Yup. It’s the time of the year again. Summer is finally here, and the cheery-yet-laidback holiday feel is back creeping on us. True to the tradition, we’ve picked out 13 summer anthems that fit the criteria to be the soundtracks of the most anticipated holiday of the season. Whether you’re sunbathing in the beach or just simply sipping on your lemonade at home, these tunes will make everything feel much more fun and jolly.

1. Trains – Wampire

With its lazy and breezy tune, Trains quickly puts you in a true summer mood. Its retro-funk feel will compel you to just relax, to lie down on the warm sand of the beach, and put your shades on as you bask in the heavenly sunlight.

2. 3am Spiritual – Smith Westerns

Craving for a peek of the new Smith Westerns album, Soft Will? This track might give you an idea or two of what the band have to offer. 3am Spiritual has some kind of a John Lennon-inspired melancholy goodness to it, completed with a touch of emotional guitar solo that will make you feel like you’re being thrown into a time machine and get sent back to the 1960s—which, is a cool decade, by the way. This is the song you’d want to be on play as you surf the waves of the Indian Ocean, or when you’re speeding down the highway that leads to your summer destination.

3. Alive – Empire of the Sun

The chorus of this song sounds pretty self-explanatory; “Loving every minute ‘cause you make me feel so alive,” sings Luke Steele. It’s a dancing ecstasy that sends tingles to every fiber of your body, making it hard for you to not break into a move. The shimmery synths make listening to the whole track feels like a trip to Neptune in the middle of summer; escaping from the hot, unforgivable heat, to the chilly and freezing planet. It’s been said many times that the mind is a powerful thing, and Alive will probably help you tone down the high temperature and cope with the heat wave that is to come during the season.

4. White Noise – Disclosure (feat Aluna George)

The sharp staccato synth melody, combined with the sugary sweet, almost-childlike voice of Aluna Francis (of Aluna George), is definitely the recipe for this catchy and dancy track. There’s probably nothing cooler than to have this song playing in a hip beach party you’re attending.

5. Demon Dance – Surfer Blood

Demon Dance is the second single off the new Surfer Blood album, Phytons. Judging from the sound of this song, it seems that Surfer Blood have managed to maintain their signature indie-meets-grunge roots. It’s packed with gritty pop vocals and hooky, Weezer-ish guitar, but the light melody makes the song a perfect company as you do your summer activities–maybe even get you to sing (or shout) along to a few lines from it.

6. Diane Young – Vampire Weekend

Aside from the funky bass and clattering drums, the surf guitar from Rostam Batmanglij also makes this somewhat abstract song something immensely fun to listen to. If this doesn’t immediately put you in a summery, groovy party mood, we’re not sure what would.

7. She Changes the Weather – Swim Deep

Mighty guitar squalls? Check. Frontman Austin Williams cooing like a Romeo? Check. This could be the soundtrack for your beautiful summer love.

8. Guns – CHVRCHES

Hauled as the band’s “best track to date” by many, Gun has an electro-pop sound and simple bass. It doesn’t sound too flashy or boisterous, which makes it a perfect summer festival sing-along.

9. The National – Sea of Love

Sea of Love (from which the band’s new album—“Trouble Will Find Me”– had taken its title from) is a tender, vigorous rock song that charms its way to your heart at the first listen. It could also be the perfect song for a slow, humid day.

10. Jessica – Major Lazer (feat Ezra Koenig)

It’s a low-paced ska-tinged jam that triggers a modicum of head nodding. The first thing that crosses your mind once you hear the intro would be an image of  an exotic tropical island with white sand and palm trees on the sides. Add Ezra Koenig’s vocal, and you’ve got yourself an engrossing song to hum to as you take a walk to the beach.

11. No Shelter – Blouse

No Shelter feels like a valley girl-acid trip, coated in some post-punk feel and a flavor of west coast America. The Portland band surely succeeded to deliver all the hazy goodness in this song.

12. Blurred Lines – Robin Thicke (feat T.I. and Pharrell)

When you ignore its racy content, the track is a bubbly bit of disco-shuffling R&B, with the (almost) right balance of smooth and soulful.

13. Get Lucky – Daft Punk

Okay. Some of you are probably shaking your head right now, saying that this one should be on the top of the list. The rest would probably argue that the hype has murdered this song for you that you can’t even listen to it anymore. But still, you can’t deny that the song sounds so, so good. Get Lucky is a formidable old-school disco jam. It’s intoxicating with the combination of minor chords and regular disco-type “up” beats throughout the song. A number of critics have even called it a track that represents “all that’s right in electronic music.” All in all, it’s a fun song that fits the happy mood of summer, a tune that easily gets one to sway their way to the dance floor.

