The Real Music of the Summer of 2012, Part 1

By Chuck Norton On June 27, 2012

Dent May is making some of my favorite Summer ’12 music

Editor’s Note: For the complete series, read Part 2

The Real Music of the Summer of 2012, Part 1
June 27, 2012
by Chuck Norton

Every year, around the beginning of July, the Summer really sets-in here in the Deep South. The daytime temperatures seem to reside around 95 and there’s nary a breeze or shower in sight.

When I was a kid, I was outside all the time. For years, I announced my love for temperatures in the 90′s as if I was taunting the Devil to his face. If it hit 100? It was a challenge, not a heatwave.

Even through my college years, I loved the sizzle of the Summer heat. Although most of my day was inside, there was a lot of coming-and-going that kept me radiating and tanning without really trying. But something happened about 15 years ago. Maybe it was the shift to being inside all the time or the stress from working an office job. Maybe it was my body revolting for the years of torture. Maybe I got smart enough to know better that 72>92.

I have memories of the warm Summer nights laying in bed listening to the radio quietly so no one else would hear. Those lead to the fond memories of having disposable income from Summer jobs that allowed me to buy and listen to a copious amount of music.

As an adult (at least by age), I have half-cocked-grin memories of deejaying late into the night – in the heat and humidity – acting like an idiot while screaming lyrics to the songs I was playing into the steaming throngs of people whose bodies packed the dance-floor.

Yeah, those were all really good times. Each of them different; none more important than another. One thing is certain, as long as I’ve loved music, I have had fond memories of Summer-time music.

What about 2012? What is the music that is helping you make memories of this Summer?

I asked friends, writers and the general public at large to share the artists that they were listening to while staying in – or out – of the heat. The response was so overwhelming that this will turn into a series of articles.

Below is a list of what they provided as the music that is their soundtrack to the Summer 2012:

Jeff Smack, friend and designer of the original DeadJournalist logo, put together this playlist of songs he’s into these days:

@MattJarrard: Joe Pug, Father John Misty, new Hope For Agoldensummer, First Aid Kit, Joe Pug, Father John Misty, Hope For Agoldensummer, First Aid Kit.

@thomaswheatley: Italo Disco

@bearetc: Probably just listen to the debut from DIIV all summer. Nothing else.

@changingmyplea: Spending warm summer days indoors dancing my legs down to the knees to Morrissey and Smiths. Oh, and Dent May too.

@AthMusicJunkie: R.E.M.’s Reveal. The ultimate summer album from Athens.

@abba_ks: Not much new stuff rt now: Local Natives, Fools Gold. Just DL’d the new Walkmen. Looking fwd to new Cat Power.

@MatthewHLeach: Japandroids is the one thing I really can’t stop listening to.

@sbolen: Based on “The Gun Has No Trigger,” I’m having a hard time waiting for the new Dirty Projectors album to finally drop.

@eagleeyebooks: Beach House Bloom. Can’t stop listening!

@TLanceB: Dead Sara and Sleigh Bells. Great records that bring a lot to the table. Neko Case, Lacuna Coil, The Shins, Neon Trees, Jack White, The Dead Weather, The Dandy Warhols, Silversun Pickups

@TRICIL: The forgotten genre of hard electronic music called drum n bass: http://open.spotify.com/user/tricil/playlist/63eHRw8ih66tuQveGhHdDj

‏@CardJunk: Deadmau5, Daft Punk, Tobacco, BMSR, Boards of Canada, Com Truise, Tycho, Calvin Harris, M83, Makoto, Bukem & Conrad; Also a ton of My Little Pony EDM remixes. A lot of it is pretty good and my kids love it

@_sick_girl: Balance and Composure Separation, French Kicks Swimming, Doe Paoro Slow To Love, Foals antidote, The White Buffalo Once Upon a Time In the West, Beach House Bloom, Sharks No Gods

Meg Scheid Evans from Facebook: Secret Colours, BJM, BRMC, the Stone Roses. Love all this type of music.