Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica
You don’t have to listen to it, you just have to know it exists.
Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters
If you see that beanie girl from GRSJ 101 staring blankly into the distance and punching the air, she might be listening to this album.
Peach Pit - Being So Normal
If you want to fantasize about a Vancouver that no longer exists (if it ever did), this is the album to play over and over instead of actually going to parties.
Sam’s Rot’n Pot’n’Pan Band - Sam’s Rot’n Pot’n’Pan Band
Oh, you’ve never heard of them? I’m not surprised - they make pirate songs for kids, have six monthly listeners and haven’t released new material since 2002. They’re sort of underground.
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
This will probably not be your first exposure to Kendrick, but it will prepare you to engage with the rabid Fantano fanboys that run rampant across campus.
Babe Corner - Killer EP
A cool debut project by Vancouver alt-rock band Babe Corner. There’s no joke here, I just think you might like it.
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
IIIII LOVE YOUUU JESuS CHRiiiiiiiiiiiiST - if you like big, blasty production and the ramblings of the World War II kids in all your history classes, you’ll love this ambitious concept album. If you wanted to peer through the greasy rat’s nest of hair into the mind of your shitty kombucha ex-boyfriend, this is one way to do it.
Beverly Glenn Copeland - Keyboard Fantasies
Again, this is rapidly leaving the area of jokey listicle and encroaching on the culture section, I just like this album a lot - uhhhh, something something great study music something something forces you to reflect on the vast meaninglessness and subtle beauties of an Arts degree.