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#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.

View this post on Instagram

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.


  1. Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To the Sky by Porridge Radio
  2. I Walked with You a Ways by Plains
  3. The Last Goodbye by Odesza
  4. A Light for Attracting Attention by The Smile
  5. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar
  6. Inside Problems by Andrew Bird
  7. Laurel Hell by Mitski
  8. Full Moon Project by Phosphorescent
  9. Skinty Fia by Fontaines D.C.
  10. I Love You Jennifer B by Jockstrap
  11. Too Much to Ask by Cheekface
  12. Dripfield by Goose
  13. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You by Big Thief
  14. And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow by Weyes Blood
  15. NOT TiGHT by DOMi & JD BECK
  16. Preacher’s Daughter by Ethel Cain
  17. Live at KEXP, vol. 10 by Various Artists
  18. All You Need Is Time by Daisy the Great
  19. Cool It Down by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  20. CAPRISONGS by FKA twigs

There are many ways to listen to the 2022 Bacon Top 31. Subscribe now and enjoy the new albums / songs as they are revealed on the countdown!

Full Album
All albums in their entirety.

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Radio Station
A single song selection pulled from each album.

  • Apple Music Radio Playlist
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View all previous Bacon Top 31s

January 21, 2023 /Royal Stuart
2022, advented, black country new road, arcade fire, joy division, ian curtis, justin vernon, bon iver, beirut, neutral milk hotel, the decemberists, slint, noah and the whale, jockstrap
Top 31
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#2 on the 2021 Bacon Top 31 — Big Red Machine

January 30, 2022 by Royal Stuart

How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last? by Big Red Machine

Every year there’s the big obvious acts that continually appear on the Top 31. At the top of that list are both The National and Bon Iver, both of whom have had #1 albums (2010 and 2016) along with three additional, separate appearances on the Top 31 each. In fact, I haven’t done the math, but I’m confident in saying that Aaron Dessner (20% of The National) and Justin Vernon (99% of Bon Iver), combined, have been responsible for the largest percentage of all music I’ve listened to in the last 15 years.

The two of them have done many things together, arguably the most prominent being the work they’ve done together as Big Red Machine. Their first foray into a partnership was a collaborative song called “Big Red Machine” on the Dessner-produced Dark Was the Night compilation in 2009 (#10 that inaugural Top 31 year). According to wikipedia, Dessner reached out to Vernon via MySpace, and they collaborated on the song remotely, and didn’t meet in person until a follow-on performance for the collaboration was hosted later that year. They continued to work together while producing and creating with their respective bands. They formed a record label, 37d03d, which released the first full Big Red Machine album in 2018 (self-titled, #13 that year). In addition to Dessner and Vernon, that album also features Phoebe Bridgers, Dessner’s brother Bryce and Bryan Devendorf from The National, and multi-instrumentalist Richard Parry from Arcade Fire, among many others.

Then they turned their attention to Taylor Swift, or many she turned her attention to them. The two albums that came out of their collaboration had a big impact on my 2020 Top 31, coming in collectively at #4 last year. But Swift is not the only Dessner/Vernon produced artist I’ve enjoyed. From the very first Top 31 in 2009, with the aforementioned Dark Was the Night compilation and Bon Iver’s Blood Bank EP, there have been only two years (2014 and 2015) that one or both Vernon and Dessner did not appear on the Top 31 as performer or producer. Sharon van Etten, Local Natives, Frightened Rabbit, Taylor Swift, Kanye West — they’ve all benefited from the magic touch of Aaron Dessner and/or Justin Vernon in the last 15 years.

There were also a couple of Big Red Machine singles to come out in 2020 that haven’t appeared on any albums: “No Time For Love Like Now” with Michael Stipe, and a get-out-the-vote in Wisconsin cover of Aimee Mann’s “Wise Up” featuring 4 of out 5 members of The National and others.

And now we’re finally up to the present, with How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?, the supergroup’s 2nd full-length album under the Big Red Machine name. The album features a daunting list of guest appearances: Taylor Swift on two songs, James Krivchenia of Big Thief, Anaïs Mitchell on three songs, Ilsey (a prolific singer/songwriter who has written for and sung with a dizzying number of artists you’ve heard of), Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold, Naeem (otherwise known as rapper Spank Rock), a song called “Hutch,” dedicated to the lost-too-soon lead singer of Frightened Rabbit, Scott Hutchison, featuring Sharon van Etten, Lisa Hannigan, and Shara Nova (lead singer of My Brightest Diamond), La Force (aka Ariel Engle of Broken Social Scene), Ben Howard, and This is the Kit (Kate Stables).

Whew.

There are many highlights to this album (as there should be for a #2 album of the year). The Robin Pecknold / Anaïs Mitchell sung “Phoenix,” shown in the lyric video above, is my personal favorite (mostly because it’s the favorite of 4-year-old, who demanded I play that song over and over again throughout the summer of 2021). But even the most stripped down songs, such as the two where Aaron Dessner finally takes the spotlight all by himself, playing guitar and singing on “The Ghost of Cincinnati” and “Magnolia” in what can only be described as his best Elliott Smith impersonation. The Taylor Swift collaboration “Renegade” is a poppy, Swiftian jaunt you’ll love – it could have easily been created for Swift’s 2020 albums folklore or evermore.

It’s hard not to look at How Long as the capper of one hell of a musical decade for Dessner and Vernon. There’s no way that either of them is done making music. But if you look at the arc of U2, R.E.M., or The Stones, now is about the time in their respective careers that the drive to create something new and different clashes with the desire to slow down, spend more time with family, and rely heavily on the income from previous hits rather than create something new and earth shattering. Selfishly, I hope they choose a different path and continue to give us everything they’ve got. We’ll find out soon enough – 2022 is a new year, and maybe there’ll be another Bon Iver or National album, or some new Dessner- or Vernon-produced project that will simply blow us all away. I can’t wait.

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3. Jubilee by Japanese Breakfast
4. A Way Forward by Nation of Language
5. Things Take Time, Take Time by Courtney Barnett
6. Little Oblivions by Julien Baker
7. Valentine by Snail Mail
8. sketchy. by tUnE-yArDs
9. A Very Lonely Solstice by Fleet Foxes
10. Hey What by Low
11. Local Valley by José González
12. Head of Roses by Flock of Dimes
13. The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows by Damon Albarn
14. Collapsed in Sunbeams by Arlo Parks
15. Loving In Stereo by Jungle
16. Flying Dream 1 by Elbow
17. Screen Violence by Chvrches
18. Blue Weekend by Wolf Alice
19. Mainly Gestalt Pornography by Pearly Gate Music
20. Peace Or Love by Kings of Convenience
21. These 13 by Jimbo Mathus & Andrew Bird
22. Mr. Corman: Season 1 by Nathan Johnson
23. Home Video by Lucy Dacus
24. I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico by Various Artists
25. Siamese Dream by Fruit Bats
26. NINE by Sault
27. Observatory by Aeon Station
28. The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania by Damien Jurado
29. A Beginner’s Mind by Sufjan Stevens and Angelo De Augustine
30. Where the End Begins by Knathan Ryan
31. Private Space by Durand Jones & The Indications

There are many ways to listen to the 2021 Bacon Top 31. Subscribe now and enjoy the new albums / songs as the countdown is completed!

Full Album
All albums in their entirety.

  • Apple Music Full Album Playlist
  • Spotify Full Album Playlist

Radio Station
A single song selection pulled from each album.

  • Apple Music Radio Station Playlist
  • Spotify Radio Station Playlist

View all previous Bacon Top 31s

January 30, 2022 /Royal Stuart
2021, advented, big red machine, the national, bon iver, Justin vernon, aaron dessner, phoebe bridgers, arcade fire, taylor swift, sharon van etten, local natives, frightened rabbit, kanye west, Aimee mann, Michael stipe, big thief, anaïs mitchell, isley, fleet foxes, robin pecknold, naeem, lisa hannigan, Shara nova, my brightest diamond, broken social scene, la force, ben howard, this is the kit, elliott smith, rem
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#28 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Jungle

January 04, 2019 by Royal Stuart

For Ever by Jungle

Disco is most certainly not dead. Or maybe there’s just a long, drawn-out resurgence happening, as indicated by last year’s #3 album, Everything Now by Arcade Fire. Tom McFarland and Josh Lloyd-Watson, otherwise known as Jungle, are carrying the disco torch, dancing their way onto the Top 31 here at #28.

