#2 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Trouble Will Find Me by The National

Upon your initial run-through of “I Should Live in Salt,” the first song on The National’s fantastic sixth studio album Trouble Will Find Me, you’re struck by how unnatural the beat is. The measures alternate between nine and eight beats (although I’m not smart enough to know if that means there’s actually a 17-beat measure encompassing both), and every time you hear that ninth beat you’re caught off guard. A few more listens and you’re able to sit comfortably with it, applauding yourself on your ability to recognize it when it’s coming, each time, predictable as the sun rise. Then, after sitting with the album for a couple months, you no longer notice that errant beat — you’ve successfully absorbed the unsettled-nature of the alternating beat, and are therefore left to contemplate the subtleties.

This is the nature of every song on the album. “Demons,” the 2nd song, has seven beats to every measure. You have to get to the third song, “Don’t Swallow the Cap,” before you’re rewarded with a more familiar 4-beat rhythm. Experimentation with rhythm is nothing new to The National. In fact, it’s something that drew me so strongly to them back in 2007, with their phenomenal song “Fake Empire” from their fourth album, Boxer. Back then, Bryce Dessner said of the rhythms in that song:

“The first song, ‘Fake Empire,’ is one that I wrote, and conceptually I said I would love to write a song that was based on a certain polyrhythm, the four-over-three pattern, which is what you hear in the piano. It’s something I, personally, have never heard in rock music. What’s interesting is the song sounds like it’s in four, but it’s in three. The harmonies and the way I’m playing the piano music are actually incredibly simple — sort of like ‘Chopsticks’ simple — with this really weird rhythm.”

This is also not the first time The National have appeared on the Calendar. In 2010, I fell hard for Matt Berninger and the brothers Dessner and Devendorf, placing their fifth album, High Violet, in the #1 spot for that year. So I was predisposed to love Trouble. There’s nothing new about the new album — if you liked them before, you’ll continue to like them, and if you disliked them up to this point, I don’t believe this album will sway your opinion. But if you’re unfamiliar with them, this is a perfect album with which to start your obsession. If High Violet was the output of a band at the top of their game (it was), then Trouble is that of a band finally free of any need to prove themselves.

This album could have been complete shit and people would have continued to buy it in droves. Imagine the freedom knowing something like that would put on your creative process. I would normally believe the pressure to succeed wildly would be a powerful motivator. This album is proof that it can be the opposite as well. We’ve got nothing left to prove, we’ve reached the pinnacle, and oh, by the way, here’s another album that’s going to knock your fucking socks off.

P.S. The band also performed the song “Sailors in Your Mouth,” which is from the cartoon Bob’s Burgers, (animated video here) after having done “Kill Your Turkey” for them last year, and having had the band’s video for “Conversation 16” from 2010’s High Violet directed by Bob’s Burgers director Scott Jacobson. How can you not love them?

P.P.S. The video above, for “Sea of Love,” is an original song by the National, with a completely ripped-off video. “A loving homage to one of our favorite punk rock videos,” as the band put it when the video was released. The original video, which you can watch here, is by a band called Zvuki Mu, a Russian punk band, for their song “Grubiy Zakat” You can view their video here.

Tomorrow: NUMERO UNO. So excited!

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3. Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend
4. The Bones Of What You Believe by Chvrches
5. The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You by Neko Case
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
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#10 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Hummingbird by Local Natives

Top ten of 2013. Let’s do this.

It’s a wonderful thing when a band disproves the “sophomore slump” pitfall that many bands experience. Hummingbird, the fantastic second album from Los Angeles band Local Natives, has the band pushing out the boundaries from their excellent first album, Gorilla Manor, which made the Musical Bacon Calendar back in 2010 at nearly the same spot in the list. Where the first album was bouncy, joyous, a celebration of life, the second album is darker, sadder, and melancholy. This is not a bad thing.

In the time between the first and second albums, the quintet became a quartet, and lead singer Kelcey Ayer’s mother passed away. These two separate but collectively difficult moments became the foundation of what would turn into Hummingbird. Additionally, the band tapped Aaron Dessner, from The National, to produce and perform on the album, which most certainly had an influence on where it would go. Aside from the vocals, which continue to be lovingly delivered by the lead-singing duo of Ayer and Taylor Rice, this could very well be a National album (and you already know how much I love them). Ayer and Rice alternate duties at the lead mic, each of them with gorgeous, higher-register voices with Ayer relying on falsetto and Rice seemingly pushing his voice up without it. Both of whom sound decidedly different from Matt Berninger’s (lead singer in The National) baritone.

The album’s high points are also the most bleak songs on the album: “Three Months” and “Colombia.” The band hasn’t released either of the songs as singles or videos, but there are a number of band-sanctioned live performances out there of the songs, the best of which are from a show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg the week after this album released and this performance from January on air for NPR and KCRW. The videos they have released from this album, including “You & I” above, as well as “Heavy Feet,” “Ceilings,” and “Breakers” all have an irreverance that verges on uncomfortable that makes for an interesting listening/watching experience.

There really is no difference between hearing these songs live or recorded, much to the band’s musicianship. With two albums under their belts, they’ve now proven their ability to craft intelligent, immersive songs that take you to an emotional high only few songs can. This band is still on the unknown side, which is a blessing and a curse. I get to enjoy them at the relatively smaller spaces like The Neptune and the Showbox at the Market, but they don’t get to enjoy the benefits of being an indie band that’s broken through. This will change. Perhaps not on the dour strength of Hummingbird, but maybe on the next endeavor, whenever that will be.

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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

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Another video from The National from this year’s Trouble Will Find Me. This time, the band is getting wasted on camera and apparently injuring themselves.

dissolvableandweightless:

The National - Learning (Perfume Genius cover)

I love everything about this.

Yet another great song and video from The National.

This new album is already my favorite of the year, and I’ve only heard two songs. Trouble Will Find Me comes out May 20.

#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

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