#21 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — DJ Shadow

Our Pathetic Age by DJ Shadow

It’s hard to believe that, despite having released his first album in 1996, Our Pathetic Age, DJ Shadow’s double-album epic from this year, is only his sixth studio album. Each of those six albums have been fantastic, starting with the groundbreaking Endtroducing....., the album that woke everyone to the potential of sampling and songbuilding. Since that seminal release, Shadow, whose real name is Josh Davis, has been building soundscapes and championing underground, has-been, and up-and-coming hip hop artists with great aplomb.

Our Pathetic Age is not a perfect album, but as it’s a double-length LP, it’s easy to set aside the imperfect to let the stellar shine. The album is split into two distinct halves, the first of which is fully instrumental, and the second the more predictable Shadow-type album. The Mountain Will Fall, Shadow’s 2016 album (#9 that year), saw him doubling down on his ability to take his great ear for beats and cadence and pairing that with well-known hip hop artists like Run the Jewels. RTJ reappears on the second half of Our Pathetic Age, along with a litany of other big hip hop names, such as Nas, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Gift of Gab and Leteef the Truthspeaker.

The video above, for “Rocket Fuel,” has Shadow teaming up with De La Soul. It’s a great song, and an even better video (directed by Sam Pilling, who also directed the great video I featured in my 2016 The Mountain Will Fall review). The song’s lyrics are top of the line, as written by the De La Soul crew. “People wanna know where Mase, Pos, and Dave went” goes the song. “Still here, still in your ear.” Later on in the song, the second verse has a mind-blowing rhyme that I can’t get out of my head:

Aced all quizzes, A-plussed the final
Vocals we align, we move it all simul-
-taneously over joints we rock
We earned thirty years, so you can say that we got
Three turns, live off the board, unlike you and your chessmen
We install doubt in you and your yes-men

That rhyming of “final” with the first two syllables of “simultaneously” and managing to keep the rhyme going is so so great. Check out this new album by DJ Shadow. You can set the first half aside, I won’t think anything less of you. But pay attention to the second half. It’s as great as anything Shadow has released to date, and you won’t be disappointed.

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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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2009-2018 Top 31s

#22 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — Battles

Juice B Crypts by Battles

And then there were two. When Battles, the New York City based experimental rock band, released their superb album Mirrored back in 2007, the four-piece thoroughly impressed. I remember seeing them at Bumbershoot that summer, and watching drummer John Stanier hit that extra-high cymbal on his kit at just the right moment was the most memorable act that weekend.

In 2010, while extensively touring on the power of their debut album, the only “singer” in the group (I use that term lightly), Tyondai Braxton, left the group due to irreconcilable differences with his bandmates. The then-trio released their 2011 album, Glass Drop (#21 that year), featuring a large number of guest vocalists. It was a good album, but not as great as the first. The trio released a 2nd, this time vocals-less album in 2015 called _La Di Da Di, and all the better for it (#16 that year).

Then, in 2018, Dave Konopka (guitar / bass), left the band “for personal reasons.” Rather than throwing in the towel, drummer Stanier and multi-instrumentalist Ian Williams decided to soldier on, to great effect. This new album, Juice B Crypts, is as lush and erratic as their previous albums, and they’ve gone back to the Gloss Drop mode of bringing in guest singers, such as Shabazz Palaces, tUnE-yArDs, and Jon Anderson from Yes (!). Despite being at 50% power, the duo manages to create 11 exciting songs (some of which are really just one song broken in two, such as the cleverly named track #2 titled “A Loop So Nice…” followed by #3 “They Played it Twice.”)

If you like Battles, you’ll like this. If you’re unfamiliar with Battles, don’t start here — go through this progression: Mirrored, La Di Da Di, and then Juice B Crypts. Trust me.

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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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2009-2018 Top 31s

#23 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — Orville Peck

Pony by Orville Peck

When country music makes it onto the Top 31, it usually has a hard time being fully classified as “country music.” Phosphorescent, Neko Case, First Aid Kit — in a certain light, these could all be classified as country, but usually aren’t. This is untrue of the obscured and befringed Canadian artist Orville Peck, whose wonderful debut album Pony couldn’t fall into any other genre than Country with a capital “C.” This isn’t “my wife left me, my dog died, and I accidentally got drunk” kinda country, but it does feature rodeos, horseback riding, and a Johnny Cash name-drop in all the right ways.

You may not have heard of Peck, but you’ve likely seen him. His visage is quite memorable; he’s always seen in a lone-ranger style mask with fringe attached and hanging down to his shoulders, fully obscuring all but his eyes and most of his jawline and neck when at rest; atop that he wears a standard-issue, not-quite 10-gallon cowboy hat.

