In case last weekend's gorgeous weather failed to tip you off, summer is just around the corner. As most of San Diego scrambles to the gym to cram for the beach-body exam, other people are facing a far more pressing concern: the perfect summer mix tape.
If you want to create the ideal soundtrack for the San Diego sunshine, you would do well to grab a few songs from the new Vivian Girls album. The blissfully named Share the Joy is stocked with the washed-out, beach-ready goodness the band has made its name on. Tracks like "I Heard You Say" (MP3) and "Vanishing of Time" grab surf-rock guitars, girl-group vocals and punk percussion, and throw them in a blender to make an irresistible sonic cocktail.
The songs may sound unmistakeably like Vivian Girls, but Share the Joy isn't business as usual. The band recorded the album at Rear House, a home studio run by Jarvis Taveniere of Brooklyn's Woods. Taveniere, who also engineered the album, worked with the band to create a more polished sound than can be found on their previous efforts.
"It's cleaner and more hi-fi than the previous records," guitarist/vocalist Cassie Ramone said. "The sound is more open, more free. I think that this album really shows our strengths as musicians, and shows us melding together musically. It's more psychedelic and less shoegaze. There's also a lot of organ on it, which is new for us."
San Diegans can hear the organic songs in person on May 2, when Vivian Girls play the Casbah. No Joy, Plateaus and DJ Mario Orduno will open. Tickets can be purchased here.
Chris Maroulakos is a writer and managing editor for the San Diego music blog Owl and Bear.
