#30 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — The New Pornographers

In the Morse Code of Brake Lights by The New Pornographers

By now you must have heard of the Canadian supergroup The New Pornographers. They’ve only ben around for some 22 years, and have released 8 albums in that time (not to mention the 25+ solo and other-group albums released over that same period by band members Carl Newman and Neko Case—and formerly Dan Bejar, from Destroyer—including some that have featured previously on the Top 31 in various forms). There’s not much more I can say about them that you haven’t heard from me before.

In the Morse Code of Brake Lights isn’t their best effort, but even their “just good not great” albums are better than most. Their 2017 album, Whiteout Conditions, didn’t make that year’s countdown, but their phenomenal 2014 album, Brill Bruisers, was at #18 that year. Neko Case is by far my favorite member of the band, and her last two solo albums have also been featured on the Top 31, at #17 in 2018, and #5 in 2013. Per usual, she features prominently on Morse Code.

“The Surprise Knock” is my favorite track on the album. The video above, for the song “Falling down the Stairs of Your Smile” is one of their less-dynamic songs, but the Neko-led chorus still kicks ass. Give the whole thing a listen—if you’ve liked the New Pornographers in the past, you’ll find the formula continues to work quite well on this album, too.

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31. Radiant Dawn by Operators

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2009-2018 Top 31s

#17 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Neko Case

Hell-On by Neko Case

The list of edgy female rockers featured in the 2018 Top 31 continues to expand, adding veteran of the genre, Neko Case. You’ll know her as the one with the most resonant voice among them all, but that doesn’t make her songs have any less bite. Even as you’re enjoying her lullabies and her lilt, it’s her master of story and lyrics that brings that vitriol forward. And it’s gorgeous.

Case has been on the Bacon Top 31 many times over the years. Her last album, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, came in at a whopping #5 in 2013. The supergroup The New Pornographers came in at #19 in 2014, and the self-titled trio album she came out with with k.d. lang and Laura Veirs was #28 in 2016.

Case has a distinct ability to amp you up in most New Porographers songs, to belt out harrowing harmonies when singing in tandem (or trio), and in her solo work, like Hell-on, her talent really shines. Quiet, loud, immediate and slow-building — she covers it all. While Hell-on isn’t as strong from start to finish as her 2013 masterpiece, this album still rises above the din. Reach out for that voice, she’ll help carry you through to the end of the tunnel.

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18. Superorganism by Superorganism
19. Living in Extraordinary Times by James
20. Thank You for Today by Death Cab for Cutie
21. Black Panther: The Album by Kendrick Lamar
22. Suspiria (Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) by Thom Yorke
23. Merrie Land by The Good, the Bad & the Queen
24. Room 25 by Noname
25. WARM by Jeff Tweedy
26. God's Favorite Customer by Father John Misty
27. Vessel by Frankie Cosmos
28. For Ever by Jungle
29. Twerp Verse by Speedy Ortiz
30. Remain in Light by Angélique Kidjo
31. This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet by Moonface

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2009-2017 Top 31s

#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

#18 on the 2014 Bacon Top 31

Brill Bruisers by The New Pornographers

The band at #18 are Canadian, but don’t hold that against them:

A super-group built over time. That is what The New Pornographers are. Even though the Pornos formed after each of the band’s most prominent members (Neko Case, Dan Bejar — who also performs in Destroyer, and de facto band leader AC Newman) had released records under solo or alternative bands, their first joint album, 2000’s Mass Romantic, has been recognized as one of the most influential indie-rock albums of the past two decades.

That’s what I wrote when I posted the first video released from their phenomenal sixth record, Brill Bruisers. The album has proven to be one of my favorites, after having tried and failed to thoroughly enjoy their past three albums. Their 2010 album Together didn’t make the countdown that year, but Neko’s most recent solo album made it all the way up to #5 last year.

They’re all excellent musicians in their own right. Throw them together and magic happens on one or two songs per album, but rarely across the full length of a record like Brill Bruisers. This is something different, something special. I highly recommend it.

