Column: Songs to compliment summer

The past few weeks have been filled with rain.

As I write this column, it is raining and I am unmotivated beyond belief. The only thing keeping me going is the fact that in a week I will be done with this semester. Done with the stress and multi-tasking that have become my life. And without all the stress, I will be able to focus on what really matters in life: good music.

How I long for the days when I will be able to sit and bask in the glory of some of my favorite albums like The Beatles’ “Rubber Soul” or Bon Iver’s “For Emma, Forever Ago” and discover new music to fall in love with.

There will be summer concerts, new CD releases and plenty of time to catch up on reading about music via the interwebs.

Just thinking about all this quality music has forced me to procrastinate even further and look ahead to a summer’s worth of new CDs.

So without further ado, here are some CDs to look forward to this summer.
Hip-hop fans can watch out for Kanye West’s new album with Jay-Z titled “Watch the Throne,” Beastie Boys’ “Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2,” and Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter IV.” All three albums have received positive press thus far.

Personally, I am excited to see what West will do as a follow-up to his huge album last year, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” But regardless of what he ends up doing, I am sure we will all hear about it.

In terms of the indie scene, there are a lot of new and old bands that sites like Pitchfork have been raving about.

This summer’s best and brightest new indie release will probably be Fleet Foxes’ new album “Helplessness Blues.” It’s an album that promises to stay consistent with their mellow, chillaxed sound.

Yet it seems that it will be paying more homage to rock influences. Think more bluesy and ballady than their first album, yet still very much true to their original sound.

“Helplessness Blues” promises to be the perfect music to write papers to or use as a background CD for studying for finals or just chilling this summer.

Another great CD perfect for rainy days is Radiohead’s “The King of Limbs,” which will finally be released in CD format this June. For a first listen, I recommend “Lotus Flower” or “Give Up the Ghost,” but all of the tracks are pretty consistent with Thom Yorke’s signature sound of post-modern lyrics and backing music.

Some other bands releasing great new CDs include: Death Cab for Cutie, Okkervil River, Architecture in Helsinki, My Morning Jacket, Arctic Monkeys, tUnE-YarDs, Explosions in the Sky and Gorillaz. All of these CDs seem to be very promising, but only time will tell whether they can live up to all the hype.

Whether you spend your time jamming out to fratmusic.com or set Pitchfork as your homepage, I encourage you to spend the time exploring all this summer’s music has to offer.

Though listening to Mumford and Sons or the Black Keys for another year may seem like the best option, I assure you there are a lot of other great artists out there just waiting for you to listen.