#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

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#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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#27 on the 2015 Bacon Top 31

Gunnera by Pfarmers

We continue the long-running love of all things Menomena and The National here at The Bacon Review with Pfarmers. A collaboration between Danny Seim (Menomena), Bryan Devendorf (The National), and Dave Nelson (Sufjan Stevens, St. Vincent), Pfarmers is actually the first of two collaborations between those two bands that will appear on this year’s Top 31.

I’m a big fan of members from bands trading players and making more music, giving me elements of what I liked about all of them in a new form. Pfarmers sounds more like Menomena than the National, but just barely. Most of the album is made up of songs that don’t really fit a mold: a bit electronic, a bit analog, and trippy throughout. The high energy song above, “The Ol’ River Gang” is definitely the highlight of the album. The rest of the songs are slower, background-like thinking pieces.

If you liked Menomena or The National, then you’ll like Pfarmers. If you don’t like either of those bands, then you probably won’t like Pfarmers. But give the song above a listen, you may be surprised.

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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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#22 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar

Phantogram EP by Phantogram

The band here at #22 on the 2013 Musical Bacon Calendar is one of those bands that, when I heard them on the radio I’d say to myself “Man, I really like this song. Who sings this?” and it would almost always be Phantogram. This must have happened at least a dozen times. And even though the band has been putting out music for the last four years, 2013 was the year I started really paying attention.

I had the luxury of seeing the duo from Saratoga Springs, NY, at the amazing Treasure Island Music Festival down in the Bay Area back in October, where they opened for a little band called Atoms for Peace. They must have been super stoked to be there, because they blew everyone away by their light-show hard rock ’n’ roll extravaganza stage presence.

Then, three weeks later I had another opportunity to see them play, headlining one of the five amazing shows Barsuk Records hosted in celebration of the Seattle label’s 15th Anniversary. This time around the band had some extra players with them, and they once again blew us all away. And this was after we had just seen amazing band after amazing band leading up to Phantogram’s headlining slot. (I’d like to see you try and follow Menomena and manage to maintain the audience’s attention.)

While the band hasn’t released a full-length album since 2009’s Eyelid Movies, they’ve continued to keep their fans satiated by releasing four EPs, with the 2nd self-titled EP being the record that came out this year and made the Calendar. Just this evening, about 3 hours ago, the band announced their new full-length album Voices will be released on February 18. I’ve already reserved a slot on the 2014 Musical Bacon Calendar for it.

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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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#26 on the 2012 Musical Bacon Calendar

Moms by Menomena

In a band whose members all share equal songwriting duties, each creating songs that sound drastically different from one another but manage to still sound like the sound of a single band, there’s bound to be some conflict. Menomena is one of those bands. The internal fighting among the trio broke up the band early last year, after a decade of performing together. But rather than dissolve the band entirely with Brent Knopf’s departure, the remaining duo, Justin Harris and Danny Seim, elected to carry on.

This is a good thing. As the band was essentially three solo artists all performing under one name. So what we’re left with now are two bands (Menomena, and Knopf’s solo project, Ramona Falls, whose new album, Prophet, is also quite good) performing what will always sound to me as “Menomena music.”

And this new album, Moms, is definitely 100% Menomena. The bass sax, layers of sound, unique harmonies — it’s all there. If anything, the sound that Knopf takes with him away from Menomena is the lack of sound. The band has lost the ability to be quiet.

This is not a bad thing. I like quiet music when I’m in the mood for it. And Ramona Falls are chock full of quiet moments. But this new Menomena album is hard hitting from the first note. If you’ve not yet experienced Menomena, I will suggest you start at the beginning, with their first album I am the Fun Blame Monster. Then work your way forward. The history of the band is important, sonically. But if you’re already a fan, pick up this new one. It slots right in where they left off, 33% lighter, but every bit as exciting.

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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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