#11 on the 2022 Bacon Top 31 — Black Country, New Road

January 21, 2023 by Royal Stuart in Top 31

Ants From Up There by Black Country, New Road

My guess is that this may be the last surprise of the 2022 Top 31. Sure, you might be surprised by the order in which I place my Top 10, or you might be surprised to find your particular favorite wasn’t one of mine. But I would be surprised if you don’t read the Top 10 as they’re revealed over the next ten days, nod your head at each one, and think “yep, ok, I can see that.”

Not so for Black Country, New Road, here at #11, which you’ve likely not ever heard of, despite some modest level of critical acclaim. And if you have heard of them, then you no doubt know why I’m placing them way up in my top albums of 2022. Known as BC,NR because, well, it’s a lot easier to write and it’s also awesome to have a comma in an abbreviation, the band met in Cambridgeshire, England, in 2018. They named themselves after the subject found at a click of the “random article” button in Wikipedia: Black Country New Road, a street in the West Midlands. Ants From Up There is their second album, recorded with seven members: Tyler Hyde (bass), Lewis Evans (flute, saxophone), May Kershaw (keyboards), Georgia Ellery (violin), Charlie Wayne (drums), Luke Mark (guitar), all of whom played their instruments deftly while singing backup to frontman, guitarist, and principal lyricist Isaac Wood.

Wood’s voice is low, with a vibrato that makes your subs shake — not quite as low as Ian Curtis, not quite as smooth as Justin Vernon, but every bit engaging. His lyrics have a literary lilt to them that don’t quite paint a story, but lead you to the next word, verse, and chorus as if compelled by tendrils of sound. And much to everyone detriment, there will be no more BC,NR albums with Wood at the helm. Four days before the release of Ants, Wood and the band announced on Instagram that he would be stepping away from the band, from the limelight, permanently. His mental health had been suffering greatly, and he needed to take care of himself.

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A post shared by Black Country, New Road (@blackcountrynewroad)

I first heard the album probably a week or so after it debuted on February 4, 2022. It filled me with such excitement, when I first started trying to learn more about the band I was devastated to find the post above and learn I’d never be able to experience the excitement Wood brings to the stage. I listened more and more to Ants over the coming months, and hit a point where I couldn’t put the album down. Pulling from the same influences as Beirut, Neutral Milk Hotel, the Decemberists, Slint, Noah and the Whale, BC,NR bring together heavy orchestration, ivy league intelligence, and prog-rock turns that leave you breathless. This is the album you need to fill the Arcade Fire-sized void left behind because of Win Butler’s sexual misconduct.

You’ll recognize violinist Georgia Ellery’s name, as she is one-half of Jockstrap, featured at #21 just 11 days ago. I’m pretty sure that’s the first time an artist has been an integral part of two separate bands featured on a single Top 31. When Wood announced his departure on January 31, the band had to cancel their upcoming tour and weren’t sure where this would lead them. A few months later, they had picked themselves back up and were touring again, now as a six-piece, with Hyde, Kershaw, Evans, and Wayne taking turns on lead vocals. I have not been able to see this incarnation of the band, but the strength of these songs and these musicians makes me believe it’s still every bit as strong.

Ants came out a year after those original seven band members released their debut, For The First Time, in February, 2021. I missed their debut, and based on how much I love Ants, a fairly sizable oversight on my part. I’m curious to see where the band will go next. I enjoy the Wood incarnation of the band, and am patiently waiting to see what the band will put together next. “Concord,” shown in the video above, is probably my favorite song on the album. But if you like it, I encourage you to explore the rest of the album.

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#16 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — Beirut

January 16, 2020 by Royal Stuart

Gallipoli by Beirut

Here we are again with yet another predictable pick on the 2019 Bacon Top 31. Beirut, led by impresario Zach Condon, are as close to “worldwide indie rock” as you’ll ever get. I’ve been a fan of the band ever since their debut in 2006. In that time, the band has only released five LPs, only one of which ended up on the Top 31, 2011’s The Rip Tide (#29 that year). Prior to that, a set of fantastic EPs titled March of the Zapotec/Holland was #8 on my first-ever Top 31, in 2009.

