(Picture taken by More Attitude on Flickr)

Its tough to stay focused and work at your job, or even write on your website when someone you know has taken a nice week-long vacation.  Such is true for MUF’s co-founder, who has been away the beach for this entire week.  If you have your mind on the summer like me, perhaps its time to kick into summer mode even though the summer solstice is actually a week and a half away.

Here we’ve compiled a short list to get you into the summer mode.  Afterall, its not the same driving around with your windows down in the Winter.  The summer brings out the best in music listening and that’s what these songs offer.  What are your favorite summer songs?  Here are a few of mine:

Perhaps the inspiration for this list alone is based on “Loro” alone.  Pinback might best be known for their accent on the duo’s intermingling guitar melodies and low-down basslines we just can never seem to get enough of.  “Loro” is a prime example of everything we love in a group.  The song feels fitting for a night on the beach after a relaxing day in the sun.

MP3: Pinback – Loro (buy)

As much as we’d like to throw Radiohead on here, that might either be obvious or just too brash for us to put an “anytime-of-the-year” band on here.  Instead, the Easy Star All Stars do a great version of one of Radiohead’s most popular songs out there, “Paranoid Android”.  Their album Radiodread follows the same suit, so if you dig this, then you might want to dig futher.

MP3: Easy Star All Stars – Karma Police (buy)

One of our best finds, yet seemingly unknown to the world outside Silverlake, California is The Shore.  For a group who cannot have enough spoken about their music, their music is simply fit for the band name and even more fit for the summer season.

MP3: The Shore – Waiting For The Sun (buy)

From another one of our favorite low-key bands, AMANSET is a perfect tune to play loud in your car while driving down to the shore.  With lyrics such as “I watch the sun come up while you’re sleeping it off …” this defunct group led by the ever-present Andrew Kenny left a trail of great songs such as this one.

MP3: The American Analog Set – The Postman (buy)

While we’re on the subject of Andrew Kenny, there’s another great track and someone named Ben Gibbard, who you might have heard of somewhere.  The track is one of my favorites as far as acousic’s with Gibbard on vocals.  Like “405″ tainted with AMANSET all over it.  Aside from that, almost any song written about the Carolinas turns out to be quite stellar.

MP3: Ben Gibbard and Andrew Kenny – Caroline (buy)

For some it may seem like spring is in the air, for others the bird chirpings and effects in Seabear’s “I Sing I Swim” makes it a summer song.  The song itself is about nature, clouds, love and all of the good things about singing outdoors.  Whar more could you ask from a song on a warm weathered day?

MP3: Seabear – I Sing I Swim (buy)

Since Minus the Bear’s Menos El Oso album arrived in 2005, there hasn’t been a summer that’s gone by without this song jamming in my stereo. Perhaps a trip to Pachuca is in store for me in the near future?

MP3: Minus the Bear – Pachuca Sunrise (buy)

Popularity: 27% [?]

Related Posts:

1. Part 2: MUF’s Top 100 Songs of 2009 (60-79)
2. Part 3: MUF’s Top 100 Songs of 2009 (40-59)
3. Part 1: MUF’s Top 100 Songs of 2008 (81-100)
4. Songs Of The Week
5. Part 5: MUF’s Top 100 Songs of 2008 (1-20)