by Carrie Brownstein

My one summer jam so far is "Alive with Pleasure" by Viva Voce.

I wonder why we do that (or, some of us). Why do we feel the need to summarize a period of time with a song or set of songs? Is it the natural outgrowth of listening to a lot of music and associating certain songs with certain eras? Or is it more calculated than that?

I only ask this question because I decided that "Alive with Pleasure" would be my song for this whole summer, and then thought "Well Jesus, it's only June. Shouldn't you give it a few more weeks before you make that decision?"

Sent by janie | 1:45 AM ET | 06-25-2008

I'm more fond of equations than two word descriptions:

The Shins' "Oh, Inverted World!" = Brian Wilson + Big Star

No Age's "Nouns" = this generation's "White Light, White Heat" but mercifully shorter

Sent by Vortex | 1:46 AM ET | 06-25-2008

The Mosquitos' first two albums (there I go showing my age, still thinking in terms of albums) are melodic, and light and fluffy in a cotton candy sort of way. Their songs stay with you longer than spun sugar, like the brazilian influenced pop confections they are. Plus, I love the singer's voice.

Music ties memory together, helping you remember facts and feelings about specific times in life. Certain songs transport us, for better or for worse, to previous eras in our lives with an acuity that we couldn't otherwise achieve. This is part of the power of music that I love. And you can divorce the emotional aspect to use music for learning. I mean, who of my generation would have remembered learning about turning a bill into a law without School House Rock?

Sent by Amanda | 2:54 AM ET | 06-25-2008

I can't stop listening to Neil Young this summer, principally 'Cowgirl in the Sand'; I'm also reading his biography 'Shakey'. Fascinating, isn't it, how we can neurologically attach a song to a place in time? It's sort of Proust's madeleine effect.

Thanks so much for the Fleet Foxes rec - I'm already addicted. As for band descriptions, who was it who said that 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' was 'like Beethoven going to the supermarket'?

Sent by Penumbra | 3:04 AM ET | 06-25-2008

Two word descriptions are truly economic summarizations of sound. These require the exact adjective along with a fill in the blank - one word band name. I suppose you've been engaged in many rock world conversations / the same boring repeated interview questions to have honed this fine skill.

..Although not two words:
Thinking back I can remember "Poor Man's Pavement" being applied to a few mid 90s acts.

Recently two favorites have come self supplied by Iceland's eccentric Bardi Johannsson. Fronting and mostly comprising that which is Bang Gang. Taking advantage and playing off the unchartered realms of ESLrock he brings you:
"an Icelandic Philip Glass mixed with Jarvis Cocker and Brian Wilson"
from bio
"a cross between Simon & Garfunkel"
from "documentry"

Sent by david | 4:31 AM ET | 06-25-2008

Fleet Foxes is an organic My Morning Jacket.

But I can see a Baroque Shins, any chance to use the word Baroque is usually worth it.

I listened to their album about six times through when I was at the beach a few weeks ago, so that would qualify as a late spring jam. And even though it only came out yesterday, I can tell that Big Blue Ball will be in heavy rotation this summer.

Sent by Brian A. | 7:20 AM ET | 06-25-2008

I haven't been able to get the Fleet Foxes new CD out of my car either since it came out earlier this month. "He Doesn't Know Why" is my favorite song off the new album (and my current "summer song".) I describe the song as very "Lake City". Each listen transports me back to this simple, North Seattle neighborhood where I grew up in the 70s. At the time, my world consisted of the backyard, the adjacent alley where all the kids played and the corner IGA up the street. I'm looking forward to hearing the hometown lads play this weekend down here in LA.

Sent by David | 8:02 AM ET | 06-25-2008

Right now this summer's music has been defined for me by a good friend who lives down in Florida. She sent me a mix CD (and bless her heart, she always goes all-out on these things, creating unique covers, liner notes, etc.), the cover of which, in pure 1950's aesthetics, reads "Visit Cuba, the Year-Round Paradise."

There are a number of simply amazing tracks in it, most of which I had never heard before. But for me, the song that stuck out most and hit me as a perfect match to the breezy, fragrant, warm summers of the Midwest, yet still reminded me of my youth spent on the beaches of Florida (and by extension, beaches everywhere), was MGMT's "Electric Feel." I realize its been out for a number of months now, but it was new to me at the time.

