Got the Summertime Blues? Issue #40

Sweat these dudes

By Aiden Landman
Published: June 1st, 2009 | 12:00pm

Young Fathers
With a green screen video and a song about masturbation, Scotland’s Young Fathers seem poised to be the next big thing in Hipster-Hop. Tongues firmly planted in cheeks, Young Fathers rhyme over solid gold dance beats that don’t skimp on the treble. The colorful and infectious YouTube sensation “Straight Back On It,” will no doubt fill many a dance floor this summer. U.K. audiences will be treated to selected performances by the group. As for the rest of us? We will just have to make do with videos and an imminent Black Sugar Records debut.

King Khan and the Shrines
While his music may be touted as psychedelic soul, the sound, the fury, and the raw energy of King Khan and the Shrines suggests that this is a band that has spent some serious time in the garage. The buzz around this band reached a fever pitch after a highly acclaimed performance at 2008’s Pitchfork Music Festival and there seems to be no sign of things slowing down any time soon. This summer, pick up the newly re-released print of 2007’s What Is?!, put out by VICE Records.

Ducktails
Matt Mondanile currently lives with his parents in New Jersey, but don’t let his address fool you — he isn’t a homebody or a mama’s boy. Mondanile is Ducktails, and his latest release, Ducktails II, is a delightfully sunny example of lo-fi drone recorded in the heat of one-man jam sessions. Songs like “Backyard” remind you of being a kid — a projection of nostalgia and shared experience through looping soundscapes and brightly tinged melodies. The new release is cassette-only, a medium Mondanile has described as more simple, raw, and urgent than modern recording mediums.

Vincent Kartheiser
At the end of Season 2 of AMC’s Mad Men, the ambitious, eager, and some would argue villainous Pete Campbell (played by Kartheiser) confessed his love to Peggy Olson, one of the firm’s copywriters — with whom he had an extramarital affair. Peggy then dropped a bombshell of her own, revealing that the two had conceived a child together, who she gave away for adoption. We will all be glued to our seats as Season 3 premiers on July 27, and we learn the answers to the second season’s final burning question: What is Pete going to do with that rifle on his lap?

Robert Kirkman
If ever there is a zombie apocalypse, hopefully we won’t be around to see it. But if some freak accident or manmade phenomenon somehow causes the dead to reanimate, civilization is going to need a road map. Lucky for us, Robert Kirkman has our back. His graphic novel, The Walking Dead, is an ongoing series concerned with a group of people trying to adjust to life in a world overrun with zombies. Unlike movies, this series doesn’t end when it’s convenient nor does it allow you to get too attached to any character. This August, our rainy days will be spent reading the new 10th Trade Paperback in the series and practicing zombie defense techniques.