Soundtrack to Warwick

As another academic year draws to a close, it’s perhaps time to take stock of each of our own personal experiences here at the University of Warwick.

Of course, university life provides something different for every individual, but a constant companion through the various highs and lows of higher education seems to be the omnipresence of a good soundtrack. Those tunes we have clung to so dearly through our previous terms of university (whether in the library or the nightclub) most likely now provide strong associative links to your time at this institution.

Five writers have compiled a short memoir regarding each of their own soundtracks to their time here at Warwick. Whether eclectic, poignant, or just plain daft, let us know your ow personal soundtracks, too.

Ramsey Marwan

My time at Warwick has expanded my musical horizons and opened my ears to a number of bands and artists that I would never have dreamt of listening to previously.  From my neighbour’s insistence that we watch Immortal Technique videos every night in my first year to my slow (yet inevitable) metamorphosis into an appreciator of indie (after having my love for Blink-182 heavily mocked by my friends), it’s been surprisingly transformative.

However, remaining true to myself, my time at Warwick has been best scored by some of my favourite alt-rock bands. In my first year, Brand New’s Your Favourite Weapon not only comforted me through my angst at moving away from home, but ‘Failure By Design’ always provided the adrenaline boost needed when burning the midnight oil on an essay.

My second year marked my first foray into music journalism, and Twin Atlantic was one of the first bands I interviewed for The Boar. Their sophomore record Free is an absolute banger, and I always felt ‘Make A Beast Of Myself’ aptly described my behaviour on those regret-filled nights out at Smack.

My final year has been dominated by Californian pop-punkers The Story So Far. Their first two albums – with Parker Canon’s aggressive vocals and their ridiculously powerful rhythms – gave me the energy and drive needed to conquer a dissertation. And racking up a whopping 74 listens and sitting at the top of my iTunes Most Played is the song ‘Roam’. After finishing my degree, the sentiment “and lately I’ve been feeling grey, but today / I’m alright no thanks to you” nicely captures how I felt after putting my pen down following my last exam.

Nicole Davis

Two years into my university experience, I can honestly say there has never been a dull moment. Perhaps like the latest Vampire Weekend album, it’s been a time complete with existentialist themes and party tunes.

When I arrived at Warwick in 2011, it was off the back of a carefree summer in which I’d indulged in Arcade Fire and The Vaccines for a solid two months, while preparing for the whole “growing up” thing. As jolly good fun as that was, university has given me a more eclectic and diverse taste in music – perhaps reflective of the myriad of people you meet here.

From rocking out to Noah And The Whale at last year’s Summer Party to being bought Grizzly Bear on vinyl for my 20th birthday; from booking tickets for T in the Park this summer to nights spent dancing on tables to 80s tunes, and evenings spent in with friends musing over which Fleetwood Mac album is the best… Throughout my time at university, music has been instrumental (if you’ll pardon the pun) to both making friends and memories.

One of my most vivid memories has to be drinking Desperados with two friends in the Dirty Duck as we debated our favourite five albums. My choices included Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The USA, which now seems more appropriate than ever, considering that I will most definitely look back at Warwick as my ‘Glory Days’.

Christopher Sharpe

Indulge me: Warwick is a ship. A great whaling ship, in which a degree is the white whale, essays the leaky hole in the bottom, and exams the upcoming whirlpool preparing to drag me to a watery grave [spoilers].  But if this is the case, then relationships have been the sails, and music has often been the sea. Some of the waves have been rough: 2010 Freshers heard ‘Dynamite’ and ‘Barbara Streisand’ enough times to willingly throw themselves overboard, and my Norwegian housemate’s maddening propensity for Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Alegria’ was… well, let’s say delightfully eccentric.

Others have been glorious. High Violet, Bon Iver, g.o.o.d. kid, m.A.A.d. city, and currently Modern Vampires Of The City have been particularly wonderful companions as the respective Albums Of The Year during my voyage.

I’ve shared some amazing experiences and plenty of jams in the RaW studio, and got lost in translation with my beautiful better-half, courtesy of an Italian pop-star in a Roman amphitheatre. I’ve also seen and interviewed some phenomenal artists, been to Glastonbury and Latitude, and thrown all kinds of shapes. And even now, I’m sure there are plenty of other glorious sounds and experiences to squeeze out of the remaining grains of sand in the hourglass. (My current top tips would be Baths and Young Fathers.)

In music and in life, it can be a case of feast or famine (usually orchestrated around the arrival of that ever-vital loan). The lows have sometimes been as deep as the Mariana Trench, but thankfully, there have been plenty of Olympian highs soundtracking my time here at Warwick. I miss it already. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Maya Westwick

House, dance, dubstep, dance-how-you-want-cos-no-one-knows-how-to-actually-dance-to-this music… My iPod is currently full of this stuff. You’d think that would mean that I’d become a connoisseur of the art form, but this year, I’ve frequently been asking my friends “do you know this song?” as I start to hum out of tune in the hope that it triggers someone’s memory. It rarely works, but it seems that whenever my friends come together and de-cork a bottle of wine, I turn into the sort of person that feels like they can hum house. I think the only track which I managed to convey successfully was ‘Levels’ by Avicii.

Another song that has seen me through second year is ‘Hot Girl Problems’ (YouTube it, seriously). In all honesty, listening to this song started as a bit of a joke (“if you think Rebecca Black was bad, listen to this”), but before I knew it, I was filling any prolonged silence by breaking into the chorus. My love for this song will probably endure through third year, so I’m trying to figure out how to get my doorbell to play it, so that I can greet houseguests with a smile on my face.

Other sounds which I feel deserve particular mention include Maroon 5’s Overexposed, the Majestic playlist on YouTube, anything by Bastille, and – of course – Beyoncé’s 4 – the album I’ve used all year to attain the feeling of ultimate empowerment. If third year is anything like second year on the music front, I certainly cannot wait.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__HeE6NWmDE

Francesca Peak

When I was fifteen, I used a Nokia mobile to record a cover of ‘Gold Digger’ with my best friend; she rapped the Yeezy part while I provided the Jamie Foxx falsetto. It was upon listening back to the fuzzy recording, my belly aching with laughter, that I realised my fledgling career in music was over. However, my love for its form has endured, especially through these four tumultuous years at Warwick.

My first year was mostly spent watching Lady Gaga videos back-to-back: ‘Telephone’ and ‘Bad Romance’ are not only great videos, but enthralling short films. Then there came Tinie Tempah, Chipmunk, and Wiley, the latter of whom I have banned from my iPod, following this year’s SU debacle.

As the first year to actually count for something, second year was a haze of late nights and essay research. I dedicated more time to The Weeknd’s House Of Balloons than any album before or since, and spent the rest of 2011 devouring his other two mixtapes. As well as country, my year abroad in Nashville opened my ears to a plethora of musical delights. $5 concerts took me from dingy basements to dark, sweaty corners and bales of hay on open-air fields. Rusko, Nero, Alabama Shakes, tUnE-yArDs and Azealia Banks are just some of the names that provided the soundtrack to the most adventurous year of my life. Additionally, I can remember first hearing Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in a jacuzzi in Canada. Beat that.

This year has featured another intensely varied musical journey, from Solange’s True EP to Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, via Frank Ocean’s haunting SNL rendition of ‘Thinkin’ ’Bout You’ and the collaboration between A$AP Rocky and Skrillex on ‘Wild For The Night’. Finally, Major Lazer, Vampire Weekend and Kendrick Lamar complete the playlist that saw me through 18,000 words of dissertation pain and delight.

Melodies and words have kept me going for four years of upper education, and I’m certain that this is a relationship which will run and run.