The Morning Benders, "All Day Day Light" (2010)
find it on Big Echo

I'm beginning to think that, around the turn of the year, there was some cosmic conversion of creativity and climate, where songwriters and producers somehow, instinctively knew that the upcoming summer would be a scorcher, and so they'd better write a perfect summer soundtrack for it. I can't remember the last time there were so many perfect summer songs and I can't remember the last time a summer was so fucking hot.

Reaching some kind of summer songs crescendo is "All Day Day Light", which tips us off to it's summeriness by not only coming off an album that has swimmers at a beach on it's cover, but repeats the word "summer" twice at the beginning of every line in the chorus. So there's no confusion there. But there's no confusion to the song either, a clear rocker free from jadedness from an album that's about as innocent as indie can get without ever being twee.

Let the summer roll on and the hits follow...

Konono Nº1, "Mana Na Bana" (2010)
find it on Assume Crash Position

It's hard to decide what kind of tunes should soundtrack whiling away the days of the heatwave. Do you want something as slow and lazy as the feeling of being overheated, or do you want that overwhelms the heat with heat of its own?

"Mama Na Bana" is definitely the latter. It starts with a nice African jump feel, shared vocals, and the ubiquitous thumb pianos of Konono Nº1, but just before the three minute mark it explodes with heavier drums and the sound of musicians losing themselves in a moment. Like how people in tropical parts of the world eat spicy food, it's a perfect pairing of hot with hot.

Tobacco featuring Beck, "Hex"
find it on Maniac Meat

It's one of those weeks where there was no one song that clearly deserved Fine Tune Friday, so I have to reach into the reserves: those songs that have been contenders for weeks but always been outshone by something else.

"Hex" is one of the most exciting things Beck's done in years. A greasy, distorted beat with some of sing/rapping as only Beck can do. This track officially has Tobacco's name on it, but it's a logical extension of Odelay's "Novocane". And sounds nearly as good.

Also, Tobacco is entering the crowded field of Worst Album Cover of 2010. I don't think anyone's going to beat out Liz Phair for the title, but this one and MIA come close.

Menomena, "Queen Black Acid" (2010)
find it on Mines

Menomena had one of my favorite songs of the 00's in "Muscle n Flo", a great song that became incredible at it's transcendant middle, as arms-raised-to-the-sky as indie ever gets.

That favorite moment of mine was apparently one of Menomena's favorites as well, because they've taken that amazing single moment in the center of a song and turned it into the centerpiece of a new one. The chorus of "Queen Black Acid" has it's own feel even while it has the same ache of total surrender whose main emotion could be bliss as easily as it could be defeat. A beautiful start to Menomena's new album.

Lille, "Robert Cohn" (2010)
find it on Tall Shoulders

"Robert Cohn" reminds me a bit of Nina Nastasia's stark sound, but the brooding is less of the Tom Waits-style eccentricity found in Nastasia's music and more of the temporary melancholy of The Decemberists's quieter moments. It's a lovely song that feels a little strange to be posting on such a beautiful summer day, but put it in your pocket for a day when the skies get grey, and you'll have the perfect sound.

The Roots (featuring Joanna Newsom & STS), "Right On" (2010)
find it on How I Got Over

Look, there really isn't any way around this: this week's FTF selection is right in our wheelhouse. A new album from Philadelphia's The Roots always provides an occasion to perk one's ears up. But when word leaked that How I Got Over would feature contributions from the Dirty Projectors, My Morning Jacket's Jim James and Joanna Newsom? Suffice to say, the level of intrigue increased considerably.

Thankfully, How I Got Over is more than just an indie rock crossover gambit; it's another notch in the belt for one of hip-hop's most consistently pleasing and inventive acts. And "Right On" is one of the album's highlights. Here ?uestlove makes unlikely bedfellows of Joanna Newsom's "Book Of Right-On" and a meat-and-potatoes, but tried-and-true, hard hitting beat. Black Thought and STS bookend the hook with some old school braggadocious verses. And that's that. Call it a hit.

Tennis, "Marathon" (2010)

And the summer hits just keep on coming. "Marathon" is another track of '60's-influenced pop with a gritty, low-fi presentation that's as 2010 as Cults or Best Coast, but it's the complexity of the song that takes it from gauze pop catchiness into it's own kinds of excitement. There's no chorus, and not even many repeating parts, but it's as filled with hooks as a more straighforward kind of pop. It starts as a wistful '60's girl group sound until it's fueled with it's own enthusiasm, abandoning melodies and styles when it finds other ones more exciting. A true gem.

Note: Due to Tennis deciding to go with the trend of giving themselves a completely unsearchable name (and one that another Australian band already has), please enjoy the above photo of my family's beach vacation last summer.

There's no amount of frosting that'll make this post's full disclosure any easier to swallow: not only am I a member of the band that I'm about to write about, but another one of our writers (I'll let you guess which one) is married to the singer.

But I've been lucky enough to be in bands whose music I actually like and The Positions are no exception, so why shouldn't I write about us? We have a shared love of the great choruses that come with pop music, and it's awesome to be able to create something that we love listening to and playing and flogging shamelessly—yet genuinely—on our music blogs.

Here's the details: new six-song album that, until June 29th (when it hits all iTunes store, etc), you can download for a name-your-own price, and, much like a baby, you can name your price FREE. Now, if you name your baby Free, people will think you're a hippie or something, but if you name your price free, people will just be turned on by your sexy frugality.

Because I know you love context, it's recommended if you like Good Humor-era Saint Etienne, Lucky Soul, and Dexy's Midnight Runners. And it's also recommended if you think that those boys at Naive Harmonies have excellent taste. And it sounds like this:

The Positions, "Tonight!" (2010)

Go to the album page for the link on where to download it. And if it turns out that you like it, click all Facebook like/recommendation buttons that you find, write about it on your own blogs, and hire a skywriter to write a message of peace and love and free downloads over Brooklyn. Great, thanks.