Mixtape: Door Into Summer

Sort of a companion piece to the ‘70s pop album that I put together last month, Door Into Summer is glazed with a psych-pop shimmer. I’ve done a modern psych-pop mix in the past, but as this one started to come together I was drawn towards stacked vocal harmonies, baroque textures, and sunshine pop undercurrents. There are plenty of modern psych bands with a hook in their heart but those so often end up with the garage edge that’s a holdover from the Nuggets mindset. This mix is meant to be a pillow-soft slide through the eiderdown, a nap on the sand that clouds the consciousness and blurs the lines between dream and dawn. The touchstones are there — the Beach Boys harmonies of El Goodo, the Sagittarius and Millennium melt of The Mellons, the Paul McCartney yawp of The Medium, and The Mamas and the Papas overcast edge to Traffik Island. There’s a nostalgic haze to the mix, but each band puts a bit of their own update on the sound. I recommend setting aside an hour to just let this one wash over you, lost in the sun with the promise of Summer to come chase away the bitter breeze.

::Tracklist::

1. Mikah Wilson – Sunshine Grooves
2. El Goodo – Susan & Bill
3. Sunfruits – Believe It All
4. The Mellons – So Much To Say
5. The Black Hollies – Run With Me Run
6. Green Seagull – It’s Too Late
7. The Medium – No Tomorrow
8. MOOON – Leaving Town
9. The Hanging Stars – (I”ve Seen) The Summer In Her Hair
10. Soft Candy – Mourning Glory
11. Morgan Delt – Little Zombies
12. Joe Wong – Nuclear Rainbow
13. Papercuts – I Want My Jacket Back
14. Traffik Island – 17
15. The Soundcarriers – Low Light
16. Jacco Gardner – Chameleon
17. Sugar Candy Mountain – Windows