Music Molly

music for hangouts and hamburgers (megamix 19)

First thing's first, get into some I Enjoy Music Videos if you dare...cool stuff on there from bands like Dagwood and Hotel Decor...

we're gonna build something this summer

I am sayin that summer 2026 is going to be the best summer ever. I say this because I have to, I say this every summer. I say it like a prayer—not a manifestation, I do not manifest, manifesting is not 'in my stack.' If I say it it will be true. The thing about having the best summer ever is that even one perfect summer minute is all you need to feel like the summer as a whole is going well.

I have had summers that were "bad" and even they were good, in their own way. Summer 2006, for example. I was underemployed, just one hostess shift at the diner a week. I lovesick for no one in particular. I had no license, only a learner's permit. The only creative outlet I had was snipping all my magazines to shreds and making collages. (The lamp on my bedside table at my parent's house is still shellacked with bits hacked from NYLON and Elle Girl.) But I spent the whole summer watching MTV Hits, a premium channel that our cable package had suddenly decided to include gratis, and so my memory of 2006 is now oddly positive—my aching brain was washed clean by the constant barrage of "Buttons" by the Pussycat Dolls and "Me and U" by Cassie, and now I miss having so little to do that I could just sit on the couch and get blasted with images of women flipping their hair and gyrating their butts.

I have already achieved summer ecstasy a couple of times already this year—at the local public pool where they blast 94.7 FM, The Wave, so I got to sizzle at a level of UV 8 while Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" played, and then I blasted Len's "Steal My Sunshine" on the way home, and then I drank a beer. I also ate a cheeseburger that was pretty good, considering the burgermeat had been in the freezer perhaps longer than appropriate, and we listened to all of Sublime's Sublime, a perfect summer opener if there ever was one. Plentiful burger toppings have their time and place but a backyard burger with nothing but cheese, ketchup and pickles...nothing can beat it.

just checked and The Wave used to be a smooth jazz station, now it's "urban adult contemporary"

F. Scott Fitzgerald nailed the mood of summer when he had Daisy Buchanan complaining that she always misses the longest day of the year, that she wishes she could throw a party for it, but oops, it's already too late. That's summer, it slips through your fingers before you realize it, that's the whole point. This year, ablaze with purpose, I put "listen to 'Constructive Summer'" in my digital calendar. We're gonna build something this summer, Craig Finn yells, and I guess that ends up being true even if by "build something" he means "get drunk and cry about Joe Strummer." The load-bearing part of We're gonna build something this summer is the word gonna. Making plans, looking toward the near future.

Summer is truly the time where playlists shine, because it feels too fussy and effortful to actively DJ when you should be doing things like eating burger, eating hot dog, sitting in sun, walking around in sun, and especially swimming in pool (hands too wet to DJ). Adam Offitzer of Hear Hear curated some great summer playlists, including YES GODDD summer boptacular by Matthew Perpetua ("fun new uptempo songs") and fuchsia by Carly Bogie aka hahakcoolgtgbye ("electric feminine dreamy indie pop"). I'll throw in Shallow FM, the playlist that Shallowhalo used to recreate her Substack Live DJ set: "dreamy dance music, synth pop, art pop & electronic treasures." It changes regularly, so keep an eye on it and hold on loosely but don't let go.

This summer I am remembering the life philosophy of the artist/creative director Arjun Ram Srivatsa: "I truly believe we're only put on this earth to hang out." This summer I just want to hang out, listen to music, chat, eat burger, drink One IPA (and plenty of water of course). If I forget that that is my goal, please remind me.

i never regret going to the gig

A couple weekends ago I had a free Saturday night and did something I should do more—search the calendars of the music venues near where I live and see if any shows jumped out at me. And there was an album release show at Zebulon for experimental jazz sextet You, Me, + the Whales, and it was free. Oh hell yeah, I could take the bus to that—and I did.

I was fried from a long week of tending to the baby (right now I keep giving her these elaborately chopped-up meals to try to get a slightly longer session in the high chair, sort of like enrichment puzzles for pets, but she's taken to grabbing everything in her fist and shoving it into her mouth in about 90 seconds...yes, that's my baby) so I only stayed for the opener...but what an opener. Two Point! An L.A.-based duo of Sharada Shashidhar and Caleb Buchanan, they play lowkey/chill, somewhat ambient but also slightly zestier than ambient, electronic music. Shashidhar's vocals were unbelievable, some legendary runs all up n down the scale with an elegant touch of reverb blurring their journey. Buchanan provided plenty of calm vocal harmonies and lots of melodic bass noodling.

I bought one of their CDs for their improvised album, limited edish with handmade album art, and am spinning it currently. It is wavy, wiggly, a little weird, and quite stirring in a subtle way. Oh, also: on the bus ride home from the show, there was a guy behind me playing music loudly from his phone. Normally this would irk me, but I couldn't deny his choices: "Kiss From A Rose" by Seal, into "It's Been A While" by Staind. He sang softly along to that one, and I pondered the melodic/rhythmic power of the start of the verses: ...s'beenawhile.

I listened to music because I saw people saying it was good

A wee bit o' Eavesdropping...

I listened to an unusual amount of old Linkin Park after discussing them with I Enjoy Music graphic designer Wagner Koop (I'm re-watching Breaking Bad right now and Breaking Bad feels very Linkin Park to me, very Baja Blast). I listened to Bridge's Book Club Radio set after seeing it popping off bigtime on Reels, a mini masterclass on the trajectory of house music, never heard the Dimitri From Paris remix of Chic's "Le Freak" before and it's as chic as, well, Chic. I listened to some songs from the New Alt 40 chart which is something I've never tried before, like Smerz's "Spring summer," which someone should try to mix into Charli XCX's SS26, for thematic coherence. I listened to the amigo Nick Thorburn's new band The Creem (he guested on And Intro a while back and was very funny about things like old indie rock beefs)—on the last megamix I republished a shout out to '70s butt glam, and I feel like The Creem is also a wonderful flavor of butt glam? Reeeeally good band logo too.

I listened to "Don't Delete The Kisses" by Wolf Alice because it was playing in my physical therapist's waiting room, thought it was fairly elevated medical music. I listened to a face-blasting banger, "FREAK is WILD" by Shygirl and skuzland, because it autoplayed on Apple Music while I was driving home from a relatively late screening of The Mandalorian and Grogu where I stuffed a bunch of AMC pretzel bite into my face all at once, and I was all, what is thisss?? And I listened to "لازم الشمس" ("Clinging to the sun") by nabeel (نبيل) because my friend sent me an IG post about it, and if someone says "check out this Iraqi shoegaze," I will do that. And lastly I listened to "Bandages" by Hot Hot Heat twice in two days—it popped up in this retro iPod TikTok, and the next day I heard it play on 88.5FM - the SoCal Sound. Legendary tune. Why don't people sing like Steve Bays anymore? We need more yelping.