By Arthur Machado

The year was 2015, young Arthur was about to step into the daunting world of high school, and along with that, I would have to now walk to and from school from this point onwards. There was a simple shortcut to my old school, instead of pacing down the busy avenue and traversing between the long traffic jams, you be brave and dare to venture through shady Brazilian backstreets. And as the centerpiece of the sketchy side of the path was a decaying private high school. It's mold-ridden walls, puddles of still water prone to dengue fever carriers and broken windows were a daily sight for me, both from my 9th floor bedroom window, and on my walks to school. By then, I was going through the standard but crucial transformation where you fade out Billboard Top 100 tracks from your playlists, and gradually dive deeper into more niche genres and artists. This process happened on these routine walks, ultimately developing the foundations of my current music taste and love towards alternative music.

Due to the lack of storage on my vintage Galaxy S3 Mini I had developed a careful playlist system, where every Sunday I would go on Spotify and select 10 songs I was into at the time, and add the next 10 recommended songs through the service's algorithm. This forced diversification introduced me to incredible new bands that I have carried to this day. With the recent tragic news that the high school is finally getting demolished for a revitalization project, I decided to honor the ending of this decadent (albeit glorious) epoch of my life by curating some of the best tracks from the time.

“Anthem For Doomed Youth” by The Libertines

The Libertines are the quintessential British garage rock band. If you were growing up in the UK in the mid 2000s to early 2010s (or you're like me and vicariously lived this period through shows like Scrubs and The Inbetweeners) you are well familiar with them. Frontman Pete Doherty's troubled life leads to the angsty teenage songwriting you expect in all the best coming of age films. Anthem For Doomed Youth to me represents the end of this era, the reflective lyrics and beautiful guitar arrangements on the track make it the perfect opener for the playlist. 

“Sha La La La La” by Heavy Young Heathens

Heavy Young Heathens were an incredibly short lived British garage rock revival duo (this is going to be an ongoing genre on this playlist). This track comes from their self titled release and it has a DIY aesthetic I adore. The simplistic drums and guitar arrangements remind me a lot of The White Stripes. Heavy Young Heathens in their original form will definitely be missed, as they have moved to soundtracks now, but this 2009 song still showcases how they deserve more attention. 

“Future Reflections” by MGMT

MGMT are now a household name on the alternative charts, and I'd say that a lot of their original popularity came from their debut album Oracular Spectacular. While getting into them at first through the radio hits “Kids” and “Time to Pretend” I feel like “Future Reflections” is the true hidden gem of the record. The surf-rock guitar blends incredibly well with the memorable bass riff in the track that made me search after more psychedelic rock bands.

“Buckle” by We Are Scientists

For a good while in freshman year of high school my futile goal of choice was to actually get good in the now defunct Guitar Hero Live. Within the game, there was the fantastic Guitar Hero TV mode, where instead of having poorly made CGI characters on the background they actually used the music videos for the songs as a simple budget cut. But this gave the producers a lot more freedom to choose which tracks got in the game, and several alternative acts ended up getting the spotlight on this mode. We Are Scientists is one of these bands I discovered through the game, and “Buckle” will forever be the first song I got a full combo on expert!

“This Is An Emergency” by The Pigeon Detectives

The Pigeon Detectives are a British garage rock band that constantly lived in the shadows of larger acts like The Kooks, Franz Ferdinand, and Arctic Monkeys, having opened for all three bands on separate occasions. That being said, it's a shame they didn't get as much recognition overseas as they are an equally great, energetic act. “This Is An Emergency” may be the standard 2000s British rock song but it's nonetheless a personal classic. 

“Pipedown” by Babyshambles

“Pipedown” by Pete Doherty's secondary act Babyshambles is marked into my memory for a very specific random event. The school was not the only abandoned entity in the busy city avenue I lived by, there was a decaying Ford Ka, an affordable Ford model only produced in Brazil. No one really knew why the car was left there for so long, but for almost two years it would be a daily sight on my walks. I vividly remember listening to “Pipedown” as I wrote down on the dusty windows “For the love of God please wash me!” in the back window of the Ka, and now my poetic act of near vandalism is forever immortalized through Google Street View!

“Quente” by Ventre

For several non-valid reasons I used to have a very baseline aversion to Brazilian songs. There is this huge imperialist stigma, where many Brazilians believe that culture that comes from the US is infinitely better than anything my country produced. This mindset was changed when a friend introduced me to Ventre. This short lived band only produced a self-titled album, and a live album with their last performance. This album has been on my most listened list ever since I discovered it in 2016, and Quente is a highlight from this incredible introduction to Brazilian psychedelic rock, with the lead guitar work being the main drawing point for the band. 

“'Du schreibst Geschichte” by Madsen

Madsen are a German alternative rock/punk-rock band that became Germany's leading indie act in the 00s. The band was often popular on Twitter threads due to their anti-racist activism, with many of their tracks reminiscent of punk's anti-fascism personality. I do not know much about German alt-rock, but if Madsen is an indicator I'm sure it's a fantastic scene. The track is upbeat and contains great fuzzy guitar work, up to par with the leading bands in the garage rock scene. 

“Catapult” by Arctic Monkeys

Having saved the best of that personal era for last, “Catapult” is my all time favorite song from my old all time favorite band. The song is a B-Side from the Humbug era of the band, which was the first time they stepped out of the British garage rock cliches and ventured into desert rock. The walking bass line and simplistic chords have always resonated with me. Alex Turner's vocal delivery in the track expresses the full extent of his range as he sings about other men. “Catapult” is Arctic Monkeys at their peak, and I wish they had continued following the desert rock trend for their subsequent albums.