Summer Drive In, Out, Up, Down, Away

New music tonight because it is a celebratory paradigm shift day in which I present the last paper of my semester and now I am thinking about summer full on. Driving cars to mountainous, treed, watery places, packed up tight with camping, and there are the tunes on the way that will end up defining the summer played on the way somewhere, and on the way home sunburned, dirty, smelly, flexed up, scratched, bruised and grinning.

And right now is this sigh of in-between time to just listen to music. That's all I need, really, to feel sane again, and quickly.

Last summer these artists were: Mumford and Sons, the Avett Brothers, Florence and the Machine, and the Fleet Foxes. Over and over and over. Let's find this summer's soundtrack...

Tonight I'm trying out these guys:

1. Andrew Bird's Noble Beast. I think "Masterswarm" and also half the songs on this album are pretty damn near perfect hand-undulating-out-the-window-whilst-driving-on-a-sunny-highway song. You can practically see the orange-y, 70's film lens flare flicking off this tune. I really enjoy this album.

2. Monogold's The Softest Glow is a really sweet, upbeat album. J'adore the melodious and ethereal track two, Spirit of Something.

3. Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros' Up From Below: These California canyon hippy kids are alright. The happy shouty whistle-y people singing upbeat songs (like Janglin' and the ubiquitous "Home" whose first line and subsequent female parts I sing constantly, and which my parrot LOVES cuz of all the whistlin'), remind of recent Swedish big-group joy bands like 'I'm From Barcelona" just as much as they sound like they were recorded 30-40 years ago. Whatever floats your boat, man.

4. And OMG speaking of I'm From Barcelona, yes indeed - they have a new album: Forever Today. The first track, "Charlie Parker", is just pure JOY, and I'm not entirely sure what they're saying but it sounds like "Sing to me now, Bert!" so I, of course, think of Sesame Street and what could be happier making than that?

5. Florence, oh bless her + the Machine, they've got the Lungs: the B-sides to add to that last summer-making album of hers that made my last summer. There are some remixes, and also some new songs that are grand like "Swimming" and "Heavy in Your Arms" and then the beautiful and fragile favorite of mine, "Falling" as well as the hilarious then tragic "Bird Song". Oh, you'd like some harp + rap, you say, you're welcome:


Happy Summer Happy Music Happy Driving in your Car to Good Places to Spend the Summer Nights in the Wilds of Wherever.