January 2012
3 posts
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December 2011
31 posts
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Watch#5 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow
I’m starting to see a pattern here. With the King of Limbs at #7, Bon Iver at #6, and now Elbow at #5, my affinity for rich orchestration and heavy layering is readily apparent. Maybe even a tad predictable. Thankfully, numbers four through one don’t fall in this same category, so predictions can remain off target.
Elbow is...
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Watch#10 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
The Youth Die Young by Mad Rad
The Top 10 of the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar starts with an album that won’t be found on any other Best of 2011 list anywhere, because it came out 2010. As the list starts counting down on Dec. 1, I can’t very well include albums that come out in December on the list. Additionally, I feel an album needs at least a month of...
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Watch#11 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
Last Night On Earth by Noah and the Whale
According to Last.fm, I listened to Noah and the Whale more than anyone else in 2011 with the exception of Radiohead. Before logging on to Last.fm to see just how much NatW I had listened to in the past year, I had a hunch they were at #1. But being second to the allmighty Radiohead is a comfortable spot to be...
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Watch#16 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
Hysterical by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
I used to try and believe that “the sophomore slump” didn’t really exist. That’s not to say I didn’t think it was possible for bands to have a fantastic first album and then a terrible second album — that happens all the time. I just didn’t think a band that makes that terrible second album could ever recover from...
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Watch#19 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
My Goodness by My Goodness
Two-musician bands — one on drums, one on guitar — seem to be quite the popular arrangement of late. White Stripes (god rest their souls), The Black Keys, and Wye Oak all fit that mode, along with My Goodness, who come in at #19 on the Musical Bacon Calendar.
From Seattle, this duo really packs a punch. You’d be hard pressed...
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Watch#21 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
Gloss Drop by Battles
Bands often change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, and sometimes they become something so different it’s hard to recognize the similarity. With the stark differences between their debut album, Mirrored, and this year’s Gloss Drop, Battles fits into the “something so different” camp. I wrote about their changes...
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Watch#25 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
Fan Chosen Covers (Best of) by Eef Barzelay
There are some voices out there that really just do it for me. Robin Pecknold. John Roderick. Thom Yorke. They could sing the Maxwell House song and I’d quickly open my wallet and buy the special collector’s edition deluxe 45 (“With unreleased b-side ‘Dr. Pepper song!’”).
Until late last year, I hadn’t...
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Watch#26 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
TKOL RMX 1234567 by Radiohead
OK, this is a weird one.1 I had a different album in at #26 not 5 minutes ago, but after having listened to that album one more time, I decided I couldn’t possibly recommend it to anyone. Love is fleeting. So I was left reaching into the bin of throwaways for something else to go here. Enter a mostly OK remix album of...
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Watch#28 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
Heavy Boots & Underwoods by Ben Fisher
Seattle is a great town for music, but you probably already knew that. #28 on the list is the perfect example of this, because I first heard Ben Fisher busking on a sunny Sunday afternoon at the weekly Ballard Farmers Market. Just him and his guitar, standing on the sidewalk, playing songs that he wrote,...
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Watch#29 on the 2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
The Rip Tide by Beirut
Zach Condon, former child prodigy and current indie rock band leader, is in his prime. After his band Beirut debuted five years ago with the phenomenal album Gulag Orkestar, they’ve continued to crank out warm, multi-instrumental, world-music influenced folk music year after year. Beirut appeared at No. 9 on 2009’s Musical Advent...
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WatchIntroducing the 2011 edition of the Musical Bacon Calendar. Every year, December 1 seems to come out of nowhere, leaving me scrambling to put together my list for the year. And every year, as I look over the year’s albums that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, I’m surprised by the wealth of albums to choose from. The answers to questions that you may have of me (such as “How do you have so much time to...