Songs for a Sweet Summer's Night

 

The fact that you're reading this (unless it's October and you only now came across this post) probably means you're not sitting on a beach, by a lake, or on a river. Like me. 

I'm sitting at a desk. A fan is pointed at me, and the thermometer tells me it's 35C outside. 

 

Here are a few songs to gently transport you away, away, away from where you are to where you want to be.

 

And if you're already there? Stay there!

 

 

Wale - New Soul Feat. Yael Naim

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Summertime

P.M. Dawn - Set Adrift on Memory Bliss

Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love

Summer in winter, winter in springtime, you heard the birds sing, everything will be fine

All through the night
They begin to take shape
From the crack of the vinyl
To the hiss of the tape



Black Lips - Starting Over
Art Brut - Sound of Summer

 Play and record
Held down together
Tabs pushed off
So you can't tape over it ever

 
Cut Copy - Lights and Music
  Devo - The Day my Baby gave Me a Surprise (fixed!)

 Just a couple of friends
Hanging out with each other
We started to swap tapes
To soundtrack our summer!
 
Eagles of Death Metal - I only want you
El Guincho - Palmitos Park
 Felt - Sunlight Bathed the Golden Glow

Johnny Foreigner - Feels like Summer

Johnny Foreigner at Standon Calling last year

Yep, it's that time of the year again. Longer days, bookmarked festival websites (or, if you're attempting to go to any large UK festival: an early alarm, 2 hours of feverishly hitting refresh and a lot of nervous sweating, followed by stomach-knotting disappointment and an unreasonable feeling of hatred towards your computer), sniffling-sneezing, money-saving, house-cleaning, plan-making... yep, Summer's just down the road!

And what better way to celebrate this joyous fact then with a new Johnny Foreigner song!

Johnny Foreigner - Feels like Summer

Review: Benicassim 2008

 

Ok, I know I'm rather late with this, it being a month ago and all, but things have been hectic. To say the least. So let's just say it's a one month after the festival anniversary post. We've all had time to absorb, to digest and gain some perspective (and forget the lows, and remember the many highlights of those four amazing days)

Highlights:

The second half of Death Cab for Cutie's set, Sigur Ros, Sigur Ros' drummer, Yelle, Babyshambles, Black Lips, La Casa Azul, Hot Chip, the Oxfam tent (cheap coffee, free internet, friendly staff and of course, you know, a lot of worthy information!), the huge paella on the last night, CHEAP and cold beer (1 litre bottles of San Miguel) in town, the celebrity football (sans celebrities. I mean, c'mon, who was really expecting Pete to show up?) match, brushing our teeth in the 'showers' at night, cheap hot-dogs around the site, the 'piss here' sign, having coffee in a cafe in town every morning (and using their pleasant toilets to put in lenses/shave/brush teeth), 'Dick Man' (you know who you are), and all the other things I've forgotten (quite possibly because I took a whole month to post..!)

 

Two favourite overheard conversations:

"If anyone has a lighter, please make a bird sound"

"Uhm, excuse me, your hair is on fire."

Lows:

The walk from the camping to and from town and the beach, the toilets, being peed on during Sigur Ros (no, unfortunately I'm not joking), the cramped campsite (at least at CampFIB), the heat, the heat, the heat. And the walk. Did I mention the walk?

Next time we'll rent bikes.

My Bloody Valentine

   

  

  

Black Lips

  

  

  

  

  

 

 

Yelle - Ce Jeu

My Bloody Valentine - Soon
(sorry for the incomplete track. It's since been fixed!)

Go here for lots of other songs from Benicassim 2008 and here for more pics.

Summer Here Kids! (part 2)

"What is that cheerful sound?
Rain fallin on the ground
We'll wear a jolly crown
Buckle up, we're wayward bound"

 Beat Happening - Indian Summer

     

"Without giving anything away,
I can say it's by the sea.
It's a house that used to be the home of a friend of mine.
Without giving anything away,
you'll find ships inside of bottles,
and the garden's overgrown,
the house is white but the paint is coming off." 

*Kings of Convenience - Gold in the Air of Summer

     

"My summer girl, she was my world"

*The Rentals - My Summer Girl

      

"Put your head down
Put your thumbs up, girl
With the smell of hot desk and the glitter of your step "

*Belle and Sebastian - I know where the Summer goes 

   

"You're trying much to hard to make your world seem like a dream"

*Felt - Sunlight bathed the golden glow

Summer Here Kids! (part 1)

"It can't be just me
That's working it out
These songs that we've chosen
And what they're about
 

Are we after the same thing?
Am I crossing a line?
I'm checking the lyrics
I'm pressing rewind

All through the night
They begin to take shape
From the crack of the vinyl
To the hiss of the tape!

Play and record
Held down together
Tabs pushed off
So you can't tape over it ever

A couple of friends
Hanging out with each other
Just swapping songs
To soundtrack our summer"  

Art Brut - Sound of Summer

 

Grandaddy - Summer Here Kids

   

    "Ice baby,
I saw your girlfriend and she was
Eating her fingers like they’re just another meal
But she waits there
In the levee washes
Mixin’ cocktails with a plastic-tipped cigar"

Pavement - Summer Babe (Winter version)

   

    "That summer feeling is gonna haunt you the rest of your life"

Jonathan Richman - That Summer Feeling

    

 "On an island in the sun
We'll be playing and having fun
And it makes me feel so fine
I can't control my brain"

Weezer - Island in the Sun

Let's go sunwards!

Pathetic. Really pathetic. Our blog hasn't even had its 3-month anniversary and I'm already experiencing what I believe is called writer's block. It's not fair. I was supposed to have one of those man-that's-beautiful-I-wish-I-had-written-that sort of posts. I had an idea for it... Well, if you must know, I was gonna talk about my summers and how I feel they will be getting a lot warmer from now on because of the Occasional Flickers. But for the life of me I can't find anything remotely interesting to say about them. Which is really a shame, because they feel like the sunniest and sweetest of summer days hiding in the shadow of an old apple-tree; because they sound so fragile you really believe that they would melt and disappear altogether from this planet if ever a drop of rain should touch their skin; because they smell like sea-salt and they taste sparkly and yellow - real sunshine-yellow, not the ugly nicotine-yellow of autumn bands; because they come from Greece and really, have you ever heard of a good Greek band,let alone a good Twee Greek band that, to cap it all, is also signed to Cloudberry? Because of all these reasons it's a shame I had to pick today for my writer's block. What I'll do is I think I'll leave them for another time instead of offering them this excuse of a post. They don't deserve this. I should make a list of songs I've been listening to this week, stop whining and post some Santogold for the masses. There.

The Occasional Flickers - When the Skies Look So Gray*
The Occasional Flickers - Sunwards*

And speaking of... well... I could justify the song choice by saying its title is the name of a Greek island, but the truth is I just really really wanted to post this song.

Fleet Foxes - Mykonos (Sun Giant EP)

*If you don't enjoy twee don't bother with The Occasional Flickers