Awesome Music / The National

Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers

• "90 Mile Water Wall" has the world's saddest violin solo.
• "Slipping Husband" is a really cool song, up until the end where Matt launches into this incredible Metal Scream.
• "Murder Me Rachel", a song that grows more intense as it progresses, ending with nearly a minute of pure chaos and Matt screaming at the top of his lungs.

Alligator

• "All The Wine", a song which has a fantastic guitar line, and an excellent outro to boot.
• "Abel", which is by far the most aggressive song on the album, features one of Matt's best vocal performances.
• "Mr. November" is perhaps The National's most beloved anthem, and is practically omnipresent in their setlist for good reason.

Boxer

• "Fake Empire", a song which represents a quantum leap in the band's arrangement prowess. It's not hard to see why some fans of the band consider it to be their calling card.
• "Green Gloves" is one of the most subdued songs on "Boxer". It's incredibly poignant, and is arguably one of the best "quiet" songs that the band has ever written.
• Matt may be the lead singer, but on songs like "Brainy" and "Squalor Victoria", this is Bryan Devendorf's album. The National might be one of the few bands where the drummer has had as many recognizable riffs as the guitar.
• "Mistaken for Strangers" and "Apartment Story" are both pretty rad in the same vein as each other.

High Violet

• "Terrible Love", though the alternate version has more of a punch to it.
• The tremolo-heavy riff on "Anyone's Ghost".
• The opening feedback and string arrangements on "Little Faith", plus the awesome drum-n-bass-esque drum parts.
• "Bloodbuzz Ohio" and "Lemonworld", especially since they're placed back-to-back on the album. Not to mention, on "Lemonworld", what other singer would write lyrics about their wife's sister? That's pretty courageous.
• "England". Holy crap, when those horns come in after the chorus...
  I don't even think to make corrections
• Capping off this dense, somber album is the fantastic tune "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks", which has become a concert staple.

Trouble Will Find Me

• "Don't Swallow The Cap" stands out as one Berninger's best lyrical efforts. When coupled with one of Devendorf's best drumming performances, some subtly brilliant guitar work, and a beautiful recurring piano line, it's easy to see why many have singled this track out as a standout on the album.
• Being one of The National's most aggressive and powerful songs as of yet, it isn't hard to see why "Sea Of Love" was selected as a single.
  HEY JO, SORRY I HURT YOU, BUT THEY SAY LOVE IS A VIRTUE, DON'T THEY?
• The U2-esque ballad, "Heavenfaced". Man, that ending.
• "Graceless", especially this live version of the song.
• The complex guitar lick that repeats throughout the duration of "I Need My Girl".
• "Humiliation", in addition to having a kickass instrumental (complete with a jazzy guitar solo near the end), shows off Matt's lyrical abilities at their best, rhyming two-syllable phrases perfectly at times.
  Got my rings around me, I got baby to pound me
  I see stars and go weak, my lover cries and lays me down

Sleep Well Beast

• "The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness". A straight-up rock song with an actual guitar solo, an epic chorus, and an instantly iconic main riff. Their first number one after nearly two decades of existence.
• "I'll Still Destroy You", besides having some of Matt's most beautiful lyrics, has a totally awesome musical Gainax Ending.
• "Walk It Back", mostly for its satirical bite, thanks in part to Lisa Hannigan’s distorted reading of a particularly creepy Karl Rove quote about the nature of reality.

I Am Easy to Find

• "Rylan", an unreleased song that initially made its live debut in 2011 and eventually made the tracklist for their eighth studio album, "I Am Easy to Find", is a very beautiful and sentimental song about coming of age and trying to fit in with your peers.

Other Songs

• "Exile Vilify" off the Portal 2 soundtrack. It isn't hard to see why the song turned so many Portal fans on to the band. And considering how perfectly the lyrics fit with the game's plot, in addition to the beautiful instrumentation, it doubles as a Tear Jerker.
  Does it feel like a trial?
  Does it trouble your mind the way you trouble mine?
• "Wake Up Your Saints" and "Sin-Eaters" are two pretty groovy tracks off the expanded edition of High Violet. Also "You Were a Kindness", probably The National at their best instrumentally.
• "Think You Can Wait" has some of their most lush instrumentation.