We have officially reached the end of the artist-curated portion of The Summer Jam 3: Electric Boogaloo, and what better way to give a proper send-off to it than featuring an amazing artist whose single we premiered recently? I am speaking of the talented Bonnie Stewart aka Bonniesongs, of course. Her song “Follow Me” was a delight to write about, and her Strings EP came out last month – check it if you haven’t already, it’s fantastic. For all these reasons, I am stoked to present her selection of favorite summer records to you today; please enjoy!
Bonnie Stewart
‘As someone from Ireland, summer was always a very exotic and exciting prospect. All year, I dreamed of the sun coming, and wearing summer clothes, jumping in the sea and enjoying long evenings. It stays bright until 11ish in my hemisphere and we would get three months off for the school break, so summer was long! BUT I mightn’t get all those summery aspects in Ireland, and would have to go to Europe for some sun searching and t-shirt wearing.. Definietly a big draw for me to move to Australia was long and warm summers. So here I am! My summer soundtrack list is a mixture of nostaligia and good time feelings. It takes you on a journey of pop punk, 60s rock, experimental pop and sludgy doom punk.‘
Little Feat – Any of their albums…
In the last few years, Little Feat have become my favourite summer time soundtrack for that sweaty car ride to the beach. I have lovely memories of the car full of friends singing and tapping along to anything Little Feat. I think the main thing you want from a ‘summer album’ is to feel coooool and these guys are as cool as can be.
Matilda Abraham – New Balloon
Sydney songstress Matilda is a friend of mine, and a very underrated, amazing artist. Imagine if the Spice Girls made darker, complex, honest, and more relevent music. She released her EP New Balloon in 2016, and it has been on my summer soundtrack favs list ever since. Everytime I hear those ‘Doo Doos’ come in, I imagine driving down a Californian highway in a red convertible with all my gal pals looking cool.
Tune-Yards – Whokill
Maybe it’s because the first time I saw Tune-Yards was at the Sydney festival in the height of summer, or maybe it’s their vibrant lo-fi layers of polyrhythmic fun. Either way I can’t help but think of bright, fun colors and whip out some great dance moves when I hear this experimental pop folk band.
Blink 182 – Enema of the State
Well, we have to get some pop punk in there. I can’t imagine a summer playlist without some Blink. I actually bought this album on my second ever summer holiday abroadon an island called Fuerteventura. I was 11, and just becoming cool. It’s a weird thing to be on holidays with just your parents at this stage in life…I was having an awesome time in the sun but also trying to look like I wasn’t having a good time and keeping a good few meters distance from my parents as much as possible. Thank goodness I had my discman and this album to keep things in perspective.
Torche – Meanderthal
I can’t explain why I get a summer feeling from this sludgy doom pop band. It might be mostly nostalgia or maybe it’s that pop punk feeling amongst the heaviness…those catchy yet totally colossal riffs remind me of getting pumped up for some sort of summertime party or punk show. Especially “Grenades”!
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Gotta have some Beach boys in there! Harmonies harmonies harmonies!! Oh and great melodies, instrumentation and arranging. Who can resist those good time surf summer vibes?
Juana Molina – Wed 21
Juana Molina is one of my heroes! So groovy and dark. It makes me feel uplifted and magical at the same time. The driving hypnotic loops along with the sound of ethereal Spanish lyrics takes me to another place. That place is a twisted, surreal Summer’s day with ominous clouds rolling in over the late sunset.
That’s all for now, folks; many thanks to Bonnie for her delectable list of summer jams! As this is the last episode of the artist-focussed section of The Summer Jam 3: Electric Boogaloo, I think a round of acknowledgements is in order, so here we go: thanks to my wonderful colleagues at the Everything Is Noise editorial for helping me organize this feature once again, to our friends at Art As Catharsis and Blood Music for helping me get bands and artists from their rosters involved, and most of all, to the amazing musicians who kindly agreed to being a part of this experience – you made this year’s run one to remember! Please make sure to follow the people whose lists you enjoyed on their social media platforms, and to check out their bands/projects’ music as well. They deserve all the support they can get!
(Bonniesongs | Irreversible Mechanism | Megaton Leviathan | URSA / Cormorant | Vesper Sails | Lack The Low | Instrumental (adj.) | Turtle Skull | Equipoise / Virulent Depravity | White Ward | Others by No One | White Moth Black Butterfly)
I appreciate everyone’s effort greatly, and I hope that you found some enjoyment in these articles as well. This is not the final episode of this year’s The Summer Jam, though; come back next week for my personal list of the best summer records of 2018. It’s gonna be a doozy, so don’t miss out! See you all then.
