Lazy Summer II
Summer’s here and the time is right, as somebody once said in a song. It’s time for golden light and long balmy nights; it’s time for cruising and lounging; early morning swims and late night assignations; it’s time for sweet music drifting on the jasmine scented air.
And here, in your hands, is the perfect soundtrack for all those magic moments, the promise of adventure, a hint of the exotic, a cosmopolitan collection of beautiful tunes.
Lazy Summer II is my latest distillation of the sound of summer, it’s a super-eclectic selection created from my experiences playing cocktail bars, night clubs and pop-up restaurants in my home town, London; from spinning sunsets and poolside parties in Ibiza; festivals in sunny fields all over Europe; and from making Melodica, my weekly radio show.
This is mellow music with character and attitude, made by artists who are passionate about sound, melody, emotion; who are pushing boundaries, giving everything they’ve got to make something truly exceptional.
But it’s not just about the new. The cutting edge modern of Nicolas Jaar and Scuba is balanced nicely by Balearic classics from Al Stewart and Harpers Bizarre. And there are new takes on classics too, Adem dares to tackle the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows with just a ukelele and his voice, and wins; Hercules and Love Affair drag It’s Alright, Sterling Void’s house classic, (gently) into the twenty first century.
There are some oddities too, Wolfgang Flür from Kraftwerk delivers a fine monologue on Cultural Attaches’ Golden Light and I get to sing on The Normalites’ song for the future, More To Come. Paul Kalkbrenner’s frantic Platscher sits happily next to Letherette’s soulful Cherryade. Steffi’s ultimate Berlin cool brushes up again Sepalcure’s New York atmospherics.
There is electronica, acoustica, mellow techno, post-dubstep and all sorts of other genres that don’t even have names yet. Old, new, delightful, surprising, beautiful; it’s all here and it all makes sense in the sunshine.
- Paul Kalkbrenner – Platscher
- Steffi – You Own My Mind
- Falty DL – Endeavour
- Cultural Attaches – Golden Light
- Harpers Bizarre – Witchi Tai To
- Scuba – Triangulation (Interpretations)
- Nicolas Jaar – I Got A Woman
- Normalites – More To Come
- Worst Friends – Neve’s For None
- Poolside – Do You Believe
- Adem – God Only Knows
- Sepalcure – Fleur
- Letherette – Cherryade
- Hercules & Love Affair – It’s Alright
- Al Stewart – Year Of The Cat