Alli's Articles
INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, CULTURE PIECES, MUSICAL RAMBLINGS.
Oh Lord. I knew this day was coming for a while, but it feels fake, typing this out right now. It is currently the night before my high school graduation, and all I can think of is the time that zoomed past me at Road-Runner speed. Even though I was already a sophomore when we started the blog, this really has been one of the most important building blocks of my four-year career. I've been going back and glancing over early articles lately, to see how much the subjects I've wrote about have changed through the years. Obviously, they've developed a lot, as I've discovered more songs, went to more concerts, fell in love with more bands, and overall expanded my musical knowledge. The great range of my music taste may not be as noticeable to you as it is to me, so I thought, as a graduation gift to all of you, I'd spell it out, starting from freshman year and ending at this current era in time. I've had a playlist on my Spotify titled "songs that got me thru high school" for a while now, so this is basically going to be an explanation of most of it. You're welcome to listen along! Freshman Year: New School, New WaveI've always been a fan of Blur, but there was something about seeing them live in October for 2015, when I was only a month into high school, that sparked my very passionate and fire-y love for Britpop, and other various genres that originated "across the pond." When you spend hours on the web looking for Blur and Damon Albarn-related concert videos and articles, it's pretty easy to stumble upon other bands of the same sound. After a short-lived Oasis phase, I quickly dive-bombed right into the heart of the classic British rock, post-punk, and new wave bands that started it all: The Smiths, The Cure, Joy Division, Sex Pistols, The Clash, New Order, and literally anything else. All of that caused me to become a fan of Morrisseys' solo work as well, and notice I say "work" and not "his actual personality," because I don't even want to rummage through that dumpster-fire right now. Through his stuff from the 90s, I managed to make a U-turn and got back into Britpop. This time, I started listening to the more underrated bands: Pulp, The London Suede, Supergrass, and a bunch of other obscure ones. The British bands didn't stop there: I began to gravitate to more modern Brits such as The Libertines and all of their other projects, Kasabian, and a looooot of Arctic Monkeys. The Last Shadow Puppets released their 2nd Studio Album Everything You've Come To Expect in April of my freshman year, so that album was on repeat constantly, and remains my favorite album of 2016. Top 3 Songs That Define My Freshman Year: - "Public Image" by Public Image LTD: I had a strange obsession with Johnny Rotten during this time. I did prefer more new wave-y sounding PIL compared to Sex Pistols, so this song was on a lot of my playlists. - "Hate To Say I Told You So" by The Hives: This song is kind of an outlier with all of the British stuff I've mentioned, but nonetheless I still loves these Swedes. I will never not feel like a badass when I listen to this song, and blasting it while watching videos of Howlin' Pelle Almqvist's powerful electric live performances got me through final exams. - "How Soon Is Now?" by The Smiths: Holy crap, looking back at all the times I played this through my earphones during softball practices when I was on the bench thinking that I was the most gothic person alive and that no one understood my struggles makes me shiver with continuous waves of cringe. I will forever love this song for getting me through some "tough" times, and I feel like everyone has at least one instance like I just described associated with it. Not A Slump: Sophomore YearA lot of album releases kicked off my Sophomore Year (Banks & Steelz, Kaiser Chiefs), but the real start of my music taste for this era was seeing Saint Motel live, and becoming obsessed with their opening act, Hippo Campus. I refused to talk about or listen to anything else besides them for an embarrassingly long time. You can't even imagine how much worse it got when they released their debut album Landmark in February of 2017. I don't want to sound THAT cheesy, especially BEFORE graduation, but I could honestly say that my Hippo Campus phase, and discovering the many happy poppy indie bands (COIN, RAT BOY, The Happy Children, Declan Mckenna, etc.) I've come to treasure and love through them has made me into a better person and shaped me into who I really am. In the early days, the HC fandom was tiny, so I discovered a lot of cool people through them that I still follow on Instagram today. I am really appreciative for everything they've made me feel, and want to experience, and they are officially my most seen band as of right now, as Governor's Ball was my 4th time. Watching them grow has been a privilege, and I couldn't have thought of a better way to end my high school career. I began to surge in confidence sophomore year, and changing my music taste from gloom and doom to zany electronica such as Animal Collective and MGMT definitely helped. Sophomore year was also an important year for major phases, specifically with alt-J, Grizzly Bear, and Metronomy. The album releases around the end of the year were also insane, with Phoenix, Foster the People, and alt-J once again all having new stuff. I was in heaven. I recall my sophomore year as the best, happiest, most fun year of high school, and all of the music I was surrounded with at the time definitely helped. When I feel weak, I'll go back to my 2017 mix and try to establish the glee and the love of life I had throughout that year once again. Top 3 Songs That Define My Sophomore Year: - "Boyish" by Hippo Campus: After all the explaining I just did, this really requires no further biography, but I just remember loving this song the most when I first heard them live. It still is my favorite off of Landmark. - "Heartbreaker" by Metronomy: Despite the subject matter being rather down, this song brings back great memories from the winter of 2017, laughing while trying to study for exams, goofing around with Liah, and watching and enjoying the aesthetics of this great music video. - "In Cold Blood" by alt-J: Out of all the phases I listed above, I think the phase I had with this band might have been the biggest. It got to the point where Thom Sonny Green regularly replied to my Tweets to him. This song is also kind of dark, but I can't help but get happy when I hear it because it reminds me of going down to the beach with Liah in May of this year. Drumroll, Please: It's Junior YearDiving into one big phase to the next, I started my junior year off by falling in love with The Drums. There's something addictive about Jonny Pierce's voice, the subjects he sings about, and the