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Usually when I’m making a Summer mix I imagine sunset and cocktails. This time I wanted to create an afternoon poolside atmosphere.
Phoenix-based songwriter and producer Kareem Ali sets the tone with a track that recalls the smooth R&B of his childhood. Besides being a prolific creator of melodic club-oriented electronic music, he is also, as you’ll hear, an accomplished trumpeter.
Mark Barrott, a longtime champion of intelligent chillout music, has appeared a few times in my mixes under that name or as Future Loop Foundation. He is credited with introducing hotels to chillout music, at a time when the only way of soundtracking hotels around the world was to ship them an iPod loaded up with music. Appropriately, he is now based in Ibiza, running a record label and DJing as well as making music.
I love Feist’s cover of the Bee Gees’ “Inside and Out”. Her arrangement is sparse and endearingly quirky, proving that great songs were at the heart of the Bee Gees’ plush productions.
I don’t play the Pet Shop Boys in every mix, although it might seem like it. They happened to make another wonderful album in 2024 with a perfect poolside track. It could be their best poolside track since, um, “Between Two Islands”.
Farewell Françoise Hardy, the great French singer-songwriter and independent spirit who died a few weeks ago. Most of her music is restrained and somewhat melancholy, but this one from 1968 is an exception. With lyrics by French national treasure Serge Gainsbourg, it has an irresistible groove and, even if you only know a little French, a sense of humor.
“Dangerous” by Rumer starts off like it’s going to be disco banger, all swirling strings and thumping bass drum. But for me a poolside mood calls for not-quite-disco, and this one relaxes a bit to make room for Rumer’s understated, beautifully controlled, rich voice. As far as I know, this is the only song she’s recorded that sounds like this. I hope there will be more.
The not-quite-disco mood continues with “Hold Me Lonely Boy”. If you think it sounds like Chic well, basically, it is. Norma Jean Wright was Chic’s lead singer. When she went solo in 1978, she continued making music with Chic writer/producers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. The musicians were the Chic groove machine, Rodgers on guitar, Edwards on bass, and Tony Thompson on drums.
At the end of 2021 I heard a year-end music review podcast that included about a minute of a track by Scorpion Kings. I was mesmerized, and went on to discover that it was part of a booming South African genre called Amapiano. Cue the rabbit hole, and after much searching I have a few favorite Amapiano artists, including Kelvin Momo. His music is at the mellow end of the Amapiano sound.
The closing track is a thank you to the Pine Walk Collection, a huge stash of cassettes documenting summer DJ sets on New York’s Fire Island in the 80s and 90s. I hadn’t heard this minor 1979 hit from Thelma Houston, an emotional not-quite-disco gem. You can find the whole Pine Walk Collection on Mixcloud.
- Kareem Ali – Please, Forever Keep Me Near
- Paradis – Instantané
- Sade – Turn My Back on You
- The Heptones – Now Generation
- Mark Barrott – Brunch with Suki
- Feist – Inside and Out
- Pet Shop Boys – The Secret of Happiness
- Françoise Hardy – Comment Te Dire Adieu
- Rumer – Dangerous
- Norma Jean Wright – Hold Me Lonely Boy
- Bobbi Humphrey – Blacks and Blues
- Kelvin Momo with Murumba Pitch – As’phuze
- Telephones – Hot Destinations for a Cooler You
- Frazier Chorus – Cloud 8 (Paul Oakenfold mix)
- Brijean – Lathered in Gold
- Thelma Houston – Saturday Night, Sunday Morning
Between Two Islands 