The calm before the storm. Literally. New York is bracing for the biggest hurricane it’s ever faced (named after Irene Ryan, Granny Clampett was one tough cookie) and I’m just hoping my 100 year-old building will survive the winds. (It survived the earthquake on Monday… what a week!) Until then, or if you’re somewhere not on the East Coast of the United States, please enjoy the collection of mostly jangly pop. This week mostly ping-pongs between now and the mid-’80s (hey, that’s new for me!), with a few stops in the ’90s as well.

Cover art this week is by me. This was taken on the Williamsburg Bridge on a summer Friday back in June. I know I said no Hipstamatic pictures, but I can break my own rules, dammit. Anyway, it’s a nice picture I think.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 4.14

1. Tommy Keene - Places that are Gone
2. This Many Boyfriends – Young Lovers Go Pop!
3. Easterhouse - Out on Your Own
4. Cut Off Your Hands – Nausea
5. The Smiths – Half a Person
6. Real Estate – It’s Real
7. Kitchens of Distinction – Third Time We Opened the Capsule
8. Violens – Through the Window
9. Psychic TV – Godstar
10. Male Bonding – Tame the Sun
11. The Candyskins – Submarine Song
12. Big Troubles – Misery
13. Girls - Honey Bunny
14. Rockpile - Teacher Teacher
15. Grass~Show – 1962
16. Race Horses – Benidorm
17. A Classic Education – Baby, It’s Fine
18. The Lucy Show – Ephemeral (This is No Heaven)
19. Oberhofer - Gotta Go
20. Oh Minnows – Another Volunteer

Stock up on batteries, water, and read-to-eat food, and no matter what you do…no shuffling! Liner notes after the jump. (more…)

My brain’s not working so good this week. I mistakenly assigned cover art duty for Summer Fridays 4.12 to two people and didn’t realize it until they both sent in the finished work. Instead of asking one of them to redo it, I decided to make two mixes this week. The first, with cover by Daniel Yandel (who plays drums in new Brooklyn band The Gytters), is the “normal” indie rock mix this week.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 4.12

Tracklist:
1. Michael Cronin – Is it Alright
2. Bare Wires – Cheap Perfume
3. Unrest – Winona Ryder
4. Dent May – Wedding Day
5. The Bats – North by Northwest
6. Veronica Falls – Bad Feeling
7. Veronica Lake – Daisy Kiss
8. Domimant Legs – Hoop of Love
9. Hefner – I Took Her Love for Granted
10. The Millepedes – Cold Snap
11. Spectrals – Big Baby
12. Young Husband – Carousel
13. Galaxie 500 – It’s Getting Late
14. The Troggs – Night of the Long Grass
15. Small Factory – Here You Come
16. Lê Almeida – Micropontes
17. The Loft – Up the Hill and Down the Slope
18. Fastest Girl – Neil Armstrong
19. Frankie Rose – Soma
20. Rocketship – Your New Boyfriend

The second was inspired by the Trader Vic’s cocktails on the other cover art, done by Summer Fridays MVP Greg Morris. I don’t know if this would make a cocktail party more successful, but that’s the vibe I was going for.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 4.12 (Fancy Drinks Edition)

Tracklist:
1. Everything but the Girl – Each and Every One
2. Scott Walker – The Seventh Seal
3. Jerry Goldsmith – Escape from the Planet of the Apes
4. The Soundcarriers – Celleste
5. Prefab Sprout – Cue Fanfare
6. Marden Hill – Curtain
7. Jacques Dutronc – Cactus
8. The Cardigans – Sick and Tired
9. Teddy Randazzo – The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
10. Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 – After Sunrise
11. The Stepkids – Suburban Dream
12. Os Mutantes – Bat Macumba
13. Delphine – La Fermeture Eclaire
14. Ennoi Morricone – Sorridimi Sorridimi
15. The Legendary Jim Ruiz – Spain
16. Serge Gainsbourg – Initials B.B.
17. United States of America – Perry Pier
18. The Glitterhouse – Barbarella
19. Jens Lekman – An Argument with Myself

The Summer Fridays mixed drink can be shaken, stirred…but not shuffled! You’ll bruise the mint. I’m gonna try and get liner notes up this weekend, but we’ll see. Enjoy and have a festive weekend!

