By DINA ARÉVALO
Port Isabel-South Padre Press
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com
Whether you’re working or playing, summertime seems to call for a change of tempo in more ways than one. With temperatures on the rise and the wintertime blues finally shaking off, I often find myself wanting to listen to music I can tap my feet or lip-sync to.
Before you ask, trust me, it’s better for everyone involved if all I do is lip-sync. My voice isn’t exactly a graceful one when put to a melody.
Over the past few months, I’ve been in the habit of listening to a lot of post-rock: sweeping instrumentals that move in waves of sound that combine traditional instruments and digital sounds. I’ve been listening to a lot of stuff by groups like Explosions in the Sky, The XX, God is an Astronaut and Porcupine Tree.
I’ve also been listening to a lot of Metric, The Postal Service, The Whitest Boy Alive, Vampire Weekend, Silversun Pickups, Phoenix and The National. What a lot of this music has in common is that it’s all fairly mellow. It’s the kind of music that will soothe your ears at the end of a long day (or at least it does mine). It’s not exactly something that will draw you out of your seat for an impromptu dance party.
I’m not complaining. I wouldn’t listen to it if I didn’t like it. And it’s good music if you want to buckle down and focus on a task. But while driving around this weekend, “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves came on the radio and I didn’t even think about it: I just started singing along while dancing — as much as one can dance while driving a car — in my seat. In fact, I’m playing it as I write this and already my feet are tapping away.
It’s a side effect of summer. We seek out up tempo music as lemony bright as the sunshine warming up the sand and surf outside. I know I have, anyway. I’ve been looking up music like OK Go, David Guetta, even P!nk. Ok, P!nk may, in fact, be one of my guilty pleasures.
Regardless, I find myself in the mood for fast, light and fun music. I’m sure I can’t be the only one. So what’s on your playlist, reader? Visit us online at www.portisabelsouthpadre.com and let us know!
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