SummerBytes
30 tracks adding some jalapeño to your watermelon margarita this season
(Pictured: SwuM)
A collaboration w/ Tyler Pavlas
Tyler Pavlas: I’m approaching 2 full years in San Francisco, so when I think of Summer, I’m conditioned to imagine a frigid June per the misattributed Mark Twain quote, “The coldest winter I ever spent, was a summer in San Francisco.” While, in generalities, the climate here can be described as temperate year-round, its volatile case of bipolarity turns the choice of a t-shirt and/or shorts disastrous as a city mood change storms in with the latest gust of wind. But come August, or better yet, that Indian Summer September, and every San Franciscan will be feelin’ like the California Gurl that Katy Perry and SoCal residents everywhere embody through their Summer Smashes that radio + pop music + 90 degree temperatures make attainable through a catchy hook and sun-kissed skin so hot (yeah you know the rest).
Mike Floeck: I moved to New York for many reasons, among them to escape the heat and humidity of southern summers. Little did I know, as some googling would have exposed, a New York summer is hot and humid as a rank laundry room. So I bought an air conditioner to accompany my other air conditioner and a Houston boy feels at home again. While I holed myself in, hidden away from the season’s first taste of real heat, I dwelled on what would get me through. Crowded, oppressively hot subway platforms, baking asphalt and a population explosion from boosted tourism give me reasons each day to throw all my shit on the ground and scream, but instead, I listen to music.
TP: In San Francisco, summers are countercultural, much like everything else here. We start turning it up, when you’ve moved on to Fall. To get ahead of the game, here are my 15 tracks to heat up your 4th of July.
MF: Four friends met up to get ready to go out. Several shots of tequila into getting their looks together, a thunderstorm bombards the city and floods the streets. The bars are inaccessible, but everyone’s definitely a little drunk, and ready to have a good time regardless. This playlist is the new party:
1.) SwuM — “Foreign Hoes”
TP: I don’t know about you, but whenever I’m in a music drought, I go straight to the wells of my friend’s playlists. This “result of a chemical reaction called combustion” (fire) came straight from my then college roommate, now Chemistry Teacher in Conroe, TX, and it was also on his Summer playlist. On June 10th, when I debuted it for the neighborhood below, it didn’t quite grab their attention. I’ll chalk that one up to acoustics because it certainly grabbed ours enough to headline SummerBytes.
2.) Kali Uchis — “Gotta Get Up — Interlude”
MF: On a record full of gems, this interlude screamed at me and I just had to repeat it again and again. I still do, but it’s less than two minutes long, so listening to it twice is like listening to just one song so it’s okay to listen to two songs, so maybe you just play it four times??
3.) The Internet — “Come Over”
TP: Few collectives have originated with as much individual talent as Odd Future. From its figurehead Tyler the Creator to Frank Ocean, a megastar too big for any brand but the one he chooses to wear each day, this Burbank, CA music accelerator comes alive in the sunshine. While Steve Lacy & Syd navigate how to share the microphone, we bask in the glory of this beach-ready afternoon reverie.
4.) Jorja Smith — “Where Did I Go?”
MF: 21 year-old English artist Jorja Smith has been active and present in your life (through critically-acclaimed appearances on Drake’s More Life and Kali Uchis’s Isolation, as well as on soundtracks supporting Black Panther and Insecure. Here, she takes front and center stage with a kickass swagger, borrowing thematic energy from Aaliyah as much as from Amy Winehouse. She has a collective coolness in her gorgeous voice that makes each listen more lush than the last. And Snoop is a fan.
5.) Vanessa Da Mata & Ben Harper — “Boa Sorte / Good Luck”
TP: So a Brazilian and a California blues musician release a number 1 hit sang half in Portuguese and half in English. Much like when restaurants decide to go fusion, the entrée is surprisingly delicious, bringing out the sweet and savory of each region’s subtle notes.
6.) Perta — “From Fire”
MF: FuNk is the color of my summer, and this new single from a new LA bandis just the right shade. Funk and light rock combine for an electric slide that’ll get you hand-clapping in no time flat. Note and appreciate the quirky vocal throws in the chorus from lead Matthew Bazulka and the carefree nature of the vibe the song creates.
7) Bibio — “Á tout á l’heure”
TP: Summer may seem more nostalgic as it’s the season you had the most opportunity to simply choose what to do with your time. Whether it was on bikes with a neighborhood crew, driving to the local burger and slushee joint, or making a playlist with a best friend, memories tend to resurface as this song did from the original “Gas Music” playlist Mike and I made 3 years ago.
