What makes for a solid summer song? It’s an ontological discussion scholars far more astute and nerdy than us have debated since time immemorial, or at least since 1981. And what even defines a song as indie? Yikes that’s a fun one. Honestly though, stop thinking so hard. It’s summer now, and so it is time to get loose, and decide which indie banger to canonize as the representative soundtrack for your summer of looseness and bad decisions. Because it’s important to have a trigger to recall them later in life, in awkward situations, when you least expect it. And maybe that’s what really defines a good summer song: A song capable of bottling up this year’s mood, and then make your kids feel weird when you play it for them in dewy eyed reminiscence years later. Choose it wisely — you’re stuck with it forever. No pressure! Fun forever! Now, let’s do it together. Like a family.
Here’s how it’s gonna work: Name your top candidate(s) in the comments, and once a few prospective contenders have emerged, we’ll make an official shortlist (next week) and vote on it like Obama. It’s democracy in action! A democracy in which Gotye is absolutely exiled.
There will be only one winner, but there are a lot of worthy contenders. To get you started, consider these:
- The Walkmen – “Heaven“
- Azealia Banks – “Jumanji“
- Beach House – “Lazuli“
- El-P – “The Full Retard“
- Icona Pop – “I Love It“
- Animal Collective – “Honeycomb“
- Death Grips – “I’ve Seen Footage“
- Passion Pit – “I’ll Be Alright“
- Japandroids – “The House That Heaven Built“
- Superchunk – “This Summer“
- Tanlines – “All Of Me“
- Twin Shadow – “Five Seconds“
- Yeasayer – “Henrietta“
Does M.I.A.’s “Bad Girls” qualify if it came out in Q1? Maybe, maybe not. Does Usher’s “Climax” qualify because it is so good but also how is that possibly indie? Good point. Although his recent cover of last year’s winner suggests he’s campaigning. Shrewd dude.
Anyway — democracy. Write in your vote. Do it for summer, do it for forever. Let’s go!
POLL: Vote For The Indie Song Of The Summer 2012
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Fuck these songs, Pumped Up Kicks will be the song of every summer forever.
Pretty sure he meant that sarcastically people…
So did people who downvoted me not realize I was joking or was my joke just terrible?
Anywho… from this list “The Full Retard” edges out “The House That Heaven Built” and “I’ve Seen Footage” for me.
A ton of good suggestions below, one I didn’t see was “Make up your Mind” by Here We Go Magic.
you might not be so far off there. according to the popular radio station that my office’s secretary listens to all day every day, pumped up kicks is yet again the song of the summer… for the third year in a row. about 5 spins a day, i’d say. that EDM remix of “somebody that i used to know” ain’t doing too bad, either.
some days, i just don’t know if i can take it anymore.
Answer #1.
I upvoted that shit to help correct the injustice.
Yeah but if my initial comment doesn’t have downvotes then my reply won’t make sense.
Oh well dbr, your heart is in the right place.
Looks like you don’t need to worry about that anyway.
Not sure why the post is getting so much hate; something about it seems to foster the people’s animosity.
:ducks:
I got the joke plb!
I also get the dilemma between El-P & Japandroids. I think you’re just hating on Japandroids band name still ;)
True Story on The Full Retard (cwatididthar) — Was popping the CD out of my friends girlfriends car and she heard literally 5 seconds of The Full Retard and was jamming out to it. So yeah, that song is infectious.
I think the overall consensus is “The House That Heaven Built” and I am PERFECTLY fine with that.
dbr gets me, but raptor jesus gets me the most
Peeps were downvoting you because they totally wanted to make that joke first. : p
(Not that I downvoted you.)
Well now it’s at plus 10, it’s been quite a ride.
Friggin cats… always landing right-side up.
LOATHE THAT SONG AND IN THERAPY CURRENTLY.
ETERNAL SUMMERS “MILLIONS” !!
Baio – Sunburn Modern
“Tell Her” by Dent May. That whole album, really.
yes
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So brave.