How would I describe their sound, at least on this track? "Its as if Of Montreal decided to move to a warmer climate, listen exclusively to early Steely Dan, and make their sound less structured and lyrics more whimsical."

Finally, I agree with Janie that it is peculiar that we seek to attach music to certain points in time. I think, however, there is an obvious answer to this. Music has the ability to alter and enhance reality. The right moment, be it out on the town, in bed with a lover, waking up in the morning in a great mood, etc. is made that much more by a song that seems to fit it well. I remember a few years ago, when I went to Washington, D.C. for the first time, and spent a few days there experiencing the surprisingly good night life and meeting friends I hadn't seen in a few years, I listened almost non-stop to Air's "Talkie Walkie" album while I walked everywhere. To this day, that album, and D.C., hold a dear place in my heart, and in my memory.

-Ryan

Sent by Ryan | 9:11 AM ET | 06-25-2008

I've been listening to Battle Of Land And Sea nonstop. It too makes more sense as an autumn release but I've just discovered it and have quickly embraced it as my summer bike riding music of choice.

Sent by Penny | 9:48 AM ET | 06-25-2008

I've been listening to Fleet Foxes on loop for months. I saw them open for Blitzen Trapper here in Atlanta back in March and I was hooked. The music is just plain lovely. I think that's the right word I'm looking for...

Sent by Meagan Morrow | 9:55 AM ET | 06-25-2008

Summer Jams

Obvious: MyMorningJacket - Evil Urges

Unlikely for me: Singer/songwriter Chris Pureka. Her last record 'Dryland' is really good, it's been spinning in my head. She played here last night, and damn she has songwriting chops like I haven't heard in a looooong time. Wow.

Sent by Jill Jones | 10:26 AM ET | 06-25-2008

A summer trilogy for me is always: "All Summer Long," "Today!," and "Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)" by the Beach Boys.

Actually their album, "Party!" has really hit the spot this year. A contractually obligated album of covers and their own older hits recorded in a studio, but made to sound like a live party, shouldn't sound so spontaneous, free and fun, but it does. It sounds more real then some of the summer night sing-a-longs I've actually been to.

This also seems like a summer of remastered albums for me. "Diesel and Dust" by Midnight Oil never seemed like it needed a remaster, but I can't describe how wicked cool the base line in, "Beds are Burning" sounds. It is becoming a favorite to blare with the windows down driving up route 1 on a sunny afternoon (If only I could be standing in the back of a pick-up truck instead).

The remastered album by The La's and Billy Bragg's remastered "Life's a Riot With Spy Vs. Spy" are also making appearances.

The line, "I saw two shooting stars last night. I wished on them, but they were only satellites. It's wrong to wish on space hardware. I wish, I wish, I wish you'd care," from Bragg's song "A New England," has always seemed like it could only happen on a summer night to me for some reason.

For newer albums so far: She & Him's "Volume One," Costello's "Momofuku," Mudcrutch, and The Explorer's Club's "Freedom Wind."

I agree that two-word band descriptions are a poorer form of musical description, but I'll share one that I read from Uncut (I think) that has stuck in my head ever since (and that I have quoted before). They described the band Field Music as a Brian Wilson produced Wire.

And I'll try one here as well by describing Mono in VCF as a Carpentered Mazzy Star.

Sent by Mac Coldwell | 10:26 AM ET | 06-25-2008

'It's Summertime' by the Flaming Lips.

'Bastardsong' by Superconductor.

Sent by steve | 10:45 AM ET | 06-25-2008

My summer jam... the Raconteurs "Caroline Drama" and oddly, the other day, I heard a song on the radio, that I really dug the intro... then I heard the singer and recognized the band, and could not believe, I ACTUALLY WAS DIGGING A SONG FROM THE OFFSPRING??? eek...

as for band discriptions... I once said when Neil Young and Pearl Jam get together, its simply "Fuzz-rustic-grunge" which is actually kinda fun to say for as much as i hate the "grunge" tag...

and Id lastly like to add, when someone would ask me about one of my all time fav bands, what they sounded like, I simply never could come up with a good term... So Id simply just say, "They sound like Sleater-Kinney is who Sleater-Kinney sounds like" So congrats for being in a band that was virtually impossible to come up with a good term.

