Summer Jams Series #3: The Blanche Hudson Weekend

These week's summer jams comes courtesy of Caroline and Darren of The Blanche Hudson Weekend. Each one of them was kind enough to write a little bit about their favorite summer songs &, as usual, I've ended up with another list of impeccable summer jams.

The Blanche Hudson Weekend have 2 7"s out, The Letters to Daddy EP and The Rats in the Cellar EP, both of which are fantastic noisy pop music with shoegaze-y hints. If you're in the UK, you can get their 7"s straight from the label at Odd Box Records and if you're in the US, you can get them from Jigsaw Mailorder (which I really can't say enough good things about.) They're also on MySpace & will be playing at IndieTracks this summer. I've got one previous post about The Blanche Hudson Weekend that you can read here.

& one two last things before we're onto the list:

1. Clevelanders! You should come out tomorrow night for the Waterloo Alley Cat Project benefit! There will be a raffle with lots of prizes from local businesses on Waterloo & there will also be a $5 show at the Beachland Tavern. Drew will be playing with Prisoners, so I'll definitely be there. This weekend is also Weapons of Mass Creation Fest which kicks off at noon tomorrow.
2. Don't forget about that Go Sailor 7"! You have until midnight EST on Sunday to leave a comment for it!

Caroline's List:

Eaten by the Monster of Love - Sparks (listen to it here)

This year summer is officially cancelled in the UK, and as such we're facing a very blue period. To try and escape this misery my favourite artist at the moment is Sparks. I'm listening to them a lot. I'm really impressed by the theatricality of their output and their longevity. Right now, the song I'm playing the most is Eaten By The Monster Of Love. This will soundtrack my life over the next few months into what we laughably refer to as "summer". Don't let it get me ...

How Soon Is Now - The Smiths (listen to it here)

Another song, which I never thought of as a summer song, but became one a couple of years ago, is "How Soon Is Now". Darren and I were at a festival where Morrissey was playing a solo set, and he's not been at his best in recent years so we decided to give him a miss. However, he opened the set with this beauty, and as soon as we heard that guitar we looked at each other and without saying a word we both ran as fast as we could to the stage he was playing on. So now whenever I hear this song, I’m reminded of that night at the end of summer.

Pink Sunshine - Fuzzbox (listen to it here)

My all-time summer song though is Fuzzbox's Pink Sunshine. How could anyone fail to be seduced by the charms of these ladies with their raggle taggle hair and '80s appeal? These girls made being in a band look like amazing fun. I was just a kid when I first heard this song, and even then I loved the fuzz, reverbed to fuck drums, the handclaps and the sighs ... and what a chorus: All together now ... pink, pink sunshine......

Darren's List

River Man - Nick Drake (listen to it here)

This song has summer written all over it. I actually first heard it on a summer day too, which was perfect. It's a very English sound - the voice , the music. It couldn't have come from anywhere other than the UK. Just hearing it conjures up images of the countryside, gently flowing rivers and streams, rolling fields, quiet rural villages and sitting in a pub garden in the late afternoon with the sun shining down. Every so often, I like to dig out some Nick Drake music and just relax. Pink Moon is probably my favourite album of his because it's dark and has a real sadness to it, but this track is the one that reminds me most of the summer.

Manic Monday - The Bangles (listen to it here)

The song that soundtracked one summer when I was a little kid. This is just a really great pop song. It's as simple as that. Whenever I hear it I'm transported back to playing in the street with my friends, riding my bike and then running indoors at 7 30 to drink a Pepsi and watch Top Of The Pops, hoping to hear this song and see Susanna Hoffs. Definitely one of the first women I fell in love with. I'm still a big fan of early Bangles stuff, and I don't mind admitting that either.

Tractor Rape Chain - Guided By Voices (listen to it here)

Again , this just says "summer" in big , bold letters. It reminds me of being about 18 or 19 years old, when i first got into Guided By Voices. A friend of mine made a cassette of a whole bunch of their songs for me, and this one was about the 3rd or 4th track on there. Me and my friends used to go out on Fridays, stay out all night, and I'd make my way back home the next day through the Saturday shopping crowd, walk in through the door mid afternoon and just collapse on my bed, usually with the sound of my Guided By Voices cassette playing on the stereo. By the time this song started up, I was usually just drifting off to sleep. This track , particularly the intro, always takes me back to a drunken, hot summer when you didn't give a damn about anything but hanging out with your friends and having a good time. Back then, you never wanted the summer to end.