Condon most often plays trumpet and sings in a melodic, vibrato-tinged and beautiful voice. The songs he writes and the band performs often involve a full horn section and strings, mixed with a handful of unexpected and dissonant sounds that coalesce into song after gorgeous song. When I first saw Condon and the band perform, way back on their first tour in 2006, Condon was only 19 years old and bothered by the fact that, due to archaic Washington-state law, he was not allowed to spend time hanging out in the Crocodile bar before or after the show due to his age. He was precocious and difficult, but who can blame him. The kid must have been hearing that he was a musical genius for many years leading up to that tour, and that was only ever going to give him a big head about who he is and what he’s owed.

This new album, Gallipoli, his fifth, has no surprises. Much like the Andrew Bird album from yesterday, this is predictably Beirut, and therefore predictably good. If you’ve not heard Beirut before, I suggest going all the way back to the beginning, to 2006’s Gulag Orkestar, and then work your way forward. Despite the 13 years separating that first album from this newest one, the music itself stands free of time, is of a time outside of yesterday, today, or tomorrow. And that’s what makes it so great.

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17. My Finest Work Yet by Andrew Bird
18. Four of Arrows by Great Grandpa
19. Designer by Aldous Harding
20. Norman Fucking Rockwell! by Lana Del Rey
21. Our Pathetic Age by DJ Shadow
22. Juice B Crypts by Battles
23. Pony by Orville Peck
24. Hyperspace by Beck
25. Eraserland by Strand of Oaks
26. Dogrel by Fontaines DC
27. You’re the Man by Marvin Gaye
28. Big Wows by Stealing Sheep
29. 1000 gecs by 100 gecs
30. In the Morse Code of Brake Lights by The New Pornographers
31. Radiant Dawn by Operators

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#23 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

December 09, 2016 by Royal Stuart

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

December 19, 2012 by Royal Stuart

#13 on the 2012 Musical Bacon Calendar

Tramp by Sharon Van Etten

Here comes another new artist to the Calendar for 2012. Up until two months ago, I’d forgotten about this album. Tramp came out towards the beginning of the year, and I was very excited about it. I even got to see Sharon Van Etten perform at SXSW a couple times, and she was fantastic both times. But then I returned to Seattle in mid-March, and somehow got distracted, putting this album on the proverbial shelf.

Rediscovering it in October, I was able to rekindle my love for Ms. van Etten and her sultry voice. She is yet another indie-rock performer out of Brooklyn, but don’t hold it against her. Her music is slow, but not annoyingly so. It’s as if the songs are slower in an effort to really help you feel where they’re coming from. This slowness, and the minor key that most of the songs are in, give the album a decidedly dark atmosphere that makes you want to cozy up to the fire with a stiff glass of 18-year single malt in your hand.

Tramp isn’t van Etten’s first album, and it definitely won’t be her last. She had two prior releases to this album, but those albums didn’t hit my radar. This album was helped along by a star-studded guest appearance cast. It was produced by Aaron Dessner (from the National), and featured him, his brother Bryce, and Zach Condon (from Beirut), among others, brought in to give Sharon a little bit of a push. Their influences are tough to pick out, with the exception of Condon’s, whose distinct upper-range warble can be heard throughout the fantastic duet “We Are Fine.”

Overall, this album is a winter album. Perhaps that’s why I neglected to listen to it after returning from Austin in March. And why I find it so appealing now. Give it a listen and judge for yourself.

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14. Fear Fun by Father John Misty
15. Love This Giant by David Byrne and St. Vincent
16. To The Treetops! by Team Me
17. The Master: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood
18. There’s No Leaving Now by The Tallest Man On Earth
19. Transcendental Youth by The Mountain Goats
20. A Church That Fits Our Needs by Lost In The Trees
21. Hospitality by Hospitality
22. Free Dimensional by Diamond Rings
23. History Speaks by Deep Sea Diver
24. A Different Ship by Here We Go Magic
25. Negotiations by the Helio Sequence
26. Moms by Menomena
27. The Sound of the Life of the Mind by Ben Folds Five
28. Shields by Grizzly Bear
29. Every Child A Daughter, Every Moon A Sun by The Wooden Sky
30. Fragrant World by Yeasayer
31. Reign of Terror by Sleigh Bells

What is the Bacon Calendar?

2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
2010 Musical Bacon Calendar
2009 Musical Bacon Calendar