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Sebadoh’s III, one of Erik’s Non-Typical
College Albums
Moving to Boston and attending college has ushered in an entirely different environment than the one I previously inhabited in Cincinnati, OH. Offering probably the largest deviation is the music people are into up here. This has been to my advantage, however, because there have been several times back home where I”ve tried to show albums to more punk minded friends of mine and been turned away, or shrugged off like “Oh Erik, you and your indie rock.”
Too many times in magazines I”ve read in the past, in some attempt at wit, a writer has tried to rank the top 10 college albums of all time. These usually include such played out jams like Bob Marley’s Legend, any number of Dave Matthews Band albums, or some other album that’s constantly being played while a bunch of dudes chill back over some Nati Ices and “bro out.”
While I completely understood going into this article that Emerson defies the “bro” stereotype by about a mile (thankfully), please, allow me to complain. I still hear too much Dave. I don’t care about Dispatch. Or, now that I live in the big shiny tower known as Piano Row, I hear a shit ton of show tunes, or people just talking about show tunes. I don’t really think I”ve heard people just TALK so much about a genre as much as I have show tunes. It was bad enough having “Seasons Of Love” from Rent play as our class song at high school graduation.
So, without further ado, I present to you, in somewhat of an attempt at wit:
The Top 10 Non-Typical College Albums (in no particular order)
Sebadoh - III
In 1989, J Mascis kicked Lou Barlow out of Dinosaur Jr. Almost immediately, Barlow retreated to his home and began kicking out all sorts of lo-fi jams under the name Sebadoh. III, which is thought by many to be the band’s peak, also stands as a great example of a college age adult hiding in their room constructing tunes on their own budget, something that Emerson students have a tendency to do. Drop this album on your acoustic-jamming roommate’s bed. It”ll change things.
Destroyer - Rubies
For the aspiring WLP major who writes poetry nonstop and regularly uses words like “deep” and “heavy” to describe things not limited to their own tortured psyche, this album is almost essential. As much as I love Dan Bejar and everything he has done as Destroyer, you almost can’t help but laugh a little at his excessively self-referencing/portentous word play. Thankfully, this album finds him at his musical peak. Rubies is more or less the equivalent of a roommate who spent a semester at the castle, then came back using completely anachronistic language, yet you still think he’s awesome because he has a fake ID that he uses to buy you booze.
Explosions In The Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
The soundtrack to probably a thousand mid-semester, tear drenched breakdowns. Also, the soundtrack to when you walk around in the snow and have profound thoughts about how beautiful the world is or something, but then you run into a bunch of people who have been smoking weed in the Public Gardens.
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls In America
The first time I heard this album was when it was streaming on Vagrant Records” website. I had been drinking the night before, and only moved to hit the “next” button whenever a song ended. I didn’t get out of bed for the duration of the entire album. Also, the lights were out. The perfect album for when you want to have a million slightly illicit adventures, but don’t feel like moving.
Ratatat - Classics
In an attempt to sound edgy, people will usually name drop Ratatat as a band that they like, probably within the first week of you meeting them. Could it be the block rocking beats? The infectious guitar/bass interplay? The fact that they can be found in BOTH the indie and electronic sections? Or the fact that whenever they come to town, EVERYONE is at their show? When they came in September, it was pandemonium all over campus as people were scrambling to get tickets. Insanity. Pop this album on and go be social.
The Decemberists - Picaresque
With the release of 2006’s The Crane Wife, The Decemberists found themselves exposed to a much larger audience, one that embraced them with wide open arms. Appearances in Boston became momentous events. This is funny considering The Crane Wife contains like three 12 minute songs. Thus, I”ve nominated Picaresque for this list, as it acts as the bridge piece between Her Majesty and The Crane Wife, with a pretty equal amount of longer and shorter songs. Thus encouraging unity between indie pop and prog nerds campus wide.
Weezer - Pinkerton
Pinkerton is almost TOO much of a college album, as it was recorded after frontman Rivers Cuomo had gone through one year over at Harvard. Besides that obvious parallel, Cuomo also mirrors the overdramatic boy experiencing his first major relationship issues in an unfamiliar environment, such as being sick of random hookups (in the obviously titled “Tired of Sex”) and the jaded senior hoping for a return to the glory days (”The Good Life”). If you find your roommate curled up in the fetal position, rocking back and forth listening to this album, it’s pretty obvious what has happened.
Of Montreal - Satanic Panic In The Attic
Mirroring The Decemberists to a smaller extent, Of Montreal’s The Sunlandic Twins blew up on the college scene upon its release two years ago. They”ve come out with another album since, (the excellent Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?), yet walk down a Piano Row hallway and you”re bound to hear at least one room blasting “Wraith Pinned To The Mist And Other Games.” Be subversive and get this album, the one before The Sunlandic Twins. It’s infinitely more solid, and different enough that your Sunlandic blasting brethren might actually come in and ask “Who is that?” which is where you retort smugly and laugh like a 1930’s villain.
Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
The constant delays that held back this album had Pitchforkers and Emersonians frothy at the mouth. The insanely hot beats held down several parties over winter break. Their show in February had an entire crowd chanting R-E-U-P-G-A-N-G with no question as to what that really meant. Dive into this album and enjoy some of the most paradoxically deep and mindless fun 12 songs can bring you.
Disclaimer: Anything snarky written about any of these albums has merely been in jest. I own and enjoy all of these albums genuinely and regularly. Support these and other independent/awesome artists. Go to their shows, as they come around pretty regularly. By the end of this month, 7 out of 10 will have been through Boston in the past year!