Good morning, or afternoon, however you celebrate 12pm on a Friday. It is not yet Rocktober, or Fleetwood Mactober as I prefer, but it is officially Fall. Inevitably, this time of year sinks me deep into 1970s rock and beyond. Historically, that has led me into Dire Straits, Atlanta Rhythm Section and Pink Floyd territory. This semester started with some fabulous LRB, but where has it evolved from there? That’s what we’re here to catch up on today. Time to tune in this September 2025.
The Black Keys Take Over
Back in high school, I was strictly a “Fever” girl. Any other song by The Black Keys I heard unsolicited on a Home Depot commercial or in The Vampire Diaries. Nowadays, you can’t go to a college bar without “Lonely Boy” coming on along with Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out.” No complaints here, just observations.
Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carneu conspired on TBK back in Akron, Ohio in 2001. In a time of heinously low waist jeans and Ocean’s Eleven, they made a name for themselves in garage rock and blues. Flash forward 24 years, and you’ll find me searching for a fun album to listen to while I study for god knows what class. One thing led to another and I was clicking on TBK’s Turn Blue.
Released in 2014, this psychedelic and soulful rock turned out to be exactly what I needed. I’ll cut to the chase. All but three of the eleven songs were immediately added to my music library. Some absolute standouts are “10 Lovers,” “Turn Blue,” and “In Our Prime.” They do a great job of making you feel like you’re in the car, windows down, 10pm, crisp fall evening. And if you’re looking for a Tame Impala-type, long-winded listen like “Let It Happen,” look no further than “Weight of Love.” Basically, something about this album made me revert back to my pre-frontal-cortex-developing Arctic Monkey ways.
Now, I didn’t stop there. Turns out this duo has a pretty deep discography. What next other than an album that reflects their classic sound: El Camino. Released in 2011, it “draws from 50s-70s rock and roll, glam rock, rockabilly, surf rock and soul.” Winning three Grammy’s that year and hitting number two on the US Billboard Top 200, one could say this album generated some success. Pretty much any song could’ve been (and probably has been) pulled straight off the album and into an episode aired on the CW. I’m not claiming that there’s some great story behind the album, or that it even feels like a complete and concise project, but each song is pretty catchy. Some favorites of mine have to be “Dead and Gone,” “Sister,” and “Mind Eraser.” One that momentarily had me in a chokehold was “Run Right Back.” Something about the weepy guitar sound is so enchanting it’s addicting.
I can’t even say they do anything especially creative or lyrical or anything like that. Just, if there was a band I had to listen to for an exciting run or to crank out an assignment, they could definitely be one up to the task.
Melancholy Rap Returns
Another major red-waving flag that it is officially Fall is when the hip-hip and trap playlists come back out to play. Days are getting shorter, nights are getting longer, and Don Toliver is getting more listening minutes. Some key albums in times like these are Heaven or Hell, Astroworld, JackBoys, Honestly, Nevermind, Ctrl, and anything Kid Cudi. The years 2016 to 2018 did amazing things for this genre. From “Astrothunder” to “Baptized in Fire,” “Supermodel” to Carti’s “Flex”, there’s an endless amount of melancholic smooth beats.
While I find Drake to be quite cringy as a person, Honestly, Nevermind did wonderful things for the program. Outside of “Jimmy Cooks,” the whole release is really an outlier in his little repertoire. These Brit-centric beats are the kind of music I expect to come out of Toronto. Glad he got back to his roots on this one. “Overdrive,” “Texts Go Green,” “A Keeper,” “Sticky,” “Massive,” and literally more. While it initially received A LOT of backlash, I think this album was one of his more complete thoughts. Good stuff.
So how to wrap up from here? I can already feel the gravitational pull to early Fleetwood Mac, Tears for Fears, and The Cure sneaking in. I predict something of the sort in the coming months. It truly is a great time of year for my music profile.
**if you’re interested in the current rock playlist, here it is. and here‘s the hip-hop playlist from last year.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Keys
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Camino_(The_Black_Keys_album)
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