Staff Pix 11/30
The Milk Crate staff’s favorite tracks of the week, presented with blurbs worthy of a promotional sticker on a CD release. Tune in Mondays from 7-9 EST to the Staff Pix radio show.
Mari Cardenas
Reptilia - The Strokes
This is the ultimate indie-alt classic. Millennials and Gen Z’ers all around (or maybe just me) loved this song after playing it on Guitar Hero as a 7-year-old. That infectious guitar solo (you know the one, doo doo da doo doo da doo doo) stuck with me, alongside Julian Casablancas raspy voice, until I rediscovered them in my teens. The Strokes became the pinnacle of my teenage years. They stood for the idea of not giving a fuck but while jam-packing all these strong emotions such as lust and aggression all into one. Their independent-garage sound made it easy to fall in love with their work and inspire listeners to create their own music (some being Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand).
Natalia Szczepanski
The Anthem - Good Charlotte
Now a pop punk classic, Good Charlotte’s song “The Anthem” encapsulates early 2000s teenage discontent. The opening riff is infectious—carrying listeners to the main instrumental before dropping off completely when the singer comes in. The song goes on to compare high school to a jail cell; surely, we’ve all felt this way at some point growing up. Even now, the lines “‘Go to college or university / Get a real job!” That’s what they said to me” could still apply almost 20 years later in that kids are still expected to obtain a higher education despite rising tuition. Either way, “The Anthem” is a perfect song to scream your frustrations out to: and possibly feel like an emo teenager all again.
Nia Tucker
In Between Days-The Cure
At the time that I first heard this song I was enamored with Paramore and they had done a cover of it. I wasn’t someone who had many places to be after school except for my writing clubs and, embarrassingly enough, golf practice, so when I wasn’t doing that, I scoured the library for new CDs to burn onto my computer. I picked up The Cure’s Greatest Hits album wanting to learn more about the band that my favorite band loved and got obsessed in that awkward, wannabe teenager way. When Robert Smith sings “Yesterday I got so old / It made me want to cry,” I hadn’t ever heard anyone sum up my simultaneous fear of youth and aging in that way. For weeks I wept and jumped up and down on my bed like I was the protagonist in an 80s movie as I listened to this song and its joyous, mournful beauty.
Annie Wojnarowski
Top of the World - Shonen Knife
The first time I heard this track was when I watched the best film of the 20th century: The Parent Trap with Lindsay Lohan. This cover of the classic song by The Carpenters is so infectiously youthful. What Shonen Knife brings to this already optimistic record is a new wave sound that with a new perspective. While the original had its origins in a vaguely Christian radio hit, Shonen Knife’s cover is not only edgier, but sounds like what making friendship bracelets with your friends feels. Although my mind may initially point to the summer camp montage in Nancy Meyers’s magnum opus, this song represents the rare thought that one who is coming of age can feel: on top of the world.
TAtum jenkins
Alaska - Maggie Rogers
This song went viral when I was sixteen, and I remember my dad showing me the video of Pharell crying to “Alaska.” Ever since I saw that video, I’ve listened to Maggie Rogers’s music and, in some ways, it feels like I’ve grown up with her. As a song about reclaiming your identity and finding yourself in a new landscape, it’s the kind of track that can remind you of who you are. With a natural, ethereal vibe, it feels like a special kind of rebirth. Rogers’s airy vocals and grounded production come together to create a unique anthem about growing into yourself.
Kyle Woolery
The Streets Where I Belong - Annie
Norwegian pop songstress Annie described her latest album, Dark Hearts, as “the soundtrack to a film that doesn't exist.” Inspired by the work of David Lynch and David Cronenberg, the album is delightfully cinematic and, as is evident in tracks like “The Streets Where I Belong,” also deeply personal. “The Streets Where I Belong,” an ethereal synth-pop anthem that is equal parts Bruce Springsteen and Julee Cruise, finds Annie wistfully reminiscing on her youth in her hometown of Bergen, Norway. She recalls blissful moments of adolescent innocence and reflects on the different paths she and her friends embarked on as they grew older. The lyrics are introspective and sentimental, working in tandem with the dreamy, retro-esque production to evoke feelings of comfort and nostalgia. “As the sun begins to fade and the band begins to play, I let the music take me home to the streets where I belong,” she sings sweetly. It sounds just like something that would play during the end credits of a 1980s coming-of-age flick.
Erin Christie
Bros - Wolf Alice
Wolf Alice’s 2015 masteperice, My Love Is Cool, is a fairly obvious choice for my personal album of the century thus far, as it's decked out with stellar track after stellar track. For example, one of the record’s singles, “Bros,” is a stand-out inclusion, not only for its musical excellence, but for how utterly heartwarming its lyrical material is, especially in the name of coming of age.
In essence, it’s an anthem in celebration of pure friendship and the sorts of bonds you make with people who you were potentially destined to meet, and that you can count on to remain by your side no matter how much you grow and change. It calls upon adolescent shenanigans, summer playdates, sleepover parties, whispered secrets, and childlike innocence in a way that’s utterly nostalgic and sweet. Backdropped with a riff I could recognize anywhere and supremely catchy instrumentation, and pushed forward via frontwoman Ellie Rowsell’s beautiful vocals, it sticks out for all the right reasons and leaves a lasting impression — one that finds you reminiscing on your own childhood pals and feeling grateful for the friends that you can consider “bros” presently.
Looking back, any time I’ve seen Wolf Alice live with friends, we’ve always clasped hands and sung along to lines such as, “We’ll stick it out together like we always do / Oh, there’s no one, there’s no one quite like you,” as loud as we possibly could. Those are memories I hold especially dear, and will likely remember fondly years down the line.