By Tyler Friedman ’17, Staff Writer
This summer I found myself with a lot of free time on my hands, which I spent listening to music. With the help of The Spectrum on Sirius XM, I was able to find a lot of new music that I genuinely enjoyed and still continue to listen to now. Although there were so many different amazing songs, I have narrowed it down to my four favorites of this summer.
Just One Drink – Jack White
Lazaretto, White’s second solo album, was released in early June of this year and was well received by critics. Although I have not listened to the album thoroughly enough to give a review on the whole album, I can definitely say that “Just One Drink” is a fantastic song. Jack incorporates elements of classic rock, blues, and alternative rock in order to create a unique sound, and the female harmonies feel reminiscent of his White Stripes’ days. The lyrics are clever and catchy, and the song is just generally well done.
Call It Fate, Call It Karma – The Strokes
This song was not necessarily new this summer, seeing that Comedown Machine was released in March of 2013. However, I hadn’t really given it a full listen until I was at the beach in August. I decided that this album doesn’t quite hit the high bar set by earlier Strokes releases, or even remotely come in the range of Is This It (a classic), but it’s still a nice listen. Out of all of the songs, “Call It Fate, Call It Karma” really stood out to me and seemed to diverge the most from the classic Strokes sound. The tone feels almost haunting and Casablanca’s falsetto incorporates well with the somewhat jazzy melody of the guitar. Although it might not be as exciting and loud as you would expect from the Strokes, it’s definitely a surprisingly beautiful song.
Budapest – George Ezra
George Ezra was an artist I had never heard of until a friend recommended him to me. Suddenly, I started hearing “Budapest” pretty frequently on The Spectrum and Alt Nation. Ezra manages to create a fairly acoustic melody on the guitar without making the song feel too much like alternative folk (similar to The Lumineers, Mumford & Sons, etc.). His voice is the right combination of smooth and raspy and I can guarantee after one listen, you’ll be singing this song for days.
Pulaski at Night – Andrew Bird
When the new season of Orange is the New Black premiered in June, I immediately began watching. In the first episode of the season when Piper travels to Chicago, there was this great song playing in the background that I had never heard before. After some Internet research, I figured out that it was “Pulaski at Night” by Andrew Bird. The song begins with a very simple melody and then slowly adds layers in order to create a much fuller sound. As I have discovered with much of his music, Bird relies mainly on the violin to back the vocals. This isn’t terribly uncommon in music I listen to, but I definitely would not immediately think of the violin if someone brought up alternative rock. However, he transforms the sound into something beautiful and calming. The lyrics are well written and the tone of the song sounds vaguely reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens. Overall, it is a great song discovered through one of my favorite shows.
Undoubtedly, I highly recommend all four of these songs. From this set, I believe that people with a wide variety of tastes can find something that suits their interests.
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