Now is the season of fogged-up shades, oddly shaped sunburns and songs that make us want to stay outside until the last firefly blinks to sleep. As summer dawns, we asked our contributors to choose the songs that will score those muggy days (daze?). Usually, we ask that our contributors write about music that they have no personal connection to, but this time we loosened the reins a bit and let them choose their most personal songs of the summer. Take this playlist with you to the beach, night-driving or on your next graveyard tryst.
— Brenna Ehrlich, Talkhouse Music managing editor
Mitski, “Your Best American Girl,” Puberty 2 (Dead Oceans)
Car Seat Headrest, “Fill in the Blank,” Teens of Denial (Matador)
LEFTI, “Somebody,” Somebody (Atlas Chair)
Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, “Nobody Dies,” A Man Alive (Ribbon Music)
Still, what to do when this oppressive heat shows no sign of relenting? There is no real escape — not in the basement, not even after the sun has set. Only when fall comes will I truly be free. Thao sums up my feelings: “Oh my life, won’t you come for me?/I have love to give, too scared to leave.” At some point I will have to embrace summer like everyone else around me. I will become one with the collective We and again be fully assimilated in the culture of the season. So what do we do? We picnic. We go to the river. We brave bee stings and all. We tear our clothes off and burn them in a pile, kindled with all of winter and spring’s fresh regrets, lost loves and painful memories. We sing. We dance. We forget our troubles and chase our cares away. We act like nobody dies.
— Hutch Harris (the Thermals)
Andy Shauf, “The Worst in You,” The Party (Anti-)
“The Worst in You” is my favorite track on the record. The song’s message unveils a fresh perspective about the anxieties of modern love and our need to keep tabs on a lover: "I went back in the door/kicked off both of my shoes/looked around for your coat/and then went looking for you.”
The chorus hammers it home for me: “Why do I always find the worst in you?/Do you always find the worst in me?" How many times have you asked yourself that question in an unhealthy relationship? I’m so glad Andy has presented it in his own sad-but-uplifting way. It’s the feel-bad hit of the summer.
— Eric Slick (Dr. Dog, Lithuania)
Black Mountain, “Cemetery Breeding,” IV (Jagjaguwar)
I’m going to be spinning this all summer, learning how to dance and telling all my downer friends about this sad anthem of cemetery sex.
— Marissa Nadler
Parquet Courts, “One Man No City,” Human Performance (Rough Trade)
The So So Glos, “Going out Swinging,” Kamikaze (Caroline Records)
I vote for “Going Out Swinging” by the almighty So So Glos. My central rule for what makes a song good is, "The first time I hear it, it makes me want to punch someone in the face.” This song made me want to punch everyone in the face, including myself.
— Chris Gethard (The Chris Gethard Show)
Dinner, “Cool as Ice,” Psychic Lovers (Captured Tracks)
Anders Rhedin, the mastermind chef behind the band Dinner, sings so precisely of my experience in his song “Cool as Ice” that I feel like I'm not alone: “You've been searching for so long/for yesterday's and for tomorrow's, too... You wonder where you're at/and you wonder where you'll go...but nothing's worked for you.”
I feel as though Team Nimai is losing at halftime and needs winning advice in the locker room to finish victorious. Backed by a funky slap bass, upbeat drums, dreamy synths and even cowbells, the chorus of “Cool as Ice” sweeps through my bad attitude with the warmth of the beach, the strength of the Rio Grande and the power of a long embrace. Dinner is like my own personal cheerleader. Running back onto the field with a new sense of power, I listen to his striking, deep, Danish voice awarding me his own personal words of wisdom: “You don't let it get to you, no!/It's in your eyes, you're cool as ice.”
It's just the encouragement I need to take the heat :)
— Nimai Larson (Prince Rama)
Porches, “Car,” Pool (Domino)
Guided by Voices, “Kid on a Ladder,” Please Be Honest (GBV Inc.)
