24 Jan 2020

How bloody good is summer?

Even better than that – how bloody good is kicking back with your mates in the sun and listening to some absolute tuuuuuunes?

Over at Year13 headquarters, we love pumping banger after banger while we work. However, there’s a pretty diverse range in music tastes in our office, so the definition of the word “banger” is always up for debate.

We’ve gone ahead and asked 10 of the legends who work at Year13 what their fave track of the summer has been and why. Whether you like chilled acoustic tunes, or pump-up bangers, there’s probs someone at Year13 with similar music tastes to you.

Watermelon Sugar - Harry Styles

Chosen by: Sacha
this song is an absolute mood. Not gonna lie, I was quite the 1D fan and majorly loved Harry, but kinda forgot about him over the years, so this song really helped regain my fat crush. It was vibey as for driving to the beach with my friends this summer.

Dominos - Northeast Party House

Chosen by: Josh

This song is summer in a nutshell: hot, sweaty and bound to get messy.

Find an Island - BENEE

Chosen by: Blake

After missing BENEE's set at Spilt Milk in Canberra (word of advice: don’t go too ham on the pre-drinks and lock the house keys inside your Airbnb), my friends and I pumped this jam over the summer holidays to make up for it. Boppy and very easy to sing along to, it was the perfect song to pep us up on long drives.

Location - Dave feat. Burna Boy

Chosen by: Jordan

This song got completely rinsed over summer out of my speakers – there’s just nothing better than some pleasant wholesome grime.

I Wrote Mr Tambourine Man (Live) – John Craigie ft Jack Johnson

Chosen by: Damon

I used to hate country music, and there’s still a large portion of it which I really don’t like. However, I’ve found that lately, the point at which a song becomes “too country” for me has been getting pushed further and further back.

This song might be way too country for a lot of ya and 12 months ago it probably would’ve been too country for me as well. But I absolutely froth on this track and it’s been a big part of my summer – so give it a go and enjoy!

Tokyo Drifting – Glass Animals + Denzel Curry

Chosen by: Hannah:

Because Glass Animals is a vibe and their album ZABA is an all-time fave. They’re back baby! Sneaky second place goes to Purple Hat by Sofi Tukker because I just got a new car and it’s a banger of a tune to boom round town and to/from the beach.

The People - Common

Chosen by: Olympia:

This one is peerrrfect them hot nostalgic summer days.

2009 - Mac Miller

Chosen by: Hamish

This might not be the biggest ‘summer vibes’ song in the world, but I’ve absolutely slammed it the last few months so it’s gotta top the list. In it, Mac reflects on his break-up with Ariana and how his mental state has improved and that he’s “never felt this high before, like (he’s) never been alive before”.

As you (should) know, after the break-up Ariana and Pete Davidson got together and 2 months later engaged – obviously rattling Mac to the core where he fell into substance abuse and depression. Hearing that his mental health had improved had me excited into thinking we could be in for some incredible albums, but unfortunately, we only got the one – “Circles”.

PS if you haven’t watched his Tiny Desk performance, please do so right now.

La Mar – The Beautiful Girls

Chosen by: Will

Everything about this song is perfect. I love how stripped back it is – all you need is one or two instruments, a chilled vibe and some beautiful lyrics. There is no sense of rush at all in this song and that’s exactly what summer should be about.

Mallrat - Charlie

Chosen by: Emma

The first time I listened to this song I started crying in the middle of a packed Sydney train. While it’s not the dance style bop you’d expect to be the song of the summer, with everything going on at the moment (bushfires, dust storms, drought, and floods) it seems appropriate to choose a song that has a whole lotta emotions wrapped up in it.