1. ‘Burn, Piano Island, Burn,’ by the Blood Brothers (2003): The first few times I listened to this, I thought it was the worst thing I’d ever heard. Once I gave it a few more chances, it slowly started to occur to me that this music wasn’t horrible – I simply wasn’t ready for something so different and so ahead of anything I’d ever heard before. It sounds like ‘just noise’ at first, but close attention unveils the tremendous choreography of these dense songs – the chaos seems intimidating, but with time, the intensity of the album becomes euphoric. It’s unlike anything released in this or any decade. The closest comparison I can think of is Captain Beefheart’s ‘Trout Mask Replix00x00x00’x00x10’Jx00x00x00’x00x00x00x00x00x00x1cxb8



Best arts of the decade: Music

The first realization of my own age hit me in the months before I started college. I was helping my dad clean the small office he’d occupied in Rush Rhees longer than I’d been alive. The walls of which boasted childhood drawings that my sister and I had crayoned. Even though I was looking at my distant past, I realized I would soon be starting a new page of my future. Read More

Best arts of the decade: Music

In anticipation of 2026’s graduation ceremony, the Campus Times conducted an interview with upcoming Commencement speaker Jeannine Shao Collins ’86. Collins, who earned a bachelor's degree in economics from URochester, currently works as the Chief Client Officer at Kargo: a multiplatform advertising and media company. Read More

Best arts of the decade: Music

As Alice and Peter arrive in Hell, they chase after their advisor through a series of Hell’s courts, which test their magical knowledge — and their relationship. Read More