Japandroids – The House That Heaven Built

May just might be one of my favorite months.  As a teacher, it means that summer break is so close that I can taste it.  Teachers need a break too!

May also means that it’s warm enough to drive around with the windows down, and not so hot that you feel like you’re melting into your seats.  Now if you’re going to be driving around with your windows down you have to have some perfect loud warm weather music to blast through your speakers.  Who better than those crazy Canadians the Japandroids.  All of theirs songs are meant to be played as loud as possible with no regards to your ear drums.

Enjoy, your inner-teenager will greatly appreciate it!

Atlas Genius – “Trojans”

I know I am totally behind the boat on Atlas Genius.  I finally picked up their debut album When It Was Now, and dang is it good.  It has been on heavy repeat on my iPod, and I’m pretty sure I found one of my go-to albums for the summer.

Ryan Adams – “Wonderwall (Live version)”

I can still remember the first time I heard this Ryan Adams track.  It was way back when I was a freshmen in college, and I could hardly believe it.  Hands down my favorite singer-songwriter covering one of my favorite songs.  It was like a dream come true.

Through the years, I constantly find myself coming back to Ryan Adams.  Whether it’s his Whiskeytown albums or his plethora of solo material, I just can’t get enough.  Every few weeks I find myself listening to one of his albums.  For whatever reason, it really resonates with me.  Might be all the good memories associated with it.

Before my wife and I were married, for my 21st birthday she took me all the way to San Francisco to see Adams play at the Fillmore.  Almost every stage off my adult life Adams has been there for me.

For all the tracks that he has written though, this cover might be one of my favorites.  Way better then the album version, this is just Ryan and his guitar playing the crap out of the track, complete with beat boxing.  It’s the perfect blend of seriousness with a smidge of humor.  Something I think we all need in our lives.