Sent by Kramer | 11:21 AM ET | 06-25-2008

How'd you like Black Swan Green? (Yes, I know this isn't a music related comment.)

Sent by Elizabeth | 11:52 AM ET | 06-25-2008

A friend and I each made a summer mix this year so my wee ipod shuffle has mostly been cranking them out. His is mostly a drum and bass/electro mashup while mine moves from funk and hip-hop to indie and rock & roll. Pretty fun soundtracks for the summer.

Sent by Oli | 12:04 PM ET | 06-25-2008

Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver have completely gladdened my heart for this mid part of the year. Summer hasn't really struck the UK so far, though I'm not yet giving up hope, but FF's "Mykonos" won't just be my summer song, should the sun ever arrive, it'll be my song of the year.

My real all time summer album though, is The Triffids' "Born Sandy Devotional" which I never stop banging on about, but which melds stifling Australian heat, heartbreak, despair and chicken-killers into on hell of a sultry, seductive mix.

Sent by Julia | 12:24 PM ET | 06-25-2008

i am loving the aisler set, simple, sweet and a touch of pop. also jens lekman..

Sent by jonny | 1:29 PM ET | 06-25-2008

"your protector" is definitely a major highlight of 2008, right up there with "m79".

Sent by paulb | 1:29 PM ET | 06-25-2008

Tiffany- I think were alone now best summer song ever

Sent by salvadore | 1:46 PM ET | 06-25-2008

I don't know if Carrie or anyone else has ever had to deal with this problem, but I think that being in a band for such a long period of time has taken away my ability to listen to music simply for the sake of listening to music. It's like I'm unintentionally critisizing every sound on every record that I listen to, I try to just lay back and chill, but with every record I buy I end up being further disenchanted with the current musical climate.

I think that part of it has to do with living in Bloomington, Indiana- home of the Secretly Canadian / Jagjaguwar / Dead Oceans labels- where I'm constantly saturated with artists like the Ruby Suns or Caribu who're just starting to peak through to national attention, and I end up seeing these bands in an entirely more low key setting. Caribu's "Andorra" is a great record, and to me it's the drumming on that record that makes it great, but I end up over-analyzing it everytime I listen to it. Those drums are pieced together in the studio with a metronome-- I absolutely hate that. Where's the danger in that? I miss sloppy drunk rock'n'roll bands that can barely keep it together, like the Replacements. I want Led Zeplin, not some guys who create an album by stringing a bunch of samples together. In Caribu's defense, they did have a really great touring drummer when they came through, but listening to them live gets boring after about 20 minutes because it's the same song over and over and over again. Living in this ciry, I feel like the local talent is actually much better and more exciting-- at least live-- than the national talent that comes through as a result of SC, but I think that indie rock, or rock'n'roll, or whatever you want to call it... Music of the youth... I think it's lost it's edge.

I guess it's just part of knowing how some of it works, but every new record or new artist that I hear, from Bon Iver to Fleet Foxes to My Morning Jacket, just seems neutered to me. There's no danger in it. There's nothing that grips me. The new MMJ album feels, to me, like listening to the last two records, and while it's not bad, it doesn't seem new.

I know this has been a long-winded sort of response, but I just wonder what I'm experiencing as a musician translates to the rest of the music audience. I used to drop this D Boone quote all the time: "There should be a band on every block, and a recording studio on every ten." Now, with the advent of MySpace, etc... It seems like this has become a reality, and I'm not so sure it's been good for music.

Anyway, it takes a lot to impress me, and I can tell you that there's a band from Utah that we played with in Bloomington called the Band of Annuals that puts on a great show, and they have a great record too. It's Country music-- I know there's nothing really new there-- but I feel like it's done honestly, with respect to all the Country music that's come before it, and they acknowledge that they are part of this huge lineage of that genre of music. I know alt-country is this huge thing, but there's something about that band that makes me feel like they're honest. Maybe it's just because they're not pretentious and I know them as people, and we got high together in my drummer's garage. I don't know. Mainly they're just solid musicians, and they play and sing well. Anyway, they've been my Summer jam.

