Wintertime and the livin's easy

January 8, 2009 2:19 PM

Help me put together a great summer themed dj set!

To combat the winter blues, a friend of mine is throwing a house warming party with a summer theme, cranking the heat, everyone in shorts and sandals, fake palm trees, etc etc.

I volunteered to dj a set. I know that another guy will already be doing a set of 'classics' so I'm not looking for obvious stuff like the Beach Boys, but would rather do a nice hip-hop/ska/reggae/upbeat electronic set. Think in the vein of 'Doin' Time' by Sublime.

posted by mannequito to media & arts (18 answers total)

Star Fruit Surf Rider by Cornelius

Sunshine by Atmosphere

I would do much better with my MP3 collection in front of my, methinks.
posted by Juliet Banana at 2:28 PM on January 8, 2009

I know you don't want Beach Boys, but maybe this previous thread might help.
posted by NoraCharles at 2:35 PM on January 8, 2009

NoraCharles -> there's definitely some good material in there but, as it's been almost 5 yrs. since that thread, I thought there might be some current suggestions
posted by mannequito at 2:41 PM on January 8, 2009

Oslo in the Summertime (of Montreal)

Jogging Gorgeous Summer (Islands)

At The Beach (the Avett Brothers)
posted by nitsuj at 2:41 PM on January 8, 2009

I recommend Live At The Social Volume 2 by Jon Carter (Monkey Mafia). You can get it here. You party will be a blast.
posted by elmono at 2:44 PM on January 8, 2009

You might find ideas here.
posted by gyusan at 2:50 PM on January 8, 2009

I've no idea about time-frames or how 'current' these tunes are but for upbeat 'summery' music in the genres request, I've recently been listening to some:
DJ Format - 3 Feet Deep
RJD2 - Ghostwriter
Evil Nine - Devil Stuff
Fat Freddys Drop - Ernie
Beastles always manages to elicit a smile

All of the above groups get a recommendation from me in general but the above songs would go on a summer mix-tape were I to make one.
posted by slimepuppy at 3:11 PM on January 8, 2009

I would include:

Ice Cream by Muscles
Hot by Missy Elliot (Ratatat Remix)
Not a Problem - The Black Lips
Lovely Allen by Holy F*ck.
Something off of Discovery by Daft Punk

I've made a ton of electronic summer mixes, so let me know if this jibes with what you are thinking and I will suggest more.
posted by quine's_gavagai at 3:25 PM on January 8, 2009

LEN - Steal My Sunshine
Blur - Girls & Boys
Mr. Scruff - Spandex Man
MGMT - Time to Pretend
Mylo - In My Arms
Groove Armada - At The River
Bob Marley vs Funkstar Deluxe - Sun Is Shining
Vampire Weekend - Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa

That's all for now!
posted by samstarling at 3:27 PM on January 8, 2009

Long mixes for inspiration or if you're looking for something to put on when you're not DJing:
Beat-Boot-Ique summer 2007 mix
DJ Eleven - summer madness mix
posted by knile at 3:58 PM on January 8, 2009

I would include The Sunscreen Song - its not primarily a summer song (or necessarily a song at all), but it makes me think of the summer, and I love hearing it whenever.
posted by firei at 4:04 PM on January 8, 2009

Any summer mix would be incomplete without Roy Ayers' Everybody Loves the Sunshine... to add some soulful funk fusion to your set. Not exactly upbeat electronica, but always a crowd-pleaser :-)
posted by Weng at 5:10 PM on January 8, 2009

Solange Sandcastle Disco

some classic hip hop/R&B I thought of..

Jay-Z "Big Pimpin"
Juvenile "Back that [thing] up"
Tupac + Dre "California Love"
Zhané "Groove thing"
Montell Jordan "This is how we do it"
Janet Jackson "That's the way love goes"
posted by citron at 6:09 PM on January 8, 2009

Here are some tracks that evoke summer for me. I'm assuming you don't need dance music alone.

Le Peuple De L'herbe - Escape Dub
Skream - Check It
Thievery Corporation - Until The Morning (tons of their stuff, being dubby, fits the bill)
Kool and the Gang - Summer Madness or, a track that samples it
Anything MGMT.
MIA - Sunshowers of which Diplo does a cool mix (actually, he does a lot of a good ones, and to me anything miami bass drips summer... so how about this)
Royksopp - Eple
Mark Farina (ft. Sean Hayes) - Sean Hayes
Quantic - Not So Blue and Mi Swing Es Tropical
Koop - Summer Sun
Jurassic 5 - Concrete Streets
Walter Wanderly - Summer Samba (ah, so soothing)
Stan Getz - The Girl From Ipanema (warning, geneva convention worthy earworm)
The Budos Band - Up From The South
Kode9 and The Spaceape -
Kingstown (you need huge subwoofers for this to be appreciable, but that opening lyric would be hilarious)
Anything by King Tubby or Scientist
Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy
Tarentel - For Carl Sagan
Precious Fathers
posted by phrontist at 8:07 PM on January 8, 2009

The festival song by Pez is pure summer. And Hello by the Cat Empire is just to happy not to inspire summer feelings.
posted by kjs4 at 8:45 PM on January 8, 2009

elmono, is the link you wanted to post really http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-Social-Vol-2-Mixed-Carter/dp/B0000075BG ?
posted by wenestvedt at 5:48 AM on January 9, 2009

Thanks everyone. There's not really one best answer so I went with a few that really suggested the kind of stuff I was aiming for, but didn't know about.