Hot Chip – Flutes
AMEN
Or: Hot Chip – “Night and Day”
Or just pick any song from that album
I agree. The Daphni (aka Caribou) remix of Night and Day is amazing, too, but since it’s only available on Beatport right now, it’s unlikely to get the same exposure.
Motion Sickness (love the tuba!) and These Chains are my choice cuts so far.
Well according to the album liner notes, it’s a saxophone. And it makes sense, because that doesn’t sound like a tuba.
or “how do you do”
I like “How Do You Do?” but yeah really any song from this album.
My Hot Chip vote is “Let Me Be Him”.
My favourite track vote would have to be Spiritualized – “So Long You Pretty Thing”.
this guy.
cosign on flutes
I Love It, obviously.
i hate it
“Breezeblocks” by Alt-J
I love that whole album! Hopefully word of mouth recommendations about it does the trick for people to check it out since I don’t think it is being released officially in North America until September.
Album name: An Awesome Wave
I don’t know where to get it here in the States though. I’ve only heard two of the tracks off it. Any suggestions?
The CD is a pricey import from Amazon. If you don’t want to buy, you can at least stream from their soundcloud page for now.
You can listen to the whole album on soundcloud.com and buy the download from fairsharemusic.com
It was on sale when it first came out but it’s now 7.99 British pounds for the digital download through fairsharemusic.com
fairsharemusic
you can find the whole album on Spotify
An Awesome Wave = An Unparalleled Eargasm. :)
Ab-Soul – Mixed Emotions
^ I could hear that being played at cookouts in the hood lol *kanye shrug*
I Love It
To The Lighthouse (Million Young Remix) – Memory House
This is as summer as it gets
It’s also like 3 years old.
“The House That Heaven Built” is truly badass.
“All of Me” by Tanlines is another one I’ve been jamming to a lot this summer.
Gun Has No Trigger – Dirty Projectors
DANCE FOR YOUUUUU
Django Django, random track.
Django Django: Storm live session – the Guardian
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bRR7yo-2UQ&t=1m5s
Japandroids! The sound of reckless abandon
Stay Useless by Cloud Nothings.
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SIDEWAYSVOTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
or even “Wasted Days”
or that whole frickin record!
Death Grips – I’ve seen footage
Icona Pop – I Love It
I guess this came out a couple months ago but shouldnt “The Only Place” by Best Coast be considered?
according to the rules of indie dont we have to wait for the new vampire weekend LP to come out?
Pyramids by Frank Ocean. Easily.
as long as it isn’t that fucking fun. song
major lazer “get free” beats all
grizzly bear – sleeping ute
CITIZENS! reptile
Since “Call Me Maybe” isn’t eligible, I’m gonna go with “The House that Heaven Built”.
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Beach House – “Lazuli“
Massive props to “The Full Retard”, and “Lazuli” is my favorite of these, but if I had to pick one for the summer, I’d choose “The House That Heaven Built”.
Also props to “I’ve Seen Footage”.
Japandroids – “The House that Heaven Built” (or “Continuous Thunder” or anything from Celebration Rock)
El-P – “The Full Retard” (or anything from Cancer 4 Cure)
Killer Mike – “Big Beast” (or anything from R.A.P. Music)
The Menzingers – “Good Things”
Frank Ocean – “Pyramid”
That’s my playlist.
Poolside – “Slow Down”
Japandroids
The Tallest Man on Earth — 1904
That albums not getting enough love. 100% gonna be my soundtrack to this summer (along with Japandroids obviously.)
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You forgot to say “BOOM!”
thank you for understanding me
For what it’s worth, I upvoted you.
superchunk – this summer
Seconded.
M.I.A. Bad Girls or Major Lazer Get Free are my choices, even if they did come out before summer, they are PURE SUMMER
The House That Heaven Built or mayhaps even The Nights of Wine and Roses, which seems more partyish to me.
Neither Mystikal or Galactic are really indie, but what about when they team up? Cuz “Move Fast” is a ridiculously fun summer song.
RIPPED
JEANS
SKIN WAS SHOWIN
HOT
NIGHT
WIND WAS BLOWIN
WHERE YOU THINK YOU’RE GOIN BABY?
honestly thought these were japandroid lyrics
King Tuff – “Keep On Movin”
Or anything off that album. Personal favorite is “Hit and Run”.
