Katie Cerulle ’22
Features Editor
Guys, I love music. I know, I know, a lot of people say they love music to fulfill their indie girl dreams, but I mean it. I have a radio show at WRTC, the campus radio station, that specifically focuses on indie rock music. I’ve won the paper plate award on the rowing team for “most song lyrics memorized.” A few of my Spotify playlists have over 50 followers, which I think is a lot; the point being that I think I have some credibility when it comes to recommending music to my friends. Any reader of the Tripod is a friend to me, so I’m gonna put you on an up-and-coming band that I promise will impress your music-loving friends.
The band is Your Neighbors, just a few LA guys trying to make it big in the music industry. Led by Walker Robinson, the band’s Spotify description reads, “From Dad rock to hip hop, he hopes to find a foothold in the music world by throwing anything and everything at the wall and hoping something will stick.” Come on, how funny is that? You gotta give it to him, he has drive. I think they are far beyond the recognition they’re receiving. Their most streamed song on Spotify has only 10,000,000 streams. It sounds like a lot, but in the music world, that’s still unrecognized. There’s also an 8 million stream difference between their first and second most streamed songs, meaning that everyone really only knows one song, if any at all.
Their most streamed song is called “Chicken.” It’s a rock song with an indie twist—my favorite type of song. I think it’s the most listened to because it’s hard not to like, nothing too risky, just a damn good song. The guitar is loud, the vocals are clear and cool, and there’s a great balance between effects and raw instruments. Epic to say the least.
My favorite song by them, though, is called “Ex.” I actually might have cried the first time I heard it. It starts with a few lighter flicks and fades right into the first verse: “Well I’ve been a bad thing, hooking up with Mary Jane.” That’s right folks, it’s an entire 5 minute song about their complicated relationship with weed, how incredible is that? It’s funny, clever, and quite catchy. Not to mention the production quality is insane. You’ve just…you have to listen to it, okay?
Another thing that I really like about small artists, Your Neighbors specifically, is the cover art. I feel like artists usually spend a lot of time trying to take artistically pleasing photos in order to draw people to their songs. Take the cover of “Ex” for example (pictured below). It is black and white here, but in color it’s such a fun image that really channels the creativity and goofiness of the song.
So, if you do one thing today, please listen to Your Neighbors, and send them around to your friends. Everyone will think you have great taste in music, so you’re welcome.
Aniela Pawlikowska: Your Neighbors have been my favourite band ever since I discovered them, which was a little over 2 years ago. I cannot recommend them ENOUGH!! So underappreciated as a band, it baffles me how they’re not more famous.
I’ve been loving Your Neighbors since 2019 and finally get to see them ! He is just incredible song writer and production masters!! Great rock and they need some attention as way to many great bands never make it , ugh.