This is my version of a pool party mix. No thongs or entourages, no Nelly or Jell-o shots. Just songs that feel like summer to me. Sun-drenched, molasses-slow, stripped-down. Delirious and dreamy, with moments of electricity. I’ve decided to not include songs that represent the other version of summer: the one where you’ve spent twelve and a half minutes strapping a crying baby and a whining 5 year old into carseats in 95 degree heat, only to realize that you’ve left your keys in the house. So, salt your margarita, lie back on your inflatable flamingo, and enjoy!
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Yoke Lore / Beige
I love the intimacy of the beginning, both lyrically and musically, and then how the song builds. Favorite lines "I think we'd survive in the wild, and we'd make plants and roots and dream about electric fans. Baby, could you kill a man?" Aside: the very end always reminds me of Stranger Things. Anyone?
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Yoke Lore is American musician Adrian Galvin, formerly of Walk the Moon and Yellerkin. Raised in Katonah, New York by a director and an actor/sculptor, Galvin was encouraged to explore the visual and performing arts in his youth, eventually focusing on both playing drums and dance. He was a contributing songwriter to Walk the Moon while in college, and went solo with Yellerkin in 2013. Featuring bright, harmonic anthems and thudding drums, his first EP as Yoke Lore, Far Shore, was released in the spring of 2016 by B3SCI Records. Read more on Last.fm more...
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CAAMP / Vagabond
A contender for the "first song" of the mix. Makes me want to play the banjo. Marlowe thinks his voice is scratchy like the voice of the man who sings with Lady Gaga. I will not be including that song in the mix. You're welcome.
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Caamp is American indie-folk duo Taylor Meier and Evan Westfall from Ohio. Two guys strumming and singing loudly, but will strum and sing softly sometimes also. CAAMP IS A FOLK TRIO FROM OHIO, MAKING BEAUTIFUL NOISE. Started by boyhood friends Evan Westfall and Taylor Meier, Caamp came to life in Athens, Ohio. Taylor began penning and playing original songs at coffee shops around Athens in 2013. Evan moved down a couple of years later and together in a hazy attic, enjoying light beers, they would find the heartfelt sound that became Caamp. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Rex Orange County / Loving Is Easy
This one sort of snuck up on me. Heard it first on the now cancelled show "Crashing", which I recommend. I feel like you have to listen to it with sunglasses on.
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'Rex Orange County' is Alex O’Connor. A self-taught drummer, Alex grew-up in outskirts of London in Haslemere, Surrey. After applying keys, vocals and anything he could find to write loose-footed, fluid, personable songs about being bored and disillusioned, his self-produced eleven-track debut bedroom album ‘bcos u will never b free’ was released on September 2015. It was followed by the singles ‘UNO’ (2016) and 'Best friend' in January 2017. https://rexorangecounty.bandcamp.com Read more on Last.fm more...
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FRENSHIP & Emily Warren / Capsize
Full disclosure, I discovered this song at a very advanced dance class. Okay, it was a Sunday morning Zumba session at the Y. It's like a dance club, sub beer bottles for Swell bottles, sweaty hook-ups with strangers for sweaty high-fives with people you recognize from the grocery store. I do love this song.
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Rainbow Kitten Surprise / All That and More (Sailboat)
No surprise that a track like this winds up on my mix. Twang, clapping, etc. I like that it has a "group sing" vibe. I'm not, however, a very big fan of the name of the band. Sounds like a terrible toy or a pill you shouldn't take.
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Rainbow Kitten Surprise and all five of it's members hail from the mountains of Boone, North Carolina. With catchy, yet deep lyrical meaning, beautifully designed bass lines, and melodic guitar riffs, their unique sound will keep you humming their tunes all day long. The Alternative/Indie-Pop band takes influence from great artists like Modest Mouse, Lana Del Rey, and Kings of Leon. RKS was formed in early 2013 when the first two members, Sam Melo and Darrick "Bozzy" Keller, decided to begin writing and composing music together. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Seth Avett & Jessica Lea Mayfield / Fond Farewell
This is the part of the pool party when someone starts crying on the lawn (or, "vomiting in the kitchen sink"). Elliot Smith cover, something simultaneously sweet and obviously heart-wrenching about it. The fact that it's a duet makes it feel a little more consoling. Also, I very much appreciate the alliteration of the chorus.
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Seth Avett (born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1980) is one of the lead singers and founding members of the folk-rock band, The Avett Brothers. Avett primarily plays the guitar but also plays drums and piano for the band based out of Concord, North Carolina. In 2008, their album, The Second Gleam, reached the ten spot on Billboard.com's Top Independent Albums Chart, and stayed there for three weeks. Seth Avett is the son of Susie and Jim Avett of Concord, NC. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Sjowgren / Now & Then
Not Nordic and apparently all over the charts a while ago, this band is new to me. Apologies if the song is overplayed or expired for you.
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Sjowgren (pronounced "show grin") is an American indie pop trio based in San Francisco. Their single "Seventeen" was featured in a well-known ad campaign in 2016 (see "Autotrader Bets on Indie Band Sjowgren in Its Latest Hook for Millennial Car Buyers" at https://www.adweek.com/creativity/autotrader-bets-indie-band-sjowgren-its-latest-hook-millennial-car-buyers-171338/ ). Read more on Last.fm more...
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Destroyer / English Music
A little departure in tone, but I like the Bowie and Reed traces.
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Destroyer is a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia fronted by singer-songwriter Dan Bejar and formed in 1995. Destroyer songs are characterized by abstract, poetic lyrics and idiosyncratic vocals. The band's discography draws on a variety of musical influences, resulting in albums that can sound markedly distinct from one another; in Bejar's words, "That's kind of my goal: to start from scratch every time." 1996–2001 We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge, Destroyer's 1996 debut, is made up of sixteen lo-fi home-recordings. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Flora Cash / You're Somebody Else
This song starts slow, but gets interesting enough in the chorus to earn a place.
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Flora Cash is indie folk husband-and-wife duo Shpresa Lleshaj (from Sweden) and Cole Randall (from the USA). Inspired by many of folk music's greats but informed by contemporary taste and temperament, the duo delivers a thought-provoking and worthwhile listening experience. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Post Malone & Swae Lee / Sunflower
This needs no introduction, and may be akin to me putting Adele on a mix (again, sorry for that one), but I feel like it fits the mix vibe. And it's been on heavy rotation around here.
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Austin Richard Post (born July 4, 1995), known professionally as Post Malone, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and guitarist. He first gained major recognition in February 2015, after the release of his debut single "White Iverson". In August 2015, Malone landed a record deal with Republic Records. On December 9, 2016, he released his debut studio album Stoney. Following the success of his 2016 Stoney single Congratulations Read more on Last.fm more...
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Novo Amor / Utican
A late add. Very Bon Iver (too much?). But I think it's pretty.
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Novo Amor is an alternative folk artist from Cardiff, UK. Hear the Debut EP 'Drift' at http://novoamor.bandcamp.com/ Read more on Last.fm more...
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Bishop Briggs / River
I put this song at the end for a reason: either you'll want to skip immediately or turn it up. I do both, depending on my mood. But when I'm in the space to turn it up, it's so good.
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Bishop Briggs is English musician and singer-songwriter Sarah Grace McLaughlin (born 18 July 1992), currently based in Los Angeles, California. Briggs was born in London to Scottish parents from Bishopbriggs, Scotland, which inspired her professional name. At age four, she moved to Tokyo with her parents. She sang in public for the first time at a Tokyo karaoke bar, and immediately realized she wanted to continue performing throughout her life. Read more on Last.fm more...
