Student Special: Essential College Albums

When you’ve just started uni, and you don’t know what you’re doing

CMAT – If My Wife New I’d Be Dead

The glory of CMAT – and the reason she’s so relatable – is that she gives the impression she’s only ever one or two steps ahead of herself, with very little idea about what the hell she’s doing. This spontaneity informs the Dublin artist’s much-heralded debut LP (even the deliberate spelling mistake in the album’s title speaks of an artist who couldn’t care less about thinking things out too much). For college students, listen to songs like ‘No More Virgo’ and ‘I Don’t Really Care For You’, and take inspiration from CMAT’s flighty, dreamy, pop-y way of seeing the world.

When you desperately need to concentrate

Brian Eno – Ambient 1: Music For Airports

Aside from being The Man In The Studio for some of the greatest records ever produced –from David Bowie’s Low to U2’s Achtung Baby – Brian Eno is also the foremost artist in the ambient genre, creating work that, in his own words, attempts to “induce calm and space to think.” In 1978, his first album in that regard, Music For Airports, was released.

Eno quipped that he wanted the music to be something you could hear in an airport, which would have a tranquilising effect – and discourage thoughts about potential death if your plane crashes. And while MFA is still excellent airport music, the album is also genuinely one of the best tools for helping you block out the world and concentrate in any setting, including while you’re studying.

When you feel like an academic failure

Kanye West – The College Dropout

Kanye West’s debut album might be 20 years old now, but it’s as powerful as ever and has aged tremendously well (the same can’t be said for its creator). The College Dropout is a powerful ode to fucking up, being original, and knowing deep down when something isn’t right for you.

In between iconic songs like ‘Jesus Walks’ and ‘Through The Wire’, Yeezy satirises how the modern-day college experience can sometimes feel like a conveyor belt (“You get that associate’s degree… Then you get your masters/ Then you get your masters’ masters”). But is it an anti-college album? No, quite the opposite.

It’s an album about how college opens you up to exciting new opportunities – including the opportunity to fail. Because let’s be clear: even though you might be heading off to college for new experiences, ‘dropping out’ is as valid a college experience as any other…

When your college experience shows you the absurdity of life

Talking Heads – Essential

Secondary school can feel small, regimented, parochial. But college life lets you experience some of the dizzying chaos that comes with Being A Functioning Adult. To help you navigate that chaos, Talking Heads will always serve as excellent companions. There is never a bad time to get acquainted with the art-rock legends, but trust us when we say that their surreal, playful depictions of humanity will offer you a tonic throughout college.

And that’s all before mentioning that songs like ‘Once In A Lifetime’, ‘Life During Wartime’, and ‘This Must Be The Place’ are some of the greatest alternative rock anthems of the last 50 years – and wouldn’t seem out of place on any party playlist.

When you want to bop out and feel self-conscious at the same time

Pulp – Different Class

Pulp’s fifth LP is an essential student album for many reasons, not least because you’ll gain awareness about class consciousness, rave and drug culture, and the randomness of human life – all as you can dance your heels off to really good pop songs.

When you want to feel liberated

Pillow Queens – In Waiting

Pillow Queens make music for the kind of afterparties where cigarette butts get extinguished in mouldy flower pots, and dregs of lukewarm cans get sucked down, all while once-repressed youngsters have heart to hearts about everything that’s important in life: love, sex and liberation.

Their demographic isn’t exclusively college students looking to find themselves, but that’s certainly a listenership who will identify with the band’s message. The music is excellent, too. Pillow Queens make tough, scuzzy, unapologetic rock songs, while embracing that key ingredient: good fun.

When you’re feeling nostalgic

LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver

LCD Soundsystem’s second album is a glittering dance and indie-rock opus that addresses difficult themes like existentialism, death and the decline of western society. Simultaneously, it sits them exactly where they belong – alongside life-affirming experiences like partying, dancing, and being head-over-heels-in-love with all the people in your life.

Sound Of Silver is a heady, energetic cocktail with the purest heart imaginable. Even on the first listen, it’ll evoke nostalgia for every joyous social gathering you’ve ever been part of it, making it essential for college students.

When someone hands you the AUX lead at a houseparty

BICEP – Isles

House duo BICEP spent the early 2010s filling the dancefloors of Belfast, Dublin and London with music-loving uni students, before spending the latter half of the decade becoming a sensation just about everywhere else in the world. Their blissful, spacious, ambient house sound is instantly recognisable and much-loved. If you’re in charge of playlist duties at a houseparty and aren’t sure of who to put on to keep the vibes high, try turning to this album.

When you want an album to help you wade through college angst

Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend

One of Vampire Weekend’s defining traits is their ability to depict privileged systems, preppy culture and established institutions in all their folly. On their self-titled debut album, Ezra Koening and co. capture some of the social angst and politics that come with entering the higher echelons of education (see ‘Campus’, ‘I Stand Corrected’ and ‘Oxford Comma’). Even if this isn’t exclusively a college album, it’ll offer a window into the kind of social experiences that will likely define your uni life.

• Check out our full Student Special in the latest issue of Hot Press, available now: