Category: Summer 2011 Mixtapes

As summer begins to melt away like a brilliant setting sun, the weather will soon turn more brisk, the leaves on the trees will die a flashy, colorful death and the air will become more crisp.  The first week of September is a seminal time of the year – millions of kids are back in school, adults are back at work, college students are getting to know new roomies, football season is just getting started and baseball playoffs are not far off.

It’s always sad, at least for us, when summer starts to fade. Luckily, in northern California we have great weather that can last into November, but by the time December comes, the days are short, chilly and wet, but it’s better than freezing cold and snow and ice everywhere.

Want more? Check out these summer mixes from 2011 and 2010 – hundreds of more great ‘summer’ songs just like this mix waiting for you to enjoy. You can just click play on the first track in each mix, and just like a radio station – but with no commercials or interruptions – all the songs in the mix will stream one after the other so you can enjoy them as they were meant to be heard.

“Sunrise Sunset” – We Are Trees (2008)

“Summer Chill” – Chapterhouse (1991)

“Rainbow Sign” – Fruit Bats (2003)

“Summer Girl” – Family of the Year (2009)

“Kicked It In The Sun” – Built to Spill (1997)

“Down By The Water” – The Drums

“Gold In The Air of Summer” – Kings of Convenience (2004)

“Until The Sun Dies” (Part 1) – Crystal Antlers (2009)

“Summer (Butcher Two)” – Matt Pond PA (2004)

“Blue Skied An’ Clear” – Slowdive (1994)

“Beyond The Sunrise” – Belle & Sebastian (2000)

“Summer Sun” – Batte (2008)

“Summer Loop” – Folksongs For The Afterlife (2002)

“The Sun” – Melpo Mene (2008)

“The Waves At Night” – Phosphorescent (2007)

“The Sad Sun” – Deer Tick (2010)

“Sun Fills” – Houses (2009)

“Fuzzy Sun” – Jim O’Rourke (1999)

“Sunset Soon Forgotten” – Iron & Wine (2002)

“Sunflower” – Low (2001)

“Sun Dance” – Ezequiel Ezequiel (2010)

“Winter Olympics (Summer Version)” – Afternoon Naps (2009)

“All Summer” – Low Sea (2007)

“Shed Your Summer Shell” – Silohs (2009)

“Trade Winds, White Heat” – Tim Hecker (2003)

“Summertime” – Great Northern (2007)

“The Summer” – Josh Pyke (2008)

“Who Loves The Sun” – The Velvet Underground (1970)

“Summer Seen” – The High Llamas (2006)

“Mogwai and Summer at Shatter Creek” – Mogwai (1999)

That Beautiful Clear-Blue September Day in 2001 Changed The World

Today’s mix also has a duel purpose on this 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on America. For all of us who were witnesses to that horrible day, we seek to find peace and solace in these relaxing, calming, dreamlike tracks, and maybe somewhere in between the words and the notes, between the soothing synthesizer keys and angelic choruses, there are glimpses of love, not hate, of courage, not fear, of happiness, not despair.

Although it should not take a catastrophic event to bring us closer together, Americans of every background, religion and race pulled together in the weeks and months following 9/11; now, with new challenges that test our will, Americans need to re-ignite that sense of team spirit, of looking out for our family, friends, co-workers and neighbors, and fighting for the values that we hold dear while also doing everything possible to thwart such acts in the future, and most importantly, not to let a handful of clandestine plotters and willing mass murderers stop us from pursuing our dreams to make the world a better and safer place for all. Sure, it sounds unrealistically optimistic – and there is no utopia on earth – but what’s wrong with trying to get as close to it as possible.

For many people, Labor Day weekend is the symbolic end of the summer, even though summer doesn’t officially end until the fall equinox on September 23rd. So, that means that we officially have 18 days left to celebrate summer, and that can only mean three things – that we’ll be dropping three more (two after today) summertime mixtapes.

We obviously can’t speak for most people, but we’re not ready to let go of summer just yet. We are also not ready to admit that another summer has gone by way too fast (while not fast enough for folks in the south and mid-west). Here in northern California, and throughout the Pacific Northwest, summer has been evasive for much of the past three months, with the average temperatures coming in below average throughout the region; it’s even been a common topic of conversation and chit-chat in many parts of the western U.S. since June.

For the next three Sundays, in place of the Sunday 25 Mix, we’re going to post three more summer songs mixes for 2011. Our archive of summer-theme tracks dating from the 1950’s to today is stacked with ‘keeper’ tracks, and we will be adding one hundred or so more over the next few weeks.

Since 2009, Indie Rock Cafe has created the largest collection of summertime mixtapes on the web. As time passed by, this mix series has become very popular with folks who have been following IRC for years, plus the thousands of new visitors everyday who are discovering the site for the first time thanks to friends, other blogs and sites, search engines, and social networks like Twitter, Facebook, The Hype Machine, Elbows and so on. Altogether, there are some two dozen summer mixtapes, and more than one million listeners.

So, with that kind of demand, we are happy to provide the supply side by searching the vast music archives for more great summer songs.  If this mix is not enough to satisfy your appetite, the links in this post lead to dozens of more summer mixtapes published in the past few years.

Almost all of songs in all of the mixtapes, even the oldest ones, still work; in fact, we play them in the cafe all of the time because they’re just that good, and are among some of the most popular mixtapes of the hundreds on IRC. The largest collection is the extensive 2010 Summer Songs Mixtapes series.

Today’s summer mix comes out just in time to enjoy it on this Labor Day 2011. By Tuesday, millions of people will be back in the office or in school, and for the vast majority of people, summer will be all but over. Yet, we still have three more (including this one) summer-themed playlists to share with you in the next few weeks – they are today’s mix – which we’re calling “Labor Day 2011 Summer Mix,” next Sunday’s mix “Chill Summer Songs” (Sept. 11th), and the last IRC summer mix of 2011, “The Last Blast of Summer 2011” (Sept. 18th).

This special Labor Day summer mix kicks off with some sweet summerish Fresh Tracks that have only been released since the last two summer mixes (“Summer Songs Mix” and “Heat Hot Summer Songs Mix”), featuring awesome new songs from Turf War, Princeton,  Crystal Antlers, Male Bonding, and Butch Walker and The Black Widows, plus other 2011 summer songs from Josh Rouse, The Lawsuits, The Novel Ideas, Sons & Daughters, She’s Spanish I’m American, and dozens and dozens more.

We’ve also included a block of 80’s and 90’s post punk, alternative rock, pop and new wave summer songs from Pavement, Husker Du, Modest Mouse, Starlet, The Sea Urchins, and Sublime. And of course, there are plenty of stellar indie songs within the Indie Summer Gold section. We hope you enjoy this playlist as much as we have putting it together.

“Summertime Booze” – Turf War from Years of Living Dangerously – out Oct. 18th

“Clamoring For Your Heart” – Princeton from 7-inch single – Aug. 30th

“Tame The Sun” – Male Bonding from Endless Now – Aug. 23rd

“Summer Solstice” – Crystal Antlers from Two-Way Mirror – July 19th

“Summer Lea” – The Lawsuits from Darleen – June 1st

“Summer of 89” – Butch Walker & The Black Widows from The Spade – Aug. 23rd

“Cool Vapors” – Jacuzzi Boys from Glazin’ – Aug. 16th

“The Beach” – Sons & Daughters from Mirror, Mirror – July 12th

More Recent Summer Tracks from Indie, Synth and Rock Artists

“Summer Holiday” – Wild Nothing (2010)

“Island Summer” – Unouomedude (2010)

“Lemonade” – Braids (2010)

“Summer” – The Novel Ideas (2010)

“Summertime in Heaven” – Ghost Animal (2010)

“Brighton Beach” – Little Brazil (2009)

“Swimming” – The Smiles (2010)

“Summer of Hate” – The Crocodiles (2009)

“The Year Without A Summer” – Coltrane Motion (2009)

“Stuck For The Summer” – Two Hours Traffic (2007)

“Summer Shakedown” – Slow Club (2008)

“In The Summertime” – The Rural Alberta Advantage (2008)

“That Summer” – This Blue Heaven (2008)

“Summertime” – Josh Rouse (2006)

“Buenos Aires Beach” – The War On Drugs (2008)

Post Punk, New Wave and Alternative Rock Summer Tracks

“Summer Babe” – Pavement (1994)

“Summershine” – The Sea Urchins (1992)

“Summertime” – Sublime (2001)

“Who Loves The Sun” – Teenage Fanclub (1995)

“Sunspots In The House Of The Late Scapegoat” – Modest Mouse (1997)

“Celebrated Summer” – Husker Du (1985)

“Rain in the Summertime” – The Alarm (1987)

Indie Summer Gold – Grandaddy, Eaves, Starlet, Elf Power, Travis and More

“Summer Here Kids” – Grandaddy (1997)

“Summer Gold” – Eaves (2003)

“When The Sun Falls On My Feet” – Starlet (2002)

“The Sun On His Back” – Camera Obscura (2004)

“Mr. Summer Day” – The Sunshine Fix (2002)

“Midsummer Nights Dreamin'” – Travis (1997)

“Old Tyme Waves” – Elf Power (1999)

“Summer Dreams” – Red House Painters (1995)

“Silly Crimes” – The Tough Alliance (2006)

“Still Can Feel The Heat” – Train Company (2009)

We hope that you enjoy all of the summer mixes as much as we’ve enjoyed putting them together, and as much as we’ve listened to them again and again. There is no other website out there, among the millions, that offers as large, and still active (meaning the MP3s are not expired or taken down), of summer songs mixtapes as you will find on IRC.

Next Sunday, we’re going to publish the “Summer Chill Mix,” as we like to call it, which will contain only chill, mellow, dreamy summer songs, perfect for laying back and relaxing, aimed at washing away the trials and tribulations of modern life, letting for a couple of hours everything else just drift slowly into the background while you immerse yourself in 40 or so mellow summer tracks by bands ranging from Belle and Sebastian and Fruit Bats to Built to Spill and The Raveonettes.

Here are a few advanced tracks to give you idea what the “Summer Chill Mix” will be like.  All of these summer mixtapes are ones that we hope you will want to keep forever, whether you download the tracks, or just bookmark this and other mixes. As with the vast majority of our mixes, they will still be here weeks and months and years from now, and unlike most other older-than-a-month mixtapes on the web, ours will still be working, and ready to stream at anytime. Enjoy.

“Sleep All Summer” – St. Vincent And The National (2009)

“These Long Summer Days” (Josh Rouse) – She’s Spanish, I’m American (2011)

It’s still kind of hard to believe that summer will turn to autumn in the next few weeks. For many kids and teens, the first day of school marks the end of summer.

For adults, Labor Day weekend usually marks the end of summer. Whatever the case, it has gone by way too fast. Remember when you were a kid and summer felt like it lasted forever?

For millions of people, music is as symbolic of summer time as baseball, hot dogs and trips to the beach. No matter your age, music has always been part of the culture of summer – whether it means spinning golden oldies of summers past at a barbecue; sharing new, but lesser-known, summer-theme tracks from obscure artists with others; listening to a radio station countdown of the top 200 songs of all time;  going to a concert or festival with friends.

As you may know, we put out quite a few summer mixes this summer (see below), and currently working on a couple of others, in addition to today’s mix. The future mixes will include one more generic summer songs mix, plus a mellow summer songs mix to symbolize the waning energy of the summer sun.

2011 Summer-Themed Playlist Mixes

• Songs for Summer Mix – Blackbird Blackbird, Brian Wilson, AM Syndicate, Apples in Stereo, Kinks, Beach Fossils
• Best Beach Songs Mixtape – Wavves, The Vaccines, Best Coast, Com Truise, Mazes, Triptides, Film School, Kinks, Radiohead
• Songs For Fourth of July, Vol. I – Songs for 4th of July Mixtape, Vol. I – The Stills, Pavement, The Shins, Elliott Smith, Tragically Hip, Animal Collective, Ray Charles

– Songs For Fourth of July, Vol. II – Paul Simon, Titus Andronicus, Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Iron & Wine, Otis Redding, Sufjan Stevens

“Summer Songs” – Barcelona from Simon Basic (2006)

“Facing The Sun” – Trees Fight for Sunlight from A Collection of Vibrations for Your Skull – Nov. 8th

“It’s Summertime” – Flaming Lips from Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (2002)

“Long Hot Summer” – Jimi Hendrix from The Ultimate Experience (1968)

“Let’s Go to the Beach” – White Wires from WWII (2010)

“You Let Me Down (I Do Not Care for the Summer Sun)” – Sweet Lights for s/t 7″

“Treatment Of The Sun” – The Pass from Burst (2010)

“In The Summertime” – Mungo Jerry from Mungo Jerry (1972)

“Summer Job” – Art Brut from Art Brut vs. Satan (2009)

“Don’t Steal Our Sun” – The Thrills from So Much For The City (2003)

“Sun” – Caribou from Swim (2010)

“Summer House” – Brothertiger from Vision Tunnels (2010)

“Hello Sunshine” – Super Furry Animals from Phantom Power (2003)

“Black Sunbeams” – The Spruce Campbells from Mosques, Museums, and Mausoleums (2010)

“Sunshine” – Keen Shay from Keen (2009)

“Summers” – Loney Dear from Dear John (2009)

“The Sun Always Shines On TV” – Tribeca from Kate-97 (2002)

“Sunburn Kids” – Admiral Radley from I Heart California (2010)

“Holidays In The Sun” – Sex Pistols from Kiss This (1992)

“You Stole The Sun From My Heart” – Manic Street Preachers from Forever Delayed (2002)

“Rainy Day” – APB from Something To Believe In (1985)

“Sunny Day” – Film School from Fission (2010)

“Maximum Sunshine” – Lynnfield Pioneers from Everything Is Nice: The Matador Records 10th Anniversary Anthology (1999)

“Summer Heart” – Blackbird Blackbird from Summer Heart LP (2010)

“Rainbow Silhouette Of The Milky Rain” – Deerhoof from Milk Man (2004)

“Summertime Blues” – Eddie Cochran from Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time (1958)

“Summertime Blues” (Eddie Cochran) –  Joan Jett from Bad Reputation (1988)

“Summersong” – The Decemberists from The Crane’s Wife (2006)

“The Waves At Night” – Phosphorescent from Pride (2007)

“Double Summer” – The Chills from Heavenly Pop Hits: The Best of the Chills (1995)

“Hot Hot Hot” (94′ Goodmen World Carnival Mix) – DJ Arrow from DJ Companion Vol.02 (1990)

“Summer Cum” – Avi Buffalo from Avi Buffalo (2010)

“All Summer” – Kid Cudi, Best Coast and Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend from 7″ inch (2010)

“Summer” – The Church from Forget Yourself (2003)

“Christmas All Summer Long” – Deertick from Holy S**t It’s Christmas (2009)

“I Don’t Need No Steam Heat” – John Lee Hooker from Endless Boogie (1974)

“Summer On The Westhill” – Kings of Convenience from Quiet Is The New Loud (2001)

“Here Comes The Sun” – Wise Blood from + (2010)

Last summer, we compiled and published a massive summer songs mixtape series that still generates a bunch of traffic every month.

(Originally posted in July 2011) It’s almost hard to believe that it is summer here in northern California and the Pacific Northwest, because it has been unusually cool, and even rained (the latter which almost never happens in the Bay Area during summer). One of the best things about summer is taking trips to the beach. We’re grateful to be only a few feet from the beach, so putting together summertime, beach-themed playlist mixes is almost a requirement.

You can stream the entire playlist below simply by clicking on the first song. Not only to we obviously enjoy listening to the mixes over and over again, but the best part of it all is sharing them with people across the U.S. and around the world. Some of you will hear songs, and artists, for the first time that you really enjoy, others will be reminded of songs they always liked but haven’t heard for a long time, and even more will experience a combination of the two.

This latest mix in the Best Summer Songs series includes 35 exclusively indie and alt. rock songs that we think exemplify summer in one or more ways. This mix is mostly indie and alternative rock oriented, but also features classic rock songs for summer as well.

Please feel free to Comment – you’re comment will be accessible to tens, even hundreds, of thousands of people. Let everyone know your favorite track(s) from this particular mix. As some of you know, we occasionally pick the author of a comment (usually when they have a keen observation about a particular song) to win a free and legal album download, a vinyl album, gift certificate or card, sometimes even concert and festival tickets.

“Super Soaker” – Wavves from King of the Beach (2010)

“Oceans” – The Format from Dog Problems (2006)

“Wetsuit” – The Vaccines from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? (2011)

“Beach Comber” – Real Estate from Real Estate (2009)

“When The Sun Don’t Shine” – Best Coast from Hope Is Just a Walking Dream (2010)

“Beach Party” – Air France from No Way Down (2008)

“Ocean City” – Kurt Vile from Square Shells (2010)

“Sunburn” – Beat Connection from Surf Noir EP (2010)

“Blue Sunshine” – Blue Giant from Blue Giant (2010)

“Sundriped” – Com Truise from Cyanide Sisters EP (2010)

“Sunshine/Pretty Girls” – Unnatural Helpers from Unnatural Sampler (2010)

“Surf and Turf/Maths Tag” – Mazes from A Thousand Keys (2008)

“Shadows” – Triptides from Tropical Dreams (2011)

“Light and Day – Reach For The Sun” – The Polyphonic Spree from The Beginning Stages (2002)

“Sunny Day” – Film School from Fission (2010)

“At The Beach” – The Avett Brothers from Mignonette (2004)

“Buenos Aires Beach” – The War on Drugs from Barrel of Batteries EP (2008)

“Forget Me Not” – Glass Vaults from Glass EP (2010)

“Summer Hits Or J Plus J Don’t Like” – Mazes from A Thousand Keys (2011)

“Golden Girl” – Therapies Son from Over The Sea (2011)

“RE: Chillwaves” – John Blaze from Introductions EP (2010)

“Waves” – The Elected from Me First (2004)

“The Secret Ocean” – Of Montreal from The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower (1998)

“Blood The Sun And Water” – Born Ruffians from Say It (2010)

“The Sun On His Back” – Camera Obscura from Biggest Blues Hi Fi (2004)

“Sunset Junction” – Work Drugs from Work Drugs (2010)

“Definitely Beachy (Reprise)” – Air Miami from Me Me Me (1995)

“Pictures in the Sand” – The Kinks from Great Lost Kinks Albums (1971)

“Don’t Look Back Into The Sun” – The Libertines from The New Breed (2003)

“Burn The Beach” – Leisure Birds from That Time of the Month (2010)

“Brighton Beach” – Little Brazil from SXSW Sampler (2010)

“Keepin On” – Turbo Fruits from Keepin On 7 (2010)

“On The Beach (Neil Young)” – Radiohead

“Our Scenery” – Gauntlet Hair from I Was Thinking (2010)

“Beach & Friends (Hey Champ Remix) – French Horn Rebellion Vs Database

Summer hit parts of the country from the west to the east early this year. In fact, we are reminded of how many people have said recently that it seems to get hotter earlier each year. And the scientific facts support these observations. But who really cares any more? When the economy was humming along in the late 1990’s, and the first half of the last decade, Al Gore and his slide shows on global warming were hot items. But nowadays, with a world economy still flirting with disaster and an uncertain future, concern over global warming has cooled down considerably.

That said, if we’re all going to burn up, we might as well do it listening to some hot ( and rarely heard) songs about summer. Over the past few years, we have put together and published dozens of the most accessed and popular summer songs playlist mixes on the web, featuring hundreds of great tracks that you can stream all day long, download and Tweet, Share, Digg, Stumble and blog so that even more people can enjoy these playlists.

Another summer has arrived in a few blinks of an eye, and that means it’s time to post even more mixes of summer-themed, even ‘summer-sounding,’ songs to share with the world. We will reveal later in the week which of the songs in this mix were listened to, and downloaded, the most.

“Sunspray” – Blackbird Blackbird from Summer Heart (2010)

“Trampolines” – Yourself and The Air from Who’s Who In The Zoo (2011)

“Summer Of Love” – The Fresh & Onlys from Play It Strange (2010)

“Clinton Eastwood” – Gorillaz

“Summer Girl” – White Wires from WWII (2010)

“Celebrate Summer” – T. Rex from Greatest Hits (1986)

“Sunshine” – Brian Wilson from Imagination (1998)

“The Rainbow” – The Apples In Stereo from The Discovery Of A World Inside The Moone (2000)

“All The People Under The Sun” – AM Syndicate from Liberation (2007)

“The Other Summer” – MiniBoone from MiniBoone (2011)

“Rainbow, Puddle, Children” – American Green from Roof To Roof EP (2009)

“Lazy Day” – Beach Fossils from Beach Fossils (2010)

“Coppertone” – Hellogoodbye from Would It Kill You (2010)

“Golden Girl” – Therapies Son from Over The Sea (2011)

“All Summer” – Kid Cudi, Best Coast and Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend (2011)

“Summer Showers” – Brown Recluse Evening from Tapestry (2011)

“Sink or Swim” – John LaMonica from Lujo 2011 Sampler (2011)

“Rainy Day In June” – The Kinks from Face To Face (1966)

“Summer Hits Or J Plus J Don’t Like” – Mazes from A Thousand Heys (2011)

“It Always Rains On A Picnic” – Modest Mouse from Sad Sappy Sucker (2001)

“Sunshine Baby” – Reamonn from Beautiful Sky (2003)

“Vacation Vacation” – U.S. Royalty from Mirrors (2011)

“Dream Home” – Unouomedude from Marsh (2010)

“Touched By A Cloud” – Alberto Arcangeli from Dreamsongs (2009)

“English Summer Rain” – Placebo from Once More With Feeling (2004)

“Swimming” – The Smiles from Hermosa (2010)

“Sunshine Delay” – Barcelona from Simon Basic (1999)