THE SUMMER JAM 4: Jump The Shark – Alarmist

Why hello there! Another year has passed, and thus it is time for another run of our annual summer feature. The Summer Jam 4: Jump The Shark will provide you with some hot tunes and albums over the next weeks, provided by a selected group of bands/musicians.

To kick things off, we have invited Irish post-progressive rock/nu jazz trio Alarmist to share their favorite summer songs and albums with us. Take it away, guys!

Summer for us is not linked particularly to weather, as in Ireland we have two seasons: dark, windy and rainy, and a little brighter with less rain. Therefore, Summer becomes a nostalgic entity; one of escapism, freedom and memories of youthful ignorance. These picks are an amalgam of such. 

We had this on repeat while driving through Belgium recently, it’s a nun who became their biggest pop star in the 60s. It immediately transports you to a Wes Anderson film, which became a bit menacing after a while when we got lost down some country lanes on the French border.

The title says it all here really. Probably one of the most unique-sounding albums of its time, a perfect blend of organic and electronic forming a hazy texture reminiscent of floating through a pollen infested lake.

Memories of sitting in parks and listening to this through a tangle of primitive mp3 players and speakers; a perfect representation of its lo-fi/crispy sampling aesthetic. This album is very progressive in its ‘organic glitch’ work forming pulsing electronics through cut up cellos, banjos and musique contrète-esque field recordings; the perfect soundtrack to a folk-themed summer luncheon.

This is a smooth jazz artist we’ve been obsessed with for a while, unbelievably cheesy but with great arrangements and musicianship. This tune has really literal lyrics about the big city rat race getting you down and wanting to escape to a tropical island, so it’s a perfect pick for the list. It sounds like a mash-up of Sim City and MarioKart soundtracks.

This album became ubiquitous within our group of friends during the Summer of 2007. It has a really consistent ‘sunny vibe’ running throughout created by a delicately crafted balance of intertwining simple guitar patterns and bowed double bass, with distorted riffs and combative percussion. Perfect music to brighten up a rainy barbecue.

Many thanks to Alarmist for providing this delectable list! You can follow the band on Facebook. Their new album Sequesterer will be out on July 19 via Small Pond and Art As Catharsis; you can pre-order it here.