Music Matters

Beyond Carmageddon: The perfect playlist for anyone stuck in a traffic nightmare

Radiohead
Fleet Foxes

It’s about that time of year to pack up and hit the road, facing both the stress of the freeway and the doldrums of a long car ride. Carmageddon may have passed, but the summer traffic isn't going anywhere.

Ah, but I’ve got the remedy for you, my dear friends. It’s a mix of the best songs to cross my path in 2011, a pretty fruitful musical year so far. This mix is guaranteed to make those long hours on the road just a bit more bearable.

“The Valley” by Okkervil River: Let’s start this off with a cathartic rocker, guaranteed to get your trip off and rolling with authority. Okkervil front man Will Sheff sings about traversing “the valley of the rock and roll dead,” just as you’ll be weaving effortlessly between all of the zombies blocking your path.

“Velcro” by Bell XI: I’ll cop to being not too familiar with this band, which has been very popular in their native Ireland for some time now. This is an invigorating slice of dance pop a la Phoenix, and you might not hear a more romantic line all summer long than “I’ll be your Velcro.”

“Tree Down By The River” by Iron & Wine: You might consider bearded folkie Sam Beam more of a winter artist, with his hushed voice and acoustic renderings. Here, however, he spins off a gorgeously nostalgic summer reverie, complete with falsetto-backing vocals to capture a Beach Boys-vibe.

“Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall” by Coldplay: I don’t know if this upcoming album is the one that will be the group's first truly classic full-length. What I do know is that, until Bono and The Edge get untangled from their web, Chris Martin and company have cornered the market on effortlessly uplifting singles.

“Codex” by Radiohead: You’ll have to be careful not to get too transfixed on the beauty of this composition from The King Of Limbs while at the wheel, or else you might hurtle over a guard rail or two. At least you’ll do it in the most tranquil way possible.

“Dimming Of The Day” by Allison Krauss & Union Station: Tell the significant other that you’ve got some dust in your eye when this one comes on, because I guarantee you’ll be a bit misty when you hear Krauss’ take on this Richard & Linda Thompson classic.

“Time Spent In Los Angeles” by Dawes: This band hails from LA, so it knows from whence it speaks on this song about a girl with a “special kind of sadness.” The song joins the proud lineage of melancholy songs about the West Coast, a la the best offerings of Jackson Browne or Don Henley.

“Villains On The Moon” by Cold Cave: Do you remember that brief point in the 80’s where Depeche Mode was cranking out weirdly captivating songs like “Enjoy The Silence” and “Policy of Truth” with regularity? This song is just like one of those, courtesy of a New York City band to watch.

“Yonkers” by Tyler The Creator: I’m not condoning anything that’s going on this song, but it is impossible to deny both the captivating power of its Pac-Man-run amok rhythm and the inventiveness of the lyrics, as raw as they might be.

“Codeine” by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: The former Drive-By Trucker has carved out a nice little niche as the head of this new collective. This song is a quintessential piece of alt-country, with fiddles and pedal steel that accentuate Isbell’s tale of wayward former flame.

“Someone You’d Admire” by Fleet Foxes: The Foxes new album is definitely a contender for the finest of the year so far, and this unabashedly pretty song might be the highlight. Substitute anything from the latest Bon Iver album if you’re looking for something equally soft and luminous.

“June Hymn” by The Decemberists: OK, it’s a month late, but this sublime offering from The King Is Dead, the best album of the year in my opinion, encapsulates the season in perfect fashion. No traffic jam would be complete without it.

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Movie review

Nerdy teen comedies make a comeback with new movie Summer of 69

Photo courtesy of Hulu

Sam Morelos and Chloe Fineman in Summer of 69.

There was a trend in the late 2010s/early 2020s of bawdy comedies featuring teenage female protagonists, including Blockers, Booksmart, and Yes, God, Yes. Those types of films seemed to go by the wayside in recent years, but they’re making a comeback with the new film Summer of 69.

Abby (Sam Morelos) is a high school senior and video game streamer who has had a crush on her classmate Max (Matt Cornett) for her entire childhood. When she learns that Max has recently broken up with his longtime girlfriend, she’s determined to make her move. With advice from a confidant that Max likes a certain sexual position, Abby sets out to learn as much as she can about it, including hiring a stripper, Santa Monica (Chloe Fineman), to help her.

Coincidentally, Santa Monica is facing a situation where the club at which she works, Diamond Dolls, will be closed if the owner doesn’t come up with $20,000 in a week. Abby, who comes from a well-to-do family, seems to offer the perfect solution, and so the two agree to a week of lessons for that amount. Naturally, all sorts of complications arise, as well as the two women forming an unexpected bond.

Written and directed by Jillian Bell, with help from co-writers Jules Byrne and Liz Nico, the film is both suggestive and innocent at the same time. For all of the talk about sex and innuendo, having the nerdy and inexperienced Abby at the center of the film ensures that the story remains relatively chaste throughout. That includes scenes at the strip club, where Bell makes the choice to show almost no nudity.

Most of the humor of the film stems from Abby’s lack of experience, highlighted by her having “sexual” fantasies about Max that never actually get to the sex part. The juxtaposition between Abby and Santa Monica is also used for laughs, although Bell and her co-writers make sure to include a side story for the dancer that makes her into a three-dimensional person.

What ultimately makes the movie succeed is the way it keeps its characters relatable. Many high school films feel the need to play into a bunch of stereotypes, but those are kept to a minimum here. Instead, Bell upends expectations by delivering honest - sometimes to a fault for the characters - dialogue that acknowledges the spectrum of sexual realities for high schoolers, a version that differs from insatiable horniness of some other teen comedies.

Morelos, one of the stars of Netflix’s That ‘90s Show, makes for a charming lead, someone who can convincingly take her character from awkward to confident over the course of the story. Fineman, best known for her current stint as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, complements her well, showing her comedic prowess in a number of physical scenes. A supporting cast that includes Nicole Byer, Paula Pell, Alex Moffat, and Natalie Morales keeps the energy level high.

Despite its titillating title, Summer of 69 is much more sweet than naughty. Like most coming-of-age movies, it’s about a girl who’s trying to figure out where she fits in the world. The answers she finds aren’t always the ones she was expecting, but in the best possible way.

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Summer of 69 starts streaming on Hulu on May 9.

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