#8 on the 2020 Bacon Top 31 — Matt Berninger

Serpentine Prison by Matt Berninger

Matt Berninger may very well be my favorite performer, ever. If you’ve been following The Bacon Review for the last 11+ years, then there’s a good chance you’d know this already, given how much prominence the lead singer of The National has been allotted over the years. Including his main band’s appearances on the Top 31 (four times: #6 2019, #4 in 2017, #3 in 2013, and #1 in 2010), his side project, El Vy (#10 in 2015), and Berninger’s appearances in other performers’ albums (such as Chvrches and CYHSY), the man has been mentioned nearly every year that the countdown has existed.

I mention this history because it plays a big part in how I listen to and quantify the new stuff he puts out. It’s not just “how does this music compare to everything else this year?” but also “where within all the music of his that I love does this rate?” Never an easy question, and it inevitably changes over time. For instance, while The National’s High Violet ranked #1 in 2010, I don’t consider it the best amongst the four albums the band has on the countdown. (That honor currently goes to 2013’s Trouble Will Find Me. Ask me again tomorrow and I’ll give you a different answer.)

Serpentine Prison, Berninger’s first true “solo album,” is a great effort. No, it’s not a National album, but it’s damn close. And I’m sure it will stick with me a lot longer than the El Vy album has. Sonically, the album sounds similar to what a National album might be if they left the bombast that comes with a lot of their songs on the shelf. Prison is soft-spoken, and because of that it doesn’t immediately hook you. It’s more of a slow burn.

This is the kind of album that feels like good background music at first, but by the middle of the album you find yourself leaning in, listening intently, and picking out the hints of the album’s collaborators. The album has a good, down to earth feel that sounds full and polished, thanks to producer Booker T. Jones. (He of Booker T. & the MG’s and a ton of collaborations from the 60s on (including Otis Redding, Willie Nelson, Rita Coolidge, Bill Withers, and Neil Young, just to name a few.) Jones plays on a few songs as well, and helped bring together a slew of other big names to participate in the making of the record, including Andrew Bird, Gail Ann Dorsey (who featured prominently on The National’s 2019 album I Am Easy to Find), Brent Knopf (Berninger’s partner in crime in El Vy), and The National’s Scott Devendorf. The song above, “Distant Axis,” is probably my favorite of the album. The video is quite fun as well.

Berninger has been keeping himself busy since the last National album in 2019. In addition to creating this solo album, he’s released a couple of new songs worth listening to that don’t appear on the album. His fantastic duet with Phoebe Bridgers, called “Walking on a String,” is from Zach Galifianakis’s feature length “Between Two Ferns,” in which Berninger and Bridgers appear in the movie Phoebe Bridgers and The Spiders from Bars, along with two members of The Walkmen. He also released a cover of Mercury Rev’s “Holes” as part of a benefit series called “7-inches for Planned Parenthood.”

Perhaps after reading all this, you agree that Berninger is worthy of the praise I heap upon him. I can understand if his baritone and delivery aren’t your cup of tea, but I don’t think it’s possible to deny his greatness. Serpentine Prison is a worthy solo debut, and I highly recommend that you pick it up as soon as possible.

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1. Saint Cloud by Waxahatchee
2. Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple
3. Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers
4. folklore + evermore by Taylor Swift
5. Untitled (Black Is) + Untitled (Rise) by Sault
6. RTJ4 by Run The Jewels
7. Shore by Fleet Foxes
8. Serpentine Prison by Matt Berninger
9. The Ascension by Sufjan Stevens
10. Making a Door Less Open by Car Seat Headrest
11. Dreamland by Glass Animals
12. A Hero’s Death by Fontaines D.C.
13. Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez by Gorillaz
14. Mordechai + Texas Sun EP by Khruangbin
15. Introduction, Presence by Nation of Language
16. Free Love by Sylvan Esso
17. Miss Anthropocene by Grimes
18. 3.15.20 by Childish Gambino
19. Women In Music Pt. III by HAIM
20. The Third Mind by The Third Mind
21. Superstar by Caroline Rose
22. Impossible Weight by Deep Sea Diver
23. We Will Always Love You by The Avalanches
24. Ultra Mono by IDLES
25. Visions of Bodies Being Burned by clipping.
26. Thin Mind by Wolf Parade
27. The Loves of Your Life by Hamilton Leithauser
28. Palo Alto (Live) by Thelonious Monk
29. color theory by Soccer Mommy
30. Fall to Pieces by Tricky
31. Quarantine Casanova by Chromeo

