#11 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

The Hope Six Demolition Project by PJ Harvey

At 47, PJ Harvey seems to be finally sliding into her prime. The Hope Six Demolition Project, her eleventh album in her 24 year career, has been a long time coming. Her previous album Let England Shake came out five years ago, to much acclaim (although I completely missed it on the Top 31).

Harvey has always been on the outskirts of my musical taste. I’ve enjoyed hearing her songs when they come up on the radio, but I’ve never connected with an album of hers before this one. This album is pure rock and roll, with a little bit of a message. The name of the album is in direct response to the HOPE VI projects, which were part of a gentrification / “social cleansing” movement in Washington, DC.

The album was created under interesting circumstances, according to Wikipedia:

in sessions open to the public as part of an art installation at Somerset House in London called Recording in Progress. The sessions were forty-five minutes each in length… Viewers could see Harvey create the album through one-way glass with producers Flood and John Parish, who both worked on Harvey's previous album, Let England Shake.

Parish has been PJ Harvey’s longtime producer and collaborator. And even if you’ve not heard of Flood, you’ve heard his music. The man is responsible for so many seminal albums, including U2’s The Joshua Tree and Nine Inch Nail’s Pretty Hate Machine, it’s no wonder I love this PJ Harvey album. Give it a listen. I have a feeling you’ll love it, too.

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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

#13 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Sea of Noise by St. Paul & The Broken Bones

Soul music has played a big part of the Top 31 in the past. So it should be little surprise that Birmingham, Alabama’s St. Paul & The Broken Bones would land here at #13 with their second album, Sea of Noise.

I’ve not heard the seve-piece band’s debut, which came out in 2014, but I aim to. This is soul music as you know and love it, and it will get you moving in your seat. These guys have even opened up for the Rolling Stones, so that should tell you something.

Lead singer Paul Janeway has a deep, resonant voice that commands attention. Backed by horns, keys, drums, bass and guitar, the band plays songs that sound as if they should have come out a few decades earlier, produced by a band full of non-white performers. But this is 2016, and St. Paul & The Broken Bones a breaking all the rules. Check out this album as soon as your ears are free.

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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

#14 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

You Want It Darker by Leonard Cohen

Now that we’re into the better half of the Top 31, there tends to be for me more invested in the albums featured. Take this album at #14, Leonard Cohen’s masterful — and final — album. Cohen was a month into his 83rd year when he released You Want It Darker. He died three weeks after its release, bringing new light to the album’s overt themes of death and god.

Cohen released his first album at 33, after failing to earn a living writing poetry and fiction. You Want It Darker was only his 14th release across his 49-year musical career, a pace of an album every 3½ years. That should tell you something about his dedication to his craft. This album is indicative of his later efforts, with Cohen’s spoken-word poetry layered over sparse strings, guitar, and quiet brushed percussion. There should be a section at the record store called “gravel,” dedicated to the later-year Cohen, Tom Waits and Bob Dylan albums that all speak volumes to the lifetimes these men have bared openly for us, the listeners.

As it was for David Bowie’s final album (featured earlier in the 2016 Bacon Top 31), Cohen’s death permeates every beat of this album. It’s impossible to listen to it without picturing the man on his deathbed, contemplating the previous 82 years and what it all meant. This is not a bad thing, it’s not a dark cloud that hovers. But it’s not happy either. It simply is. One has to imagine that once he got into his eighties, he’d had a long and fruitful life, content with where he’d been and what he’d done. His legacy will live on well past 2016, and this album will play a big part in that.

Hallelujah.

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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

#15 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Painting of a Panic Attack by Frightened Rabbit

Coming in like a sad Scottish raincloud to shit on your parade, we have Frightened Rabbit here at #15 with their fifth full-length album in the last decade, Painting of a Panic Attack. If you’ve been reading the Bacon Review for any length of time, you’d know that I love these five guys out of Selkirk, Scotland. They’ve been on the Top 31 three times (2010,2012, 2013) and would have been on here at least two more times if I’d only been charting my Top 31 prior to 2009.

