Modern Takes on Vintage Sounds

In a brilliant fusion of modern takes on vintage sounds, artists of today call upon the nostalgia of yesterday with their unique music.

Written and illustrated by Emma Tanner

The sun is setting in suburban America. A teenage girl sits at her open bedroom window, wistfully gazing out at the cars lazily humming along the road below. “I was born in the wrong generation,” she sighs, her voice joined by the lulls of a thrifted Pink Floyd vinyl as they drift from the brand new Crosley she bought at Urban Outfitters that day. 

In complete honesty, I’ve totally been that girl. Haven’t we all? We’ve seen the idealized Tumblr collages of ‘70s disco queens, the moral ease of the ‘60s — we’ve all seen Clueless and wanted nothing more than Cher’s flippy hair and to live in a time where knee high socks and coordinated plaid were actually cool (like actually). 

We’ve all daydreamed of years past at some point in our boring modern lives. We’ve all milled over the frustrating inconveniences of today. And we’ve all definitely wished for the times when cell phones didn’t hinder dinner conversations, when cute boys sent mixtapes instead of “u up? ;)” texts, and when drive-in theaters were a regular weekend occurrence. 

But alas, here we are. Stuck in the 2010s, us millennials and Gen-Zers will never know what it’s like to buy a cassette at the convenience store or wait hours listening to the radio to find that one song you need to complete your perfect mixtape. We will never know the glory of a brand new pair of bell bottom jeans, or exactly what it felt like to have the arm of that cute boy from chem class wrapped around our shoulders in the passenger seat of his 1969 Chevy Camaro as the end credits of “Grease” flash on the drive-through screen in front of us. We will never know what it was like to attend Woodstock  in1969, or buy the new Pink Floyd album on vinyl from the record shop on the corner. We will never know the splendor of the olden-days as they were supposed to be known, and we will never live the life of vintage normality as it was meant to be lived. 

We are modern. And we are utterly boring. 

There is some hope, however. And it comes to us in the saving grace of what can only be described as “modern oldies” — musical anomalies that manage to capture the spirit and sound of so long ago with lyrics and reflections that are a fitting testament to the experiences of modern times. 

Such “modern oldies” exist in a realm outside of the constraints of typical musical genres, leaving their sounds and the artists who create them difficult to define as one particular category or another. However, artists who have drawn on the sounds of the past to influence their own musical style have found great success in the modern music scene through their uniquely reminiscent sound. Some such examples include Lana Del Rey, Tame Impala, and Harry Styles. 

Lana Del Rey first rose to stardom through the release of her single “Video Games.” Initially released on Youtube by Lana in the form of a self-made video, “Video Games” gained massive internet popularity and established Lana as an artist whose style and sound carried a sort of reminiscence that is a rarity in the modern music scene. Though her sound has morphed and developed since the release of her initial single, her most recent work Norman F---ing Rockwell carries on her tradition of calling on the past to form her unique sound. The title track and other songs such as “The greatest,” “F--- it I love you,” and “How to disappear” invoke a certain feeling of vintage nostalgia, calling on sounds of the past to enhance the message of recollection her lyrics convey in their wistful talk of former times and better moments. 

Tame Impala is another example of an artist whose sound blends past and present in a melting pot of contemporary reminiscence . The Australian group, led by Kevin Parker, dips into the beginnings of psychedelia that brought into the mainstream the fuzzy guitar, eccentric reverb, and echo common to Tame Impala’s unique sound. Groups like The Flaming Lips and Butthole Surfers brought the neo-psychedelic style that Tame Impala is so well-known for to the forefront of the musical realm in the ‘80s, significantly altering the rock genre of the time and giving birth to a new era of conscious-altering sound. Tame Impala draws on the origins of the genre in their songs, adding their own modern spin to the reverb-heavy nature of classic psychedelic rock with their use of more synthetic tones. Hints of the sound are obvious in works such as “Borderline” and “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards,” in which Tame Impala manages to draw upon the acid-drenched sound of the ’80s frontrunners of neo-psychedelia. The group’s lyrics, which discuss the damaging effects of LA’s social scene and the confusing dichotomy of being lonely as a famous artist, bring elements of modern to his old-school sound. In a sense, Tame Impala’s music comes from both the present and the past, allowing the listener to truly escape into the realm of psychedelia outside of the confines of reality and taking them on a theoretical acid-trip of sound through time and space. 

Harry Styles’s tendency to draw upon the soundtracks of pastimes to influence his own personal musical style has also established him as an era-defining artist of the modern age. With commonalities drawn between “Woman” off his debut self-titled album and Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets,” in addition to the obvious rock and roll influences in the making of “Kiwi” and “Carolina,” Styles is no stranger to the past. Even his hit single “Sweet Creature” is a testament to his vintage influences, with the stand-alone guitar and soothing vocals calling upon the distinctive inflections of the Beatles’ “Blackbird” and Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright.” 

In addition to the well-known names of artists who have an inkling for the reminiscent, lesser known groups have forged their own unique sound by incorporating nostalgia for the good ‘ol days into their works. Artists such as Twin Peaks, The Lemon Twigs, Loving, and The Dip work a certain element of the past into their sound that makes it seem like they would be more at home on your dad’s playlist rather than your own. Between the classical rock and roll sound of Twin Peaks — with a particular focus on the power of a good  guitar solo — and a production style that stresses the reality and rawness of sound, you’ll probably do a double take when seeing the release date of songs like “Shake Your Lonely” and “Blue Coupe.” 

“I Wanna Prove to You” and “Hi+Lo” from brother-duo The Lemon Twigs seem like they should appear on an archived Billboard Top 100 list from the mid ‘70s, with a sound calling upon the humble beginnings of alt-rock and a tendency toward the use of seemingly outdated acoustic guitar sounds. A clanging piano riff coupled with vocals that could easily be the core of a hit Beatles song distinguishes The Lemon Twigs’ music as that of which belongs in an era entirely of its own, neither modern nor old, but oddly fresh in a way that reminisces the comforting tisk of the needle of a record player finding its place in the grooves of a crisp vinyl. 

The sounds of Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” and The Velvet Underground’s “Pale Blue Eyes” seem to be strangely eternalized in Loving’s “The Not Real Lake,” making Loving’s modern conceptualization of such a sound starkly similar to its older influences. The jazzy undertones and smooth, twangy guitar carry the weight of the artist’s reminiscent sound and draw a tangible connection between tones characteristic of the ‘70s and Loving’s 2016 self-titled album. “Bowlly Goes Dancing Drunk into the Future,” off the same album, further establishes Loving’s sound as one that belongs in the past yet finds its roots woven into modern relevance. The soundtrack to a nostalgic daydream, one listen of Loving’s album will take its listener on a wave of wistfulness without having to leave the comfort and familiarity of the modern millennium. 

Through their own take on modern oldies, the retro pop group The Dip has established their sound as one possessing heavy jazz nuances and a feel for the past, excessive trumpets included. Their most-streamed song on Spotify, “Sure Don’t Miss You,” sounds like it belongs next to “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5, with obvious R&B influences infiltrating the hit track and establishing the group’s sound as one that appreciates musical movements of the past. Similarly, “Adeline” carries the sound of romanticized longing for love that groups such as The Beach Boys were so keen to explore back in their era of significant musical influence. The heartbroken reminiscence and jazzy undertones of The Dip’s songs call upon sounds of the past just as the lead singer calls out in longing for a distant lover in “Adeline.”

Such “modern oldies” not only exhibit the immense duality of sounds of the past, but further highlight the non-linear development of every artist’s unique musical sound. Modern oldies remind listeners that music doesn’t belong to an era just as it doesn’t truly belong to any single realm. These sounds remind us of just where we are in the present — and of just how far we have left to go —  by recalling the past. By blurring the lines between “modern” and “old,” such songs remind us to find our own time and space when listening to all music, recognizing that a detachment from the context of time allows one to disconnect from the ties of life and to explore music in a space where it exists solely on its own, calling forth shared human experiences across generations to create the unique sounds that we cherish as our own. 

Modern Oldies Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7gqtfaxwP0yhHJNDZKPAdn?si=pAsb4fAJTrGQh1p4ozwKJA