rhythm of each and every one of his songs. I said that I didn't listen to anything else with Hippo Campus, but with The Drums, this REALLY was true. There isn't a song I don't like in their entire discography. I've gotten so many people to fall in love with them in the same way that I did, and they've even been my top artist for two years in a row on Spotify. When there was a problem in junior year, there was a Drums song that solved it perfectly fine. While the end of 2017 was preoccupied with Jonny, the beginning of 2018 was a clusterfreak of small random phases, kind of like pimples. The zits included Iceage and Marching Church, the Call Me By Your Name soundtrack, Porches, Sure Sure, and Shame. It wasn't until March that I became overtaken with another band for an extended period of time again, and this band was BROCKHAMPTON. I fell in love with everything about this crazy boy band, and made a very close friend later in senior year because of them. Seeing them last week was an experience I will NEVER forget. I have a lot of lessons and rapping skills that I have only them to thank for. Along with the Saturation Trilogy, I also bumped Kevin Abstract's solo work and Matt Champion's independent songs as well. I didn't really have any major phases post-BH, I just listened to random one-offs and developed more "pimples." Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino was probably the most important album at this time for me. A lot of people trashed it, but through failed crushes, the stress of junior year exams, and trouble with friends, it somehow captured a lot of the moods I was facing internally and I appreciated that. Top 3 Songs That Define My Junior Year: - "Heart of Life" by Marching Church: Elias Bender Rønnenfelt is one of the greatest lyricists and has the most passionate stage presence out of all of the singers I love. The fact that he is able to channel that into two separate creative projects is amazing to me. I love this song because of its message of having a positive outlook among troubles, and also because there is a scene in the music video of Elias eating plain spaghetti on a couch while a couple makes out right next to him that has become my visual mantra. - "One Rizla" by Shame: This song gives me the confidence I need to be me, whenever I shall need it. Also, the lyrics are the some of the most relatable and reassuring phrases I've ever heard anywhere. Some examples: - "I'm not much to look at, and I ain't much to hear, but if you think I love you, you've got the wrong idea." - "Not too good at school but I ain't bad." - "You're confusing love with greed." I love it. - "Daisy Chains" by Will Joseph Cook: I've loved WJC secretly since before sophomore year, but when a friend recommended this song to me as it played in our art class, it felt like an omen. It's one of most painfully sweet tunes I know, and it will forever remind me of the carefree art periods I had with my group of friends in that class. Short but Sweet: Senior YearWith another BROCKHAMPTON phase surging through September and October with the release of iridescence, I later cooled it down around November with the discovery of the world of "Vada Vada." The Garden, and each of the twins solo projects: Puzzle and Enjoy, aren't just bands, they're an experience. Wyatt and Fletcher have truly created their own universe, and I became entranced in it around the end of 2018. It really was like nothing I've ever heard before, and their songs became a soundtrack in so many situations and locations: from volleyball practice to my senior retreat. I placed Garden quotes everywhere in my life, and decided from that point on to live VV. It was the boost of creativity I needed.
My last major phase in high school is arguably the most poignant. I started high school DESPISING this band, thinking they were annoying, and only liking one of their songs. It all changed when I saw them open for Interpol with Liah in February, and, to her disappointment, became absolutely obsessed with them. That band is none other than Will Toledo and his gang, Car Seat Headrest. It's scary how often I listened, no scratch that, how much i STILL listen to this band daily, considering how big the discog is. I discovered everything so quickly: the number albums, the Bandcamp gems, and every version of every song Will made, remade, and made again. Similar to The Drums, whenever there's been an issue lately, Car Seat has the answer. I genuinely relate to Will on so many levels, and I know a lot of people think he can get irritating in the public eye at times, but I really do feel for him. "Destroyed by Hippie Powers" helped me figure out that I don't want to go to a certain college that was known for being "painfully artsy." Remembering the lyrics to "Drugs With Friends" got me through a party bus gone wrong. How to Leave Town is now one of my favorite albums ever. And I don't even have any words that could be appropriate to convey what Twin Fantasy means. His legacy on my senior year will forever reside in my heart, and on the sticker of his face on my water bottle. Top 3 Songs That Define My Senior Year: - "No Destination" by The Garden - "Plane Crash Blues" by Car Seat Headrest - "You Let My Tyres Down" by TFS I feel like a year needs to pass before I can accurately say why these songs define senior year. Approaching the end of senior year, I've mostly been trying to listen to albums that are "essential" to any music fan. In the Aeroplane Over The Sea, Loveless, Pinkerton, and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy are just a couple of examples I can think of. Obviously, I've also been listening to bands I saw at Governor's Ball, which seemed like the perfect way to close off 4 years of a variety of music. Like I brushed on earlier, that event really put everything into perspective, and was a beautiful clash of genres, much like how my music taste is. This has been a sad week. I've listened to a lot of songs and done a lot of reflection on high school. I honestly wouldn't change anything about it, even the cringe-y and sad parts. Because, if I wasn't cringe-y or sad, I probably wouldn't have discovered half of the songs I did! If you're still in high school, treasure your music. Music lasts forever, and is a free time-machine if you don't have enough pictures to transport you back somewhere. It may seem far away now, but one day it'll be the night before your graduation, and you'll be on the verge of tears because you clicked on a song you haven't heard since the beginning of your experience, much like me at this very moment. The next time I write to you guys, I'll be a high school graduate! I am so thankful for all of our readers; Thank you so much for getting me here and supporting me all the way. I love you. Stay cool....high school Alli signing out.
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