Top Five: Music for a Heat Wave

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


mojo-photo-top5-070908.jpg

Since everybody’s so into lists these days, I figured I’d bring back my Top Five mini-countdown of fun stuff ‘n’ things, with the added conveneince of an Imeem widget for your listening pleasure (see below). This week, as we in California roast under triple-digit temperatures, why not celebrate with some tunes that either take explicit pleasure in the heat, or at least sound really good on a warm night.

1. Roy Ayers – “Everybody Loves the Sunshine”
It must have been a hot summer in 1976 too, since this track has the languid swoon of waves lapping gently on the beach, and the high, sustained violin note is like a bright white disk in the sky. Plus I could listen to that piano line on an infinite loop.

2. Julieta Venegas – “Eres Para Mi” (Sonidero Nacional Cumbia Remix)
The original of this 2007 hit was still omnipresent when I was in Mexico earlier this year, and sure, it’s got a kind of Ace of Base pop-reggae appeal. I just heard this cumbia remix, and it makes it even better.

3. Quiet Village – “Pacific Rhythm”
While this duo has roots in dance music, their new album Silent Movie digs deeper into the swampy history of lounge than even, say, Air. Think Martin Denny, from whence the combo took their name.

4. Harry Belafonte – “Jump In the Line (Shake Senora)” (John Bourke Bmore mix)
I’ll admit right now that whenever Beetlejuice comes on TV I almost always watch it, and a great part of its appeal is its use of Belafonte’s strange, creepy-yet-joyous music. A Baltimore-style remix, adding thumps to the “shake, shake, shake” line, is obvious but highly effective.

5. The Music – “Fire”
You might think this UK band would be hard to Google, but their pages come right up. Anyway, while the fusion of dance music with rock energy has produced some misfires (hi there, Jesus Jones), The Music have the ecstatic intensity of early U2.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate