Sure, all seasons have music that fits them best, but we don't think any season has such a specific feel to the music that defines it like summer. And even though the feel of summer is specific, the sounds of summer are varied and expansive. Often connected to core sense memories, summer music is at once highly personal and widely communal, connecting us to ourselves and other people through sonic rapprochement. There's airy sense of fun, well-being and comfort that connects all our favourite summertime essentials we've included on this list and we hope that listening to this list brings you all of those feelings and more. Hopefully something on here connects and finds its way to your own summer playlists.

Sublime – Garden Grove

As an elder millennial male on the west coast, Sublime is just a part of my DNA, for better or worse. (I maintain that Sublime would be much less easy to make fun of if it wasn’t for the existence of ‘Date Rape’ and ‘Wrong Way.’ Ehhhh, maybe ‘Caress Me Down’ too. Okay, I may need to re-evaluate this theory after I finish writing this piece. But I digress…) I’m onboard for Sublime jokes all year around. They’re an incredibly fun, and easy, band to make fun of. The great Josh Gondelman once called Sublime a “Blacklight Che Guevara poster that you listen to.” But their importance in the millennial music pantheon is real. They exposed a lot of people to music they wouldn’t have otherwise heard. For all his faults, Nowell was an incredible songwriter, able to mine his personal depths and sing his findings in his unmistakably passionate voice. All this (possibly ill-conceived) Sublime-apologism aside, that held-string opening and simple drum beat into that unmistakable bass line usually signals the start of summer to me. This is not music I listen if the sun is not out. “Garden Grove,” like the self-titled album it comes from, has been a part of my lazy summers for close to three decades now and I don’t think it’s going to stop being part of the season any year soon.

Jerry Champion - It’s Summertime

There was a video series on a channel that shall no longer be named, where they would invite artists to play music from their vinyl collective. One of these episodes featured DāM FunK, and while every selection he made ended up being Shazam’d and saved, this song was an easy choice for this playlist topic. Originally released by Jerry & The Champions in 1984, only to later be re-released by Jerry Champion in 2000, It’s Summertime has a mesmerizing groove that draws listeners in. The guitar solo that comes in from time to time is next level and it’s a perfect way to break up the track's repetitive aspects. It pains me to know we can’t go back in time, but the 80s had the summer season on lock when it came to music.