8.) Sunni Colon — “Technicolor”
MF: Perpetuating summer funk persists here on another stand out single by Sunni Colon — an up-and-coming LA-born and Paris-based funk ingenue. Lyrics involving chromatic metaphors for love cast a hazy daydream over the kaleidoscope lens of a summer romance. Sip a margarita by the pool and relish in this sunshine.
9.) Ab-Soul — “Bloody Waters” (feat. James Blake, Anderson .Paak)
TP: A rarely remembered or listened to song is a good candidate for both an extremely terrible or underrated one. For “Bloody Waters”, I believe it to be the latter. It’s the 11th most-streamed out of 14 songs on the Kendrick Lamar hosted album curated for Black Panther. While the movie is the highest-grossing of 2018 and 3rd all-time, “Bloody Waters” featuring new-wave superstar, James Blakes, and jack of many trades, Anderson .Paak, is a submarine surprise party in an ocean full of wins.
10.) Playboi Carti — “Poke It Out” (feat. Nicki Minaj)
MF: If this summer you couldn’t, theoretically, at some point, drop it and get nasty and have a good time, then what would be the point of embracing the season? Playboi Carti and Nicki serve a hell of a buffet on this infectious track, complete with plucking synths and a humid, sticky-sweet sound. Songs like this one remind me of the good ol’ days when I had Bose speakers in my car. Now I just have headphones in my ear. But this bop still presses hard and will make you dance all the way through September. Poke it out!
11.) Drake — “Nonstop”
TP: Because we’ll have to listen to Drake “nonstop” to finish the entire thing, I’d thought I’d save you some time with the only track you’ll need to reach the peak. Featuring a thunderous bass that flatlines any hope of Drake’s music taking on a new life; verses that move through foreign countries with the Euro step, abbreviations like “ambidex”, and whispered adlibs paying homage to “Mac Dre shit” keep us ignorantly bliss of its author’s diminishing legacy.
12.) Lizzo — “Fitness”
MF: The chime at the beginning of the song centers the listener, preparing them for the focused experience about to unfold. Lizzo was born in Detroit and is based in Minneapolis and that purple Minnesota funk reigns supreme in all her music. Incorporating Donna Summer’s iconic “toot-toot, beep-beep” hook, “Fitness” is a “celebration of movement” in every form by every body. Celebrate yourself this summer. You deserve it. Just think about how you’re gonna feel when you step up on that catwalk!
13.) Masego — “Lady Lady”
TP: I’d suggest sipping a mimosa to this one as I’m sure Masego did to celebrate the release of this track on his 25th birhtday, June 8th, 2018. An artist who refers to the genre of his music as “TrapHouseJazz” or more simply, “Emotion,” gives us joy in abundance through this glimpse of summer love.
14.) Teyana Taylor — “Issues/Hold On”
MF: Taylor’s voice is so vulnerable it hurts to listen to, because the emotion bleeds directly through your headphones and you can’t escape. Her marriage is on some sort of display in this tender record that’s as fizzy as a Diet Coke, professing love and pleading for affection in a bizarrely complex relationship. It’s produced by Kanye West, whatever that means to you these days, and thus is filled with fantastic details and embellishments (read: laser bursts) surrounding a somewhat obscure sample. The passion will still heat up your summer evenings, though, so give it a spin.
15.) Benjamin Booker — “Motivation”
TP: The Summer can be a time of leisure or advancement. Business tends to slow as colleagues plan and take their vacations. Lazy days are spent out in the sun. I’m a proponent of R&R but if you’re stuck in doldrums, I suggest this Benjamin Booker joint designed to focus your sight back on the attainable.
16.) Rex Orange County — “Television / So Far So Good”
MF: This English jazz drummer-turned-multi-instrumentalist just turned 20 and before that happened, he put out this stunner of a sophomore album, Apricot Princess, that he put together while studying. It’s eccentric, spastic and so satisfying; the changes in tempo, his dextrous voice fumbling through the lyrics like a rolodex, and even the shifting in styles make the experience feel like enjoying a really rewarding song six or seven minutes in length. This song gives me every feeling I could ever source from watching a sappy romantic comedy, and I enjoy this a lot more.
17.) Father John Misty — “Date Night”
TP: FJM’s sardonic intellectuality is exactly what makes him as entertaining as it does hard to stomach. This track brings back the harmonic, computerized distortion of “True Affection” and the ragtime piano in “The Ideal Husband” for a “Date Night” in 2018 reminiscent of the sounds of 2015.
18.) Chela — “Bad Habit”
MF: Chelsea Wheatley shares that this song was written in half a day, and it makes sense how quickly it all came together when digesting the roll-off-the-tongue stickiness of the lyrics along with a punk-pop mesh beat creating a sound all her own. Would be a great song to hit on the car speakers, if I still had a car (I find myself repeating this sentiment over and over…?).
