Seasonal Albums - Spring/Summer Edition

[Gnarcade]

Whenever seasons change, I find myself going back to specific albums. Sometimes its because I feel the music that echoes the mood of the coming weather and atmosphere. Other times its because a record has a memory or experience associated with it. I might be the only dingus who does this. BUT if there are some of you out there who do the same thing, I thought it could make for interesting discussion.

When spring hits and we all start gearing up for summer, what are the records or songs you flip on? I'd love to hear a little about why too. I'll start with my top three -

Dillinger Four - "Midwestern Songs of the Americas" This record always gets me hyped and has so much fun, raw energy. I turn this on in the mornings in particular because it gives me all this anticipatory energy. Particularly the opening riff on "#51 Dick Butkus" just makes me want to run around like a dipshit.


Latterman - "No Matter Where We Go!" People either love or hate this band, but I fucking adore them. This record is perfect for summer evenings. Hearing it makes me want to crack a beer, sit on the porch, and bullshit with friends.



Ceremony - "Rohnert Park" Huge departure from their first two albums, but this record rules. It came out the year I moved to LA for grad school and I have so many good memories associated with it. I met so many of my best friends that first summer, and it culminated that September with one of my favorite shows I've ever been to - Ceremony in some tiny weird warehouse in downtown LA. They played in a mini-ramp. It was fucking awesome.


What records do you turn to as a sign of spring and/or summer?

 

[MFB]

In the later fall/all throughout winter, I go hard on either all death/doom metal, or classical and then later specifically Christmas songs; then it's just back to normal classical stuff because Christmas ends at 11:59 on December 25th, I'm not a psychopath.

Spring-time/Summer/early Fall is usually when I listen to a good blend of indie/alternative (Jukebox the Ghost, Circa Survive, Paramore, etc) and metal, and on especially perfect summer days - talking clear blue skies, bright sun, hot temps - I break out the 80s/90s country Pandora station. That shit right there is pure childhood, my mom raised me on Reba/Faith/Shania/JoDee/Trisha/all the powerhouse ladies, along with your classics from Brooks & Dunn, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Michael Montgomery, Lone Star, just so god damn many. It's a fucking travesty in my eyes how far the genre has fallen from where it used to be in the mid-90s.

 

[sleewell]

i always love blasting 40oz to freedom when the weather starts getting nice. driving around, house parties, grilling and drinking outside..... good memories.

 

[Gnarcade]

i always love blasting 40oz to freedom when the weather starts getting nice. driving around, house parties, grilling and drinking outside..... good memories.

Holy shit, I haven't thought about that record for ages. When I was 15 my buddies and I would jam that while driving around looking for street skating spots... in his mom's mini-van... mostly in the suburbs. So many good memories but paired with a nice healthy dose of realizing what a whitebread dork I was.

 

[gnoll]

Spring and early summer is thrash season! Fast, fun and heavy shit!! Let's go!!

Then later in summer things get a little bit more melodic and moody. But that can wait for now.

 

[TheBolivianSniper]

Winter is melodeath time, if it's from Northern Europe it's pretty much going on. Spring was old school thrash and groove shit and now that summer is coming on I've got deathcore, pop punk, and a lot lot of rap. Fall is probably gonna have me on the hard rock side again but all old stuff and probably the same vibe as summer since I associate the 2 so heavily.

 

[BusinessMan]

I completely thought this was going to be a rivers of nihil thread.

 

[linthat22]

I can totally identify with this thread. Here are my go to seasonal albums:

Fall/Winter:
Sting - Mercury Falling (entire album)
Sting - Brand New Day (The song Ghost Story only)
Sting - If On a Winter's Night (just some select songs)
Tears For Fears - Elemental
Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed (select songs)
Neil Finn - One Nil
Enigma - Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!

Spring/Summer
Big Country - The Best of Big Country
Depeche Mode - Songs of Faith and Devotion
Kreator - Coma of Souls
Chieli Minucci - Night Grooves
Corrosion of Conformity - Blind
The Smiths - Singles
Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power

 

[Seybsnilksz]

I think most of the music I listen to is tied to a certain time of year. The feelings I had during the time I discovered the album will make me enjoy it in a similar way in the coming years.

The time around May-June is maybe the happiest and most enjoyable for me. Of course the days turning brighter, but I also I remember the class trip with my primary school class in May 2011, the hype and subsequent delight of Doom 2016 (released May 13th 2016), and then the day I made first contact with my now life partner (May 14th 2016). The music I listen to around this time is:

May:
Atto IV - Shattered Lines
Textures - Dualism
Textures - Phenotype

June:
Threshold - Subsurface
Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion
Steven Wilson - Insurgentes

Also the song Foxes Don't Lie by Giorgio Tuma is perfect for the days where the temperature is just a big wall of heat around you (which is relatively rare in Sweden).

 

[linthat22]

I think most of the music I listen to is tied to a certain time of year. The feelings I had during the time I discovered the album will make me enjoy it in a similar way in the coming years.

The time around May-June is maybe the happiest and most enjoyable for me. Of course the days turning brighter, but I also I remember the class trip with my primary school class in May 2011, the hype and subsequent delight of Doom 2016 (released May 13th 2016), and then the day I made first contact with my now life partner (May 14th 2016). The music I listen to around this time is:

May:
Atto IV - Shattered Lines
Textures - Dualism
Textures - Phenotype

June:
Threshold - Subsurface
Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion
Steven Wilson - Insurgentes

Also the song Foxes Don't Lie by Giorgio Tuma is perfect for the days where the temperature is just a big wall of heat around you (which is relatively rare in Sweden).

oooooh, these are good! Thank you for the suggestions.

Same to everyone before my post too! Lots of great new music for me to check out.

 

[MFB]

Oh man, another great late fall/winter album, John Mayer's Battle Studies.

I hadn't listened to a single John Mayer song in my whole life, I had maybe heard 'Body is a Wonderland' on the radio when it first came out but I would've been 13 at the time, and then when I was 20(?) his episode VH1 Storytellers was on. I had just split from my whirlwind fling with this girl in my college class, and was eyeing somebody new that I had no chance, and I remember watching this and was in just the right headspace for him kicking off with 'No Such Thing' from his Room for Squares album. He followed up with Daughters, which was also unlike any song I really would've listened to at that point, it's literally just him and an acoustic plus some pedal steel for the solo. But by the 3rd track, when he launched into 'Heartbreak Warfare' - the opening track of Battle Studies - I was truly just like, "oh fuck, I have to hear all of this album, NOW." It's something I should hate as he talks about the behind the scenes of it saying he wanted a song like U2's bad, and I couldn't give two shits about U2, but he took what they had an made it digestible for me.

That whole episode is fantastic, and I wish it was more readily available than as just part of the deluxe version of Battle Studies, but it's so worth it to track down the YT videos of; the solo he does in Heartbreak Warfare compared to the studio version will make you wish it was on the album.

 

[KailM]

Black metal 24/7/365.

 

[Pat]

autumn/winter is pretty much all back metal and Opeth for me.

Spring/summer is a lot of more energetic metal - pantera, Metallica, mastodon etc. Throw in some pop punk or acoustic stuff (Simon and Garfunkel) too. I think this summer I'll be blasting the King Mothership album a lot.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7TPnJFSajAIXoqaQoF9LAXQ24R34jxjJ