We know that by now, summer seems like a sad, distant memory. As you struggle to get into the school grind, take a look back at some of summer’s happenings in music both in Philly and beyond.
Billboard ranked its top ten summer songs based on sales, radio play and how sick of them you currently are (kidding ... sort of). 1 "California Gurls" Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
2 "Love the Way You Lie" Eminem feat. Rihanna 3 "Airplanes" B.o.B. feat. Hayley Williams
4 "OMG" Usher feat. will.i.am
5 "Dynamite" Taio Cruz
6 "Billionaire" Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars
7 "Cooler Than Me" Mike Posner
8 "I Like It" Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull
9 "Find Your Love" Drake
10 "Not Afraid" Eminem
Canadian rockers ARCADE FIRE released their ambitious, sprawling third album The Suburbs. The band also broadcast their Madison Square Garden concert on YouTube as part of the website’s “Unstaged” series.
Indie surf pop trio Best Coast released their debut album Crazy For You to critical and commercial acclaim. Every hipster boy we know is now crushing on Bethany Cosentino, the group’s lead singer.
ROBYN, our favorite Swedish pop diva, released the first of three EPs this year, Body Talk Part 1. We fell in love with “Dancing on My Own” as well as the girl power of “Don’t Fucking Tell Me What to Do.”
VOYEUR, formerly Pure nightclub, has begun to position itself as a Philadelphia concert venue. Rowdy South African hip-hoppers Die Antwoord paid the space a visit this summer.
An overnight viral sensation, CEE-LO's “Fuck You” emerged seemingly out of nowhere to become the unofficial song of summer. The odd-but-awesome intersection of angsty lyrics and exuberant vocals will propel this song well into the fall.
Philly favorites THE ROOTS released their latest CD, How I Got Over. They’re also prepping WAKE UP!, a disc of soul covers featuring John Legend.
ON APRIL 17TH, while you were all desperately preparing for finals (or not), the third annual Record Store Day rocked indie stores across the country. Scores of bands released exclusive material including: Pavement, Beastie Boys and The Flaming Lips, as well as indie titans Yeasayer, whose guitarist graduated from Penn a few years ago. In Philadelphia, local hero Kurt Vile appeared at the Beautiful World Syndicate on 48th and Pine.
Drexel hip-hop duo CHIDDY BANG traveled the festival circuit this summer appearing at both Glastonbury and Lollapalooza. Though their album won’t drop until October they realeased a litany of awesome remixes this summer including one of “Stylo” by the Gorillaz.
