Lauren Drapeau – Editor-in-Chief
For the month of January, I decided to listen to “Mesa Redonda” by Hermanos Gutiérrez on repeat. Part of the reason being that I keep playing the recent songs saved to my Spotify out of laziness, but also because it makes me feel like I’m coasting through a warm desert with sights of cacti and tumbleweeds. It’s cold, so let me venture into the imaginative warmth. I haven’t been feeling lyrics lately, so this song has been a perfect solution.
Nathan Robillard – Managing Editor
As much as I don’t want to do this for fear of being extremely basic, I have to. My entire playlist this month has been dominated by the lyrics of Noah Kahan, and so (unfortunately, maybe), my choice for this week is his 2022 classic “Homesick.” I spent much of my summer and winter hiking and camping through the White Mountains of New Hampshire and state parks of Vermont, and the vibe of this song almost perfectly matched the love-hate relationship that comes with burning your legs up to hike 5,000 feet up a mountain, for the sole purpose of turning around and coming back down. Why do I love it? I don’t really know. I feel like I shouldn’t like it as much as I do. That’s how I feel about this song.
Casey Chan-Smutko – News Editor
You know those moments when you hear that one lyric from that one song you forgot about years ago and has now come back? Well, this past week the lyric “Oh no here we go, hear your voice on the radio” came back to me. This is from the song “(I Can’t) Forget About You” by the band R5, made up of the Austin and Ally actor Ross Lynch and his siblings. I remember my 10-year-old self listening to it with my iPod touch and jamming out on the bus ride to and from school. Coming back to old songs like this bring nostalgia and good moments from the past.
Sully Cummins – News Editor
In the winter months I always find myself listening to softer stuff. During January I revisited a folk album by Sufjan Stevens called “Illinois” and couldn’t get enough of the track “Casimir Pulaski Day.” It’s a longer song, about six minutes, and the soothing guitar, banjo and the trumpet in the bridge are awesome. Stevens’ music almost has a theatre sort of vibe to it that I love, and makes his stuff stick out from other folk artists.
Maia Hembruff – Entertainment Editor
The release of “1234,” Alex G’s new EP, last October has been a key introduction for me into his music over the past couple of months. I discovered it in early November and those four songs pretty much summed up my December playlist. They so perfectly personify the dead of winter, in particular the song “Break,” my pick of the month. Although in January I began to listen more to other albums of G’s, I felt it necessary to choose from the EP as it was the gateway to my discovery of a lot of his other music, and still frequents my listening history today.
Zachary Petrick – Sports Editor
I usually rotate through the same rap/hip-hop albums for months on end, and the last few months have been no different. Similar to most people in my demographic I have had “Utopia,” Travis Scott’s fourth studio album, on repeat since its release in late July of last year. The production was some of the best of the year, with multiple collaborators having their input broadcasted to the music world. Scott put together a masterclass of sounds and different styles to skyrocket his way to the top of the charts and another grammy nomination. My airpods won’t stop echoing this album for the foreseeable future as I continue to enjoy every second of the record.
Lucas Masiello – Newscast Editor
This month, I have reignited my love for T-Pain. While he may be most known for his early 2000’s autotuned rap music, Mr. Pain has rebranded himself as an R&B singer in recent years and has absolutely broken the game. In late 2023, T-Pain performed a concert where he performed R&B-style covers of songs ranging from “Tennessee Whisky” to “A Change is Gonna Come.” He showed off a powerful, vibrant voice that few have had the chance to experience until recently that almost felt like a reincarnation of Sam Cooke.
Aidan Cahill – Photo Editor
Usually in any given period of time, I’ll stick to either the softer, more acoustic side of my taste, or the faster and heavier stuff. Over this break, though, I managed to balance both extremes, listening to a lot of punk and hardcore, but also a lot of singer/songwriter and indie folk. Given this, it’s no surprise that the song that defined my break is “Mayonaise” by the Smashing Pumpkins, a band that masterfully manages to sound both delicate and heavy at the same time. For me, “Mayonaise” is a six minute showcase of everything the band does best, in its purest form: beautiful leads, droning guitars that envelop you in sound and an energy which no other band quite hits for me.
Jenny Arnold – Social Media Coordinator
January has been the month of house music for me. I have found myself listening to this genre on repeat, to get me out of the winter blues. I don’t think I have gone a day without listening to “Atmosphere” by FISHER and Kita Alexander. In the midst of the coldness and rain, it is nice to hear some upbeat music. A special shoutout to John Summit, for also being one of my favorite artists this month.
Nils Fimmers – Production Manager
I’ve been listening to a lot of classic 70’s soul music in the last few weeks. While being aware of the genre my whole life, I never truly dove into the musical style until being prompted by the song “I Wanna Be Where You Are” by Marvin Gaye. The song perfectly embodies the swinging soulful sound of the 60’s and 70’s. While the original version on the “I Want You” album is around one minute long, there are multiple extended versions of the song in circulation that bring a full six minutes of deserved attention to this refreshing and soothing track.