what really makes a summer great

Hello, again. 

Slowly but surely am I working through a routine of writing regularly on here. Hoorah! What better way to get into writing again than talking about myself and my summertime habits.

Upon coming home, I was greeted by my family warmly, then quickly thrown out into the cold again, tasked with finding a job for the summer. Obviously, I'm exaggerating here. Getting a job is not the end of the world, even when you're a privileged college girl like me. 

 Nevertheless, I got a job at a local restaurant and worked frequently throughout the summer. Almost to a point where I felt like there was no time to enjoy anything else! Sorely mistaken, I was. 

This summer I must confess that I
developed some addictions I'm not proud of, and maybe some that I am proud of. Here's the short list:

1. Music, again (see my last post about AnCo)
2. Playing the drums
3. Smoking weed (uh oh)
   
4. Laying in patches of grass

Not as long of a list as I thought, but I think it's good enough. Yes, these four things are quite literally the only things that consumed my precious three months of me time. 

This summer felt very pivotal in my life. I had a lot of little moments that I was able to actually savor, remember and recall often. This summer was also a moment in my life where I actually felt comfortable in my skin for the first time in a while. 

I am naturally a person who is very self-conscious which can quickly turn into self-obsession if I am not careful. For a while, it felt like I was never able to fully enjoy myself because I was so worried about what people would think about me based on my actions or looks. It was hard to be able to recognize this intense fog of judgement and worry that circled me.

Freeing is the only way I can describe the way this summer felt. Feelings that were absolutely rooted deep within my inner self were practically crawling out of my mouth -- things that I never knew I felt about myself, my family, my friends and total strangers. 

Personally, I was shocked with myself. Like, wow, I really am a person who is capable of having naturally complex thoughts! I didn't have to have someone tell me what my opinion on an issue has to be (another part of a self-conscious person is following what everyone else thinks to fit in). And admittedly, yes, I was like this until recently. 

It's ok to feel this way, if you feel like this sometimes. Obviously, why would I be talking about it if it wasn't!

But I guess introspection isn't the only thing I did this summer. It is a privilege to see the things I see on a regular basis, especially being from southern California. I went to Catalina Island this summer, which is known for it's incredible nature preserve. 

The preserve contains animals like buffalo, who were brought to the island for a movie filming, and never left. Even though they were introduced to the island by humans, they actually serve a purpose for the island's ecosystem--something I learned on a tour I took with my family. 

We ended up getting super close to one of the buffalo, as it was on the trail that the tour goes on. Something always ignites in me when I see creatures of this size. I am simply reminded we are not the most incredible or magnificent creature this world has to offer. We are just a lucky coincidence.

Catalina's ocean was so clear, it made me almost forget that I live right next to one, too! It felt almost exotic, like we were somewhere halfway around the world. 

The streets were lined with homes and businesses in a way that felt European--buildings were almost stacked on top of each other, pieces of each spilling over into the next. The town itself is very small, only taking up about 15 or 20 percent of the island, so they need to use their space wisely. 

There's not much else to say about that trip except the fact that I had to get insanely stoned to make it on the treacherous voyage that would be taking the one hour ferry to the mainland. I had to do this because on the way there, I aggressively threw up over the side of the boat three times, where every single person on the boat could see. Definitely wanted to avoid that kind of attention the second time around. 

Even though this summer was filled with great moments spent with family and friends doing the things I love, I really have no other takeaway from this season than how my path of thinking has greatly changed, yet opened my eyes. 

That's about all I have for this post, until next time. Cheers!

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 Hi, long time no talk. It's been a while and for that I am more than sorry. I spent the summer well -- working, turning 21 and smoking admittedly more than I should have. 

This has also been a great summer for my music discovery journey. What better way to talk about my summer than through the eyes of Animal Collective, arguably one of the most important bands in my life at the moment. 

Animal Collective is hard to pin down on a musical genre front. I feel like their music is transcendent beyond the menial categories we assign to music nowadays. But, if I had to pick, I suppose I would say experimental pop. 

The group is made up of four childhood friends, who all shared an intense passion for eclectic musical genres growing up. They all have their own stage names, Avey Tare (Dave Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Geologist (Brian Weitz) and Deakin (Josh Dibb). Now, the group is in their 40s and are still creating groovy, strange music together around the world. 

They all also make solo music under their stage names, but I think that has to be a different post entry because I won't be able to stop talking if I get into it now!

Oh yeah, you should also note that the band's lineup changes with every new album, depending on who's available to contribute. 

I first found out about the band through their most coveted album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, which also contains their biggest song, My Girls. It was a still, summer day when I decided to sit down and listen to the album in full, and once I did, I was never able to go back.

This album is fantastic. I don't know how much more I can say about it except for that after listening for the first time, it was immediately moved up to my top albums of all time. This album also only features three out of four members: Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist. 

Songs like Also Frightened have a unique time measure that kept me on my toes the first time I listened to it. Another song that resembles this time style is Lion in a Coma, one of my favorite songs on the record. It feels so carefree and joyous, almost what it feels like to be high with your friends for the first time. 

Summertime Clothes easily takes the cake for one of the best songs on the album. Night walks, sweating through your clothes, hair sticking to your neck -- these all remind me of summertime feelings that maybe aren't usually thought of when we romanticize the season. However, even though these unpleasant feelings are brought to us in this song, it almost makes me want to experience those things so I can feel the way they felt when they wrote this song. 

Brother Sport is the last song on the album, and I seriously don't know if there could've been a better way to end this record than with this song. It's high in energy, almost to the point where you feel like you're entranced when listening because of how much sound is being funneled into your ears all at once. 

It felt like my entire mind was consumed by this band. Nothing could quench the thirst my ears had for their music. Even though this feeling began in July, I seriously have not stopped listening to them since and it's the beginning of September. If I'm listening to music right now, I'm listening to Animal Collective. 

Their discography is vast, and every single project feels like something completely different. I am certain there is an Animal Collective song for any exceptional situation you are going to be put in when listening to the music. 

After listening to MPP, I felt like I would be doing the band a disservice if I didn't listen to their other projects. I immediately dove in to Strawberry Jam, one of their most critically acclaimed projects, and I could see why.

The sound is drastically different, but still has the charm the band is able to effortlessly carry with them at all times. It's abrasive at times, yet it is incredibly gentle and forgiving. There are epic build ups in the album that have incredibly rewarding payoffs, like those of Fireworks and For Reverend Green. 

After, I moved onto their record, Feels, which is also renowned in the listening community for being one of their very prestigious projects. 

This record feels like a happy medium in between their maximalist, synth-based sound that is prevalent in MPP, but also strips some acoustic sounds from their earlier work such as Sung Tongs. This record has a few songs that I really cling to: Grass, The Purple Bottle and Banshee Beat. 

Yes, this entire album is remarkable, but these three songs are so special to me that I feel like I have no choice but to talk about them.

These three songs explain the core of Animal Collective to me. Very free-spirited yet technical, very lyrical yet vocally harsh at times. They are a band that never forgets to utilize one of the most psychedelic instruments of all, our voices. 

Something that sticks out to me more than anything in their music is how often they experiment with their vocal melodies. Avey Tare and Panda Bear's vocals mesh  miraculously well, to the point where they will layer their voices over each other and I won't even notice until the second time I listen to the song.

Right now in this moment, my favorite song by them is Leaf House, a song of the record Sung Tongs. 

Well, that's all I have to offer right now, and I hope this might convince you to give them a try the next time you want to experience something larger than life! Maybe an exaggeration, but it really is that serious for me. Until next time, cheers!