Infinite Summer Playlist - Beatin' Down Yo' Block

As previously noted, summer is having the best summer ever. I'm not really sure the reason for this season's love-in, but it's certainly made for some pretty sweet listening. In celebration/recognition of all the great music out there these days, I've assembled a mix of songs that have been in rather heavy rotation on my iPod/laptop for the past three months.

Admittedly, this is a fairly eclectic compilation (Lo-Fi, Garage, Electro-Pop, Laptop, Balearic, even a Michael Jackson cover) but, as this collection attests, 2009 has been a great (and surprisingly diverse) year for music. The fragmentation and blurring of independent music's categorical landscape continues apace (this hardly bodes well for the permanence of a great many of these bands or trends (or really any band or trend for that matter)), but, when the music is this good, I doubt anyone really minds.

With releases from Neon Indian, Kings of Convenience, Girls, The Very Best, Lake Heartbeat and El Perro Del Mar forthcoming, 2K9 only stands to get better. But in the sage and ever cautious words of Levar Burton, "Don't take my word for it."

Behold: a mix of the songs that, at least for me, have made this summer just a little more bearable. Copies available upon request. To request a copy, simply email onemaninasmallroom@gmail.com with your name and mailing address.

Mayfair Set - Already Warm

Best Coast - Sun Was High (So Was I)

Toro Y Moi - 109

Eat Skull - Stick to the Formula

Smith Westerns - Gimme Some Time

Atlas Sound - Walkabout (feat. Noah Lennox)

Free Energy - Free Energy

Kurt Vile - Freeway

Girls - Lust for Life

Beach Fossils - Daydream

Neon Indian - Deadbeat Summer

Washed Out - New Theory

Memory Cassette - Surfin

Javelin - Vibrationz

Neon Indian - Terminally Chill

Taken By Trees - Watch the Waves

Korallreven - Loved Up

Real Estate - Beach Comber

Javelin - Tell Me, What Will It Be?

Washed Out - Feel It All Around

Pearl Harbour - Lost at Sea

Best Coast - Something in the Way

JJ - Things Will Never Be The Same Again

Toro Y Moi - Human Nature (MJ Cover)

And for those of you shocked by the complete absence of The Very Best on this mix, fret not. Rather than pick just one song from this soon to be gigantic group (which I really couldn't do), I thought it would be better to provide a link to one of my favorite albums of last year, the completely surprising, genre-crushing, intoxicatingly joyous, The Very Best mixtape. Download it here (totally free, totally legal - via Green Owl). Based upon the few songs I've heard (the title track, "Chalo", "Julia", "Mfumu", "Ntende Uli" "Rain Dance"), the mixtape still has a slight edge on the album (Warm Heart of Africa, out 10/6), but, either way, these guys are going to be huge.

In a related note, the music of Malawi (The Very Best's Esau Mwamwaya's native land) is starting to garner some serious international attention. Check out this excellent BBC piece on the oft overlooked, but no less essential sounds of this tiny yet influential African nation. Watch/read it here.