Summer Songs (Iowa Style) Vol. 1

By Sam Hackerson
For those of you who are unaware, sometimes in Iowa, weather (temporarily) skips seasons entirely. And by this, I mean that it is barely May and it is a forecasted 90 DEGREES TODAY. In preparation for this early, early summer I have revamped my iPod playlist. Here is a nice and mix-sized taste of what I consider summer listening (AKA loud anthems for blasting out car windows and dancing all night and sultry somethin’ somethins for the sweaty, humid inbetweens):

1- Bummer Time- Be Your Own Pet
2- Sunshine - Rye Rye ft. MIA
3- Toro Y Moi- Still Sound
4- TV Girl- If You Want It
5- Tony Castles- No Service
6- Cloud nothings- Heartbeat
7- Maps & Atlases- Israeli Caves
8- FRIENDS- Friend Crush
9- Robyn- Time Machine
10- Muscles- Chocolate Raspberry Lemon and Lime
11- Oh Fortuna- Faces I Can See
12- Local Natives- Who Knows Who Cares
13- Teen Daze- Four More Years
14- Cut Copy- Where I’m Going
15- The Notorious B.I.G.- Juicy
16- Sun Airway- Shared Piano

Lucky for you, we've taken it upon ourselves to find links to most of the songs. A lot of them are links to free downloads so get clicking! Summer is here!!!!! (at least in Iowa)

Unfortunately I had to take down the free download links, but just know that the songs are out there!

Mash-Ups Somebody (But Definitely Not Me) Should Make

By Blair Stenvick

I have a former career as a mash-up DJ.

This career lasted about a week last summer, when I converted from PC to Mac and was thrilled to start exploring Garage Band. I took some tracks from my iTunes and did my best to mix them together, like Girl Talk would. The results weren’t at all refined or clean, but I still thought they were pretty sick.

The phase officially ended when I came back to school and started nonchalantly playing one of my creations when a friend was in my room. Without asking who it was, she said it was “pretty distorted.” I was so embarrassed that I muttered something about it being a friend of a friend’s work, and then swiftly deleted all the songs I’d been working on.

Moral of the story: I’m no good at execution, but I do still think I have good ideas for what songs could make good mash-ups. And so I present this list of a few ideas, with the hopes that someone more skilled than myself will get to work.

Joni Mitchell’s “California” and Tupac’s “California Love”
This song would be great to listen to during any road trip involving California, obviously. You know some great Facebook photo albums would come from such a trip.

Lady Gaga’s “The Fame” and Simon and Garfunkel’s “America”
Ok, I’m not really sure how this would work given the vastly different tempos, but if someone figured it out, you know it would make for outstanding social commentary. Gaga singing about “television and hot blondes in odd position” while Paul Simon croons that he’s “empty and aching and I don’t know why” would probably be enough to send your sociology professor into a permanent state of bliss.

The White Stripe’s “Denial Twist” and Kanye West’s “Blame Game”
It’s time these two masterminds crossed paths. I can’t think of a better combination to bridge the gap between love and hate, where betrayal often resides.

Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness” and Bob Dylan’s “Knocking On Heaven’s Door”
You could listen to this when you’re being all contemplative with your life. Or when you’re stoned. Or bot.h


Since Mash-ups are the new black, here are a few you can download for free! The first is more danceable and the second is what could be classified as more easy-listening. Mash-ups are great when you have people over and no one wants to take time to be DJ and/or you don't want your iPod to reveal your guiltiest pleasures while on shuffle.
All Day - Girl Talk
Be Honest - Will Bryant