Summer music

I'm preparing a series of big ol' posts with my pictures from my trip to Ireland, so in the meantime, here's some of my favorite music from the past couple of months. I realized that I'm almost constantly listening to music and I tend to associate certain songs with certain seasons and feelings. I can't really explain why some music is "summer music," but something about it just seems to fit my summer mindset.

So here, in no real order, is my favorite summer music (some of it new, and some of it... not so new):

1) I am in LOVE with Neko Case's latest album, Middle Cyclone. The first track, "This Tornado Loves You," has absolutely beautiful imagery and makes me thing of long summer drives through rural Iowa. And her voice is amazingly clear.



2) Lady Gaga is my ultimate guilty pleasure this summer. Sure, she's completely ridiculous, but her music is so damn catchy. Her hits like "Poker Face" and "Just Dance" are pretty awesome, but the rest of the album is just as good.



3) I looooove Andrew Bird, and Armchair Apocrypha is my favorite album of his. His music is so complex but still soothing, and it's amazing to see him perform live. My favorite song from the album is "Dark Matter," but "Scythian Empires" is a close runner-up.



4) Regina Spektor has a new album out, and I'm counting off the days until it arrives from Amazon. In the meantime, I'll be listening to "Fidelity" on repeat. I love her quirkier stuff, but "Fidelity" is outstandingly simple and lovely.



5) I think there's a contract somewhere that all college students have to sign that requires them to get really into Sufjan Stevens for a few years. But god help me, I love "Chicago."



6) I discovered Lisa Hannigan when she played "I Don't Know" on the Colbert Report, and I bought her album almost immediately. I love the story this song tells about meeting someone and not knowing anything about them, but wanting to take a chance anyway. (If you like this song, check out "An Ocean and A Rock." It's got the cutest imagery ever.)



7) Sleater-Kinney is my favorite band ever, and The Woods is an excellent "darker" summer album. I love Carrie and Corin's voices on "Entertain," and it always brings me back to seeing them at Lollapalooza right before they broke up.



8) I only really started listening to Ben Folds after I got to college, and I associate Rockin' the Suburbs really strongly with the beginning of the school year at Grinnell and the last few hot weeks of summer that overlap with the beginning of classes.



9) Again, I associate Jack's Manniquin with going to Grinnell and making new friends (including Allison, whose love of Something Corporate rubbed off on me).



10) I usually consider Counting Crows a "winter band," but "Accidentally in Love" is so damn happy that I consider it a perfect summer song. It's about love! And animated anthropomorphic rabbits! And kitchen failure!