Sent by Kyle | 1:59 PM ET | 06-25-2008

My favorite songs this summer:

Big New Prinz: The Fall
Well All Right: Buddy Holly
Bullet Proof Nothing: Simply Saucer
Neon Rainbow: The Box Tops
Gone Gone Gone: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss

My alltime favorite short musical description is from the late 1990s, when I played a Bergen County NJ "Guido" co-worker of mine Dig Me Out.

He loved it, and said "This sounds like the Go-Gos on steroids"

Sent by Rick | 2:08 PM ET | 06-25-2008

Beulah's "The Coast Is Never Clear" gets heavy rotation in my car whenever summer comes around. If I have to describe them, I would say they sound a bit like Beach Boys with horns and trumpets and cheesy (in a good way) lyrics. I love all their albums actually, but I can't seem to listen to them when it's not summer.

Other music I like to listen to around this time are Broken Social Scene, The Shore, and more recently, Vampire Weekend.

Sent by wing | 3:23 PM ET | 06-25-2008

"He Doesn't Know Why" sounds like it should be in a Wes Anderson movie. Thusly, you should get the soundtrack to the movie "Rushmore." The song that makes my heart swell is "A Quick One While He's Away" by The Who. (Just who is this elusive "he" that these two songs are about, anyway? I think naturally it must be the same person, right?)

Sent by Margarite | 3:31 PM ET | 06-25-2008

Just heard Vampire Weekend for the first. The song I heard was "A Punk". Based off of that I'd label them as a Natant-Bloc Party

Sent by Captain Crisco | 3:34 PM ET | 06-25-2008

Not particular to this summer at all, but Midweek Midmorning by The Lucksmiths is the song I listen to when I want to feel like it's summer, regardless of the time of year. There's a few others too, but that one sticks out in my mind the most.

Sent by I | 3:53 PM ET | 06-25-2008

my summer jams so far has been the nextdoor neighbors. i just recently saw them at a house show in tacoma (they're from olympia) and i love them.

i guess i would describe them as a mellow, female postal service. but that might also be somewhat insulting them.

ive also shamefully been listening to vampire weekend, even so far as to sing outloud to them while riding my bike around mt. tabor last night. hmmm.

Sent by brittany | 4:15 PM ET | 06-25-2008

I'm blown away that the lead guy from FF is about 22 years old.

Summer Jams: Discs of Fury, Volume 1. It's a rock opera composed by some Seattle guys and totally wearing their influences on their sleeves. It's like Queen in a D & D game with Ben Folds.

Sent by Jamie Hellgate | 4:25 PM ET | 06-25-2008

I've been listening to a lot of Mission of Burma this summer. And there's a band from Idaho called Finn Riggins who played here in Roanoke back in the spring. I bought their CD "A Soldier, A Saint, An Ocean Explorer" a week ago or so, and I cant get enough of it.

I have a natural aversion, displeasure, and hatred of people who use the method of describing a band where they say, "Take so-and-so and give it a so-and-so twist." I don't like that. Those people need to be jailed. If that's the only way you can describe a band, that either says you're not trying hard enough or the music is too derivative.

Sent by Nick L. | 4:26 PM ET | 06-25-2008

I am just happy that I can still enjoy music, that I am not some cynical music authority that has to always know better than other music fans. That would suck. Hopefully that will never happen to me, it would take away a lot of joy in my life.

This summer belongs to Lucero.

Sent by dadauptown | 4:37 PM ET | 06-25-2008

Current summer jam is Helvetia's _The Acrobats_. It's too bad that this record has zero distribution, even here in the Northwest, because GodDAMN is it good.

MMJ gets the massive-est disappointment award for what should've been the summer's best record. As the only band whose name I've ever pasted onto my car's bumper, I'm indescribably saddened by how weak Evil Urges is (and now I feel like a hypocrite when I drive around town).

Lastly, each of the 20 or so Numero Group releases will get at least two spins over the next month or two...

Sent by alex | 6:54 PM ET | 06-25-2008

Arrah And The Ferns!

Sent by Andy | 8:06 PM ET | 06-25-2008

I once decsribed Jens Lekman as Morrissey & Jonathan Richman's lovechild who got a hold of belle & sebastian records. I mean that as a huge compliment.

The Zombies = summer!

also, as a summer solstice gift to all my friends I made this a mix of all my favorite summer songs. Or at least the ones I had on my computer...

lilys - ginger
lifter puller - mission, viejo
silver jews - send in the clouds
saturday looks good to me - summer doesn't count unless your here
beat happening - indian summer
belle & sebastian - summer wasting
jonathan richman - that summer feeling
granddady - el caminos in the sun
undertones - here comes the summer
saturday looks good to me - dial tone
french kicks - piano
guided by voices - dayton, ohio 19 some and 5
flaming lips - it's summer time
zombies - summer time
justin timberlake - summer love

please excuse the long post but i love love love summer

Sent by esme | 8:39 PM ET | 06-25-2008

Nah dude, you just got perserve through all that nonsense about how this MMJ album is week, and then when they're all like in their mid forties, and they finally kick all the dope, and they put out that last hurrah mofo of an album you can say that you loved them from the beginning. You see, if you constantly say everything is brilliant then you're never wrong. People might dis on for liking some stuff but when Green Day, er, I mean MMJ comes back in style then you look like a genious. Plus, I like how all the keyboards go whump-pum-pum-pump-pum-pum....

Sent by kyle | 11:01 PM ET | 06-25-2008

pirouette are the cap'n jazz to little kingdom's american football

summer listening: new girl talk, new hold steady, pop punk (the good stuff: lifetime, saves the day), cap'n jazz, american football, broken social scene. anything that evokes good times, the oceans, warm breezes and sunshine.

Sent by Joe illadelph | 2:30 AM ET | 06-26-2008

Fleet Foxes have one of the best albums out this year. My other two favorites have to be "Real Emotional Trash" by Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, and "Evil Urges" by My Morning Jacket is just not wanting to leave my CD player right now at all.

Sent by Jack | 4:09 AM ET | 06-26-2008

A quick list of my 5 current summer albums for 2008:
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
Fleet Foxes - s/t
The Supreme Genius of King Kahn and the Shrines
Ladyhawk - Shots (thanks to this blog)
Man Man - Rabbit Habits

I'm not sure any of these are particularly summer-related, but they seem to be my go-to albums this season.

Sent by Jeremy | 1:23 PM ET | 06-26-2008

The most "Summery" (not to be confused with a summary) music I have been listening to is the new Girl Talk CD. I have been listening to the Fleet Foxes and MMJ albums also. I think I still like Vampire Weekend for a fun day at the beach. Or sometimes I just throw on some Pixies.

Sent by Eron | 1:29 PM ET | 06-26-2008

MGMT's Oracular Spectacular is my summer album this year. I can't get some of those songs out of my head. One of my summer standards is the song "If She Wants Me" by Belle & Sebastian...it's perfect for riding bikes in the sun.

Also, thanks for turning me onto Fleet Foxes. Your post came just in time for me to look them up and see that they're coming to my city next Wednesday.

Sent by Jess | 3:14 PM ET | 06-26-2008

Something about the pure bliss of summer makes me turn to more melancholy music. I can't really say why, but I do know that I can remember belting out The Moon and Antarctica from open car windows on many a summer day. Nothing like driving around town, windows down, blasting a favorite record. That said Modest Mouse is infrequently in the rotation these days. This summer has belonged to Fela Kuti and 5 reggae compilations by Soul Jazz record starting at 200% Dynamite through to 600% Dynamite.
Classic summer albums in my mind?
Paul's Boutique
Weezer's Blue Album
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's self-titled
Built to Spill's Keep It Like A Secret
AND
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea because its so damn fun to sing along with.

And though I hate to say it I kind of agree with Kyle about what often seems to be my lack of enjoyment of both new and what I used to think of as proven bands. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places but these days I'm more often digging for classics that I missed rather than new acts.

Sent by Lincoln | 7:12 PM ET | 06-26-2008

Dear Carrie Brownstein:

How the hell is it that I've never heard of the Fleet Foxes until now?

Is it my imagination, or are there now simply too many bands and too many recordings to ever feel as though one can ever achieve a meaningful sense of what's happening musically in any particular genre?