I live in Seattle, and Frightened Rabbit makes for the perfect soundtrack to the dark, long, and wet winters we have in the Pacific NW (and in Scotland, I’ve heard). The members of Frightened Rabbit are masters songs that wallow in sadness and depression but turn into a resounding chorus of redemption and overcoming of adversity. It can sound a touch formulaic or simple at times, but that’s something I love about them. This is not deep, introspective music. This is straightforward, hit you over the head, emo rock & roll. And it is glorious.

And nothing beats a good Scottish accent.

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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

#16 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Why Are You OK by Band Of Horses

Sometimes a band you’d long given up on surprises you. Such is the case with the album at #16, Band of Horses’s fifth album Why Are You OK. Every since “Is The a Ghost” got stuck in my head sometime in late 2007, I’ve had trouble liking this band. Their debut album, Everything All the Time, is a great album. They really nailed it with that one. Each album since then has been a shadow of that original greatness.

And I’m not saying this new one is better than their 2006 debut. This is — finally — the follow-up album I’ve been waiting for them to make all along. It was produced by Jason Lyle of Grandaddy, and maybe that has something to do with the subtle-but-important differences that show up. “Casual Party,” the first single from the album, featured above, is a classic Band of Horses song. It sounds like them, they’re having fun, and it’s catchy and rocking.

The rest of the album builds off that song, to leave you with a warm glow inside. I had the pleasure of seeing these guys perform at the Paramount earlier this year, and the live versions of these songs are every bit as good as they sound recorded. And lead singer Ben Bridwell is having a blast. He’s the type of guy that seems like he’d be friends with everybody, he’d be the one to buy you a round just for being you. And that’s the sense you get out of this album, too.

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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

#17 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Not To Disappear by Daughter

When listening to the album featured here at #17, a coworker of mine declared “this is what it would sound like if The National were fronted by a woman.” And wow if he wasn’t spot on. Daughter, from England, has been on Top 31 before, when their debut album, If You Leave, made it up to #11 in 2013. That was a fantastic album, and their sophomore album, Not To Disappear, is a continuation of that beginning.

Quiet, brooding, with strong drum lines and dark lyrics, the band makes you feel as though you’re sitting in a dimly lit and dank basement room, talking to a troubled friend in hushed tones about things only the closest of friends can talk about. The lead singer, Elena Tonra, has a voice that is just beyond clarity, causing you to lean in closer to hear her.

Definitely if you liked the band’s first album, you’ll like this, too. But even if you’ve not heard of Daughter before, this album is worth a listen. Seek it out.

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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

#18 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Sunlit Youth by Local Natives

Five guys from Los Angeles, Local Natives make catchy, slightly emo indie rock that is at once recognizable, warm, and approachable. This is the third time the band has appeared on the Top 31, with the debut and sophomore albums making it into the top 10 in 2010 and 2013.

This new album isn’t a departure from their past efforts, it’s not surprising, or a new direction for the band, and it doesn’t feature any new members. This is Local Natives, doing what they do, in ways you expect and I utterly appreciate. It makes for a somewhat difficult review, as there’s nothing new to report. But I will say this: you should be listening to this band if you don’t already. And you should listen in chronological order. Sunlit Youth, while still a great album, is their third best. Fall in love with their first two, and you be in lockstep with this new one in no time.

And give the video above a listen. I would prefer to have shown you a video with actual recordings featured on the album, but the band doesn’t have anything but lyric videos out there. But I got the next best thing: a La Blogothèque Take Away Show. If you’re not familiar, feel free to get lost…

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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

#19 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

I Had a Dream That You Were Mine by Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam

The two gentlemen at #19 have been featured on the Bacon Top 31 a combined five times over the years, as Hamilton Leithauser is the former front man for (now defunct) The Walkmen (#26 in 2010, #9 in 2012, and his solo album was #11 in 2014), and Rostam is the longtime producer and cowriter for Vampire Weekend (#6 in 2010, and #3 in 2013). So you know their first album produced together is also going to make it onto the Top 31.

