The end is in sight. Vaccines are finally available; businesses are opened again and classes are slowly transitioning back to in-person learning. Despite finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel for this pandemic, there are still many students and citizens who are choosing to remain safe by staying home and self-isolating. Many people know how boring self-isolation and quarantine can be, so here is a playlist comprised of students’ and individual preferences to help you get through these boring and aggravating times.
1.) “Shiawasenomonosashi” by Mariya Takeuchi
This city pop track is a bop. Very reminiscent of mid to late 80s pop, the complex production of trumpets, percussion, violin and the smooth vocals of Takeuchi give this track a great feel-good atmosphere that will have a lot of people dancing horribly in their mirror (unless your dancing is great).
2.) “Cigarette Daydreams” by Cage The Elephant
Boy, oh boy, if there was ever a song for you to play during the trailer of the indie-film that is your life, this is it. This track, by the famous folk-rock collective, has all the imagery the genre has become known for and is a song fitting for movies like “Perks of Being a Wallflower” or “Juno.” Maybe staying in your dorm, apartment or other living space is not as exciting as those movies but having this playing in the background will make the boring times more interesting.
3.) “I Write Sins not Tragedies” by Panic! At The Disco
Be honest, a lot of people have relived their middle school pop-punk phase during this pandemic. No? Just me? This song is still a classic and features the vocals from one of the best vocalists of the last two decades. You can do a lot worse than one of the most iconic pop-punk tracks of the mid-2000s.
4.) “The Last Baron” by Mastodon
Some hard-hitting guitar, bass, drums, fantastic and diverse vocal performances and a 13-minute runtime, if there was ever a singular track to just vent and go through all your emotions during quarantine, one would be hard-pressed to find a track better suited to the task then this one.
5.) “Aqua” by Origami Beats
What is a playlist without an instrumental to study and chill to?
6.) “Potholderz” by MF DOOM feat. Count Bass D
This track from the late-great MF DOOM features everything that made the rapper a legend. The layered, but simultaneously laid-back instrumental with the unique bars and rhyme schemes of the artist, The Villain, and the lyrics provided by featured artist Count Bass D provide a track that is perfect to just lay back and relax to.
7.) “digging for windows” by Zach De La Rocha
This is a track to get mad to. The aggressive vocals and the synthetic and hard-hitting instrumentals, provided by Rage Against the Machine’s front man, form a track to just yell with. Be mad. These times are not fun. Letting out your anger to a track like this can help a lot.
8.) “Blood on Me” by Sampha
There have been a lot of times where I have just needed to put on music and let time pass without having a thought in my head. This is my go-to track for that feeling. The piano, the percussion, the hums and the vocals, this track is perfect to just go into a trance and forget about everything.
9.) “Ghost Town” by Kanye West feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR
A great track from what was an otherwise underwhelming album from Kanye West, this song is haunting. The instrumental, the feature at the end of the song from PARTYNEXTDOOR and the chorus from Kid Cudi, this is another song that can put its listener in a trance, not always in the best way. This is a track I have gone to during self-isolation many times.
10.) “Appletree” by Erykah Badu
A classic track from the queen of R&B herself, this is a song to just bob your head to. This is a track you can play for almost any mood and come out at the end of it in a much better one. It is a fun track from one of the most legendary voices the genre has ever produced.
Teren Kowatsch can be reached at [email protected]
JEFF
Nice addition with the DOOM