#5 on the 2020 Bacon Top 31 — Sault

Untitled (Black Is) + Untitled (Rise) by Sault

Much like Run The Jewels at #6, Sault produces music that simultaneously answers to and defines the zeitgeist. But where RTJ is in your face and in your feeds to the point where they’re hard to avoid, Sault takes a much more subtle approach. Like RTJ, the music they produce is rooted in the plight and rise, the pain and joy of Black people worldwide, but it’s not outwardly angry. Instead, theirs songs are built on disco, soul, and R&B. They make you want to groove, in a 70s Marvin Gaye / Fela Kuti way, but they lyrically keep you firmly planted in the present.

The first of this year’s two albums, Untitled (Black Is), was released on Juneteenth, in the thick of global Black Lives Matter protests spurred on by the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. The second (and equally stellar) album, Untitled (Rise), came out three months later. They did the same thing in 2019, coming out of nowhere and releasing two earth shattering albums; 5 and 7 together appeared at #7 that year. That’s four amazing albums in 71 weeks. During a global pandemic and mass unrest at systemic racism and global warming. Just imagine what they could accomplish if we had had more quiet, complacent and complicit years. Personally, as difficult as it is to admit, I’d likely not have heard of Sault had the world not been boiling over due to the Trump kakistocracy. Or if I’d heard of them, I wouldn’t have latched onto them like I did in 2020. I once was blind, but now I see.

That said, you can’t really see Sault. The band is an enigma. Sure, they have Twitter and Facebook and Instagram feeds of their own, but they post to those only when a new album is released, in a very mechanical, unsocial way. And they certainly don’t respond to replies or comments. They don’t have a YouTube channel (the video above, and frankly all their videos, even the audio-only videos, appear to be created by fans). They’ve never toured. You won’t find them speaking out in front of cameras, or backing political candidates in overt ways. You won’t find them at all. What little information we do know about them has been dug up by über-music nerds at a handful of publications and has never been confirmed by the band.

Sault is likely made up of four main contributors: London-based producer Dean Josiah "Inflo" Cover (who also produced Michael Kiwanuka and Jungle albums that have appeared on the Top 31 in past years), keyboardist and co-writer Kadeem Clarke, London-based soul singer Cleopatra "Cleo Sol" Nikolic, and Chicago hip-hop artist Melisa “Kid Sister” Young. Michael Kiwanuka makes an appearance on (Black Is) in the song “Bow” shown in the video above as well.

We are all lucky to have been gifted such a wealth of amazing music from one source. Maybe someday we’ll get to thank them in person, but for now we must actively listen, enjoy, and then act. Despite the difficulty we all encountered in 2020, my “suffering” doesn’t begin to equal the generations of difficulty those that aren’t white have faced. Now that the scales are tipping back in the right direction, it will be too easy to sink back into our separate and unequal lives. Bands like Run The Jewels and Sault are here to remind us to stay vigilant. How did we get so lucky?

p.s. A big thank you goes out to my friend Ryan, who has created a Spotify version of the Top 31 playlist as a companion to my Apple Music playlist. On top of that, he’s gone so far as to create a “Singles” playlist, where he’s pulled one song from each album. In his words:

“The idea is that I want Royal Radio, I want the 2020 Top 31 countdown show you would air on KEXP if you had the opportunity.”

Thank you so much, Ryan. I’m elated that you’ve done this. Spotify users rejoice! And for the other readers out there who may not know, Ryan is 100% the reason I started the Top 31 back in 2009. Prior to my countdown, Ryan was doing his own annual musical advent calendar. When he pulled the plug after having created it for a few years, I decided to pick up the reins (with his blessing). We should all be thanking Ryan. Maybe this will be the start of a bigger collaboration in years to come.

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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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#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

Subscribe to the 2019 Bacon Top 31 Apple Music playlist
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