October 3rd, 2011 
James Shotwell 
Fall is officially in the air and if you’re anything like us, your music taste is probably changing almost as quickly as your wardrobe.
Let’s face it: While we love the anthems that served as the soundtrack to our Summer road trips, not every Warped Tour act is as fitting for the changing of the leaves. This doesn’t mean you love those acts any less, it just means you like a little more variety in life and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Instead of posting a top ten this week, we decided to put our preferences aside and let the staff speak for themselves. Click through now to not only find the personal picks of many UTG staff members (as well as the reason behind the their picks), but to also gain access to the UTG Fall Essential playlist on Spotify!
Jacob Tender – Managing News Editor:
“Wordplay” – Jason Mraz
Jason Mraz has been my all time favorite musician since my years walking the halls of my local middle school. Mr. A-Z came out in 2005 and has plagued every analog and digital music player I have ever owned. This song has attached itself to plenty of moments in my life. However, every fall, without fail, I find myself spinning Jason’s discography from start to finish repetitively. It reminds me of my youth as well as the future laid ahead of me. Because when all else fails and everyone leaves my side, the music I’ve loved for all these years will remain.
“Edge of Desire” – John Mayer
Battle Studies made it’s way onto shelves in the winter of 2009. With a superstar like John Mayer, you never know what you’re going to get. I was wary of the possible let down the record could bring, but I could never be happier of the result. Not only is this my #1 record of 2010, it is in my personal top 5 for life. The album is a complete masterpiece and forever timeless. This song in particular is one of the most powerful and an easy choice for this playlist. The subdued tones and soulful vocals are sure to inspire and provoke thought in the listener. John Mayer is an incarnate of the true artist.
Melanie Hodgins – Head Of Photography:
“Product Of A Murderer”- Of Mice & Men – When I get a few new albums I’ll put them in a playlist and turn on shuffle to find the tracks that really stand out to me. After my first time through this song, and a few times of pressing ‘replay’, I had to listen to the rest of the album. You wont regret it.
“A Bigger Point Of Pride”- You, Me, And Everyone We Know
It’s hard to choose any one song that stands apart from the rest on Some Things Just Don’t Wash Out, but this is usually the song that hooks me into listening to the entire album. This is one of the songs I listen to in the morning to get me out of bed and to help start the day.
Kellie Gannon – Photographer:
“Timberwolves At New Jersey” – Taking Back Sunday – The entire album takes me back to when I was fifteen, riding around in friends’ cars in the fall time, blasting every song on the way to local shows & singing our hearts out. Still to this day, I can sit and listen to every song start to finish & then repeat over and over again without getting sick of it.
“Page Avenue” – Story Of The Year – Again, it takes me back to being young, naive, starting to get really into music, but also lyrically the song hits close to home as it is referring to recalling summer nights & memories that last forever, knowing that nothing matters more than the loyalty of friends & family, but about keeping those memories close because things change & you find yourself in a different place with something better waiting, while still never forgetting the good times or what got you to where you are.
Jake White – Feature Writer:
With Teeth by Nine Inch Nails – Reznor sets the macabre tone immediately, with “All the Love in the World,” and never let’s the industrial heart of this album stop beating. It’s textures suck the warmth from your bones, and the pulse quickening tracks like “Hand That Feeds,” and “Only” give a sort of hopelessly energetic charge to the whole drearily existentialist underlying theme. By the time the album closes, “The Line Begins to Blur,” and it’s amazingly perfect transition into “Beside You In Time” may leave you with a bleak new perspective on your merely human life. It’s message is understated, and it’s imagery is dark and realistic, making it one of the best albums to match the mood of fall.
Welcome Reality by Nero – The album is supercharged with electric rage. It depicts a distant future reality, in which freedom-of-choice is taken to it’s apex, and it brings back a particularly 80’s nostalgia that balances out the Utopian foresight with delicate precision. The vocals in tracks like, “Must Be The Feeling” give pull a familiar joy from a more optimistic time, and it’s neon-infused sonic play reminds us that life is destined to get more complicated as the years keep falling off the calendar. It’s a great concept album, and the world Nero presents us with in Welcome Reality is a perfect temporary mental getaway from the fall chill. It’s reminiscent of the world of Blade Runner, except everyone’s on MDMA.
Brian Leak – News/Interview Contributor:
Illuminate by Lydia – Illuminate has this wonderfully mellow, feel-good vibe throughout its entirety that reminds me of taking trips with past loves and enjoying the scenery along the way. I’d like you to stream the track, “Stay Awake”. The song is my San Francisco jam. I try to always play it as I’m driving over the Golden Gate bridge into the city.
The Dust Of Retreat by Margot & The Nuclear So & Sos – So much emotion in the vocals and lyrical content. The Dust of Retreat is one of my go-to albums for a nice, laid-back day. It never gets old and always stays relevant to my life. I’d like you to stream “Talking in Code”. As much as it has a sad feel to it, it’s comforting for some reason with its beautiful melodies.
Click here to access our Fall Essentials playlist on SPOTIFY. If you like it, share it with your friends!
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*Stay WHAT You Are by Saves The Day