Like me I’m sure some of you guys may be dreading waking up this week, dragging your barely conscious body to campus and loitering around the parking garage for about an hour looking for a spot.
If you’re like me though the right playlist could help get you up and going. Like a double shot of expresso, these tracks should invigorate and energize even the most sleep smitten undergrad.
I apologize in advance for “Panda” not making the list.
1. Tokyo Police Club: “PCH”
I'm a sucker for this song. Regressing from the more refined sound from their last album, Forcefield, Mellon Collie and The Infinite Radness, Pt. 1 provides more an earlier unpolished Tokyo Police Club sound similar to their sounds on A lesson in Crime. The tracks sweet electric keys phrasing against Greg Alsop drums patterns will help with the disquiet and confusion of the first week of school.
The next song is from a band that toured with Tokyo Police Club promoting this single in 2008.
2. Metrics’: “Help I’m alive”
This is from their fourth studio album Fantasies is an oldie but an extreme goodie. The track opens with a hammering drum beat and the echoing yet steady trembles of lead singer, Emily Haines. Metrics driving drum pace and constant tension on this track constitutes the ambitiously sweet resolve.
I was introduced to this track in 2009 thanks to a skate video posted on The Berrics, in honor of Nick Mullins. A skater who was told he had less than a %1 chance of seeing out of both his eyes. Yet Mullins resiliences provided an amazing skate part. Both the song and skate part provide enough oomph for the daily motivation need to get to class.
In Florida, we are captives of the sun so this next song seems right for this list. It has the perfect amount of slacker 12:30 commutes to classes meets hazy sketchy internships in Dolby surround.
3. Parquet Courts: “Captive Of The Sun”
This song crawls melodically and but doesn’t command too much energy from the listener. The almost neglectful slide guitar meets the required amount of sun-beaten motivation to make listeners feel like a winner even when trudging into class few mins late.
For a spin on this track, I recommend checking out the live performance of “Captive of the Sun” from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert of this track featuring Bun B. The combination of the Texas powerhouses delivers a captivating human performance.
Good luck getting back to reality.