 (Shafira Desliara/Photo: Karpe Diem)

This year we have seen so many eye-popping concerts. From Indonesia to Singapore and also to the furthest, Ireland. But, since we want to dig it more about the concerts in Indonesia. We made a list of The Best Live Acts of 2012 for concerts that we attended here. We will rank it from “the best” to” the better than the best” live acts. Ready for some reminiscence?

8.Avicii Live In Jakarta

Venue : Fairgrounds, SCBD.
Date : April, 5 2012
Promoter : Ismaya Live
Full Review : Dimensions Avicii

The ticket show was sold like a cupcake! Very fast and it was sold out. What we love about the show (beside the ground kicking set by Avicii) is the concept! Really, we never experienced seeing a laser show at Fairgrounds before! By the time We entered Fairgrounds, we were like entering the future. Time capsule to the 2020? Might be. Plus, since the tickets were sold out, the venue was so packed! The crowd was awesome and blended in one wave. Especially when “Levels” hit the speaker.

7.Playground Jakarta : (Best Act : Saint Etienne)

Venue : Tennis Indoor Senayan
Date : May, 5 2012
Promoter : Urbanite Asia
Full Review : Play Ground 2012

We know it rained buckets at Playground, but really, that’s why we loved it! It rained heavily when Saint Etienne were performing, then rain seemed like a party pooper. But wait, Saint Etienne paused the show and decided to comeback when it stopped. It means….. two sessions of their show! And over all, Play Ground really really played it well for designing the arena. We saw a ferris wheel there! If this list was about “The Best Festival with Edgy Concept”, Playground will top the list. Good job, Urbanite Teams!

6.Djakarta Warehouse Project 2012 : (Best Act : Angger Dimas)

Venue : Tennis Indoor Senayan
Date : December, 7 2012
Promoter : Ismaya Live
Full Review : Djakarta Warehouse Project 2012

Honk! Honk! Djakarta Warehouse Project was the house of EDM lovers. Maybe you all are asking why we choose Angger Dimas instead of Calvin Harris or Avicii or PVD. The answer is because Angger Dimas is our local hero! DWP is coming to all-EDM lovers’ favourite festival, it even kicked Zouk Out anyway. So, having one of our local heroes like Angger Dimas was amazing. He has worked with Steve Aoki and Tiesto. He did the deck in many EDM capital city all over the world. So, seeing him in Jakarta was our pleasure. Angger Dimas, you are one hell of a future of Indonesia’s DJ Generation. Best World’s DJ in the making!

5.The People’s Party 2012 : (Best Act : Metronomy)

Venue : Fairgrounds, SCBD.
Date : January, 13 2012
Promoter : Soundshine Event
Full Review : The People’s Party Jakarta 2012

Metronomy’s album was placed No.2 (No.1 was PJ Harvey) on NME’s Best Albums in 2011. Eversince we heard this mini festival would bring Metronomy (and also Bombay Bicycle Club, The Jezables, and Naked & Famous) as one of the lineups, we were making a bee-line to “Let’s Go to The Show” counter. Soundshine Event was pretty smart by putting Metronomy as the band who would close the show. It’s a worth time of waiting to see them performing last.

4.Foster The People Live in Jakarta

Venue : Tennis Indoor Senayan
Date : January, 11 2012
Promoter : 3 Ocean Live
Full Review : Foster The People Live in Jakarta

Who doesn’t know Foster The People? And also their super hit “Pumped Up kicks”? Got to see them live in the first month of the year was one of the best choices to start your year! We can just deny it that Foster The People did their job really well. Surprisingly, we thought the crowd would be just chanting along for “Pumped Up Kicks” but we were wrong! From the first song to the closure song, which is “Pumped Up Kicks”, the crowd put it all together! The interesting moment is when Foster The People performed Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So”. And also their new song “Ruby”. Anyway, back to the Pumped Up Kicks’ momentum, We just want to say it again, it was dope. Plus they did the remix stuff on it. Say it again. It was dope.