Despite his public-facing disguise, his identity is known, but remains unconfirmed by Peck himself. So I won’t perpetuate the information here. What I can tell you is he’s Canadian, he’s gay, he commands a magical baritone voice, and his stage presence is second to none. The mystery certainly contributes to what I and so many other people like about him, but once you learn the truth of who he is, that doesn’t quell the fervor people feel for him.

I’d been hearing of Peck (which is different from hearing Peck) since the beginning of the year. I found him intriguing, but didn’t scratch that itch until he was on the bill at the inaugural Thing NW music festival. He played to a crowd that sardined itself into the covered McCurdy Pavilion about midway through day 1, and ended up being the highlight for many at the festival. A friend of mine’s 10-year old daughter fell so madly in love, she bought a tee (he’s smoking a cigarette! *gasp*) and then created her own Peck costume for halloween. Such is the charisma of Mr. Orville Peck, winning fans over at all ages.

I trust we’ll have much more to love about Peck in the years to come. We’re just at the tip of the iceberg. Give this album a listen now, so you can say “I was there when…”

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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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2009-2018 Top 31s

#24 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — Beck

Hyperspace by Beck

It’s difficult to compare how much I like an album that came out at the end of November 2019 to one that came out in January of that same year. I just don’t have the proper amount of time to listen properly to an album when I have to start counting down the year just a little over a month later. This album came out a week before Thanksgiving. It got sidelined immediately for Christmas music. So, the chances are much higher on this album, Beck’s 14th studio album, that I’m going to wish I’d ranked this album in a different place than here, at #24 out of all the albums I listened to in 2019.

I’m going to stick with this digression a little bit longer. Looking back at the Beck albums that have made the Top 31 in its 11-year run, I can’t say I agree with any of the placements I’ve given his albums. I ranked the utterly amazing Morning Phase at #26 back in 2014 (way too low, as I listen to this album at least once every couple of months). I ranked 2017’s Colors at #8, and while that’s not too far off, I probably should have put it a little lower than I did, when I look back and see LCD Soundsystem, Fleet Foxes and Big Thief all ranked much lower that year. And in 2009 I clearly had no idea what I was doing, because I ranked his full-album cover of Velvet Underground & Nico at #7(!). I’ve not listened to that album again since.

Out of all three of these, the Morning Phase ranking at #26 is most troubling. That album came out in February that year, so I had plenty of time to determine that I should love that album forever. And yet… I’ll never stop being amazed at how time and perspective can change one’s opinion of the music they’ve listened to. </digression> Let’s get back to his newest record.

Beck is a chameleon of music, although his more recent output seems to be falling into a pattern (a good pattern, but a pattern nonetheless). So much so that I’m inclined to say that Hyperspace is a “typical” Beck album. It has all the things you’ve come to enjoy in his music: Endlessly catchy hooks; Quiet, introspective and ethereal sounds; A mastery of the form. What more can you ask for?

On the flip side, there’s nothing that wows me here. It’s a great album, but there are so many better Beck albums to listen to, I’m not sure I’ll ever get fully into this album and listen to it for years to come. But don’t let my digression and subsequent lackluster review distract you (it’s probably just the month-long cold I have talking) — check out this new album. You won’t regret it. But maybe I will.

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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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2009-2018 Top 31s

#25 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — Strand of Oaks

Eraserland by Strand of Oaks

The last time we heard from Timothy Showalter’s Strand of Oaks on the Bacon Top 31 was not for his last album, but the one before that – his groundbreaking fourth album Heal, which hit #15 back in 2014. The album that followed, Hard Love, was rather forgettable (literally: I‘d forgotten all about it until I sat down to write this review). It’s hard for an artist to recover from releasing an amazing album like Heal and then follow it up by a lackluster one, and it sounds like Showalter had a particularly tough go of it in the aftermath of that 2017 album.

Battling with depression and exhaustion, he sequestered himself on the Jersey Shore. He used that negative energy to fuel his songwriting, and channeled it into this new, amazing 2019 record Eraserland. Showalter was not shy about his depression, and wrote about it on Instagram when commenting on the suicide of other greats, such as Dave Berman of the Silver Jews and Mark Hollis of Talk Talk (although Hollis’s death has not been confirmed a suicide). Of Hollis’s death, Showalter went so far as to claim the Talk Talk album Spirit of Eden changed his life and the tone of this new album:

Spirit of Eden is a prayer and a discussion with existence and it was the singular gateway for me to do that with my own life. Eraserland’s DNA is interwoven with Mark Hollis and the gifts he gave through music … I urge any of you who haven’t heard it to dig in, perhaps before you hear Eraserland to understand and perhaps find that communication with your own existence. Music saves it truly does. Thank you Mark your work will continue for the rest of time.

Sage advice, for sure. For now it sounds like Showalter is doing better, thankfully. If you’re a current fan of the Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty, Kurt Vile, or an older fan of My Morning Jacket (just to name a few), you’ll love Strand of Oaks and this new album. It’s powerful and moving, in the best way that a wailing guitar, heavy drums, and reverbed voice can be.

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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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2009-2018 Top 31s

#26 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — Fontaines DC

Dogrel by Fontaines DC

From one literal throwback to 70s music, now to one that’s a throwback in style if not in the time it was recorded. Fontaines D.C., a five-man post-punk group out of Dublin, fall right in line with a separate scene from Marvin Gaye’s world of the 70s. Fontaines are hard-hitting, loud and obnoxious, evoking feelings of Joy Division, The Clash and even maybe a little bit of that early-U2 fervor.

I first fell in love with Fontaines by listening to KEXP 90.3 FM, my favorite Seattle-based (but more prominently available online) radio station. They received equal airplay to the station’s #2 album of 2018, Idles (#16 in my Top 31 of 2018), and were often played back to back with that band despite not releasing their album until April 2019.

If you’re a fan of guitars, barking vocals, and music with a message, then Fontaines DC are right up your alley. If you liked Idles’ Joy as an Act of Resistance from 2018, then you’ll especially love it. Give it a listen now.

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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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2009-2018 Top 31s

#27 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — Marvin Gaye

You’re the Man by Marvin Gaye

Putting this “new” album by Marvin Gaye (whose own father shot and killed him back in 1984) is a bit of a cheat. You’re the Man, originally recorded as the follow-up to Gaye’s first platinum-selling album What’s Going On, was never released in 1972, due to a dispute between Gaye and Mowtown Records’ founder and then-president Berry Gordy (who felt that What’s Going On was already a tinge too politically-minded and this follow-up, You’re the Man, most decidedly so, despite the undeniable success of the former album.) You’re the Man, if released when originally planned back in 1972, would have been Gaye’s twelfth full-length record. Releasing now, 35 years posthumously, it becomes his 18th and final LP.

In addition to being a clear R&B staple of its time, the album is a fantastic piece of politically commentary. Point your finger anywhere in the lyrics and you’ll see lines like “I believe America’s at stake,” “Politics and hypocrites are turning us all into lunatics,” and “Don’t you understand/There’s misery in the land.” There’s even a line that reads “demagogues and admitted minority haters should never be president,” intended as a dig at Nixon but so easily fits our current tyrant in charge.

Even if you’re not into lyrics, putting this album on will immediately get you moving in your chair. This is Gaye at his peak, between one fantastic album (What’s Going On) and another (Let’s Get it On). I waffled on putting it so low in the Top 31, honestly. I have a feeling I’ll regret placing it so low when reflecting back in years to come.

With the politics in our country at a fever pitch, this album couldn’t arrive at a better time. Yes, the music is wonderful, but pay attention to what Gaye is telling us from the grave. The words may be rooted in the civil rights issues of the 70s, but you shouldn’t be at all surprised that you can easily connect them to today’s climate.

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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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2009-2018 Top 31s

#28 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — Stealing Sheep

Big Wows by Stealing Sheep

Here’s another group that totally won me over in 2019. Stealing Sheep, from Liverpool, England, create fantastically infectious pop songs. They’ve been together since 2010, and Big Wows is the third full-length album they’ve released in that time. All three of the women in the trio, Rebecca Hawley (keys), Emily Lansley (guitar and bass) and Luciana Mercer (drums) sing lead and harmonies across every song, creating a pleasing blanket of voice throughout. Mixing their vocals with a strong 80s nostalgia-fueled aesthetic (as seen in the album’s cover, the band’s website, and the videos they’ve released such as the one for “Show Love,” above), the band hit all the right notes.

My first draft of this review included a whole portion describing how I’d not heard the band’s previous records, but it turns out memory is fickle, and I was 100% lying to myself. The band’s 2nd album, Not Real, featured on the Top 31 back in 2015 at #23. Clearly, I liked the album enough to put it on the list, and liked it more than at least 8 other albums that year — but, looking back at that list, I can’t say I’ve listened again to any of those albums ranked 23-31 from 2015. See my post from four days ago to see exactly why that may be.

According to their label bio, this album marks a pointed expansion of talent for the band: “Mercer is working with a full drum kit now instead of just toms; Lansley is playing bass guitar; Hawley is making her own synth patches; and they’re all using new equipment, developing and experimenting and moving forward together.” Even though Big Wows is ranked lower than Not Real was in 2015, I still feel that it’s the highlight of their 9-year stint as a band.

If you’re into any of the female-led pop that The Bacon Review has promoted over the years (such as Chvrches, Christine & the Queens, or Grimes) then you’ll definitely find something you like here.

