Searching for the Perfect Summer Anthem
The season for road trips, lazy days at the beach and long bike rides just begs for its own soundtrack. Even if you're staring out the office window at a glorious summer morning, you need a summer anthem. So we asked music writer Stephen Thompson -- formerly of The Onion -- to make some seasonal suggestions.
Fountains Of Wayne: Out-of-State Plates
These songs are relentlessly catchy, but they're also smart. The band is best known for the hit "Stacy's Mom" — but that's not even scratching the surface of the band's charm.
Janice's Party
Feist: Let It Die
Leslie Feist's talents shift almost as constantly as her attention. Amid whimsical covers of Françoise Hardy and the Bee Gees, the Canadian-bred Paris habitué sprinkles in her own compositions.
Mushaboom
Sahara Hotnights: Kiss & Tell
An all-woman rock band from Sweden, Sahara Hotnights seemed to get overshadowed by The Donnas — but here the attitude feels less put on, like the work of a modern-day Blondie.
Hot Night Crash
World Psychedelic Classics, Vol. 3: Love's a Real Thing
The era of 1960s psychedelia is not dead — it's alive and well and thriving in West Africa. The fuzz guitars, cheesy organ riffs, blatting saxes, fat bass lines, wild solos... they're all here.
Keleya
The New Pornographers: Twin Cinema
This group's melancholy power-pop complements the summer months beautifully. The songs have a way of cycling through four or five hit singles' worth of hooks without sounding cluttered.