BUZZ Playlists - 'Summer Lovin''

The sun has been totally inspiring me lately; it's blown away the cobwebs and given me some much needed get-up-and-go in regards to life in general, and has proven slightly distracting in regards to getting my uni work done - I would much rather be hanging outside in the sun with my friends and boyfriend!

I find that there are some bands and artists that I can only listen to in summertime, bands whose music just encapsulates the essence of the season. In winter, I tend to listen to loud electronic or rock music - though I must say that Tame Impala's psychedelia seems to work just as well in snowy climes as it does in this heat! However, in summer, I just want to dance, sing and chill (and eat BBQ food!), and for that I need happy music; and this is where this playlist comes in! 'Summer Lovin' takes us through transitions of psychedelia, low-fi, electronic, ska and more and is pretty much what has been making the (slightly sluggish) cogs of my brain turn this week. The playlist includes bands such as Tame Impala, Best Coast, No Doubt, Grimes, Peace, Blondie, Queens of the Stone Age and Haim plus loads more, so if you're ready to embrace summer with your clammy mitts - check it out and tell me what you think!

Do you like the 'Summer Lovin' playlist? What music makes you think of summer? Would you like to see more features like this in future?

Flashback Friday.. Frank Ocean - 'Thinkin' Bout You'

Is this song old enough to be classed as a 'Flashback'? When creating this section of the blog, I made a guideline rule that all of the posts in this section had to have been released over a year prior  to me typing this (aka. pre-22nd Feb 2012). Alas, this falls a tad short with a release date of April 17th 2012, but due to a post that I will be putting up shortly, I feel that to throw out a real blast from the past would be a tad ironic.

Channel Orange, the everywhere-acclaimed album by rapper/singer Frank Ocean has been my turn-to lullaby for the past week or so (Jamie Woon once held the prestigious title), but with Tame Impala's Lonerism losing its sleepy-time sparkle, I dug out this album and -  fell in love with it. I originally downloaded Channel Orange after it topped many a 2012 year's end poll, and as a general music fan, I had to see what all the fuss was about. With my only prior knowledge of Frank Ocean being that he was a member of the infamy inducing rap troupe Odd Future(Wolf Gang Kill Them All)/OFWGKTA, and with interweb denizens kicking up a fuss over the fact that a bisexual rapper could exist - even in this day and age, it is fair to say that Channel Orange was not what I expected.

First of all, it was subtle, and nowhere near as affronting or in your face as Odd Future or Tyler the Creator's music has been. Second, it was impeccably stylish and atmospheric, down to the very last detail, mixing R'n'B with movie soundscapes, creative lyrical metaphors and references to Cleopatra. You've more than likely been exposed to some of Ocean's songs already.  My favourite though, along with the epic 10 minute anthem, 'Pyramids', has to be the beautiful and delicate 'Thinkin' Bout You'. The song lulls mystically through 3-and-a-half minutes of raw emotion, love longing and loss. It really is beautiful, and manages to draw the listener in so close that they may share Frank Ocean's feelings with him as if they were their own.

http://frankocean.com/

https://twitter.com/frank_ocean