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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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2009-2018 Top 31s

#29 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — 100 Gecs

1000 gecs by 100 gecs

This duo from St. Louis was probably the most difficult thing I listened to (and still enjoyed) in all of 2019. Every time I’d put it on at work or at home (not very often, admittedly), I’d sheepishly qualify it by saying “if anyone hates this, I’m happy to turn it off.” To my surprise, nobody ever did. A few of my coworkers (who are all younger than me, it should be said) liked it and questioned why I’d even thought to turn it off. Just goes to show: getting old is a bitch.

100 gecs consists of Dylan Brady and Laura Les, who met at a party way back in 2012. Currently, they both live in separate cities (LA and Chicago, respectively), and given they rarely breath the same air, they create music by sharing music files back and forth online. They released their first EP back in 2016, and 1000 gecs is their first full-length album.

“Full-length” is a bit of a misnomer, as the album is only 23:07 long. But what a powerful 23 minutes it is. Everything on this album is unnecessary and excessive, yet it somehow gels extremely well. This is the future of pop music, here and now. The song above, “Money Machine,” is one of their more tame songs, which should give you an indication about how radical the rest of the album is.

Grab those reins and hold on tight. Don’t give up early, and you’ll be surprised at your disappointment when the end comes in quickly.

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30. In the Morse Code of Brake Lights by The New Pornographers
31. Radiant Dawn by Operators

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2009-2018 Top 31s

#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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#31 on the 2019 Bacon Top 31 — Operators

Happy new year, and new decade! I honestly can’t believe it’s already 2020. It seems not that long ago we were all frightened about what Y2K would bring when that clock struck 12:00 — that was 20 years ago! Everyone knows that time speeds up as we get older (due to your personal experiences growing less and less unique the more you experience throuhgout your lifetime). It’s just a small but significant part of being human.

The same is true of music: the older we get, the smaller our individual world of undiscovered music gets. Happily, a huge amount of new music is dumped into the world every year, making it impossible to ever feel that you’ve heard it all, even if what you believe constitutes “good” music gets narrower as you age. That’s just the result of your tastes being refined, your knowledge of musical theory (whether studied in classrooms or absorbed through audio osmosis — audsmosis?) expanded, and the avenues through which and opportunities to hear new music dwindled.

As we get older, it would be very easy to stop listening to new music. I’m sure a lot of friends that are my age or older have done just that, content in the 40+ years of music they’ve added to their collections. I purposefully push against that friction; much like a daily crossword is meant to keep the brain functioning better well into old age, I believe a continuous, healthy dose of new music helps to keep those neurons firing at a youthful clip.

The Top 31 is my own personal battle against the inevitable atrophying of my brain. Because I know I’ll be cataloging things at the end of the year, it pushes me to want to always first check Apple Music’s “New Music” category when I’m putting on something to listen to. Most of the music I find in there is not great, but if I’m compelled to listen to something more than once, it gets added to my library and is easily found in my “Recently Added” category. 95% of the time, when I want to hear something, I start there.

But listening to new music for most of my available music-listening time has a downside, too: forgetfulness. I couldn’t possibly recall what new music I was listening to a month ago, let alone five or more years ago. And that’s where the Bacon Review Top 31 comes in. This 2019 Top 31 is my eleventh countdown. That’s 11 years, each with 31 albums of history, available for review at my fingertips. Looking for an older album to listen to but not sure where to start? Look back at the 2013 countdown (for instance) and pick something great that you’d forgotten about.

As every year nears its end, I toy with the idea of stopping the countdown. It’s a hefty chunk of work, it puts an added burden on me and my family throughout the month of January, and I could easily just leave it all behind. But then I remember past years, and how happy it makes me feel when a friend of mine tells me they’ve enjoyed listening to something that they first read about here. That alone is motivation enough to keep going. And so here we are, a brand new decade, and another year’s full of music to recap. Let’s dive in with #31:

Radiant Dawn by Operators

I’ve always fallen on the Spencer Krug (#27 in 2011, #23 in 2013, and #31 in 2018) side of the Wolf Parade (#17 in 2010 and #14 in 2017) fence, but Dan Boeckner, former lead singer of the Handsome Furs, former co-lead of the Divine Fits (#11 in 2012), and current lead of Operators, has been a quiet force of musical output for 20 years now.

I’m fairly certain that Operators should still be considered a “side project,” (to Wolf Parade’s “main project”), but that doesn’t mean Operators music is any less brilliant. Close your eyes and listen — you’d be hard pressed to guess that this isn’t just another Wolf Parade album. Boeckner, like his Wolf Parade co-leader Krug, is a Canadian singer/songwriter with an insatiable appetite for creating new music. Over the past 20 years, Boeckner has released 17 different EPs and albums, under five different monikers. His voice, affected and unmistakably his, is like a strong sour ale: an acquired taste.

If you’ve liked Wolf Parade, Divine Fits, Handsome Furs, or even Operators’ previous output (this is the 2nd full-length release from the project — the first was 2016’s Blue Wave), then there’s no reason for you to not like this album.

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2009-2018 Top 31s