SOCC SONGS AND ALBUMS OF THE SUMMER

Hi!
SoCC is back and better than ever!
Here’s what our writers have been listening to this summer.

“stalemate” by Marjorie W.C. Sinclair

“#^$%&@^$%##???????????????????????????//////////””(*%^%&#*@(@)#($&^%%^#&#######”
– Sadie Almgren

“everything is an eternal circle and it repeats and repeats itself” by La Lune

“This album is a love letter to the shoegaze genre; wailing, droning guitars; noisy backgrounds and muffled vocals. It manages to be traditionally gazey without being derivative.”
– Raine Amory

Vanisher, Horizon Scraper by Quadeca

“We’re gonna look back in 10-20 years and recognize Quadeca as one of the best to ever do it. To have three albums that all could be considered 10/10’s at the ripe age of 24 is honestly insane. Vanisher, Horizon Scraper is the Quad’s newest concept album, following the journey of a lone sailor on a dangerous journey to find meaning in his life after a ruined relationship. This album is many things: It’s haunting (although perhaps not as much as I Didn’t Mean to Haunt You, his effectual debut), it’s beautiful, it’s incredibly layered, both instrumentally and thematically, but never in a way that is too difficult to understand, it’s catchy (Dancing Without Moving and Monday especially). It mixes Quadeca’s signature dense instrumentation and long, emotional concept songs with more streamlined pop songs that make it appeal to a broader audience than ever before. Not to mention that there’s a whole movie soundtracked by the album. Do yourself a favor and watch it.”
– Rowan Webster

“End of the Summer” by Tame Impala

“house is taking over everyone and everything, including tame impala”
– Maddy Golier

Ants From Up There by Black Country, New Road

“this album is so good!!!!!!! oh my god!!!!!!!!!”
– Zoe Gardner

Ibrahim Ferrer (Buena Vista Social Club Presents) by Ibrahim Ferrer

“swag”
– Bradley T Humble

Pomme C by Calogero

“sometimes we discover good songs in the weirdest of places, and from that we discover a killer album. and then we discover that this album is the only kinda french indie eletronic pop sound that the artist has made that you’ve enjoyed. and it’s okay. I mean, you’d like the rest of the discography to be good, but sometimes we just gotta take finding “mélodies en sous-sol”, one of the songs of all time, by pure accident that one time you were making a playlist for a ship. Life’s a give and take.”
– rusty

Out in the Storm by Waxahatchee

“Out in the Storm is Katie Crutchfield’s fourth album as Waxahatchee. The record is raw, tender, and thunderous. It’s Waxahatchee at her most brutally honest. As a longtime fan, the album returned to me this summer as I fell in love with a new, but familiar, city, a girl, and myself again. Katie’s voice glows beside pounding drums and roughly strummed guitar as she delivers some of my favorite lyrics of all time. The album carries the intimacy of Waxahatchee’s bedroom-recorded beginnings, now expanded with her twin sister Alison on keys. While the lyrics sometimes read like a breakup journal, the music refuses self-pity. These songs are fierce and feral, crackling with energy, exhilarating in their defiance. Some of my favorite lines: – “You wanna brand my losing streak. You wanna be the 8 ball.” (8 Ball) – “You work real hard to herd your friends into a gallery. Narcissistic injury disguised as masterpiece.” (Brass Beam) – “I just wanna run yeah I don’t wanna fight. I just want to sing my songs and sleep through the night.” (Brass Beam) – “I woke up brush my hair. There’s not much there.” (>) – “The colors allure me but I can’t make out a face in the picture of palm trees. The summer of love is a photo of us.” (Summer of Love) – “Maybe you got your head caught in a ditch last night.” (Under a Rock)”
– Cate O’Connor

“Terra” by Shebad

“So many different things happening in one song. Ethereal vocals, crazy syncopation from the rhythm section, and to round it out, a section in 22/16.”
– Julia Rydzewski

“Play” by james K

“”
– Owen Samra

“Elderberry Wine” by Wednesday

“feels like home”
– avery ordner

“Dance Yrself Clean” by LCD soundsystem

“a song that builds up like the weight of doing all the things you want to before summer is over to end in a crescendo of everything happening too fast to take a break but you just need to squeeze in the last lake day, and breakfast with friends before summer slips away again.”
– Stella Epstein

“Baby” by Dijon

“So good it makes me feel like I’m levitating”
– Allison Garcia

“But You Caint Use My Phone (Mixtape)” by Erykah Badu

“Released in 2015 by the queen of being simultaneously based, experimental, and effortlessly chic– Erykah Badu mixed a set of sounds that perfectly tickle my brain. I particularly love listening to this while driving, drawing, or writing. All three if I’m feeling wreckless.”
– Emdawg

Sublime by Sublime

“Summertime & the livin’s easy: It doesn’t get much better than Sublime and summer vibes, and while the argument can be made that Sublime’s 1996 self-titled record might not be their piece de resistance, it can most certainly be relied upon to provide high-quality, easy-listening bangers front to back.”
– Eli Lukens

“Yes I’m from SoCal”
– Ezra Iovenko

“Purgatory” by Tyler Childers

“some summers just require country bangers.”
– Liza McDougall

Minecraft – Volume Beta by C418

“This summer, I was in a place that rained a lot. So I stayed inside, listened to this album, and ruminated. Then when it stopped raining, I sat on wet rocks, listened to this album, and ruminated. This school year, I aim to ruminate to this album even when it doesn’t rain, like when it snows or hails.”
– Chloe Jung

“Waiting to Spill” by the Backseat Lovers

“This album got me through the hottest, longest, most boring days of summer. The song viscously lonely has me especially obsessed but the whole album is a gem.”
– John Bragg

Eyelid Movies by Phantogram

“This album feels like the evenings I spent driving through the Glenwood Canyon to get home this summer; a slight sense of angst, danger, and urgency from the wildfires threatening to burn my home and the godforsaken turns and Texas drivers within the narrow canyon walls where you could easily fall to your death, and yet an overwhelming sense of nostalgia and familiarity for a path I’ve driven my whole life as the the smokey haze of a sunset is swallowed into blackness and car headlights dance in the river and canyon walls. (Run on sentence af sorry 🙁 )”
– Kate Lockwood

The Bear Soundtrack, Seasons 1,2,3,4 – Various Artists // Low – David Bowie

The Bear Soundtrack I absolutely LOVE The Bear. Infused with dad rock and 70s folk and soul, the soundtrack is a character itself. A deeply emotional and relationship-plot driven show, the music adds another layer of intensity I love. I listened to the soundtrack when I was commuting to work via ferry and bicycle this summer. My favorite song from the soundtrack is “Let me live in your city” by Paul Simon. Low, David Bowie This summer I learned about and began to love David Bowie. I listened to this amazing podcast from June through August about his life and musical career (Off the Record: David Bowie, iHeart Radio), and I launched a full scale deep-dive into every album. His music was truly the soundtrack of my summer. Despite the disturbing and problematic nature of Bowie’s character, the Thin White Duke, “Low” (1977) is a standout album. My favorite song is “A New Career in a New Town”.
– Grace Gassel