Some weeks, you don't go to any good shows. Some weeks, you go to a great show—like, say, catching Solvent and Lusine at the Electric Tea Garden between the hours of 2:30 and 4:30 a.m. on Friday night/Saturday morning—and, as much as you enjoy it, end up with just not that much to say, not a whole column's worth. So, instead, here are a handful of songs to get you in the mood for this still-barely-lurching-to-a-start summer (yes, I just searched "summer" in my iTunes this morning and wrote up the best results).
"Summer Babe" by Pavement
Pavement's quintessential summer-lovin' string of non sequiturs, wisely set to a melodic bass line, triumphant flares of guitar fuzz, and then-drummer/crazy-hippie Gary Young's hi-hat hits that land like both ellipses and strings of exclamation points. The song's subject is alluring, confounding (it is Pavement), and necessarily melting away like ice—sit around, find you're shot (or shocked) every time it's gone.
"My Summer Girl" by the Rentals
A straightforward antidote to Pavement's beguiling obfuscations: The analog synths gently saw from ear to ear, the drums pound as hard as anything, guitar and violin interject, and male/female harmonies sing about an archetypally fleeting romance, ending on a note of sad resignation: "My summer girl... I'll never be your type."
"Indian Summer" by Beat Happening
What we better get, given how late the warm weather arrived this year. A shimmery guitar strum, a one-drum beat, and Calvin Johnson braying beatifically about the lingering dog days and their charms—boys, girls, flora and fauna in full bloom, warm rain, slow walks.
"Summer" by Modest Mouse
Like its titular season in the Northwest, this vintage MM jam starts out blurry and bleary, the sun not so much rising as being forcibly roused from a hangover. A simple, scratchy chka-chka guitar, Isaac Brock mumble-rapping about pagers (lol '90s), swimming holes, and going to the party to "dance'n'dance'n'dance'n'gocrazy," and finally the sigh, "Just the smell of the summer can make me fall in love."
"Summer Job" by Art Brut
An ode not so much to the doldrums and small joys of inconsequential seasonal work, but to the great joy of quitting and walking off into the sunshine and the hot sand. Another shitty job is waiting, but in the meantime, there's no better season for slacking off.
"Summer Song" by YACHT
The perfect place to end: not a song about the summer or summer love (although it was also a love letter to YACHT's summer tourmates LCD Soundsystem), but a song about the songs we get stuck in our heads to soundtrack the season. Meta, right? Plus, it's got an automating disco beat, squealing and bass-bubbling synth lines, and a hella catchy hand-clapping chorus. Consider it an ode to every KUBE or KEXP summer jam (DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Animal Collective, I'm thinking of you) that didn't fit here. 
