Until very recently, one of the few things I knew about my sometimes-boss Gary was that he really liked Slayer.

So when he recently told me that he was starting a club night, I had my apprehensions. Was he going to try to make a metal club night? What would that even sound like? This night is advertised as "Italo-Synthpop-Funk + Other". The first three sounded great, but what would constitute "other"? Slayer??

Well, It turns out that I was very wrong. Gary has spectacular taste in music, as his promo mix shows:

Osmium Mix July 2011 by I_Fear_Satan on Mixcloud

Tonight's the first one, but a bunch of my friends are back for their graduation this weekend, so I don't think I'm going. But you best believe I am coming to the next one...

what the hell is 'chillwave' ?

I have no idea. I keep hearing (about) it. It sounds like some sort of new hipster thing that we'll look back on and laugh & laugh. Remember emocore or whatever that was? Thursday and Taking Back Sunday and stuff? That was hipster music before there were hipsters, right? (how appropriate.)

BUT WHATEVER TODAY WE'RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT CHILLWAVE. I have three mixes for you, which I did not make but rather gratuitously lifted from Perfect|Midnight|World. I think these generally fall under the category of "chillwave" though.

I'm going to need you to suspend your hipster disbelief for approximately 3 hours, as I think i have accidentally found the perfect trifecta of summertime soundtracks: one for when it is too hot to move, one for late-night rides, and one for quietly putting on while having friends over. I've been writing and listening to them a lot, too. I think these might actually just be perfect anytime playlists, really...

1. Cloudy Busey - Broken By Inertia
2. Warm Speakers - Waves
3. Summer Heart - Simple Minds
4. Teen Daze - Let’s Fall Asleep Together
5. Art Imperial - The Inbetweener
6. Seapony - Dreaming
7. Cheerleader - New Daze
8. Saskatchewan - Dreamboat
9. All Tiny Creatures - Holography
10. Beach Fossils - Plastic Flowers
11. Women - Bullfight
12. Guards - Swimming After Dark
13. Ham1 - Ghost Loop
14. Dirty Gold - California Sunrise
15. Eddie the Wheel - Nearsayerfive
16. Kids on a Crime Spree - Sweet Tooth
17. Real Estate - Younger than Yesterday
18. We Are Trees - Teenage Heartbreak
19. Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr - If It Wasn’t You
20. Still Corners - Endless Summer
21. Banjo or Freakout - Go Ahead

download DREAMING IN SHADE here.

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1. Soccer Legends - Leeroy
2. Chad Valley - Acker Bilk
3. Active Child - Playing House (Ft. How To Dress Well)
4. Washed Out - Eyes Be Closed
5. Pulsprogramming - Island Answer Anywhere
6. Dead Gaze - Take Me Home or I Die Alone
7. All Tiny Creatures - Breathing Set
8. K.C. Accidental - Ruined in ‘84
9. Teen Daze - Watch Over Me
10. Atlas Sound - Quick Canal
11. John Maus - Hey Moon
12. Porcelain Raft - Come Closer
13. Film School - Sick of the Shame
14. Zaza - Don’t Bleed Me
15. Arrange - Golden Neighborhoods
16. Stumbleine - Wasted Summer
17. Trouble Books & Mark McGuire - Floating Through Summer
18. Asche and Spencer - Under the Stars
19. Neighbors - Bad Timing
20. Zola Jesus - Run Me Out (Acoustic)

download BENEATH SUMMER STARS here.

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1. Ducktails - Sitting
2. Girls Names - I Could Die
3. Teen Daze - Cliff Jump Love Song
4. Beach Fossils - Face It
5. Flake Music - Deluca
6. Grandaddy - Summer Here Kids
7. Real Estate - Out of Tune
8. Dream Cop - Beach City / Carol I Know
9. Thee Oh Sees - Corrupted Coffin
10. Tyler Jon Tyler - Seperate Issue
11. Dom - I Wonder
12. Atlas Sound - Day Out
13. Pavement - Grounded (Alt. Version)
14. Cloud Nothings - Forget You All the Time
15. Black Tambourine - By Tomorrow
16. Surfer Blood - Catholic Pagans
17. Yuck - Stutter
18. Pinback - Tripoli
19. Youth Lagoon - July
20. Dead Meadow - I’m Gone

download WARM WEATHER GHOSTS here.

You are welcome.

And I can still hear my old hound dog barkin, chasin down a hoodoo there

What would summer be without some CCR? I know for me it would be a pretty bland and quiet one, and who wants that? I adore Creedence, they are definitely one of my favorite bands of all time. When I was in high school, I went through a vinyl phase after rescuing my mom's old record player from certain doom in a box in the basement. Then my grandparents donated their old records to me, so I was good to go. My number one favorite record out of the whole collection...a slightly ragged but still rockin copy of Cosmo's Factory. I would recommend this album to a new listener, but while you're here you might as well check out this amazing compilation I've made of great CCR jams. I burned this mix to a CD in high school and I've still got it on consistent rotation, most specifically in the car for highway driving. This thing's been road-tested, and the Dude abides, hold on to those CCR tapes.

EDIT 7/7/11: I changed the link above of Cosmo's Factory from the Amazon.com CD purchase page to their downloadable option, which is only $6.99! It's worth it.