By Lahana Palencia
So now that it’s been the New Year long enough for us to realize those resolutions we made are as extinct as the Flappy Bird app, we can start to focus on the important things like pop culture. (I mean how else would we know what to consume?)
Let’s break it down and talk music. There’s so much of it out there that it’s getting harder to keep track of what’s cool. (Is “cool” even cool?) So I went on Wikipedia to check out the albums released so far this year, because even though I’ve been alive for a couple decades, I’m relatively unaware of what “these kids nowadays” are listening to.
For popular artists new releases, I noticed Meghan Trainor released her new album Title back in January, which for some reason re­features that one song we all know that shall remain nameless.
Marilyn Manson released The Pale Emperor which made someone happy (or maybe charged with anguish, but in a happy way).

We also see Tetsuo & Youth by Lupe Fiasco (which I actually expected to do better than it has), Non­Fiction by Ne­Yo,  Full Speed by Kid Ink, and a new Fall Out Boy album, American Beauty/American Psycho, that ruined my Tumblr dash for a few months.
There are also a few comeback albums such as The Decemberists with What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, Guster’s Evermotion, which isn’t really a comeback, but their last popular song, “Satellite,” came all the way from that foreign land we call 2006.
The most exciting album was hands down No Cities to Love by Sleater­Kinney, a late 90s/early 2000s all girl indie rock band that dare I say helped define the genre. I could go on, but I’m going to keep it short and sweet.
There are a lot more albums than the ones I mentioned, but to provide a decent working selection of what’s come out so far this year I’ve composed a list of five albums that I think the general populace would enjoy. This is based on what I hear blaring from dorm rooms and cars full of people who think they’re cool. In no particular order I offer:
Infected Mushroom – Friends on Mushrooms
Kat Dahlia- ­My Garden
Mark Ronson ­- Uptown Special
Belle and Sebastian ­- Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance
Dan Mangan – ­ Club Meds
These are all on Spotify, so listen to your heart’s content. I’ve also created a short list of the albums this year that I specifically would pick for my own ear, and it goes again in no particular order:

Sleater Kinney ­- No Cities to Love

The Decemberists- ­ What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World
Guster- ­ Evermotion
Murder By Death -­ Big Dark Love
Title Fight ­- Hyperview
So please be that annoying person who always says they heard it first and go music it up.