Josh and Tom, friends since they were nine and living next door to each other in London, have been making music as Jungle since 2013. While their self-titled debut album didn’t make the 2014 Top 31, their video for “Time” did make an appearance on the Bacon Review. Fast forward a few years and the duo has been able to put together solid collection of fantastically danceable songs that you need to hear.

The duo is known for putting themselves in the background, letting the music and dancers take the fore whenever possible. This makes the band feel more “alive” to me, as the music doesn’t sound like the result of two men pecking away at their laptops.

For Ever is solid from start to finish. Be sure to watch and pay attention to the above video, for the song “Cherry”. I don’t want to give anything away, but you really need to watch the video — it’s brilliant. “Cherry” is less disco than a lot of the other songs on the album, but it was the best video, and therefore it gets featured. The band has put out four other videos from this album, and they all fall in the same, pleasing genre: well-choreographed dancers moving to the sounds of the band. Simple and elegant. You should watch and enjoy them all:

  • “House in LA”
  • “Happy Man” and “Happy Man” (Director’s Cut) where the dancer shown briefly on the TV in the first video takes center stange and dances throughout the entire video.
  • “Heavy, California”

And really, watch the video featured above closely. You won’t be disappointed.

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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

Subscribe to the 2018 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2017 Top 31s

January 04, 2019 /Royal Stuart
2018, advented, jungle, arcade fire
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#3 on the 2017 Bacon Top 31

January 29, 2018 by Royal Stuart

Everything Now by Arcade Fire

Forty years on, disco is still very much alive and kicking. Leave it to Bacon Review stalwarts Arcade Fire to put together a solid dance record that sounds straight from the 70s but manages to avoid irony. Everything Now, the Canadian ensemble’s fifth record in their 13 years of existence, is a tour de force, and a nice rebound from their two previous (and relatively lesser) albums Reflektor and The Suburbs (#15 in 2013 and #8 in 2010, respectively).

While I hadn’t written them off entirely, the last decade from Arcade Fire had left me feeling as if they were just a shadow of what was. Thankfully, this new album has finally brought them back to their former glory. I recently listened to their ten-year-old second album Neon Bible, and Everything Now is right up there with it. “Everything Now,” the song shown in the video above, is one fantastic pop song. Put it on and feel yourself transported to another era, dressed in gold lamé, speckled in disco-ball spots and blissed out on cocaine.

Don’t stop with that song — this album is jam packed with greatness. “Signs of Life” is another disco number, whose video puts a young couple in the middle of B-movie X-files strangeness. “Creature Comfort,” a song about coping with the crushing pressure of life, was produced by Geoff Barrow, formerly of Portishead (speaking of gold lamé, you can watch the video here). “Electric Blue” let’s Régine Chassagne take the lead vocals, singing about the longing for a relationship that’s been put on temporary hold, narcissistic body issues, and being on different wavelengths with those you love (video here).

As you work your way through the album, what at first sounded light and upbeat soon becomes a magnifying glass on living in our excessively materialistic culture. The album appears to put the band in a similar headspace as that of bands like Radiohead, whose continued output gets darker, subversive, introspective and difficult. While they are a big part of the machine that makes us all want want want, they struggle with their place in it. It’s hard for me to put myself in their unique position, but I’m glad they can channel that energy into some great music for me to enjoy. And so should you.

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4. Sleep Well Beast by The National
5. Soul of a Woman by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
6. Relaxer by Alt-J
7. Hot Thoughts by Spoon
8. Colors by Beck
9. Mental Illness by Aimee Mann
10. The Wild by The Rural Alberta Advantage
11. american dream by LCD Soundsystem
12. Crack-Up by Fleet Foxes
13. Famous Last Words by The True Loves
14. Cry Cry Cry by Wolf Parade
15. Pure Comedy by Father John Misty
16. Shake the Shudder by !!!
17. La La Land (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by La La Land
18. The Underside of Power by Algiers
19. What Now by Sylvan Esso
20. 50 Song Memoir by The Magnetic Fields
21. Plunge by Fever Ray
22. DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar
23. Capacity by Big Thief
24. The Tourist by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
25. CCFX EP by CCFX
26. Woodstock by Portugal. The Man
27. MASSEDUCTION by St. Vincent
28. On the Spot by Hot 8 Brass Band
29. A Deeper Understanding by The War on Drugs
30. Planetarium by Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, & James McAlister
31. A Moment Apart by Odesza

