Ultimate Sunny Day Music: Echo & the Bunnymen - "Stormy Weather"

I had two paragraphs drafted about Echo & the Bunnymen's "Stormy Weather," but I couldn't fully articulate myself. I'll just say no song has made me this happy in at least a year. The ultimate sunny day song:

Sunny-Day Music: Apostle of Hustle and Arcade Fire Edition

These two songs always remind me of driving to the Cape George Lighthouse on a sunny day back in Antigonish:

Sunny-Day Music: Dead Heart Bloom Edition

I wish I'd written about Dead Heart Bloom sooner. At least a couple of years ago, they had their entire discography up for free download on their website. Very underrated - great mellow acoustic driving music.

Sunny-Day Music: Akron/Family Edition

I feel like I should be floating on a small raft in the middle of an ocean, a few gulls gliding overhead, waters calm, skies blue and sun blinding.

Sunny-Day Music/Those Memories: AIR Edition

With colder mornings and cooler nights lately, summer seems to be winding down, though there's no shortage of sun or afternoon-to evening heat. Thus, I continue to share sunny-day music.

This edition of "Sunny-Day Music" features the song "Ce Matin Là" by French electronic pop duo AIR. I've been a fan of AIR since they released their debut album Moon Safari (which contains "Ce Matin Là") in 1998. Okay, so I only knew their singles "Sexy Boy" and "Kelly Watch the Stars" back then, but I have vivid memories of watching the videos for both songs on MuchMusic when I was ten-years-old and loving them every time they came on.



Fast forward to 2011, long after I'd read Jeffrey Eugenides' much-acclaimed debut novel The Virgin Suicides (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1993) and watched Sophia Coppola's 1999 film adaptation several times each. I can no longer listen to "Ce Matin Là" without imagining the scene in which the neighbourhood boys are reading the diary of deceased thirteen-year-old Cecilia Lisbon, the youngest of the five Lisbon sisters. Cecilia narrates the entry which is brought to life in a fantastical montage of her sisters (including Lux Lisbon, played by a seventeen-year-old Kirsten Dunst) dancing, playing and sitting in a field and amongst flowers, swinging on a swing and twirling sparklers with everything basked in a soothing sepia. Everything about the scene is perfect, from the delicate cross-fades to the selective slow-motion, down to the way the camera catches the light. All the while, "Ce Matin Là" playfully shimmers, creating an ethereal ambience.

Listening to "Ce Matin Là" always gives me the same feeling as watching this scene: utter peace - escape through daydreaming. There’s nothing like listening to "Ce Matin Là" while sitting on the balcony, laying on the beach or going for a walk and just letting the song take me away.

Here's the complete scene:

Sunny-Day Music: The Concretes Edition

No shortage of sun, no shortage of songs:

Best Coast = Best Summer Or Sunny-Day Music: Best Coast Edition

It finally feels like summer today - because it's sunny, and I don't have to work which means I can finally hit the beach. Or go for walk. Or do whatever I want outdoors and enjoy it, even if my headphones broke yesterday, and I'm too cheap to buy a new pair right away. And what better way to hit the beach or bum around the city all day than by listening to one of my favourite bands, lo-fi-turned-hi-fi, sun-baked California fuzz-poppers Best Coast? As the following songs and lyrics I've highlighted show, their music was tailor-made for summer:




We were lookin' for the sun
We knew it'd give us loads of fun
(Always, always)
(Always, always)

...

I was lookin' for a change
And then you saved me from this place
(Always, always)
(Always, always)

And there is so much magic
In the warm and summer night
(Always, always)
(Always, always)

We were lookin' for a sunny adventure
Sittin' in our chairs
Wind in our hair

We were lookin' for a sunny adventure
You know that I don't care
Wind in our hair




All year long
We wait for sun
At the beach
We come undone

...