Surprised no one has mentioned Best Coast – The Only Place !
Her earlier stuff was better. (No but seriously though. Her songs are so much better covered in a thick layer of fuzzy guitar, not with clean Jon Brion production.)
Her stuff would be better if the lyrics weren’t so similar between songs.. They’re always about the same stuff.
Best Coast – The Only Place alongside Alt-J and the new XX tracks when they make it out.
DIPLO – EXPRESS YOURSELF
Major Lazer – Get Free!
Matthew Dear – Her Fantasy!
Seconded. One of my favorite singles of 2012 so far.
Yep, great song! First time that I actually “love” a Matthew Dear song. I “liked” his previous stuff, like, I thought the guy deserved respect and all, but this single has been on repeat on my ipod for a few weeks now, and I’m not growing tired of it at all.
Icona Pop – I Love It, everything about is brilliant
I don’t care when it came out, Spiritualized’s “So Long You Pretty Thing” is my song of the summer.
of the year… so far
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Good. Now pick one.
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Watch out, bud; Billy Corgan might take a piss on you.
Really…it seems to me you don’t remove your head from your rectum enough.
Japandroid’s House That Heaven Built had my vote the very second I heard it
Something from the Lemonade album. Big Changes?
Tanlines “All of Me”. That whole album oozes summer. Japandroids for all the same reasons be in different ways.
Purity Ring – Obedear
Royal Canoe – Bathtubs
Or less conventionally, Jai Paul – Jasmine
I Love It has summer written all over it. But can we consider John Talabot’s So Will Be Now because it’s the best?
Doe Paoro – Body Games
DOE PAORO
I think I speak for all of us when I say the summer song of 2012 is Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out,” it has been since 1972.
You don’t speak for me, you just make me feel old because it’s been a while now since I’ve been able to get excited about getting out of school for the summer.
Beat Connection – The Palace Garden, 4am
“House That Heaven Built” or “Pyramids”
Origins by Tennis
Lana Del Rey – Summertime Sadness / National Anthem
Koko – Float
Capital Cities – Kangaroo Court
I’d give a thumbs up to Capital Cities-Kangaroo Court, though l still listen to Safe and Sound more often. It was one of my favorite songs of the summer of 2011.
Passion Pit – “I’ll Be Alright“. Of course.
NOPE
Knowing of the downvotes I’ll get, I also choose to second that “NOPE”
a bad song with good parts
I wish this short list included Spiritulized’s, “Hey Jane,” but from this list I’m thinking Tanlines. Any thoughts on the fresh Poolside single?
Either “Hey Jane” or “The House That Heaven Built”.
From the list given, I would say Beach House – Lazuli is my favorite. I could also get on board with anything from the new Hot Chip album
I mainly listen to house and disco in the hot months, here’s a few of my current faves for this summer:
Scuba – July (for obvious reasons)
Chromatics – Birds of Paradise (Amtrac Remix)
John Talabot – Destiny
Joy Orbison – Ellipsis
Lemonade – Big Changes
Little Boots – Headphones (Todd Edwards Remix)
Todd Terje – Inspector Norse
M83 – Reunion (Mylo Remix)
+1, especially the Chromatics and Little Boots remixes.
other current faves on the same wavelength:
Todd Edwards – Echo of the Past
LA Vampires by Octo Octa – His Love
Talabot feat. Pional – So Will Be Now
Moodymann – Pray 4 Love
John Talabot’s fIN is a great summer album from start to finish, had trouble picking a favorite track
That Todd Terje track is SO GOOD.
Todd Terje IS summer.
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes-Man on Fire
-might be the one that bottles up this year’s mood for a lot of people.
Japandroids are deserved winners.
But I suggest Lemonade – “Neptune” be added to this shortlist. That whole album screams swimming pools.
Animal Collective-Honeycomb
My vote is also for The House That Heaven Built, until someone pulls an M83 and releases the best song of the year after this poll ends.
