Rhythm of the News

Whether you’re starting an internship, in summer school classes or working, there is no denying that summer is in the air. With a summer in Bloomington come many days and nights relaxing on friends’ porches, hiking around Brown County and lounging around the house. For me, summer means picking the music that best compliments the atmosphere of summer breezes and fresh fruit. Based on recent news and upcoming festivals, I have compiled a list of albums fit for a perfect summer day.

“Brown Sugar” — D’Angelo
News — D’Angelo, one of the most prominent R&B singers of the 1990s, will play a show in America for the first time since 2000. He played his first show anywhere since 2000 in Stockholm earlier this year, which launched his European tour. The return of D’Angelo’s sultry voice to the stage is an exciting turn of events for 2012. To celebrate this feat, listen to “Brown Sugar” while relaxing on the porch on a quiet night.

“Bitte Orca” — Dirty Projectors
Festival Lookout — Dirty Projectors will play at Pitchfork Music Festival in July. With complex harmonies and guitar riffs that make your head cock to the side, Dirty Projectors form a strange and beautiful band. When the windows are rolled down and the wind is cooling you down, the Dirty Projectors seem like the only appropriate band to listen to.

“Paul’s Boutique” — Beastie Boys
News — Last week Adam Yauch, aka MCA, of the Beastie Boys passed away after a three-year battle with cancer. Yauch was a member of one of the most influential hip-hop groups of all time, as well as a philanthropist and filmmaker. In remembrance of MCA, take a listen to “Paul’s Boutique” this summer.

“Rodrigo y Gabriela” — Rodrigo y Gabriela
Festival Lookout — Rodrigo y Gabriela are two guitarists whose fast, rhythmic Latin acoustic guitar music will be featured at Bonnaroo this summer. There, they will play with a larger brass band, C.U.B.A., which was featured on the duo’s latest album. Their music’s Latin flare perfectly aligns with a day of hanging out with friends, grilling or just lying outside to soak up the sun.

Other great summer albums include:
“Shallow Graves” — Tallest Man On Earth
“The ArchAndroid” — Janelle Monae
“People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm” — A Tribe Called Quest

Whether the soundtrack of your summer includes any of the albums above, I hope you are as surrounded by music as you are the sun, friends and a good porch.

— bafinkel@indiana.edu