Everybody chillin', we ain't worried 'bout shit
Everybody chillin', we ain't worried 'bout a thing

I understand life of the beggar
Lookin' at the ocean
Oh, shit this is way iller
Callin' my mama
Tell her not to worry
I'm a man in the wild
And the wild is the best
I digress
This might just be hit or miss
My intentions all summer
Have simply just been this:
Mantain and keep my brain sane
Very little ragin'

...

Mmm, ain't worried 'bout a thang
Mmm, give a damn, we ain't worried 'bout a thang
Ain't worried' bout a thang
Ain't worried 'bout a thang
Everybody good, we ain't worried 'bout a thang
Everybody good' we ain't worried 'bout shit




Don't plan at all
'Cause making it up is so natural


Lyrically, "Buy Nothing Day" isn't particularly summery, but I like its sentiment of freedom and going with the flow. It's what summer should be all about.

Sunny-Day Music: Cat Power Edition

Fuck, this song makes me happy. And makes me want to go for a sunny stroll all day long. The way she sings "my hand" in harmony just sweeps me off of my feet.

Sunny-Day Music: The Velvet Underground Edition

The sunniest Velvet Underground songs to me are the first three tracks from the their fourth album Loaded (Cotillion, 1970):

Sunny-Day Music: Atlas Sound Edition

Finally, after two rainy, overcast weeks, some sun:

Sunny-Day Music: The Beatles Edition

My favourite Beatles song. Not a happy one at all, lyrically, but it just sounds right for summer; maybe it's the song's musical airiness. And maybe it's the matter-of-fact way they sing, "Love has a nasty habit of disappearing over night," but I've always loved that lyric.

Sunny-Day Music/Those Memories: Yo La Tengo Edition

I'm starting a new feature called "Those Memories" (named after the Brian Jonestown Massacre song of the same name which you can listen to here), and the first edition is this very post, mashed up with my Yo La Tengo edition of "Sunny-Day Music." "Those Memories" will basically be posts in which I reminisce about specific songs, artists and albums. Pretty straightforward.

My favourite sunny-day Yo La Tengo songs were all made for pool-side/beach lounging. Yo La Tengo has always been an incredibly versatile band (from noisy, droney alt-rock on 1993's Painful to near-pure pop on 2006's I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass to scuzzy garage-rock with their alter ego band Condo Fucks on 2009's Fuckbook), but one thing I've always felt Yo La Tengo has been able to pull off particularly well is capture a very drifting, aquatic feeling, and I'm not merely referring to their instrumental soundtrack to the 2001 underwater documentary the Sounds of the Sounds of Science. Hear for yourself:



"Little Eyes" is my favourite summer song of all time. Every year, I can't wait for summer to start so I can listen to "Little Eyes" the way, to me, it is meant to be listened to. It's the most perfect chill, soak-in-the-sun-with-your-eyes-closed kind of song. My favourite memory of listening to "Little Eyes" was at Cribbons Beach back home in Nova Scotia last summer. I was laying on a flat rock that was pretty much just big enough for me to lay on while the merciless sun beat down on me. The rock was shaped like a spoon insofar as it narrowly stemmed a couple of meters from the coast towards the ocean so that looking around me, I felt as if I was afloat in the middle of the ocean.



"Return To Hot Chicken" gives me almost the exact same feeling as "Little Eyes," except I feel even more afloat when I listen to "Hot Chicken" due to its pure ambience. I usually listen to "Return To Hot Chicken" as a segue into "Little Eyes."

In addition to "Little Eyes" and "Return To Hot Chicken," Yo La Tengo has less ambient but still kind of watery/aquatic songs that are more acoustic and more lyric-oriented to lounge to too:

Sunny-Day Music: Brian Jonestown Massacre Edition

Summer has officially been here for two-and-a-half weeks, and it's finally gotten hot - so hot, I can't do much of anything including sitting indoors and writing anything substantial. Besides, who wants to stay inside with this weather? So, instead of writing anything substantial, I'm going to share a few of my favourite Brian Jonestown Massacre songs to evaporate into the sun to:







Great "out the door" music to feel cool as shit to: