- Endless Summer Mixtape
- songs with “summer” or “sun” or “sunset” in the title courtesy of Ecstacy In Slow Motion
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Pavement – Summer Baby (7” Version)
Ultra Vivid Scene – Staring At The Sun
Ducktails – Beach Point Pleasant
Future Loop Foundation – The Sea and the Sky (Ashley Beedle’s Earth Mix)
National Trust – Brownsea Island Waves Lapping
Campag Velocet – Sunset Strip Eclipse
Sorry I’ve not been around for ages. The heat seems to have sapped me of all of my creative juices. There are the remnants of at least seven abandoned blog posts on my hard drive – perhaps I’ll resurrect them one day when it cools down a bit and I can think of something interesting to say… Anyway, until then I thought a summer this consistently hot (if you live dans le capital like I do) deserved a themed mixtape in its honour so here y’go. Pretty self-explanatory, really. But I’ll indulge you with a few words. It’s the least you deserve. All three of you.
Rather prosaically there are songs with “summer” or “sun” or “sunset” in the title – a pair of indie rock classics from Pavement and Ultra Vivid Scene, plus a newie from Balearic synth-poppers Delorean; but also songs that sound perfect on a sunny day, like Smokin’ by the Super Furries – light up a big ol’ blooty and kick back to that one (it also contains one of my favourite Gruffisms: “Gonna manage my time, just like Johann Cruyff” – yeah, Gruff, whatever you say mate). There’s a song about a quintessential summery English childhood pursuit – Minotaur Shock’s sublime Rockpoolin’, which immediately transports me to Kennack Sands in Cornwall, standing on barnacle-covered rocks looking for anemones. Awesome bassline too. And a flute! If you want to make a song sound summery, slap a flute on it (see also the aforementioned Smokin’). There’s Ashley Beedle’s euphoric reworking of The Sea and the Sky by Future Loop Foundation, Jarvis Cocker’s field recording of the waves on Brownsea Island, where I used to go as a Cub Scout (all I remember is the giant ants and peacocks), Campag Velocet on the Cafe Del Mar chill-out tip, Verve before they were shit with a slice of blissed-out prog-wonder (it’s about a drug dealer not the sun, but it fits the bill) and the incredible Plone with the soundtrack to those final, bittersweet days of the summer holidays. And not forgetting Ducktails (the man’s a freakin’ genius, one of my half-written posts is on him) with the shimmery underwater surf guitar plucking of Beach Point Pleasant. Oh and, slightly tenuously (but I love it), is Nathan Fake’s Sky Was Pink. There have been quite a few, lush pinky sunsets round my way recently so that’s why it’s on here.
Anyway, if I blether on too much this one will be in danger of expiring on my hard drive too. So, yep. Hope posting this doesn’t lead to a sudden bout of shitty weather… Enjoy!
Buy Minotaur Shock
Buy Pavement
Buy Ducktails
Download Jarvis Cocker’s National Trust album
Buy Nathan Fake
Buy Delorean
Buy Campag Velocet
Buy The Verve
Buy Plone
- Re-posted from the superbly excellent Ecstasy In Slow Motion – the new home for the mp3 blog formerly known as The White Noise Revisited. The tracks posted here are either available with the permission of the record label and/or artist, or from deleted or commercially unavailable releases. Failing this, if you are the copyright holder and want the track to be taken down, you only have to ask and I will oblige. Most downloads will be available for about a week, after which they will be deleted from the server.
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