The Heat is On: Sounds for Summer Swelter
Photograph by Matthew Hiram from the trails of Hiawatha Park.
The heat is here in Minneapolis, charting an eye-popping 92 degrees yesterday. For the upper Midwest, that’s pretty hot.
I’ve pulled together a few standouts from the recent onslaught of amazing new Summertime tunes to help keep cool. This playlist offers a shady selection from some of the finest string strummers, knob mashers, and synth slingers on the planet today. Keep reading for a few thoughts on the tunes.
Check out The Heat is On Playlist on BuyClub Music, and stream the full playlist below.
The Playlist
🧊 Golden Brown – “Whisker Fatigue”
A humid ambient-dub sprawl that leans into dread and deep tone.
Label: Eiderdown Records
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Félicia Atkinson – “Green”
A hushed piano meditation, pulsing with subtle emotional architecture.
Label: Shelter Press
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Justin Sweatt – “In Evening Air”
Warmth and melodic serenity from the new album Rose House.
Label: Aural Canyon
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 David Cordero – “El olor del verano”
A slow-burning lullaby on the new Noray Records imprint.
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Nico Georis – “Geological Observations”
Lush and earthy textures from the recent album Music Belongs To The Universe.
Label: LEAVING RECORDS
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Massi NPL – “London”
Minimal yet magnetic, like foggy night walks through a distant city.
Label: Herah
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢.𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘶𝘥 – “Rainy Yekaterinburg”
Dreamlike environmental abstraction from the ever-boundary pushing Not Not Fun.
Label: Not Not Fun Records
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Misha Sultan + Purpurniy Dyadya – “Interlude 1”
Eastern shimmer meets modular drift, brief but effective.
Label: Aural Canyon
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Cole Pulice – “In This & Every Life”
Lush, ambient saxophone, from the deep and expressive new full-length.
Label: LEAVING RECORDS
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Secret Places of the Lion – “TELESTERION”
Mystic electronics and psychedelic whispers from Not Not Fun’s wild side.
Label: Not Not Fun Records
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Hiram – “Surfacing”
Sunlit botanical reflection, made for quiet moments.
Label: Permaculture Media
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Planetary Technicians – “The Drift”
Cinematic space sound, unfolding with gravitational pull.
Label: Per Musica Ad Astra
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Sylvain Henricksen – “Pineywoods Path Trailhead”
Earth-toned drones leading deeper into the meditative forest.
Label: Archaic Meditations
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Klaus Wiese, Ted De Jong & M. Grassow – “El-Hadra: The Mystik Dance”
Timeless Sufi-inspired trance work: slow, vast, and devotional.
Label: The Fact Of Being
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 canteenkilla and Low Noon – “Music For Monarch Butterflies”
A buzzing garden of tone and movement, dreamlike modular calm.
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Hildegard Westerkamp – “Beneath the Forest Floor”
A foundational work in soundscape composition, listening with the whole body.
Label: The Listening Room
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Tim Six – “Park In The Evening”
Deep listening, and melancholy melodies drifting into twilight.
Label: Aural Canyon
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Klaus Wolfe – “Evenness of Mind I”
Drones rooted in calm and awareness.
Label: Archaic Meditations
Buy on Bandcamp
🧊 Effective Dreaming – “Dream Catalogue Vol.1”
Wistful, vaporous ambient documenting half-remembered dreams.
Label: Fluere Tapes
Buy on Bandcamp
🔗 Full Playlist on BuyMusic Club.
Thanks for listening and following along, I’m so happy to share and connect with you through music.
Be sure to hit those links to support the artists and labels that make it all happen!
Warmly,
- Matthew