Side Note: I recently learned that my favorite New Pornographers song, “Letter From an Occupant” — the only single from their 2000 debut album Mass Romantic — gives sole songwriting credit to Neko Case. I had previously thought Newman was the driving force behind the band. Now, armed with this new information, my whole world has been shaken to its core. If I thought I could love Neko more…

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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

The New Pornographers — War on the East Coast

A super-group built over time. That is what The New Porngraphers are. Even though the Pornos formed after each of the band’s most prominent members (Neko Case, Dan Bejar, and de facto band leader AC Newman) had released records under solo or alternative bands, their first joint album, 2000’s Mass Romantic, has been recognized as one of the most influential indie-rock albums of the past two decades.

Fun fact about the amazing video above: even though AC is lip syncing throughout, it’s actually Dan’s voice we hear singing. I am not as drawn to the songs in the New Pornographers’ repertoir that don’t feature Neko’s powerful vocals, but this song, “War on the East Coast,” is an instant classic.

Bejar, with his band Destroyer, has made quite a name for himself. And Neko’s last solo record was my fifth favorite album last year. But when those two combine to sing and play Newman’s lyrics and power chords, magic happens. Brill Bruisers, the supergroup’s sixth record, comes out August 26th. I will be the first in line to pick it up.

#5 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You by Neko Case

It’s taken me a very long time to get to this point. I have of course known about Neko Case for a long time, having first fallen in love with her powerful voice on “Letter from an Occupant” from Mass Romantic, the debut New Pornographers album from way back in 2000. I’d heard many of her countryfied solo songs since then, and had even been at that infamous hail-covered Sasquatch! performance in 2006, but while I enjoyed those songs, they didn’t hook me. Five New Pornographers and four solo albums later, (as well as two early albums with Her Boyfriends) here we are with her best work to date, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You.

This album is unlike anything I’ve heard from Case previously. At times it feels very country and at others indie rock, sometimes full and at others, sparse, and it is gorgeous throughout. These songs are heartfelt and it shows. It feels very much like a New Pornographers record at times, with fast, soaring-chorus songs like “Man,” which revolves around a rocking guitar / piano solo in the middle of the short 3 minutes. In other ways, it reminds me of Fiona Apple’s #1 album from last year, with it’s pared down, nearly a cappella sadness.

“Nearly Midnight, Honolulu” is the quietest, but also the most powerful moment of the album. A terribly sad story about an experience Case had at the airport in Honolulu where she overheard a mother yelling at her young son. It is moving in its starkness. Case sings harmony with herself at points in the song, punctuating the darkness with a chorus of uplifting voices. The song is arresting, and will make you fall in love with Case, the boy that is the center of the song, and with the album itself. You can hear that song here, but I recommend hearing it in the context of the full album to really understand it.

Case and the band recorded a set for Austin City Limits earlier this year, and it will be airing on PBS on January 11. Here’s a preview of the show, with them performing the song “Man” mentioned above. The video above is apparently the only actual video released from this album to date, and it’s a stupid lyric video, which I don’t care for. Be that as it may, it‘s a great song from an amazing album, one that I know you, too, will love.

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6. In Focus? by Shugo Tokumaru
7. Psychic by Darkside
8. AMOK by Atoms for Peace
9. White Lighter by Typhoon
10. Hummingbird by Local Natives
11. If You Leave by Daughter
12. Pedestrian Verse by Frightened Rabbit
13. The Silver Gymnasium by Okkervil River
14. The Next Day by David Bowie
15. Reflektor by Arcade Fire
16. We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic by Foxygen
17. Lanters by Son Lux
18. Howlin’ by Jagwar Ma
19. Impersonator by Majical Cloudz
20. Dream Cave by Cloud Control
21. Mole City by Quasi
22. Phantogram by Phantogram
23. Julia With Blue Jeans On by Moonface
24. Uncanney Valley by The Dismemberment Plan
25. Event II by Deltron 3030
26. Wise Up Ghost by Elvis Costello and The Roots
27. Us Alone by Hayden
28. Pure Heroine by Lorde
29. Shaking the Habitual by The Knife
30. False Idols by Tricky
31. Let’s Be Still by The Head and the Heart

2012 Musical Bacon Calendar
2011 Musical Bacon Calendar
2010 Musical Bacon Calendar
2009 Musical Bacon Calendar