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All Top 31s

#9 on the 2018 Bacon Top 31 — Wye Oak

The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs by Wye Oak

Much like First Aid Kit at #10, Wye Oak is a duo that have been making music together for over ten years. Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack met while they were both in high school in Baltimore, and they’ve released six albums since then, all on Merge Records. You may also have heard Wasner with Dirty Projectors or Stack when he toured with the National / Menomena offshoot El Vy.

Aside from a couple songs that made it to my ears over the years, The Louder I call, The Faster it Runs is the first full album from Wye Oak that I’ve heard, and it’s phenomenal. The title song, shown above, is what hooked me on it. There was a brief time back in the spring of 2018 when I couldn’t stop listening to this song. And now I see that there’s a vastly different version of the song shown here in this video, where the band performs the song in the woods, removing the electronics and playing analog instruments, allowing the song, stripped back, to reveal something entirely different. There’s also a video for “It Was Not Natural”, another great song off this album.

The duo employs a mix of guitar, keyboards and drums, with Wasner’s crystal-clear voice punching through the din. The title song draws you in, but it’s the contrasts from songs like “Symmetry” and “Over and Over” that keeps you there. Pay attention to Stack’s drumming — as there’s nothing typical about the beats he picks. Don’t make any judgments on this album until you’ve listened to the whole thing, as I’m convinced there’s something here for everybody.

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10. Ruins by First Aid Kit
11. Cocoa Sugar by Young Fathers
12. Loner by Caroline Rose
13. Big Red Machine by Big Red Machine
14. I’ll Be Your Girl by The Decemberists
15. The More I Sleep the Less I Dream by We Were Promised Jetpacks
16. Joy as an Act of Resistance by IDLES
17. Hell-On by Neko Case
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

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

#23 on the 2016 Bacon Top 31

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

#10 on the 2015 Bacon Top 31

Return to the Moon by El Vy

We’ve made it to the top 10 albums of 2015! Coming in at #10 is the other band I hinted at in my review of Gunnera, by Pfarmers, which came in at #27. El Vy is another group made of pieces and parts from Menomena and The National, and this is the better of the two, because it’s the one that has Matt Berninger on vocals and Brent Knopf on keyboards / backup vocals.

I always preferred Knopf’s songs in Menomena more than the songs written by Danny Seim or Justin Harris. His more recent project, Ramona Falls, felt very much like a full version of what amounted to usually no more than a third of each Menomena album. I was surprised to hear that El Vy doesn’t sound like Brent Knopf’s songs. That’s mostly because Berninger does all the lead vocals, although I can imagine that Berninger and Knopf’s combined songwriting skills are particularly good when they’re working together.

This is a solid rock & roll album. Guitars, drums, keyboards — all the elements are there, including Berninger’s signature baritone. You’ve most likely heard The National before, and to the casual listener, this will sound like The National to you. You can hear other songs from the album over on YouTube, where the band has a few glorified lyric videos. Pick up the album. You won’t be disappointed.

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11. Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) by Lin-Manuel Miranda
12. Art Angels by Grimes
13. The Horse Comanche by Chadwick Stokes
14. Grace Love & the True Loves by Grace Love & the True Loves
15. Shake Shook Shaken by The dø
16. La Di Da Di by Battles
17. Sky City by Amason
18. What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World by The Decemberists
19. Untethered Moon by Built to Spill
20. Viet Cong by Viet Cong
21. The Magic Whip by Blur
22. Savage Hills Ballroom by Youth Lagoon
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

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Past years’ Top 31s