While most students spend the summer on vacation without easy access to new tunes, there are those who spend the whole summer hiding in their apartments finding new music. From new Arcade Fire to LCD Soundsystem, this playlist will sink you back into summer mode.
“Boyfriend” by Best Coast
Within the past few years, there has been a flock of female bands who combine modern garage rock with 60s girl groups. Best Coast is the most recent in this movement and may be the finest. Singer Bethany Cosentino croons simple high school poetry over unadorned instrumentation. But unlike the 60s groups that Best Coast emulates, these aren’t songs about tender kisses and holding hands. Think more along the lines of obsessively longing for a boy and then plotting how to get that other chick out of the picture.
“One day I’ll make him mine, and we’ll be together all the time…I know that he wants to my boyfriend.” Even if this girl may sound more like a stalker than an admirer, you can’t help but root for her.
“Drunk Girls” by LCD Soundsystem
It is rumored that LCD Soundsystem’s latest release, “This is Happening,” may be their last, but even so, it sure is a hell of a way to make an exit. Every song is cogent; from the Bowie-esque balladry in “All I Want” to the danceable rock of “Drunk Girls,” every moment feels momentous. Electro-rock genius James Murphy has always known how to make all of the Indie kids dance, and this track is no different.
“Drunk Girls” is both unabashedly silly and surprisingly sweet. There is the fortune cookie wisdom of lyrics like, “Drunk girls know that love is an astronaut. It comes back, but it’s never the same,” which lead the song into the realm on the inane.
Sentiments like this sum up LCD Soundsystem as a band: Just because it’s dance music doesn’t mean that it can’t have heart.
“Animal Tracks” by Mountain Man
In a scene that is full of posturing and manufactured originality, it can seem next to impossible to find bands that seem to be making music for the sake of making music. Luckily, there are bands like Mountain Man that completely lack pretense. In a world of contrived kitsch, they are a breath of fresh air. The three ladies that make up Mountain Man create music that is effortless and sublimely nostalgic. “Animal Tracks,” is unabashedly beautiful, with delicate harmonies and no instrumentation besides an acoustic guitar. It’s the kind of music that you would want to be the soundtrack to a weekend at a cabin rather than a night in a bar. They may not be the next big thing, but it can be nice to listen to music that isn’t trying to be anything other than lovely.
“Month of May” by Arcade Fire
After creating two masterpieces with “Funeral” and “Neon Bible,” it seems like a third album would be the perfect time for the Arcade Fire to lose their momentum and create something unremarkable. But unlike 95 percent of the other bands in the world, Arcade Fire just doesn’t seem to be comfortable with mediocrity. From their well of bottomless energy, Arcade Fire has pulled out a track that never stops. It’s an explosion of crunching guitars and feedback with lyrics that are somewhere between a prayer and a plea. This song finds singer Win Butler downright indignant in comparison to the hopeful balladry of “Funeral” stunner “Wake Up.” “So much pain for someone so young. Well, I know it’s heavy. I know it ain’t light, but how you gonna lift with your arms folded tight?”
But the Arcade Fire always seem to reflect the state of the world, so it isn’t surprising that as problems mount and we spin into oblivion, Arcade Fire’s lyrics only get darker. Rather than lamenting about the problems humanity faces, the band now demands attention and action.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jenny Gumbert at Jenny.gumbert@colorado.edu.