Leithauser’s gravelly, strained croon combined with Rostam’s excellent production — along with their own instrumentation and a litany of backup performers — creates for a solid rock and roll album. The two first worked together on a couple songs on Leithauser’s awesome solo album, and this is the first time they’ve created an entire album together.

If you’re a fan of either of these mens’ amazing back catalogs, then you should seek out this album. They’re also coming through town in January, playing two shows at the Tractor on January 21. I’m heading to the late-night show. Will you be there?

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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

#20 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

★ by David Bowie

We lost quite a few great musicians in 2016. Prince. Leonard Cohen. Sharon Jones. Phife Dawg. And Bowie. David fucking Bowie. I can’t say his death was the hardest to take. They were all difficult. But it wasn’t easy, that’s for sure.

He presented himself to us as a pure entertainer, his life for the stage, and Bowie orchestrated his death in exactly that same way. He released ★ (aka Blackstar), his 25th album, on his 69th birthday, January 8, 2016. Two days later he died of complications from liver cancer, something he’d been secretly battling for a year and a half. From Tony Visconti, the coproducer of the album:

“He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life — a work of art. He made ★ for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn’t, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry.”

This is a sad, exhausting album. The sadness comes from the overt lyrics, which Bowie wrote about the experience of cancer treatment and impending death. The exhaustion comes from knowing what Bowie must have been feeling, himself, as he wrote it, which comes through in every slow tempo, every bass beat. It’s the perfect counter to the previous album on the countdown, Farewell, Starlite! Sure, there are many albums I’d reach for to memorialize Bowie by before reaching for this one, but ★ is still the perfect swan song, and I can’t recommend it enough.

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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

#21 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Farewell, Starlite! by Francis and the Lights

I didn’t discover this album until five days ago, even though it came out in September. I’d had a different album for this spot until I realized it was disqualified due to it having come out in November (putting it into the time frame for next year’s Top 31). So I was glad that this album came along, and I’m glad it’s powerful enough to show up here, at #21.

Francis and the Lights is a man who had his name legally changed to Francis Farewell Starlite. While Starlite has been performing as Francis and the Lights in front of as well as behind the mic since 2007, Farewell, Starlite! is his debut album. And it’s full of auto-tuned goodness. It’s dancey and poppy and makes me feel good inside. There’s not much more I can say about it.

Be sure to watch the video above, for the song “Friends.” It features Kanye West and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, along with Starlite, who dances like an idiot before joining in lockstep with Vernon in a jokey little choreographed routine. It’s brilliant in it’s silliness.

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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

#22 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

This Unruly Mess I’ve Made by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

These guys really know what they’re doing. They’re insanely popular, and they’ve built it all up themselves. But if you listen to the music created by lyricist / rapper Macklemore and his music-producing cohort Ryan Lewis, it becomes clear they’re just fumbling through it all like everybody else. The brutal honesty of Macklemore’s lyrics on this new record, the duo’s second full-length collaboration, step well beyond the refreshingly lucid lyrics of their debut, The Heist.

Next to chart-topping songs like “Downtown,” (which is insanely raunchy — when was the last time you heard a song with the word “scrotum” in it?), and “Dance Off” (which video is shown above, featuring none other than Idris “‘Stringer’ Bell” Elba), Mack sings about the inner turmoil of being an imposter for his success, of being white and finding it difficult to fight for #blacklivesmatter, of being a dead-beat father who’s never around. The album’s truths are at once arresting and refreshing.

But then it comes to the global acceptance of them. Nothing brings out my own insecurity about being a white American male more than listening to Macklemore do his thing. I feel guilty listening to him with my son, especially when we get to the song “White Privilege II” and the spoken-word passage of the mom clearly talking to Macklemore and saying

“You’re the only hip-hop that I let my kids listen to
’Cause you get it, all that negative stuff it isn’t cool”

Because it causes my son to ask questions, questions that are hard for me to answer, that make me uneasy in my “whiteness.” And while it’s not true that Macklemore & Ryan Lewis is the only hip-hop I let my son listen to, all of his points hit a nerve (as it’s supposed to).

And that’s where Mack’s lyrics shine — in that moment where you stop, and you think, and you examine your own world and decide “am I doing everything I can in this fucked up world of ours?” and realize you most certainly are not, and you start to edge yourself towards being that ultimately unattainable “better person.” And you keep on trying, thanks in small part to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

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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

#23 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

LNZNDRF by LNZNDRF

At this point, I’m pretty sure all the guys in The National have broken orbit and expanded into new projects. Two cross-pollenated National / Menomena bands made last year’s Top 31 (Pfarmers and El Vy). And here at #23 this year we have a National / Beirut crossover, with Scott and Bryan Devendorf (the set of non-Dessner brothers from The National) and Ben Lanz (trombone player from Beirut) making some rather proggy, noodly indie-rock.

Remember Secret Machines, that fantastic early 2000s prog-rock trio that brought their own stage to the Showbox and played in the round? That’s what LNZNDRF reminds me of. A few songs on the album have vocals, but the songs without vocals are more intriguing.

The production value of the album is high, as can be expected by anyone in The National. Layers of analog instruments, nothing too overpowering, seamlessly blended together into a cohesive musical story. There’s not much Beirut to be heard here, there isn’t even any horns, which I find surprising. But overall, it’s a lovely album to put on in the background while doing pretty much anything. I suggest doing so at your earliest convenience.

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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

#24 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Puberty 2 by Mitski

The album at #24, by the singularly-named woman, Mitski, sounds familiar and unique all at once. In her voice you can hear traces of other powerful singers like St. Vincent, Liz Phair, or Sharon van Etten. Her music, well- but not overly-produced, is a fluid blend of electronic and analog instruments, quiet and then pushed at times to the edge of breaking. Puberty 2 is her fourth album, and this is the only one I’ve listened to, but I aim to hear the others.

I don’t tend to hear the lyrics I’m listening to, the voice tending to be more like another instrument, and Puberty 2 is no different. She could be singing about death and destruction, or happiness and joy, and I’d be none the wiser. But that’s, again, part of the beauty. She’s a half Japanese, half American female Jónsi, leading her own New York-based Sigur Ros.

There. I think I’ve thrown enough confusion at you to spark some interest. Now go listen, won’t you?

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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

#25 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Light Upon the Lake by Whitney

It’s always a bit strange to pick up an album you listened to quite a bit over the summer and then listen to it when it’s 34° outside and pitch black. You hear the album in question in an entirely different way. So it is with Chicago band Whitney’s fantastic, and very summery, debut album, Light Upon the Lake.

Take a smidge of Andy Gibb, throw in some reverb, some compressed horns, and a dash of happiness and you end up with Whitney. The band rose up out of the ashes of the short-lived but critically acclaimed Smith Westerns.

Despite the cold and wet outside, I suggest putting this album while lounging in front of a raging fire. Put on headphones to block out the crackle of the fire and close your eyes — you’ll be instantly whisked away to a distant beach, the sun beating down on your face, and you’ll feel an urge to reach for some sunscreen that isn’t there. Now enjoy the music. Just be sure not to catch your toes on fire while daydreaming.

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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

#26 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

A Corpse Wired for Sound by Merchandise

Circling back to the 80s again (see #31), we find ourselves listening to Merchandise, from Tampa. This is not the kind of music you’d expect to come out of sunny Florida. It’s dark and brooding, somewhere in the vicinity of gothic icons like Depeche Mode, Bauhaus, and Joy Division, with industrial noise, synthesizers, drum machines and well-produced guitars filling in the melodies. Throw in a little INXS-esque pop hooks, and you’ve got a good basis for what to expect with the album. The eighties are alive and well in Tampa, apparently.

This is technically the band’s fifth album since forming in 2008, but I’ve not heard nor am I compelled to seek out their previous work (the description of this album and the band’s history on the 4AD website essentially says that even though the trio that made this album was responsible for the previous albums, this one is entirely unlike anything they’ve produced before it. There’s also a mysterious lack of information about this band; for a band to have five albums, even with a stupidly generic name like Merchandise, you should still be able to find a wikipedia page on them. NOPE.

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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

#27 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Away by Okkervil River

Will Sheff, the driver (and lead singer) behind Okkervil River, is sad. Or, at least I think he is. The band’s eighth album, Away, is dripping is depression. This is not foreign territory for the band. Black Sheep Boy, their 2005 album, leaves you with the feeling you’ve been sitting under a dark thundercloud for 45 minutes.

But this can be a good thing — I love hearing an album that makes me feel things, as Away does. It’s ok that those feelings are mostly ones of concern for Sheff’s well-being, but I find that’s often the case with musicians who really put their all into their music.

Take the video above, for instance. It’s for a song called “Okkervil River R.I.P.” Sheff’s lyrics tend to be obtuse, so it’s impossible to know for sure what the song means, but it’s easy to draw some conclusions from that title. Will this be the last Okkervil River album? It could be that this song, which happens to also be the first song on the album, is about the fact that the only common part of the band from previous Okkervil River albums is Sheff himself. Every other performer on the album is new.

But Sheff’s voice is still his voice, and if you’ve liked previous OR albums, I recommend giving this one a listen.

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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

#28 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

case/lang/veirs by case/lang/veirs

I like to consider the album here at #28 and yesterday’s Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop album) as two parts of a whole. Both albums were produced, mixed and engineered by the inimitable Tucker Martine. Both feature artists that have strong careers separate from the arrangement of people featured on these albums. And both are quiet, country-esque affairs that are better heard as background music than actively listened to.

That’s not a slight on either album. It’s not easy to make music that can bare repeated listening while being so completely unoffensive as to fade into the background like a fuzzy, flocked off-white patterned wallpaper.

You know and love these artists. Laura Veirs has been recording lovely singer-songwriter stuff since the late 90s. Neko Case has appeared on the Top 31 at least twice. k.d. lang is a legend. This is almost too much awesomeness to be contained in one record. And yet…

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29. Love Letter for Fire by Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop
30. Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future by Underworld
31. Preoccupations by Preoccupations

#29 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Love Letter for Fire by Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop

Prior to hearing the album here at #29, I was familiar with only half of the duo. I’ve been a fan of Sam Beam, otherwise known as Iron & Wine, for over a decade. Jesca Hoop has been recording music for nearly as long as Beam, but this album was my first experience with her sultry voice.

Love Letter for Fire is a perfectly fine record. It’s gorgeous, a lovely thing to put on in the background when you’re — I don’t know — knitting by a fire, ensconced in a cabin deep in the woods on an island in the San Juans, or at least imagining yourself doing as much.

The album is produced, engineered and mixed by Seattle’s Tucker Martine, who has worked on a mind-boggling high number of albums I’ve loved over the years. Finger picked guitars, violins and cellos, pianos, and the buttery-smooth voices of Beam and Hoop — you really can’t go wrong.

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30. Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future by Underworld
31. Preoccupations by Preoccupations

#30 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future by Underworld

Oh how the mighty have fallen. If this were the early nineties, I’d be putting my absolute favorite “electronic music” band up near the top of the chart. But today, I feel as though I’m simply throwing them a bone because, hey, the old guys are still willing to give it a shot.

You know the Underworld. “Born Slippy .NUXX,” the outro of the 1996 movie Trainspotting, was the song of an entire generation, able to finally breath after the claustrophobia of our childhood, graduating into our own future. Barbara Barbara, the band’s ninth album in their 28 year history, will feel very familiar to anyone that has heard Underworld before. I believe this to be a fantastic album, just one that I no longer am able to connect with like I did in my twenties. So, to the second-to-last-spot on the Top 31 they go, a Second Toughest of the Infants no longer.

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31. Preoccupations by Preoccupations