Subscribe to the 2017 Top 31 Apple Music playlist
2009-2016 Top 31s

January 29, 2018 /Royal Stuart
2017, advented, arcade fire, portishead
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#22 on the 2015 Bacon Top 31

December 10, 2015 by Royal Stuart

Savage Hills Ballroom by Youth Lagoon

The band at #22 is difficult to categorize. Experimental, psychedelic, dreamy — these words come close, but don’t seem to fit quite right. Youth Lagoon, the stage name of Trevor Powers, is from Boise, Idaho, but given his sound, you’d be forgiven if you’d guessed Brooklyn.

Playing with a mix of electronic and analog sounds (trumpet, piano, and cello all feature throughout), it’s Powers’ high, sometimes cracking falsetto that sets this music apart from others that came before. There’s a little Arcade Fire, a little Destroyer, even some Kishi Bashi in there if you tilt your head just right.

Savage Hills Ballroom is Youth Lagoon’s third album. I haven’t heard his previous albums, but from what I’ve read, it doesn’t sound like I need to. It appears this album is a good departure from his previous work. If you do end up going into his back catalog, or if you have heard it and have an opinion about it, do share, won’t you?

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23. Not Real by Stealing Sheep
24. Beat the Champ by The Mountain Goats
25. Gliss Riffer by Dan Deacon
26. Dark Bird is Home by The Tallest Man on Earth
27. Gunnera by Pfarmers
28. Swimmer to a Liquid Armchair by Ricked Wickey
29. To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
30. Live in Seattle by Moufang / Czamanski
31. High by Royal Headache

What is the Bacon Top 31?
Past years’ Top 31s

December 10, 2015 /Royal Stuart
2015, advented, youth lagoon, arcade fire, destroyer, kishi bashi
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#15 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

December 17, 2013 by Royal Stuart

Reflektor by Arcade Fire

And so it was writ: every three years, as the stars and moon align over Montreal, Quebec, Arcade Fire shall bestow upon the people an amazing indie rock album. This has proved true with uncanny regularity for the past 12 years, and you can look for the next one to come out in 2016, I’m sure.

The band’s last album, The Suburbs, landed at #8 on the 2010 Calendar. At this juncture, I don’t really care to listen to that album any more, but I find myself drawn to their first two albums, Funeral (2004) and Neon Bible (2007), with continued consistency. Don’t let the fact that I’m ranking this year’s album, Reflektor, lower than I ranked their last album even though I no longer wish to listen to that album. I’m fairly certain I like this new album much more than The Suburbs. There just happened to be a lot of good music to come out this year, so Reflektor finds itself at the mid-way point.

This new album has the band in a disco kind of mood. It’s a very danceable album, and if you listen to the album with headphones while sitting at your desk at work, I defy you to keep your foot from tapping and your body from bouncing to the beat. It’s a long album, a two-album set clocking in at 85 minutes. And it’s not without its dogs. But those dogs are easily skippable, and they make the rest of the album shine by comparison.

The video above, for the song “Afterlife,” is gorgeous. You should definitely take the time to watch it. Directed by videographer and photographer Emily Kai Bock, it tells the story of a man and his two sons, all dreaming of the wife/mother they’ve lost. The way the dreams are depicted in the video are particularly moving. Bock has directed other videos I’ve posted in the past, such as this one for Grimes and this one for Grizzly Bear. It‘s extremely satisfying to see all three of these videos in the light of each other, an über context that isn’t there when viewing any one of them alone.

Arcade Fire made it onto the Bacon Review a couple times with other videos recently. If you missed them the first time, go back and check them out here and here.

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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

December 17, 2013 /Royal Stuart
2013, advented, arcade fire, grimes, grizzly bear, emily kai bock
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September 21, 2013 by Royal Stuart

Just like that, Arcade Fire are back at the top of my musical rotation, with this lovely disco tune “Reflektor.” Their new album of the same name will come out at the end of October.

If you own a smart phone, and have a little time on your hands, do yourself a favor and go to the interactive version of this video. In the same vein of “The Wilderness Downtown” and “Neon Bible,” the band has worked with Google developers to create a Google-Chrome-only video for “Reflektor.” And it is mind-blowing.

September 21, 2013 /Royal Stuart
watched, arcade fire
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