LANY

You’re driving California State Route 1 in an old convertible. The check engine light is the most reliable thing about the car and has been on since you got it. The tattered rag top is securely tucked away. You’re not quite sure how to even put it up. A small weekender rests on the back seat. 

Letters and old photos fill a box on the passenger seat. You grab one, raise it overhead into the violent 70mph winds, and let go – watching it turn into an invisible speck in the rearview mirror like the letters and photos before it. 

🚗🌅

LANY is the atmospheric L.A. indie-pop soundtrack to a John Hughes movie – starring you. I saw them at Webster Hall earlier this year and have been waiting for this LP to drop. Add it to your rotation. 

Good for: bike rides, walking through the city, beach days, driving. 

HAIM

A lot has been written about this band. They're three sisters who started playing music with their parents in a band called Rockinhaim (later shortened to just HAIM). They wrote their entire first album in their living room. They pal around with T-Swift. 

I started listening to HAIM shortly before their first album, "Days are Gone", was released and caught them live with my friends Brandon and Maria at Neumos in Seattle. Days are Gone had been on repeat for months and I shamelessly sang along to every lyric I could remember.

Their sophomore release, Something to Tell You, just dropped last week. They had been telling the press that it would be released in the fall, which made this a very welcome July surprise. This is a must-listen album in my opinion.

It's hard to avoid the Fleetwood Mac comparisons (Stevie Nicks is apparently a fan). While there's a strong undercurrent of 70's rock in HAIM's music, the first band I actually thought of was Wilson Phillips – the three part harmony, the drums, the (great) pop songwriting... not to mention the fact that they're also a group of three sisters. At this point it's fair to imagine me watching VH1 at my grandmother's house sporting a turtleneck and spikey hair, singing along to Wilson Phillips in between bites of off-brand Cheetos.

Stop reading and load up the album on your streaming service of choice. Play it all the way through at least twice. #yourewelcome <3

And for those born after 1989, I give you Wilson Phillips. 

Winston Surfshirt

Winston Surfshirt is a go-anywhere easily prepared dish with contemporary Australian flavors. Although it can make for a great main course, this smaller dish pairs well with just about everything in your kitchen, from hip hop, to soul, to indie. 

Ingredients 

• Two cups of minor electric pianos. Ideally Thievery Corporation Rhodes. 
• 1 tsp MGMT falsetto, diced.
• Two heaping tablespoons of Tom Misch inspired drums and guitar. 
• 1 pinch zest of U.K. rap delivery/flow. 

Recipe

Combine electric pianos, drums, guitar, and falsetto in medium bowl and whisk gently until evenly mixed. Season with UK rap delivery to taste. 

Good for: rooftop parties, strutting with your earbuds in, dancing in your underwear, cranking through work at a coffeeshop, unwinding with your main squeeze.

Lucius

On paper, Lucius' unabashed hopping between the sounds of indie, folk, and classic rock should be a dizzying experience. But somehow... it isn't. They manage to dial these ingredients up and down in a way that is refreshing rather than jarring or discordant. 

I've seen Lucius twice now. When they took the stage at the Prospect Park Bandshell they told the crowd that it was their first time playing that stage, and that they lived just around the corner. It was one of those New York moments where you're reminded how many amazing and talented people you share the city with. You stand in line for coffee next to them, sit next to them on the subway, and then watch them deliver a mesmerizing performance in one of the most beautiful settings in the city. 

Good for: long drives, breaking up, moving on, rocking out. 

Miles from Kinshasa

Born in the Congo, now living in London, Miles from Kinshasa takes you to far away places, where funky spices and pollen fill your lungs, labyrinth markets disappear all sense of direction, and the heat of dark curries provide equilibrium with the hot, sticky, climate. 

I'm hoping we get an LP soon, and to catch him live. 

The Lone Bellow

2013 was a hell of a year. I was going through a rough divorce. I was diagnosed with cancer a few days before my birthday. I was broke and essentially homeless, staying rent-free in my good friend Kav’s living room (for which I’ll be eternally grateful). Against this backdrop, I was preparing to move to New York, leaving behind every support structure I had for a city I knew very little about and where I knew even fewer people. 

While I listened to a lot of music throughout 2013, one band in particular got me through that year. I can’t remember how I heard of them, or when I first started listening. But I do know that by late 2013, The Lone Bellow’s self-titled debut album was playing on repeat from the small pair of speakers I had setup in my makeshift bedroom. 

The band members met in NYC and recorded the album at a club in NYC’s Lower East Side. The venue owner had fallen in love with their music and closed his club for three days and nights, allowing them to record this music that soundtracked the rolling waves of doubt, grief, and resolve that characterized 2013. 

Earlier this month I had the chance to see lead singer Zach Williams perform an acoustic set at Rockwood Music Hall, one of the best (and perhaps smallest) venues in New York. Part of the way through his set, Zach said that Rockwood was the first venue he ever played in New York City and had been incredibly supportive of the band throughout the years. He then said that this room we were standing in, a room where I had enjoyed musicians like Kevin Garrett, Junius Meyvant, and Emily King, that this room was where they recorded their first album over the course of 72 hours.

I know it sounds cheesy, but this familiar place now suddenly felt like hallowed ground. 

“Lord help us,” Zach said, “if anything ever happens to this place.”

One of my favorite bands, playing one of my favorite songs, in one of my favorite places on earth – Telluride Colorado. 

They also do epic covers. 

From Zach Williams' acoustic set at Rockwood. Totally magical night. ✨

A post shared by Donald DeSantis (@donalddesantis) on Jun 25, 2017 at 12:26pm PDT