How is it August already? (I think I ask this every year.) Anyway, we’re back with this week’s mix which is a little more hodgepodge than I’ve done this year. We’ve got dance, soul, ’70s obscurities, and the requisite whiteboy indie. But I think it works pretty well and there’s some great new music this week and hopefully some crate digging you’ll dig as well. Art this week by Ben Smith who is pals with famed tagger KOTS and I met at this year’s SXSW Festival where we talked music and neti pots. Yes, it’s a drawing of me. Ben, you’ve got a career on 42nd St. if you ever tire of the West Coast.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 4.11*

Tracklist:

1. TV Girl – Benny and the Jetts
2. Pilot – January
3. Zoos of Berlin – Haven’t Eyes
4. The Supremes – It’s Time to Break Down
5. Hall & Oates – I Can’t Go for That
6. Röyksopp – Eple
7. The Drums – Money
8. The Raveonettes – Ignite
9. Widowspeak – Fir Coat
10. The Sneetches – From an Empty Sea
11. The Tyde – Henry VIII
12. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks – Tigers
13. The Research – The Way You Used to Smile
14. Sly & the Family Stone – Runnin’ Away
15. The Experimental Pop Band – James Remains
16. Erika Spring – Six More Weeks
17. Casiokids - Det haster!
18. US 69 – Yesterday’s Folks
19. Scritti Politti – Cooking

You know the rules — no shuffling. Liner notes are below.

PS: about the download. Over at the Sendspace download page, after clicking the “Regular Download” button, it takes you to a new page. Scroll down and click the “Click here to start download from sendspace” link and not the big DOWNLOAD or PLAY thing at the top…that’s an ad.

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I’ve gone high concept this week, and that is not a reference to this week’s cover art which is by my friend Davie Kaufmann. No, I mean there’s a gimmick: all the songs on Summer Fridays 4.10 are less than two minutes long. All 33 of them (maybe even 34). With this kind of criteria, we don’t really have much in the way of new music (two songs by my count) but quality remains high of course. I’ve tried to vary it up as much as possible because the bulk of the two-minutes-or-less songs in my collection are of the young, loud and snotty variety. If you don’t like a song, just think it’ll be over soon.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 4.10

Tracklist:
1. R.E.M. – White Tornado
2. Lilys – Any Place I’ve Lived
3. The Byrds – The Girl with No Name
4. The Yummy Fur – Policeman
5. The Magnetic Fields – Washington, D.C.
6. Saturday Looks Good to Me – Underwater Heartbeat
7. The Bees – End of the Street
8. Sergio Mendes & Brazil ’66 – Bim-Bom
9. The Undertones – She’s a Run Around
10. Wax Museums – Mosquito Enormo
11. Pavement – Debris Slide
12. Lee “Scratch” Perry – Gumma
13. Carol King – Crying in the Rain
14. Felt – Ferdinand Magellan
15. Grovesnor – Lickstick
16. Minutemen – Maybe Partying Will Help
17. Wire – Champs
18. Young Fresh Fellows – How Much About Last Night Do You Remmeber?
19. Ruts – Out of Order
20. Camper Van Beethoven – Wasted
21. Boyracer – Airport Song
22. Royal Bangs – Loosely Truthing
23. Thrush Hermit – Every Morning I Reread The Postcards
24. Jay Reatard – You’re Gonna Lose
25. The Vaselines – Dum-Dum
26. The Strawberry Alarm Clock – Birds in My Tree
27. Adventures in Stereo – The Attic Walk
28. Fleetwood Mac – That’s Enough for Me
29. The Fall – Terry Waite Sez
30. Shop Assistants – Nature Lover
31. Dead Milkmen – Filet of Sole
32. So Cow – Halcyon Days
33. Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci – The Barafundle Bumbler

Shuffling this mix could cause seizures or blindness: don’t do it! Liner notes, which are all Twitter-length in keeping with the theme, are after the jump.

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We’re in it now. It’s July and it’s HOT and I’ve blown my fuses twice already. That’s what I get for making toast with the A/C on. Try not to lose power when cranking this one, though volume should definitely be set to Very Loud. Cover art this week is by Mazing Vids co-conspirator and genius tie-maker Ryan Sovereign did the cover. He’s Summer Fridays’ lucky number, as he did the ace cover for 3.7 last year. Nice job, don’t you think?

