Sumer Mix 2009

1.“I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked,” Ida Maria:

I'd like them better if they didn't almost look like a ska band, but other than that these guys are the real deal. Also, they share my Facebook quiz nationality (Swedish).

2. “Rhythm of the Night,” Corona:

Dance music of the era when dance music was for people with tops instead of plaid shirts. Now it's for people with tops AND people with plaid shirts. Democracy!

[Spoiler alert if you haven't seen Beau Travail. What happens right before this scene is that the male gaze gets reversed, and then some laboring bodies get eroticized. Oh and meanwhile the postcolonial psyche is really fragmented:]

3. “Get Ready for This," 2 Unlimited:

See above.

4. “Lisztomania," Phoenix:

You had me at Liszt. And at not being the Decemberists.

5. “Thug Passion,” 2Pac:

Last summer I bought a bottle of Alize because of this song. It’s gross FYI.

6. “You Get What You Give,” The New Radicals:

Did you know I love uplifting music? Almost exclusively. I don’t tell people that because it makes me seem like a sociopath. The kind of person who would order mint chocolate chips online. The only people who have listened to the New Radicals in the past nine years are ant torturers, YouTube commenters, and me. And probably Europeans.

7. “Little Secrets,” Passion Pit:

Sorry I’m a blogger :( It gets the party started, tho.

8. “Bizarre Love Triangle,” New Order:

I advanced the thesis that New Order was to 2009 what Led Zeppelin was to 2004, and my friend was like, “New Order is to 2004 what Led Zeppelin was to 2004.” Touché.

9. “American Girl,” Tom Petty:

The breakdown of the song always reminds me of a dad band. Just bein' moms and dads. But the outro really brings it in terms of shredding. And what other terms are there?
Play back to back with “American Boy” for an intergenerational battle of the sexes!

10. “Wannabe in L.A.,” Eagles of Death Metal:

Why yes I do.

11. Thermals, “Now We Can See”:

This song reminds me of my pure love for music when I was a kid first learning about music. One of The Thermals was like, “let’s just write a modest, breezy jam that we can play in basement house parties for eternity” and the other Thermals were like “why not?" Plus it's about what life would be like outside the Cave and shattering the progress myth, whut.

In short, if you need me this summer, I'll be sitting in my office quietly listening to “Jock Jams.”