I spend an enormous amount of time reading about, listening to and otherwise steeping myself in music. And now, every single day, someone mentions a new band I've never heard of. And I mention one someone else hasn't.

Has low cost technology made for more recordings? Is being in a band now a universal ambition? Is music now easier to access? Or is it just that we're all listening to and reading different music sources these days, alone and online, as opposed to even ten years ago, when we listened collectively to local radio stations at least once in a while?

Sincerely,
Overwhelmed in Portland

PS: Consider this my vote for a semi-regular rock n' roll advice column.

Sent by Overwhelmed in Portland | 12:47 PM ET | 06-27-2008

I like the FF album very much.
If I have to: Shins+My Morning Jacket
This is what the 3rd Shins album should have been...

Sent by Nick | 6:19 PM ET | 06-27-2008

Carrie, I just shot some video of them playing "He Doesn't Know Why" last night in LA. They sound even better live than on the CD. Tingles up the spine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHfu8yDmrmQ

Sent by David Kim | 7:36 PM ET | 06-29-2008

Blame it on my summer-festival-fixation, but lately I am grooving to everything I will be watching during my attendance to the Benicassim summer festival in the sunny Mediterranian coasts os Spain (yep, I??m a spanyard, what can I say?), so I guess my summer tune is "I will possess you heart" by the long-lost-for-the-cause Death Cab For Cutie (I once was a true beliver, but then they released Plans, faith is growing back, though). Come to think of it, this song??s got a Wilcoesque feel to it. Maybe Spiders (kidsmoke) on diazepam.

And regarding the two-word band description, well, I tend to compare everything either to Morrissey or any given UK-or-NY-circa-late-seventies band. Which nowadays is rather useful. Bon Iver is Morrissey on helium. Interpol are Joy Division on-a-Monday-morning-having-get-up-6-a-m-to-go-to-work. And Franz Ferdinand are...well, Orange Juice.

in case you are wondering, yep, I am that simple.

By the way, Fleet Foxes album of the year. All the way.

Sent by Javier | 11:20 AM ET | 06-30-2008

I agree with "Overwhelmed in Portland" as far as there being way too much music to digest. I've got to the point where I don't even pay attention to music outside of Portland. Maybe that's snobby and provincial, but I don't have time or money to check out every band around the world that gets hyped up by countless blogs and press, so I focus on who's playing in my backyard. Fortunately the backyard here is totally awesome.

Sent by Jason | 4:22 PM ET | 06-30-2008

Funny, I am only just reading this now...because I have just returned from Manzanita on the Oregon coast. Isn't it gorgeous there?
I've not really been sure what to listen to lately, which is odd, because usually by this point in the summer I've got a few albums in heavy rotation. I've actually been listening to a decent amount of Nick Cave over the past few days, which is not very summery at all, but hey, it's been sounding good. I've also had the Elgar cello concerto stuck in my head, though that's mostly because my friend played it for her senior recital.
As for musical descriptions, a few years ago I attempted to describe the Dirtbombs as "Motown glam-punk," which I think I might have actually stolen from an interview with the band, because Mick Collins is seemingly allergic to the phrase "garage rock". It's not inaccurate, but I was about fourteen and it was kind of an esoteric description to be using around a bunch of other fourteen-year-olds who really didn't care about music much to begin with. I would very much like to give my fourteen-year-old self a hug and a cookie, and then tell her to stop trying so hard all the time.

Sent by Fern | 2:49 AM ET | 07-02-2008

So my summer jams:
Girl Talk "Feed The Animals"- There's something about hearing "Whoomp! There It Is" cavorting with "In A Big Country" that brings a smile to my face.

The Wombats "A Guide To Love, Loss and Desperation"- Their songs just make me giddy.

Oh and my favorite reductive description of a newish band I've made:

"Thao with the Get Down, Stay Down are like a playful Cat Power...Kitty Power"

Sent by Brian L. | 11:16 PM ET | 07-04-2008

If Crosby, Stills & Nash and Brian Wilson were Jim James' (of my morning jacket)parents and then Jim James and James Mercer(the shins)procreated, they would give birth to a litter of Fleet Foxes.

Sent by steve | 4:10 PM ET | 07-07-2008