3.Feist Live In Jakarta

Venue : Fairgrounds, SCBD.
Date : February, 15 2012
Promoter : Soundshine Event
Full Review : Feist Live in Jakarta

Feist teared down the place that night! When she performed “I Feel it All”, our jaws were dropped to the floor and they stayed there until the show ended. Feist also brought her three backing vocals who are known as “Mountain Man”, and the backing vocals were also amazing. The best was when one audienced showed a “Happy Birthday” on a paper and then he also gave her a present (sadly he didnt bring a cake, at least Feist might share some to the crowd. Okay, whatever). And it wasnt over just there, later than the crowd sang Feist a Happy Birthday song in Indonesian version (Selamat Ulang Tahun)! And then when the show was about to be over, here came a little surprise, Erlend Oye of KoC joined her to stage and danced. Feist amazing vocal and stage performance really convinced us that Feist should win a Grammy instead of just getting nominated in it.

2.Beatfest 2012 : Friendly Fires Live in Jakarta

Venue : Fairgrounds, SCBD
Date : March, 17 2012
Promoter : Urbanite Asia, Berlian Entertainment, & Hybrid Entertainment
Full Review : Friendly Fires Live in Jakarta

Ed Macfarlane of Friendly Fires is known for his deadly energetic moves. Even NME Magazine said “You have to see Ed Macfarlane’s dancing for once in your life!”, We did! . Performed their best 17 songs, we kept wondering, how came he kept dancing like that. The crowd got bombarded by Friendly Fires’ performance which really satisfied us! The icing on cake moment was when they performed “Hawaiian Air”, we could feel the Polynesian tunes with some breezing tropical air. One thing that would be great, if only they also brought some Hawaiian dancers to the stage (like when they did at Reading&Leeds 2011), There was no doubt the greatness would be two-fold.

1.Morrissey Live in Jakarta

Venue : Tennis Indoor Senayan
Date : May, 10 2012
Promoter : Indika Productions
Full Review :Morrissey Live in Jakarta

The wait is over! The congregation of britpop lovers finally got their aim in life accomplished. Morrissey, The former frontman of The Smiths who were the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s brought his Greatest Hits Tour to Jakarta on May 10th 2012. “It was radical!” that’s probably most of the crowd said after seeing Morrissey’s show in Jakarta. Many of his fans (even from the Smiths or his solo era) will never ever forget that night. That night was pretty much a karaoke session, all of them sang every single song perfectly. Morrissey even took some of the crowd to the stage and hugged them. Can it get any greater? Yes, He then took of his shirt then threw it to the crowd! Some people even got glassy-eyes after seeing him, no wonder, they’ve been waiting for ages and they finally able to see their legend live right infront of them. It was a history.

Those are the Best Live Acts of 2012. We just cant hold our excitement to catch the concerts in 2013! Yeah Yeah Yeahs,Weezer, Blocparty, and many more! So, who’s with us to continue the journey? (Alcander Alonzo)

Unlike those typical Wednesday which most people usually had, this wednesday (11/01/12) all Jakarta’s Foster The People fans surely were busy humming their favorite FTP’s songs while warming up for the show. One of the most influential indie band who survive among the other mainstream international artists were having their first debut 2012 tour at Tennis Indoor Senayan, Jakarta.

“I always heard Indonesia has the best snorkeling place in the world. And to be honest we haven’t played any show for a week, and we’re so excited to play for Jakarta. I’m really sure it’s going to be a massive show”

Thats a bit of what Mark Foster said at the press conference few hours before the show started. Fyi, the three of them just spent a week over at Phuket, Thailand. And since they’re noted as the best artist of the year at SharkOne Awards and got nominated in a few of prestigious awards followed by a huge success from their first debut album “Torches”, there’s no way you could miss the show.

Around 6:00PM we can see a long queue of people who already waited patiently to get inside and to b entertained by Agrikulture at OZ Radio Stage. And right after the time hit 8:30PM, they took all the lights out as Foster The People went on the stage. The band succeed amusing the crowd with “Houdini” which is played as the opening. Then followed by “Miss You”, “Life On The Nickel”, “I Would Do Anything For You”, “Waste” and “Call It What You Want” which made the crowd couldn’t resist but to dance and sing along with them. And since they’re coming all the way around from Los Angeles, this might be a whole new experience for them, as Mark Foster mentioned “This is the first time we visit the other side of the world” during the show.

After mesmerising the crowd with “Don’t Stop”, they did a cover of Wezeer’s “Say It Ain’t So”. And surprisingly they also played “Ruby”, one of their new unreleased songs which sounds really soothing, enjoyable, and different compared to others songs. Then the show was perfectly closed with the phenomenal song “Pumped Up Kicks”. We can say that it was the end of such a massive gig to start the beginning of the year. So, what’s next? are you ready to experience another massive band attack tomorrow at The People’s Party? [sisca/dian]