#10 on the 2025 Bacon Top 31 — Horsegirl

January 22, 2026 by Royal Stuart in 2025, Top 31

Phonetics On and On by Horsegirl

Welcome to the Top 10 of 2025! The trio of people who make up the phenomenal band Horsegirl met at the School of Rock (the globally-franchised for-profit music education program) in Chicago in 2019, while the three of them were in high school, which says something about their chemistry and why they work so well together. Setting aside whatever outside factors drove them to the School, they all had a youthful love of music and their instruments enough to want to learn more, to then find each other in that environment, and then form a band around that shared experience, to the benefit of us all.

Now, having relocated to New York while two of the three of them attend NYU, they deftly balance the demands of university while creating music as “indie darlings.” Phonetics On and On is their second album; I have not heard their debut album, but through my research I’ve learned that their “high school record” debut is louder and bigger, probably not for the better. What I can tell you is that Phonetics is 11 songs of pure indie-rock bliss.

With Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein (the NYU students – although it’s possible they’ve graduated now? And possibly even moved back to Chicago? My sources are decidedly mum about their more recent history, since Phonetics came out nearly a year ago, on Valentine’s Day 2025) alternating lead and background vocals and lead and rhythm guitar, and Gigi Reece behind the drum kit, the band fills a void last filled by a slew of late 90s / early 2000s bands such as Built to Spill, Liz Phair, and Rural Alberta Advantage. There’s even a line of similarity you could draw all the way back to the Violent Femmes’ 1983 self-titled debut.

All of those reference points have louder, more in-your face songs in their catalog, but Phonetics is a quiet affair. Finger plucked acoustics, with the occasional fuzzed out guitar, time and key changes that evoke my favorite prog-rock turns, and the dueling voices of Cheng and Lowenstein blending together in a slightly-off but oh-so-endearing way. The album was produced by Welsh musician Cate Le Bon, who is at least partially responsible why Phonetics may feel like a left-turn for those who got into the band’s debut album. “Play less notes” was a key bit of production advice from Le Bon, who has produced albums by other indie luminaries, such as Kurt Vile, Deerhunter, and even Wilco’s most recent album, 2023’s Cousin.¹

I could have picked any one of their videos as the “best” from this album – they’re all just so good. “2468” (featured above) is a bouncy, brain-wormy song that could easily have been created during grade school recess. Cheng even picks up the violin for this song – I love a band that can break out the orchestral stringed instruments. “Switch Over” is also bouncy, but in a more droning, jam-session clip. “Frontrunner” is twangy, with the un-harmonic doubled vocals pulling you through. And “Julie” slows it way down, with lots of non-word vocals (da da da da da da da…).

There aren’t many bands that evoke the music I fell in love with when I first moved to Seattle back in 1997, but Horsegirl is one of them. I suspect we’ll be hearing much more from the trio as the year rolls on, and I will be first in line to pick it up.

^{1. Phonetics On and On was recorded in Wilco’s Chicago studios, The Loft.↩}

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#12 on the 2023 Bacon Top 31 — Blondshell

January 20, 2024 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

Blondshell by Blondshell

I love getting in on a new band on the ground floor and watching them rise to the top. 26-year-old Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Sabrina Mae Teitelbaum, otherwise known as Blondshell, is a great example of this experience. I saw her and her band open for Porridge Radio (#12 last year) at the tiny 200-person venue Barboza in September 2022. At the time, she had released exactly three songs (“Olympus,” “Kiss City,” and “Sepsis” – the latter of which is featured in the video above). Three months later, she was signing a record contract with Partisan Records, home of recent Bacon Top 31 faves Fontaines D.C. (#20 in 2022, #12 in 2020, and #26 in 2019) and IDLES (#24 in 2020 and #16 in 2018) among many others. And now, a year later, she’s released a superb, Obama-approved self-titled debut.

Prior to 2020, Teitelbaum performed under the name BAUM, and had a distinctly different musical personality. BAUM’s music was more centrally Pop with a capital P, and she had a minor viral hit with a song called “Fuckboy.” Listening to that song now, while a little catchy, it unsurprisingly sounds immature and hollow. As COVID started to settle in in early 2020 she made the switch to Blondshell (a name she and her sister came up with over dinner one night). After a couple years of rumination and deep thinking, the first Blondshell song to be released, “Olympus,” came out in June 2022. Over the next year, the magic appears to have taken over as she assembled what became the debut album.

Blondshell has clear linear ties to similar sources as Indigo de Souza did, but Teitelbaum feels more singularly Courtney Barnett, a Bacon Top 31 fave (#5 in 2021, #8 in 2018, and #5 in 2015), and further back into 90s rock, like Hole or the Cranberries. When I saw her perform back in 2022 she played a cover to Built to Spill’s “Carry the Zero,” which came out in 1999. Being a huge BTS stan, of course this had some positive influence on me, personally. You can watch her “KEXP Live Performance” to see her and the band in action, or watch the handful of additional videos she’s released from the album:

“Salad”
“Joiner
“Veronica Mars”
“Street Rat”

We’re getting into the portion of the Top 31 where every artist becomes a must-listen. There’s no “give this a try,” it’s all very much “stop what you’re doing right now and listen.” And that’s where I‘ll end this review. Do it. Now.

