I feel compelled to preface this article with admission to insecurities. Being a music snob may score a girl some points in a Brooklyn coffee shop, but Bucknell is no hipster haven. Sure, a tiny indie subculture does lurk in scattered social nooks around campus with distinguished taste in French film and the Rolling Stone’s Best 500 Albums as their bible. But apart from this obscured minority, apathy seems to be the general attitude toward music, with listening being more of a passive than active role. Top 40 lists, and those of the past three years, tend to occupy the average student’s go-to spot of the mind, perpetuating the drone of done-to-death pop songs. I could go on about how heinous I find this lack of regard for music selection, but I will be gentle and spare the bulk of my audience. The point is, you don’t have to be an indie chick to enjoy indie music.
My current go-to tunes are largely a compilation of favorite summer 2012 releases, with a lot of 80’s inspiration. Synths seem to have made their comeback as the hot sound of the moment. Rather than melding into a sea of noisy electronica or disguising sub-par pop vocals, many artists have isolated them, flushing the element out and making it iconic. Although the ethereal synth usage is nothing new, it is still distinctly contemporary to its 1980’s shoegaze/ ambient origins.
Here’s a sampling of what I’ve been listening to:
I. Beach House
Latest Album: Bloom (2012)
Best Track: “Lazuli”
II. Animal Collective
Latest Album: Merriweather Post Pavillion (2009)
Best Track: “My Girls”
III. Twin Shadow
Latest Album: Confess (2012)
Best Track: “Run My Heart”
IV. Purity Ring
Latest Album: Shrine (2012)
Best Track: “Belispeak”
V. Arcade Fire*
Latest Album: The Suburbs (2010)
Best Track: “Modern Man”
*If you listen to anything from this article, you absolutely must lend this one an ear. They won album of the year for this ditty.