Destiny by John Talabot
When the Past Was Present by John Talabot
is also a good song by John Talabot. fin is a ballin album
The Bee Gees – You Win Again
japandroids. i can’t think of a better way to celebrate summer or losing my shit than with this song
*I can’t think of a better song for a summer Celebration or to Rock the fuck out than with this one.
Cruiser :: Moving to Neptune
good song! and the guy behind it is from phiily. awesome, thanks for the tip.
WALKMEN
TEED – Gargen
van she – jamaica
lemonade – softkiss
beat connection – think/feel\
major lazor – get free
twin shadow – 5 seconds
Softkiss is blissful.
Danny Brown – Grown Up
Something off the Royal Headache album! I’d go with “Psychotic Episode” but I could also see “Honey Joy”, easily, or any number of others.
Great album. “Distant and Vague” has a laid-back summer vibe.
Hot Chip – Motion Sickness
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I can’t stand you.
Japandroids – “The House That Heaven Built“
Beach House – Lazuii or Wishes*
Japandroids – The House That Heaven Built
Lower Dens – Brains
The Walkmen – Heaven**
* Can’t make up my mind on which Beach Howse song to go with; would submit New Year too, but I guess that’s seasonally inappropriate.
**Could go with almost any song off this album. Definitely my album of the summer—so catchy, mellow and just all around likeable and enjoyable. I feel like I’m drinking a good wine at a picnic when I’m listening to it.
For Beach House, my first choice right now would be “Wild,” though “New Year” is really great too!
Oh yeah, Wild’s up there for me too. If summer 2012 had a ringtone, it would be that dum da dum guitar riff in between the lines of the verses.
‘Mind Control’ by Friends
‘Stretching Out’ by Lightships
‘How Do I Know’ by Here we go magic
Kendrick Lamar ft. Dr. Dre – The Recipe
Japandroids – Younger Us
Icona Pop – I Love It
Heaven by the Walkmen
California by Delta Spirit (THIS ONE RIGHT HERE DESERVES TO WIN)
Fuck the Beach by Team Spirit
Tomorrow by Niki & the Dove
Also:
Float by Ko Ko (Second after California)
Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood
Disparate Youth by Santigold?
And if I had to choose something off of Bloom to be song of the summer it would easily be Myth, not Lazuli, even though they’re both wonderful.
Definitely Myth over Lazuli.
“the house that heaven built”
Werewolf
JEFF The Brotherhood – Sixpack
Bear In Heaven – anything from I Love You, It’s Cool
shit makes me want to jump into a sexy pool of melted ice cream and sunbathe…a very sexy pool.
I Love It AND The House That Heaven Built
Every Single Night for sure. I don’t barbecue much.
The Men – “Ex-Dreams”
I don’t even care if it’s life.
IDENTIKIT
**live
Also, stereogum gets mad when you try to correct your comment to quickly:
“You are posting comments too quickly. Slow down.”
**too
My goodness, tonight is not my night.
Has Summer happened yet? Can you chose the songs of Summer before the season has started? I mean, shit, there might end up being ten different songs that actually, ya know, REPRESENT this SUMMER.
*uhum* That being said, I kind of really love that Henrietta song.
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JAPANDROIDS!
Japandroids from that list, although I’d rather see “The Nights of Wine and Roses.” Also would’ve said Passion Pit if it had been “Take A Walk.” And are we just leaving out Fiona Apple and Flaming Lips?
What would you even include by the Flaming Lips…? Heady Fwends was not overly impressive and it didn’t really have any standout tracks.
Druze Bluze – “In the Summer”
The Rapture – “House of Jealous Lovers” It’s 2002, right?
Right, a very good song also
Sorry it’s from 2003
Also:
MIA – Bad Girls (no really, this should be on this list)
Bear in Heaven – Idle Heart
Friends – Friend Crush
Ok, maybe that last one shouldn’t count since it came out last summer, *but* is also on their just-released full length, so…
I’ve Seen Footage is the superior song, but if we’re talking the best song for Summer, then I’m going to have to go with The House That Heaven Built.
haha hi logan
Icona Pop – I Love It
El-P!