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#12 on the 2022 Bacon Top 31 — Porridge Radio

January 20, 2023 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To the Sky by Porridge Radio

When I moved to Seattle in 1997, I was introduced to a a few things in quick succession that opened my eyes to the world of music. First came “public radio:” kexp.org. Prior to then, I had no idea there could be radio without commercials screaming at you. Next came “club shows.” I’d been to a few concerts, some even in smaller venues (Tori Amos in the 250 person Sooner Theatre in 1992 being my first ever concert), but the idea that a venue existed where different bands performed multiple times a week was entirely foreign to me prior to moving to Seattle. And finally, “local music.” Of course I knew a band or two locally in Oklahoma, but the idea that a city could sustain multiple bands playing multiple venues around town regularly and only rarely escape the city limits was beyond my comprehension.

It was there, in those formative, new-to-Seattle days that my love of indie rock solidified. Sky Cries Mary, Death Cab for Cutie, Built to Spill, Damien Jurado, Modest Mouse — these bands were all essentially in my back yard, any one of them playing a show nearby on any given weekend, along with countless other, less well-known but still equally as-good bands.

Into this miasma of fuzz is where my hearing-deprived brain wants to throw the band who occupies the #12 spot on the 2022 Top 31, despite the band being from nowhere near Seattle, and with over 20 years separating me from those formative days of my youth. Porridge Radio, from Brighton, England, are a throwback to an era not too far away in spirit, but far enough away to be able to legally drink in the US.

Led by the dynamic singer / songwriter / lead guitarist Dana Margolin, Porridge Radio brings a heavy amount of spite and angst to their songs that feels urgent and unbridled. Behind her is Georgie Stott on keyboards, Maddie Ryall on bass, and drummer Sam Yardley. Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To the Sky is the band’s third LP since forming in 2015. Their last album, the critically acclaimed Every Bad, came out March 13, 2020, exactly six days before I packed up my desk and told my boss “I have to worry about my family, I’m going to work from home for the next couple weeks.” According to Pitchfork, Margolin had already started writing “Back to the Radio,” featured in the video above, when Every Bad came out.

Go ahead and hit play on the video above. It has all the things I love about indie rock – fuzzed out, strong guitars; heavy drums that start out low and build; and a dynamic, charismatic hero/heroin at the fore, giving it their all. Multiple songs on the album convey this same feeling. Together, the album is a real triumph. I haven’t yet heard Every Bad, but a few months ago I did get to see Porridge Radio live on an actual stage. Barboza was packed, with its low ceiling and narrow build, and Margolin filled it out wonderfully. I can’t wait to experience it again. Prepare yourself as well – listen to the album, and then go with me the next time they come through town.

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13. I Walked with You a Ways by Plains
14. The Last Goodbye by Odesza
15. A Light for Attracting Attention by The Smile
16. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar
17. Inside Problems by Andrew Bird
18. Laurel Hell by Mitski
19. Full Moon Project by Phosphorescent
20. Skinty Fia by Fontaines D.C.
21. I Love You Jennifer B by Jockstrap
22. Too Much to Ask by Cheekface
23. Dripfield by Goose
24. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You by Big Thief
25. And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow by Weyes Blood
26. NOT TiGHT by DOMi & JD BECK
27. Preacher’s Daughter by Ethel Cain
28. Live at KEXP, vol. 10 by Various Artists
29. All You Need Is Time by Daisy the Great
30. Cool It Down by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
31. CAPRISONGS by FKA twigs

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#3 on the 2021 Bacon Top 31 — Japanese Breakfast

January 29, 2022 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

Jubilee by Japanese Breakfast

Despite striving myself on my punctuality, I’m often late to the party. Japanese Breakfast, a band of indefinite size and location fronted by Korean-born, Oregon-raised renaissance woman Michelle Zauner, is a prime example. Their album, Jubilee, that I have so valiantly placed at #3 on my Top 31 for the entirety of 2021, did not enter my audio purview until December 28, 2021. If I’d posted my Top 31 in December, as I used to do until a few years ago, this album would have not been included at all.

Instead, I learned about it thanks to the fantastic KEXP community, who voted this phenomenal third album from the band as their #1 album of the year. I didn’t even hear the live broadcast of that announcement. I read about it a few days later, decided to listen to the album that had struck everyone’s fancy, and was subsequently left trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces of my exploded brain that had scattered around the living room.

This is pop music in its purest, most exciting form. Zauner’s wit, song structure, and bubbly voice – equal parts Grimes and Jenny Lewis – weave a tapestry of pure joy for ten solid songs. The peak of the joy comes at song #2, “Be Sweet,” featured in the video shown above. That chorus – “Be sweet to me baby. I want to believe in you, I want to belieeeeeeve” – is so sickly sweet, I die.

