Jackson Cooper
   Staff Writer

One night back in high school, I felt my life turn into a movie. It was the beginning of a chilly evening, with a sunset forming a pink tapestry of clouds and colors as I drove home from school. The back roads I took had many small neighborhoods where I would see children playing outside as their contemplative parents looked on with love and caution. Through my iPod, Priscilla Ahn’s “Dream” played as I drove through the suburbs, providing a thoughtful song as I watched the various white-picket lives go through their daily motions.

This week, I will be sharing the top five albums for your fall iPod selections. Be sure to check out the online version of this article for a link to a Spotify playlist of these artists and more — it’s simply perfect for driving and enjoying life.

5. CHVRUCHES-“Every Open Eye” (Spotify playlist, actually)

CHVURCHES’s music transports you to that club you always wanted to be in with your crush. You know, the one where no one tries to come between you guys, time seems to stop and the drinks aren’t watered down.

“Leave a Trace” makes you recall the feeling of sneaking out late at night to enjoy wine on a golf course. It makes you feel the exhilaration of looking back at that potentially special person to wonder if he or she is really as amazing as it seems. Then you see him or her looking at you, and at a moment’s notice, you both look away before going your separate ways. But there’s still that hope that you undeniably felt. And it’s that moment that always stays with you.

4. WILD CUB- “YOUTH”

I put this on the list for one song on it: “Streetlights.” I discovered the song while listening to one of my favorite college radio programs, “Bat in the Sack” outside of Syracuse University’s radio station. I was listening one morning in Tate Street coffee, trying to meet a writing deadline when the charming announcer said, “That was ‘Streetlights’…” and then I was interrupted by a friend who proceeded to sit down next to me. I never got the artist’s name. So, I Spotify-ed “Streetlights” and Wild Cub’s version was one of the first to appear.

The entire album gives off an intimate, sensual vibe — music designed to seduce. But it is “Streetlights” that is the stranger in the night. Stripping the electronic beats and effects from the final product, Wild Cub creates an atmosphere of pure coolness. Maybe I say that because I have fond memories of sitting in my room sipping coffee, watching the snow fall through the streetlights by my house.

For a song to take you back to a certain place and feeling is a hard thing to do, but Wild Cub makes those memories for you that, even now a year after hearing it for the first time, is hard to shake off.

3. PORTER ROBINSON- “WORLDS”

Skrillex destroyed for me any future notions that techno or any variations of the sort could be good. That’s why I was weary when a friend recommended that I listen to “Worlds,” knowing full well that the mechanical techno was not what I normally listened to outside of my spin classes. Then I heard “Divinity,” on “Bat in the Sack” actually, and proceeded to download the entire album and listen to it while walking to class, driving home and running.

Robinson has a knack for mixing melody and experimenting with beats to create a wild, musical ride from start to finish. It fills you with the longing for the life you are about to embark on.

It’s not uncommon to feel tears begin to swell in your eyes as you listen. Okay, that may be too extreme, but when was the last time someone described this kind of music (post-Skrillez dubstep) as “emotional”? The world needs more Porter Robinson, as do you. Top Tracks: “Divinity” and “Fellow Feeling”

2. LANA DEL REY- “HONEYMOON”

Lana Del Rey is Madonna, Julie London, and Adele wrapped into one melancholy package. She has Madonna’s pop (and sex) appeal, Julie London’s ability to seduce with her smoky voice and Adele’s vocal range, ready to build us up and break our hearts.

I secretly think every pop singer today tries to aspire to Lana but doesn’t seem to quite match her — Tove Lo’s “Habits” sounds like a Lana song but is missing Lana’s seductive voice.

“Honeymoon,” one of the many anticipated fall albums, comes at a perfect time. An album about a changing time in a girl’s life, where she strips away the life she had to begin a new one, is fitting for us students who are stripping away the summer and turning our focus to “serious things,” like school, relationships and kicking that champagne habit. This album features some of Lana’s sexiest songs including “Music To Watch Boys By,” “Terrence Loves Me,” and “Swan Song.”

1.ARCADE FIRE- “HER SOUNDTRACK” (Available on YouTube)

The movie broke our hearts, opened our minds, made us rethink the devices we hold close to us and keep the people we hold in our hearts even closer. Even with this impact, Arcade Fire’s fully instrumental soundtrack will warm even the chilliest of autumn hearts.

Autumn, for me, makes me remember my friends who have moved and passed on into and from this world, so Arcade Fire’s awe-inspiring soundtrack creates for me inner peace. There seems to be no stress of yesterday in these tracks. I feel the feeling of sitting about the Hollywood sign and seeing the sea of lights flicker or looking back at New York through the plexiglass as the bus crosses over the bridge into Jersey, further towards North Carolina, farther from home.

The soundtrack fills the void of loneliness one often feels in the day. It says, with wordless passages, that you are forever worthy of holding the universe in you as you take your first breathe in the morning.

*Visit the Online version of this article for a playlist of these songs and more!