. Her name is Merrill Garbus, and she is a phenomenon. She creates music that’s definitely not for everyone. How she creates her music is not entirely original: she uses loops of her powerful voice along with other analog sounds to create electronic beats/rhythms/melodies (similar to Andrew Bird and St. Vincent), culminating in a cacophony of sounds that are vaguely African in origin. Hearing the recordings on her two albums, this seems somewhat apparent but doesn’t jump out at you like it does in her live show, where she is beating on anything in sight with her drum stick and creating complicated orchestrations on the strings of a ukulele.

Nicky Nack, the third and every-bit-as-fantastic album to spring forth from Garbus’s brain, is just as eclectic, as strange. Rooted in heavy beats, multiple layers of sound, and meaningful stories about trouble, conflict and cultural exploration, the album is an absolute joy to listen to. Garbus came through town on December 13, and I’m kicking myself for having not gone to the show to try and relive the experience I had back in 2011.

This music may not be for everyone, but I think everyone should listen to the above song before passing judgment. “Water Fountain” is the best song on the album. Give it at least until the bridge, which starts just past the 2:00 mark. From that point on, it builds and builds and comes crashing into the chorus one last time, at which point you should be bouncing along happily to the beat.

Earlier this year, tUnE-yArDs performed in the KEXP studios, and the entire performance is available for viewing. Watching how these songs are performed should give you a massive appreciation for how difficult it is for Garbus and the band to recreate these songs live. There’s also another video, for the song “Real Thing,” as seen here.

Buy this album. Then get her other two albums. They’re unlike anything else out there, and they are simply great.

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7. Not Art by Big Scary
8. The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett by Eels
9. Owl John by Owl John
10. LP1 by FKA Twigs
11. Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser
12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#7 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

Not Art by Big Scary

Merry Christmas, everybody! Coming in at #7 is Australian band Big Scary, whose album Not Art, their second, actually came out last year but didn’t make it stateside until earlier this year. This album is hard for me to define; each song sounds derivative of another band.

The above video, for the song “Luck Now,” reminds me of Jeff Buckley, the way Iansek uses his falsetto to great effect. The song “Twin Rivers” (as seen here) has a dissonant-chord chorus and pervasive piano that reminds me of Grizzly Bear. And “Invest,” which can be seen here, has a drum break that makes me think of U.N.K.L.E. (back when DJ Shadow was with the band).

In addition to the above, you can hear Radiohead, Velvet Underground, and many many other references throughout the album, which, on the surface might appear to be a damning quality for the album to evoke. But it’s not, at all. This album is an absolute joy to listen to. It’s solid, through and through.

The band is a duo, Tom Iansek and Joanna Syme, and they started performing as Big Scary back in 2006. In addition to their two albums, they’ve released a number of EPs. Not Art is the first album of theirs to hit my radar, and I’m so glad it did. I found myself continually drawn back to it over the length of the year. You should give it a listen, too. It will stick with you.

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8. The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett by Eels
9. Owl John by Owl John
10. LP1 by FKA Twigs
11. Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser
12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#8 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett by Eels

[Above video is NSFW] The album at #8 is probably the saddest album I listened to all year. It’s full of heartbreak, regret, and melancholy depression, sung slowly and sparsely. And it’s gorgeous.

Eels have been around for a very long time. E, whose full name is Mark Oliver Everett, is the lead singer/songwriter of this venerable band. The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett, the band’s 11th album, is the first one to resonate with me. As the name of the album alludes, it has personal tales of woe, straight from E to our ears. It’s quite a departure for the band, who is most well-known for their alternative-radio mid-90s hit, “Novocaine for the Soul.” (Listen here. I’d totally forgotten about this song. It’s so good!)

Cautionary Tales is not an “alternative” album at all. It’s best defined as folk, alt.country, and sometimes has a little indie rock bent. But it’s fantastic in all it’s sorrow. I’ve talked about how I can really get into a good, overly sad album many times in the past. This album hits the nail on the head. If you liked last year’s #1 album, Phosphorescent’s Muchacho, then you’ll like this album, too.

There’s one more video from the album, for the song “Mistakes of My Youth.” It does a good job of demonstating the nice and not-overly-wrought strings that are used throughout the album, too.

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9. Owl John by Owl John
10. LP1 by FKA Twigs
11. Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser
12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#9 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

Owl John by Owl John

With this album at #9, Scott Hutchison becomes the sole owner of “most featured artist” in all the Top 31s. His bands, (he’s the lead singer of one of my abosolute favorite bands, Frightened Rabbit, and now his solo project here, Owl John) have appeared on the Top 31 four times:

• Frightened Rabbit’s The Winter of Mixed Drinks at #2 in 2010
• Frightened Rabbit’s State Hospital EP at #10 in 2012
• Frightened Rabbit’s Pedestrian Verse at #12 in 2013
• Owl John’s Owl John here at #9 in 2014

This is no small feat. To have featured on the Top 31 four times, each at 12th or higher, says something. Well, it says a lot of things. It says I’m a sucker for a Scottish accent. It says I thoroughly enjoy sappy songs about love and heartache. It says I am a huge fan of Scott Hutchison.

Owl John is a bit of a departure for the singer/songwriter. Most Frightened Rabbit songs are about lost love, bad relationships, depression and pain. Hutchison paints a grave, presumably personal picture about how he is working his way through life. Where Owl John departs from that picture is in its overall positive message and happiness. These songs are about being in a loving relationship, expressing desire to grow old, and showing an optimistic side we’ve never seen from Hutchison.

The reason for that happiness is Hutchison is in love. He’s so in love, he’s recently moved from gloomy Scotland to sunny Los Angeles specifically to be with the one he loves. His entire outlook on life has changed. And he’s still able to crank out a beautiful, indie-rock record. If you’ve liked Frightened Rabbit in the past, Owl John is definitely for you. Hutchison is quick to say that Frightened Rabbit is not broken up. Owl John is merely a side project, something suggested by Atlantic Records as a way to help right the Frightened Rabbit ship that was apparently starting to bog down after last year’s massive worldwide tour for Pedestrian Verse.

Check out Owl John. This is a different side of Hutchison, a good side. One we can all get behind and feel good about. There are two other videos from this album out now for you to check out: “Red Hand” (NSFW!) and “Hate Music”. Enjoy!

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10. LP1 by FKA Twigs
11. Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser
12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#10 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

LP1 by FKA Twigs

The Top 10 of 2014! We’ve made it!

Coming in at the bottom of the Top 10 is Tahliah Debrett Barnett, otherwise known as FKA twigs, an english singer, songwriter, producer and dancer, whose trip-hop based sound took me completely by surprise back in August. This album, and the previous two EPs she released (EP1 in 2012, EP2 in 2013), are best listened to LOUD. Moreso than any other album I’ve listened to in the past few years, this album is layered with sonic goodness. Deep deep bass, voices off in the distance, electronic drums, and her crystal clear voice riding across the top like a slow-motion surfer atop the biggest wave at Mavericks.

This album is sexual, in a way similar to what Prince has been capable of in the past. With lines like “When I trust you we can do it with the lights on,” LP1 has much less innuendo than a Prince album typically does, but the feelings evoked are identical: musical intimacy. Each song is credited to FKA Twigs, along with a bevy of other producers, but that doesn’t prevent the album from holding together well. This is FKA Twigs’ vehicle. The others are just there as hangers-on.

My favorite song on the album, “Two Weeks,” was also the first single and video from the album, and it was posted here back in July. The video above, for the song “Video Girl,” is a close second for “favorite” from the album, but its a less universal song, and will be a more difficult entry into her work for most of you. Don’t let it deter you. The mix of the song featured in the video is different from the album, for what that’s worth. If it’s not your thing, go watch “Two Weeks,” and crank it loud. You won’t be disappointed.

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11. Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser
12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#11 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

Black Hours by Hamilton Leithauser

The artist at #11 should be well known to The Bacon Review readers, even if his name doesn’t sound familiar. Hamilton Leithauser, the lead singer of one of my favorite bands of all time (and now defunct), The Walkmen, has broken out on his own, releasing an amazing debut album, Black Hours. The Walkmen appeared on the countdown in 2012 at #9 and in 2010 at #26, so landing Black Hours here at #11 is right in keeping with that standing.

Back in August I had the great pleasure of seeing Leithauser perform this work solo, at the Triple Door, and I reviewed the performance for The Sunbreak. In that review, I wrote:

Fifteen minutes ago I learned that The Walkmen essentially broke up (“extended hiatus”) on November 29, 2013. Learning of this band’s breakup was different from the previous times I can remember hearing this type of news. If it weren’t for the fact that the band’s lead singer, Hamilton Leithauser, had recently released a much-worthy follow-up to the band’s last three absolutely amazing albums, I might actually have felt that pang, that sense of longing. Instead, I can move on, happy in the thought that we’ll still get to hear great music led by this great crooner.

It’s hard for this album to sound not like a Walkmen album, if only because Leithauser’s voice is so unique. But his solo direction appears to be slightly less rock & roll, a bit more lounge singer. But in a good way. Leithauser is a natural born performer: tall, blonde, affable and charismatic. Leithauser grew up in Washington, DC, and now resides in New York City. Singing songs of love, heartache and merriment, these songs could have been written anywhere, about anyone. And that’s part of what makes this album so great. You can connect with it, easily. Do so now.

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12. Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s

#12 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

Give the People What They Want by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Whereas The War On Drugs’ sound harkened back to 80s classic rock (as discussed at #13), the band at #12 goes back even further, to the 60s and 70s. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings are a product that sounds so familiar, you could be excused if you thought the songs on Give the People What They Want were all covers. But you’d also be wrong — these songs are all from the new millennium, written and recorded in 2013.

A fantastic blend of horns, backup singers, and powerful lead vocals by Sharon Jones, you can’t help but happily bounce in your seat when listening to them play. Jones has a storied history herself, having been nothing more than a backup singer throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s. She spent her days as a corrections officer at Rikers Island and an armored car guard for Wells Fargo. Knowing this information lends credibility to her words. When she wails “Get Up and Get Out,” you really feel compelled to do so.

The Dap-Kings have their own storied history, having been playing together as a group since the turn of the millennium. You’ve heard them many times over, although you might not have been aware of it. They were Amy Winehouse’s backing band on most of her amazing 2006 album Back to Black. They also appeared (uncredited) right here in the Top 31 of 2012, as the backing and pervasive horn section for David Byrne and St. Vincent’s collaboration Love This Giant.

In a normal year, this album would be in the top 10 for sure. It will certainly stand the test of time. I may regret putting it at #12. Either way, it’s fantastic, and you should be putting it into your ear holes right this minute.

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13. Lost in the Dream by The War On Drugs
14. Warpaint by Warpaint
15. Heal by Strand of Oaks
16. Stay Gold by First Aid Kit
17. This is All Yours by ∆
18. Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers
19. Only Run by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
20. Augustines by Augustines
21. El Pintor by Interpol
22. I Never Learn by Lykke Li
23. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes by Thom Yorke
24. The Voyager by Jenny Lewis
25. Voices by Phantogram
26. Morning Phase by Beck
27. Hungry Ghosts by OK Go
28. Run the Jewels 2 by Run the Jewels
29. Cosmos by Yellow Ostrich
30. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
31. With Light & With Love by Woods

2009-2013 Top 31s