CD a must for summer rock

It's All
Happening

The Yum
Dee Days
8-out-of-10



Released on America's birthday, It's All Happening, by mysterious Brooklyn rockers, The Yum Dee Days, is as slack as summer itself. This lazy surf rock record offers up some hazy rhythms, twist-and-shout drum beats, and easy-to-jive-to hooks.

Definitely dowsed in 60's pop, It's All Happening relies on clever melodies and a few outlandish sounds to complete the summer rock package. The songs are breezy and combine surf rock with electro pop in a very interesting way. The overall sound is warm, almost "sticky", and reflects the mood of summer perfectly. Even the drums seem heavy and hazy at times, like a thick humid night.

The album is very DIY inspired and loose, calling on The Kinks or maybe even The Black Keys. The band is creative without seeming pretentious. While some might enjoy a more curated pop sound, the young and wild at heart should enjoy The Yum Dee Days' laid back and rocking style.

-SEAN CRAIB-PETKAU

A Color
Map of the
Sun

Pretty
Lights
10-out-of-10

A Color Map of the Sun goes beyond a conceptual album. It also goes beyond expectations for modern music. Not only was it released as a double disk record, offering 13 final tracks and 13 live studio sessions, but there is also a beautifully done music video for each song and a tasteful documentary bringing the process of creating such a masterpiece to life.

A Color Map of the Sun utilizes the included studio sessions, cutting them up and sampling portions. Mixing and matching these live elements into an R&B soaked cacophony of thick beats and unreal grooves. Each track takes on a life of its own, spanning genres and decades of popular music to piece together songs that truly feel alive. From house techno to funk, soul to hip-hop, rock, down-tempo, drum and bass, A Color Map of the Sun truly has it all. Pretty Lights manages to make songs that are appealing to many ears.

The use of real instruments, recorded and intended for this use, is really where the album gets me. Opposed to sampling old Coltrane tracks, Pretty Lights creates really, really great songs first and recycles them into another completely different set of really great songs. I'm personally envious of his creativity, skill, and ear, and, in my opinion, some of the Live Studio Sessions on Disk 2 are some of the best songs I've ever heard.

For all the work that went into the making of this record, I hope Pretty Lights has some time to bask in the glory. This music is perfect for the summer festival season, and it seems Pretty Lights will be very busy doing the circuit.

-SEAN CRAIB-PETKAU