19.) Melody’s Echo Chamber — “Quand Vas Tu Rentrer”
TP: Melody Prochet, a Parisian who found a partnership with producer Kevin Parker of Tame Impala fame, early in her career, actually returned to music after 5 years on June 15th. This track features her most successful hit from the album prior.
20.) ZHU — “My Life” (feat. Tame Impala)
MF: Tame Impala, but make it fashion — Kevin Parker contributes vocals to this loose, improvisational groove featuring two slick electronica fiends. Parker’s Aussie electro/rock & roll hop meets ZHU’s adrenalized, pulsing swing and you might want to throw it on your running playlist.
21.) Poolside — “Harvest Moon”
TP: I’m watching Bojack Horseman these days and I can’t seem to stop pairing this track with the title sequence I skip each time I’m provoked by Netflix to do so and keep my binging uninterrupted. A come-down track to follow a “Doses and Mimosas” night, listen to this song in the Pacific Standard Time hours that follow the prime hours of an Eastern zone night.
22.) Amber Mark — “All The Work”
MF: As influenced by Chicago house music as by Bossa nova, Amber Mark’s music is sexy and smooth. “All The Work” is her most heavily house-tinged track to date, and is a fabulous choice for times when you find yourself late as shit and in need of a supernatural boost. The groove of this track is bananas, and it peels at a brisk 111bpm, sending me into a race-walking mode and always getting me to work on time.
23.) Sango — “Khlorine (feat. Smino)”
TP: After witnessing Smino in the state’s capital for a day festival with an overly-impressive lineup and underwhelming venue, I was convinced he’d be a top rookie in the league of Hip Hop. With the help of top assist man, Seattle’s Sango, the elusive Smino catches the pass and dribbles circles around this track like Boston’s Kyrie.
24.) Juanes — “Pa Dentro”
MF: A song about the best thing to do in the summer, but as a pop song, it’s rendered in language far more beautiful, respectful and observant than other hit singles. Juanes dissects his lover like a topographical map and represents her in every shape and form of beauty in his stunning visual for the single. Also, like, check out the beat.
25.) Devendra Banhart — “Fig in Leather”
TP: A foreign b-side to “Lady Lady” by Masego; the Houston-born, San Francisco-trained folk singer, Devendra Banhart, of Venezuelan origins makes a song that channels the spirit of Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love”. Vogue through the night as you dance with this song into the future.
26.) Kate Boy — “Giants”
MF: Kate Boy launches another successfully sultry single about typical summer habits and activities, like “do this now” and “rule this town” and so on, with a slick synth appearance, all wrapped up in a glossy and underrated package.
27.) Jim James — “Throwback”
TP: Jim James hyper-focuses on the fundamental details of what it means to be human and strikes right for the . The duality of this track is that it’s partly a reflective cruise along the coast on Highway 1, and alternately, a shot right to the jugular of our own mortality. James reminds us to keep the foot on the gas and squeeze out all we can from the potential of our youth.
28.) Janelle Monáe — “Don’t Judge Me”
MF: On this cut from Dirty Computer arranged like a Keyshia Cole cover of an ArchAndroid b-side, strings cascade in like the orange light from a Sedona sunset. What’s coming is lush as hell and a truly human plea for some lovin’; she’s anxious and wanting. It’s a conversation between her and a lover, her and a fan, her and the media…her and anyone with a question. This record is her reset button and “Don’t Judge Me” is the fourth quarter pause to recollect and say, hold up…y’all with me still? And you’re with her still, slapping your hand on your thigh and humming along.
29.) The Dip — “Atlas”
TP: As an adult on a Summer weekday morning, nothing’s more fit to shake off stress during your morning commute than the cathartic chorus in this displaced song that has found solid footing in the Soul genre pioneered by the millennial explorer of its genre, Leon Bridges. “Atlas” by The Dip is a gentle reminder that we don’t actually wear the world on our shoulders, but share a small piece of it with each person around us. Stepping off the claustrophobic N line of the MUNI bus, I straighten up my posture, quicken the pace and embrace the reality of another day in the city by the bay.
30.) Billy Davis — “Goldfish” (feat. Kimbra & Denzel Curry)
MF: I wave my Moses stick and make the oceans part, Kimbra declares as she glides over production from Billy Davis with a spitfire verse from Denzel Curry. Davis’s production has a Kaytranada swing with the Internet’s bounce — it’s too fun to let a pool day go by without this playing. I mean, the one-liners continue on and on: I look like Jigglypuff before she sings / If you judge me that’ll be my spinach, I’ll go Popeye. Sing that off into the summer sunset and have a great time at the party.
