Summer mixes are VERY IMPORTANT. They have to be a bunch of great songs like any other mix, but they also have to match the weather outdoors and be the kind of song that’s a good vessel for nostalgia. It’s a lot of pressure to put on a group of songs.

But we don’t shy away from pressure here at Naive Harmonies. So here’s a mix of twelve songs to soundtrack your summer, all maximized to fit the carefree moments of summer: the road trips, the lazy days by your body of water of choice, the hot nights in the clubs.

So turn off all other music around you, click the play button by the first track, and let your ears know it’s summer. Oh, and listen while you got ‘em, because the audio won’t be up for very long.

Warmer Places: 12 Songs for Summer ’10

Club 8, “Be Mad, Get Ill, Be Still” (2010)
Club 8 have been around for a while, but now they’ve added in Caribbean rhythms to their Swedish indiepop and created something that’s delivers the goods that the description promises.
find it on The People’s Record

Delorean, “Warmer Places” (2010)
I first heard this record in the deep cool of spring, but it immediately sounded like the perfect summer record. It still does. The sound of bliss.
find it on Subiza

LCD Soundsystem, “One Touch (fade out edit)” (2010)
Maybe they do do hits. This song is a realization of all of James Murphy’s straddling of disco and experimental, being both achingly cool and totally immediate. (btw, my edit was simply to fade out the last minute of the song)
find it on This Is Happening

Dum Dum Girls, “Jail La La” (2010)
The full debut album of the Dum Dum Girls is one of my biggest surprises of the year. Nothing but energetic hooks, the sharpest of which is almost undeniably this track.
find it on I Will Be

Free Energy, “Dream City” (2010)
Lines like “cruising ‘cross town” might betray Free Energy’s 70′s conceit a little too far, but this is about as undeniable as tracks come. The heat of the verse melody is matched by a perfect cool down. As classic as it’s meant to be.
find it on Stuck On Nothing

The Apples In Stereo, “No One In the World” (2010)
Apples’ new one may show a vocoder addiction that needs a stint in rehab and they may need someone to take away all their ELO records FOR THEIR OWN GOOD, but this one shines through, reminding me of the airiness of 90′s bands like Ivy.
find it on Travellers in Space and Time

Surfer Blood, “Take It Easy” (2010)
Vampire Weekend with surf guitar in place of prep? Well, kind of. Mostly what they share with VW is the ability to take indie rock and inject worldly influences into it without sounding like they’re doing that. A hugely enjoyable record.
find it on Astro Coast

The Radio Dept., “Heaven’s On Fire” (2010)
If you’re someone that likes your indiepop dreamy and in full album form, you need to pair The Radio Dept’s new album with the full-length from Virginia’s Wild Nothing. Just like that, your summer soundtrack is set.
find it on Clinging To A Scheme

Sleigh Bells, “Rill Rill” (2010)
Yes, I know I’d already written about this before, but this it’s hard to imagine anything knocking this off the mountain of My Number One Summer Jam.
find it on Treats

Dr. Dog, “Jackie Wants a Black Eye” (2010)
Who’s up for a singalong? Wait: you’ll want to be just over the Too Much line of the amount you’ve had to drink, and then you’ll need to grab some friends and belt out this chorus, and then…yeah, then it’ll sink in.
find it on Shame Shame

Best Coast, “Sun Was High (So Was I)” (2009)
Best Coast’s main muse is probably marijuana, but her high is our gain: a heartfelt yearning that I’ve had on repeat since the temperatures climbed above 80.
find it on the Sun Was High (So Was I) single

Phosphorescent, “Tell Me Baby (Have You Had Enough)” (2010)
Because the sun has to go down sometime, and you need something that matches its beauty.
find it on Here’s To Taking It Easy

Any other suggestions for Number One Summer Jam of 2010?