Ryan is a post-punk aficionado so I tilted slightly in that direction on this one. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 4.7

Tracklist:
1. Sloan - People of the Sky
2. Robert Pollard – Aspersion
3. Las Kellies – Bling Bling
4. Nightingales - Idiot Strength
5. Grass Widow – Milo Minute
6. Beau & the Arrows – 0.7.9.3
7. The dB’s – Black and White
8. Peoples Temple – Sons of Stone
9. The Horrors – I Can See Through You
10. Simple Minds – Up on the Catwalk
11. David Bowie – Boys Keep Swinging
12. Hooray for Earth – No Love
13. The Breeders – Saints
14. Super Wild Horses – Black Book
15. Easybeats - Friday on My Mind
16. House of Love – I Don’t Know Why I Love You
17. Helium - Pat’s Trick
18. The Tony Castles – Juice
19. The Legends – There and Back Again
20. Letting Up Despite Great Faults – Teenage Tide

You know the deal: NO SHUFFLING. Please. Or do what you want. Liner notes after the jump.

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Hey it’s the first Summer Fridays of actual Summer! And it’s supposed to rain! Which actually works out ok, given the content this week. Cover art is by Sable Yong who fronts two bands in Brooklyn: Year of the Tiger and Chalk and Numbers. I’m not sure what dissecting a gummi worm says about summer (she calls it “morbid cuteness”) but it kind of reminded me of old 4AD artwork for some reason… so this week’s mix is on the darker side. It does rain in the summer. Usually around 6PM. And with 4AD, there are three classic tracks from the label on here, plus a little shoegaze (old and new) and a bunch of other cool new stuff. Dig in.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 4.5

Tracklist:
1. Colourmusic – Tog
2. Zaza – Are What You Aren’t
3. The Wolfgang Press – Raintime
4. Acid House Kings – Would You Say Stop (Invisible Twin Remix)
5. Kindest Lines – Running Into Next Year
6. ***mystery artist*** – **mystery song**
7. Cocteau Twins – 50-50 Clown
8. SBTRKT – Pharaohs
9. Roberto Cacciapaglia feat. Ann Steel – My Time
10. Wild Beasts – Reach a Bit Further
11. Heart Throbs – Dreamtime
12. Det Vackra Livet – Juni berättar
13. Ghost Animal – In Your Room
14. My Bloody Valentine – When You Sleep
15. Austra – Hate Crime
16. Colourbox - Tarantula
17. Serafina Steer – GSOH

Liner notes after the jump:
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Did you know there’s an animal park in Florida that develops bonds between tigers and humans by having them swim together? You probably did, it’s been around for three years. I just found out via this week’s cover art done by my friend and frequent art contributor Kelly Hitzing. If you didn’t, there is such a park and the photos are terrifying. It’s like that Truck-o-Saurus episode of the Simpsons come to life…minus the Truck-o-Saurus and the sharks.

Anyway, my nightmares are your awesome cover art to the second Summer Fridays of 2011. By pure coincidence there’s a song by Cat’s Eyes. And lots of other new music, plus at least one song about the summer which is a cheeseball thing to do and I can’t promise I won’t do it again. But I can promise that the song will be good if I do so. Without further ado…

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 4.2

Tracklisting:

1. Fun Boy Three – Summertime
2. Cat’s Eyes – A Face in the Crowd
3. Wild Flag – Future Crimes
4. Seapony - Into the Sea
5. pow wow! – It’s Not That Easy
6. The Monochrome Set – Karma Suture
7. Hong Kong in the ’60s – You Can Take a Heart but You Can’t Make it Beat
8. Love Inks – Wave Goodbye
9. Ivy - I Get the Message
10. The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy - Groovin’ in the Bus Lane
11. The Attack – Colour of My Mind
12. Starfucker - Astoria
13. Small Sins – Why Don’t You Believe Me?
14. The Young Knives – Woman
15. The Hollies – Postcard
16. Nina Slash – Candy Box
17. Lemonheads - Confetti
18. The Arctic Monkeys – Suck it and See
19. Dani Sheridan – I Guess I’m Dumb
20. Girls Names – Lawrence
21. Hunters & Collectors – Everything’s on Fire

I know you know, but I can’t post this without reminding you that the songs herein are mixed together, so listening on shuffle would be a bad thing. So don’t do it! Liner notes after the jump.