Bonus points for reminding me of California Love and How Bizarre .... can't believe I had left those two off the list of ideas!
posted by mannequito at 6:39 AM on January 9, 2009

little late to the post, but just wanted to mention that in most dj circles, "Classics" refers not to classic rock like the Beach Boys, but classic soul/r&b/hiphop/disco. Can't say if the other dj uses that definition, but it's worth going over beforehand.

I can't recommend much of the upbeat electronic, but I can recommend both classic & obscure synth disco. See if you like any of it.
Southside Break Crew - Freshest Jam A modern cutup disco/hiphop song that is very Summertime.
A High Frequency - Summertime
Love Club - Hot Summer Nights
Vicky Sue Robinson - Hot Summer Night (a different song than the Love Club one)
Central Line - Walking Into Sunshine "I'll be walking into sunshine, soon all my rainy days will all be gone..." You might recognize the keys as sampled in LLCoolJ's Jingling Baby.
Jakki - Sun Sun Sun Often played just from the break on, started at ~3min.
Eddy Grant - Walking on Sunshine You're doing fine, walking on sunshine...A different song than the Central Line version. Also heard remade as a rap version by Rocker's Revenge.
Glass Candy - Life After Sundown The video is a fanvid, and features the later release from the Beatific album. I like the mix on the 2004 released 12" more.
The MIA Sunshower mentioned above samples Sunshower by Dr. Buzzards Orig Savannah Band.
Taana Gardner's Heartbeat always makes me think of summer block parties, possibly because of its use in Ini Kamoze's Hotstepper.
Nami Shimada's Sunshower from 1991, despite being sung in Japanese, is a fun summer track. In my mind, I hear her say "Life is Summer on The Beach!" at the start of the chorus.
Mirage - Summer Grooves.
Stupid Set - Dont Be Cold (In The Summer of Love).
McCrearys - Love On A Summer Night/Pieces of a Dream - Warm Weather.
Bill Summers & Summer Heat - Straight to the Bank Besides the namesake, the breaks and ooh-ooh's make this a great summer song.
Carrie Lucas - Summer In The Street.
Busta Jones - You Keep On Making Me Hot A slow burner if there ever was one...
Blackbyrds - Rock Creek Park doing it in the park, doing it after dark...In a similar vein, Martina's Central Park.
From 2000, Metro Area - The Art of Hot.
Escort's All Thru The Night & Starlight worth it for the videos alone...
Can't find a sound sample, but this Brooklyn Express record is a dubby, slower (~105bpm) medley of two summer songs - Peter Brown's Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me? & Grace Jones' Pull Up To The Bumper.

some soul...
Spanky Wilson - Sunshine of Your Love A cover of the Cream song, with the lead guitar intro replaced by horn stabs. (This sample video is a re-edit of sorts, the real release doesn't loop the "it's getting near dark")
Quincy Jones - Summer In The City a little too mellow for peak party time, but a great song. Recognize the keys as used in "Passing Me By"
Sidney Barnes - Summer Sunshine - i was trying to find a link to the song, which i downloaded from the soul-sides.com blog a while back. Then I remembered Oliver Wang has a dedicated SUMMER SONGS blog. His site is a fantastic resource, and you should devour its offerings.

and some classic hiphop
De La Soul - Saturday (A Rollerskating Jam) When can you go skating in the park but in summertime? What a monster jam...
Ghost Town DJ's More miami bass, but the video takes place at a "summer beach jam"
I don't know how P.C. you want your party to be, but Daisy Dukes and Rump Shaker both remind me of summer, the latter featuring a beach party in the video.

Can't forget the rock and pop-
Blue Cheer's version of Summertime Blues (as well as The Flying Lizard's version)
Blondie - In The Sun Surf's Up!
B52's - Rock Lobster Can't believe it wasn't mentioned above nor in the linked prev thread. The campiest, corniest summer beach song, but everyone knows it. Dropped at the right time, could cause a panic. There goes a narwhal!
Katrina & The Waves - Walking on Sunshine Groaning while typing this, but another cheese song that everyone knows. If you are going to play How Bizzare, think about playing this too...and you might as well follow it up with Violent Femmes - Blister In The Sun.
The Undertones - Here Comes The Summer fast-paced rocker about beaches, lying in the sun, being beautiful, having fun.
A.P.B. (scottish band that had a hit with Shoot You Down) have a track Summer Love.
Might as well play Burning Up by Madonna too.
Then there are the Sunglasses at Night songs - Corey Hart's original, Tiga's electroclash remake, Ludacris' version and the bay area's take with Stunna Glasses At Night.
Nocera's Summertime, Summertime "Take me, take me to the water..."
Tom Tom Club's take on Under The Boardwalk.
3 Euro Pop summer singles - Righeira's Vamos A La Playa (Let's Go To The Beach!), Wish Key's "I Remember Last Summer" & Sabrina's totally TITillating "Boys Boys Boys (Summertime Love).
2 summery Can tracks - Sunshine Day & Night and I Want More, which always pop in my head while daytripping.

If any of this strikes your fancy, send me a mefi mail & i'll suggest some more similar things. I can't believe so many of the songs were available on youtube. Have a fun party!
posted by stachemaster at 10:30 AM on January 9, 2009