The last song on the album, “Posing for Cars,” is the least pop-like song on the album, but the extended, Doug Martsch-esque guitar solo showcases Zauner’s skills on the instrument. And skilled she is. In addition to having penned three albums with Japanese Breakfast, Zauner is also the director for nearly all of their music videos. And these aren’t some cheap band-performance videos. They’re full-on stories, sometimes strung together into epics. The other two videos from Jubilee are “Posing in Bondage” and “Savage Good Boy,” featuring Micheal Imperioli (best known as Christopher Moltisanti from the Sopranos), and is meant to be a prequel to the story shown in “Bondage.” Zauner has also directed videos for Better Oblivion Community Center, Charly Bliss, and Jay Som.

As if that weren’t enough, she released her first book in 2021. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir debuted at #2 on the NYTimes Best Seller List in April. And it’s now being adapted into a film by Orion Pictures, of which the soundtrack will be supplied by Japanese Breakfast.

Jubilee has been nominated for Best Alternative Music Album, and the band for Best New Artist Grammys (not sure how that works, given that this album is their third as a band). Pitchfork, in their 7.8/10 review of Jubilee, declared 2021 as “Jbrekkie Season,” and I have to agree. This doesn’t feel like the top – this feels like we’re only at the beginning of something huge, like, the birth of a new Michelangelo. I absolutely cannot wait to see what comes next.

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4. A Way Forward by Nation of Language
5. Things Take Time, Take Time by Courtney Barnett
6. Little Oblivions by Julien Baker
7. Valentine by Snail Mail
8. sketchy. by tUnE-yArDs
9. A Very Lonely Solstice by Fleet Foxes
10. Hey What by Low
11. Local Valley by José González
12. Head of Roses by Flock of Dimes
13. The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows by Damon Albarn
14. Collapsed in Sunbeams by Arlo Parks
15. Loving In Stereo by Jungle
16. Flying Dream 1 by Elbow
17. Screen Violence by Chvrches
18. Blue Weekend by Wolf Alice
19. Mainly Gestalt Pornography by Pearly Gate Music
20. Peace Or Love by Kings of Convenience
21. These 13 by Jimbo Mathus & Andrew Bird
22. Mr. Corman: Season 1 by Nathan Johnson
23. Home Video by Lucy Dacus
24. I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico by Various Artists
25. Siamese Dream by Fruit Bats
26. NINE by Sault
27. Observatory by Aeon Station
28. The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania by Damien Jurado
29. A Beginner’s Mind by Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine
30. Where the End Begins by Knathan Ryan
31. Private Space by Durand Jones & The Indications

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#19 on the 2015 Bacon Top 31

December 13, 2015 by Royal Stuart

Untethered Moon by Built to Spill

And now for one of my most favorite bands. Built to Spill is the band I’ve seen perform the most (I’ll be seeing them for a sixteenth time in February). And they’re one of my longest-loved bands as well, having first heard them shortly after I moved to Seattle in 1997. They were even featured on the very first Top 31, back in 2009, at #9 with their album There is no Enemy.

There were six years between that album and Untethered Moon, but it certainly doesn’t sound like it. This is a classic Built to Spill album, and lead singer / songwriter Doug Martsch is as good today as he has been for the bulk of his songwriting career. Unlike their Pacific Northwest counterpart, Modest Mouse, whose recent output sounds nothing like their earlier work, Martsch and company have consistently put out album after album, all filling generally the same space on the musical spectrum.

There are some great songs, and some duds, on this new album, but it holds my attention from start to finish. That can probably be tied to the strength of the opening song, “All Our Songs,” and the final song on the album, “When I’m Blind” — the two longest songs on the album, both featuring a great, high-speed climax that can only be defined as that Built to Spill Sound™.

The video above, for “Never be the Same,” is an odd video experience. It centers around a gathering to watch another video that came out earlier this year, for “Living Zoo,” also from Untethered Moon. (I suggest watching that video, too, to get the full picture.) It shows Martsch going absolutely ape shit for the actor in the video, complete with strange dialog and weird cuts that make no sense other than to simply demonstrate how strange and funny Martsch is.

If you’ve liked Built to Spill at any point in the last 20 years, you will like this album. Buy it.

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20. Viet Cong by Viet Cong
21. The Magic Whip by Blur
22. Savage Hills Ballroom by Youth Lagoon
23. Not Real by Stealing Sheep
24. Beat the Champ by The Mountain Goats
25. Gliss Riffer by Dan Deacon
26. Dark Bird is Home by The Tallest Man on Earth
27. Gunnera by Pfarmers
28. Swimmer to a Liquid Armchair by Ricked Wickey
29. To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
30. Live in Seattle by Moufang / Czamanski
31. High by Royal Headache

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