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It’s Memorial Day Weekend and that, of course, means the start of the fourth year of these seasonal mixes. Please enjoy whether you’re heading out of town for a three day trip to the beach, or use at a backyard bbq, or just clogging up your hard drive unzipped. Sunbathing season hasn’t really started yet, so this mix is pretty damn white. Please enjoy the quality pop tones within. Cover art this week designed by Kate Bryant who has helped kick off nearly every season of Summer Fridays since the beginning so long ago. Enjoy.

DOWNLOAD SUMMER FRIDAYS 4.1

Tracklist:

1. Let’s Wrestle – In Dreams Pt. II
2. Eternal Summers – Prisoner
3. The Belltower – Outshine the Sun
4. Terry Malts – Distracted
5. Comet Gain – Thee Ecstatic Library
6. The Modern Lovers – Dignified and Old
7. Milk Maid – Not Me
8. Boat - Kinda Scared of Love Affairs
9. 20/20 - Yellow Pills
10. Pete & the Pirates – Little Gun
11. The Wedding Present – Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
12. Gold-Bears – Totally Called It
13. Radical Dads – Walking Wires
14. Slade - Coz I Luv You
15. Gross Relations – Blame the Records
16. The Strokes – Machu Picchu
17. The Hairs – Duh x 12
18. Crystal Stilts – Death is What We Live For
19. The Feelies – Nobody Knows
20. The Kinks – Sunny Afternoon

Like I always always always say, these mixes are actually, you know, mixed together. So no skipping! Liner Notes after the jump.

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I didn’t think I was going to do anymore mixes until Summer Fridays returned but there was a whole bunch of new music I was excited about so here we are. I’m not sure this feels like Spring, what with Cold Cave starting things off, but what we’ve got here is 22 quality tracks of new music (and one that’s old but from a new compilation). If the words herein don’t make a lot of sense, I wrote this under the haze of a particularly nasty bout of flu to which I am still recovering. Hope it makes you feel better.

DOWNLOAD SOUND BITES SPRING FEVER

Tracklist:

1. Cold Cave – Confetti
2. WhoMadeWho – Every Minute Alone
3. PAPER - She’s Got Lard
4. Cult of Youth – The Dead Sea
5. The Wave Pictures – Now Your Smile Comes Over In Your Voice
6. Sloan - Beverly Terrace
7. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Belong
8. Exlovers - Blowing Kisses
9. Mazes - Summer Hits
10. Standard Fare – Suitcase
11. Erland & the Carnivale – Springtime
12. The High Llamas – Take My Hand
13. Metronomy – The Look
14. Cat’s Eyes – The Best Person I Know
15. Pete & the Pirates – Come to the Bar
16. Eux Autres – Queen Turner
17. Little Majorette – Overflow
18. Onuma Singsiri – Mae Kha Som Tam
19. Mueran Humanos – Corazón Doble
20. The Soft Province – For Untold Day
21. Seapony - Dreaming
22. Craft Spells – Your Tomb
23. Loud Fast Fools – Time to Split

The songs segue together, as frequent visitors may already know, so don’t play this on shuffle. Liner notes after the jump.

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And you thought you could put away the sweaters and parkas. Like a surprise snowfall after a warm Friday, Monday brings the third Wintry Mix of 2011. This one is the most icy-sounding, the first half a chilly blast with the back end bringing the ’90s resurgence into sharp relief. This will probably do it for these until the return of Summer Fridays. Enjoy.

DOWNLOAD WINTRY MIX THREE

Tracklist:

1. Lykke Li - I Follow Rivers
2. Silver Swans – Secrets
3. Love Inks – Black Eye
4. Princeton - To the Alps
5. Cat’s Eyes – Not a Friend
6. The Answering Machine – Animals
7. Banjo or Freakout – Go Ahead
8. Still Corners – Don’t Fall in Love
9. Martial Canterel – Secret Stores
10. Generationals - Tell Me Now
11. Gross Relations – Fuzzy Timelines
12. Lifeguards – Paradise is Not So Bad
13. Young Boys – Bring ‘Em Down
14. Girls Names – Seánce on a Wet Afternoon
15. Mr. Dream – Holy Name
16. Radical Dads – Recklessness
17. PS I Love You w/Diamond Rings – Leftovers
18. Telekenesis - I Cannot Love You
19. Violens - When to Let Go
20. BNLX - It Was a Good Day

Like all my mixes, the songs segue together so do yourself a favor and don’t listen on shuffle. Liner notes after the jump.

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