BULLETT

Much like the six volumes that preceded it, number seven in our ongoing playlist of summer-type music aims to compliment all the colors of your mood ring, by pulling gems, past and present, from the celestial jukebox that is Spotify, with carefully random precision. Wrap your head around that! Stream this week’s playlist HERE, and read into each shade below.

David Douglas – “California Poppy”
As broad as his quote “it’s electronic music for the mind” may be, Dutch producer David Douglas couldn’t have summed up his own EP Royal Horticultural Society any better, as “California Poppy” is a cerebral take on landscapes, golden and pure.

The Sundays – “Hideous Towns”
Their 1997 hit “Summertime” might have been more appropriate here but the truth is nothing really tops the sweet, shimmering innocence of “Hideous Towns,” a highlight from the legendary English band’s 1990 debut.

LOL Boys – “Changes” [ft. Heart Streets]
Of course lounge-y jazz snares and Latin trumpets can fit nicely inside a downtempo dance track…we are living in a post-internet world where two producers can penpal-produce all their material between Montreal and Los Angeles, and call themselves LOL Boys.

Neneh Cherry – “Buffalo Stance”
Swedish singer/rapper Neneh Cherry lost the 1990 Best New Artist Grammy to Milli Vanilli, but did win a Brit Award, which she then melted into pieces of jewelry. Plus, posing in “Buffalo Stance” is in reference to a high-fashion collective of that time called Buffalo. Songs don’t come much cooler than this.

Ducktails – “Sunset Liner”
Real Estate guitarist Matthew Mondanile has a way with blissful afternoon melodies—the kind that seem to set in your head on repeat—and this particular sun is going on a year strong.

Drop Nineteens – “Winona”
Drop Nineteens were a shoegaze band from Boston in the early ’90s. And, if “Winona” doesn’t make you want to get pushed through a parking lot in a shopping cart, that’s okay, but really it should.

Poolside – “Slow Down”
The pulsing, disco-toned “Slow Down” is slicker than a backyard patio, post-cannonball.

Arca – “Walls”
Simultaneously spacious and claustrophobic, “Walls” gradually closes in on a sax-like groove beneath a sputtering of hollowed-out hip-hop electronics. Lookout for another EP this year from the UNO NYC artist come August.

Southern Shores – “Tangier Winds”
Everything is feathered just right on the exceptionally Balearic “Tangier Winds”—distant vocals, on top of lush synths, on top of skyline beats, and so on.

Sad Souls – “Dreamcatcher”
Let’s end this thing on a hammock, somewhere nice, graced with the ambient breeze of Ann Arbor’s Sad Souls. Happy birthday, Tom, thanks for making such lovely music.

Photography by Landon Speers