Coming to college can be daunting. You have to share a room with a stranger, take classes and make new friends-even worse than all that, you have to adjust to the college music scene.
While you don't have to read Pitchfork daily and slip obscure music references into conversation, there are a bevy of albums released in the last few years that could be considered essential listening.
If you already know and love these albums, consider yourself ahead of the curve. Otherwise, these five albums can serve as a starter course on your college music journey.
'Turn on the Bright Lights' by Interpol (2002)
As the late '70s gave way to the '80s, punk became post-punk. This essentially meant musicians working below the mainstream took punk's stripped down formula and gave it an even starker sound, made the bass an essential instrument, added the occasional synth and made \punk"" more melodic-more of a carefully constructed, artfully minimal means of musical expression.
Interpol is an essential member of the current college rock scene, not because its music itself is considered revolutionary (try to find a review of them that does not mention Joy Division), but rather because it was instrumental in reintroducing post-punk sensibilities into the indie community.
It is possible that Turn on the Bright Lights is the greatest debut album of all time. It perfectly melds all of its late-'70s/early-'80s influences into eleven tracks that never once miss a step. At times upbeat and angular-guitar heavy (""Obstacle 1""), and at others hauntingly murky (""NYC""), Turn on the Bright Lights flawlessly succeeds at everything it attempts.
'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot' by Wilco (2002)
The words ""instant classic"" are attached to nearly any discussion of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. In a year that produced dozens of amazing albums, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the best.
Most commentaries focus on the album's journey to release, including band infighting and label-switching. There's no shortage of critical praise for the album either. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot's status as a critical darling of an album marked Wilco as the next big thing. However, strip away the extraneous drama and commentary and it becomes apparent that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot deserved the ""instant classic"" title so readily applied to it by critics.
The Americana imagery of lead singer Jeff Tweedy's lyrics line up perfectly with the iconic sound put together by the band and mixer Jim O'Rourke. The band has drawn comparisons to nearly every classic rock artist you could name, and with good reason. The songs that make up YHF's tracklist are sonically experimental (particularly with various electronic distortions) but also recall the rock of years past both in style and theme. Classic albums are familiar but not conventional; personal but not indulgent. YHF fits the bill perfectly.
'Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots' by The Flaming Lips (2002)
While many think psychedelica died out with the '60s, The Flaming Lips definitively proved in 2002 that psych-pop never died. It was just waiting for the right band to bring it back to prominence. Even for the Lips this was not an easy process, as the band's sound underwent many changes from the early '80s until the almost universal critical acclaim of the 1999 release The Soft Bulletin.
While Yoshimi may not be as revolutionary as Bulletin, what it does is perfectly incorporate the rich studio production of Bulletin into an even stronger set of songs, resulting in essential listening for anyone who values the orchestral pop of the Beatles or the space rock of Pink Floyd.
Yoshimi begins as a song cycle about an epic space battle between a girl named Yoshimi and an evil group of Pink Robots, but the concept is dropped after the fourth song as the album begins a series of ruminations on mortality and the need to accept death in order to appreciate life. While this may all seem rather heavy, the brilliant production transforms the philosophical musings into beautifully blissful psych-pop at its very best.
'Chutes Too Narrow' by The Shins (2003)
While tracks like ""New Slang"" and ""Caring is Creepy"" (from their debut, Oh! Inverted World) blipped onto the pop-culture radar thanks to the immense popularity of ""Garden State"" and its soundtrack, The Shins are far more sonically sophisticated on their sophomore album, Chutes Too Narrow. While their debut was excellent, the album suffered from a lack of musical clarity. On Chutes Too Narrow, elements are brought into sharp relief.
Chutes Too Narrow is a collection of slick pop with depth-it is a group of songs executed with precision that seems effortless. One moment, frontman James Mercer's delivery can seem simplistic and thin, while mere seconds later it will carry you to an emotional climax.
Instead of relying on one consistent formula, The Shins deliver a variety of sounds that share a pop flavor. The formal ""Saint Simon"" contrasts with the traditional rock of ""Turn A Square"" or the melancholy emotion of ""Pink Bullets."" But each of them are finely crafted from the flying range of Mercer's vocals to the graceful instrumentation.
'The College Dropout' by Kanye West (2004)
The College Dropout is far from underground. West won Grammys for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song and garnered numerous other nominations for his 2004 rap debut. Multiple tracks were all over top 40 radio in 2004.
On the other hand, the album naturally lends itself to a list of essential college listening-after a week of cramming in the library, more than a few college students would enjoy listening to Kanye smirkingly spit ""Told 'em I finished school and I started my own business / They say, 'Oh you graduated?' / No, I decided I was finished.""
Dropout's critical and commercial success is a result of Kanye's charisma and ability as a producer. What he lacks in technical ability as a rapper, Kanye makes up with humor and biting wit. Combined with his soulful hooks and beats and some well-chosen guests including Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Common, Mos Def and Freeway, the album depicts a producer/rapper defining just what the possibilities of that combination are.
Further, his sophomore album Late Registration is due to drop July 12, possibly placing Kanye West at the top of hip-hop two years in a row. If you don't have it already, consider his debut a hip-hop requirement.
-Michael Gorwitz and William Temby
