Back in America and relatively settled- still no Internet access at home just yet, but there’s a coffee shop down the block with free wi-fi. To that end, here’s what this month sounds like. In a car, instead of on headphones.

“Jockin’ Jay-Z”, Jay-Z
Man, its nice to here Jay-Z on a Kayne track again. This is probably his catchiest single since “99 Problems”, and it’s got a few similarities in the way it’s produced and structured, but it’s really fresh-sounding. The line about Noel Gallagher is really funny- the fact that Gallagher said it was “just wrong” for Jay-Z to be headlining Glastonbury made big headlines in the UK, and the interviews about it in the British press had a pretty mellow, respectful Jay explaining that there was room for lots of kinds of music, and he’s sure Noel would like some hip-hop if he listened to it… Then he drops this song and calls him out over it. Which is more along the line of what I wanted. Fuck Noel Gallagher.

“The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)”, Weezer
Weird song here. I sat out the last few Weezer albums, and I don’t even really remember why I gave this one a shot. It’s great, though, and this song is definitely something else. Have they been this ambitious as a rule lately? There are like four or five different songs buried in here, and I like all of them. They’re all silly, but this is from a silly record, self-aware enough to recognize that you can only sing sincerely about the challenges of being a famous rock star if you’re aware that all of your complaints are ridiculous. There’s a pretty remarkable moment near the end, when Rivers Cuomo does a spoken word bit over a breakdown that is note-perfect parody of, I don’t know, pretty much everything.

“Searching”, Speech DeBelle
I’ve no idea who Speech DeBelle is, but this is one of the prettiest and most vulnerable songs I’ve heard in a long time. I gather she’s English, and the choice to rap over an acoustic guitar and not much else definitely keeps things sincere enough to avoid the traps of white British hip-hop. This feels like reading some really sad girl’s diary, rooting for her to make it, but not sure that she will.

“Puppets”, Atmosphere
I thought I was done with the new Atmosphere record, which sounded nice, but kinda disposable. But I was walking around London a week or two before we moved back over here and had my iPod on shuffle and this song came on and I was like, “wow, Everlast has a new single and it’s awesome!” Turns out it may actually be every white male rapper’s destiny to turn into Whitey Ford at some point in his career, but that’s actually not as bad a thing as it sounds. This is probably my favorite song on the record, so score one for Slug. And, by extension, I guess, Everlast.

“Good Day”, Nappy Roots
I am totally a sucker for children’s choruses in hip-hop songs. This is smiley-time summer music, yes, and I have no shame about loving it.

“Dying is Fine”, Ra Ra Riot
So I heard this song and recognized some of the lines from an ee cummings poem, because I’m, like, totally literary and stuff. I thought it was cool and catchy, and checked out the rest of the album. I fucking hate this band, it turns out. They sound like Morrisey with shaggy hipster hair. But this song remains cool and catchy, and I’m not passionate enough about hating bands these days to deny myself the joy of a song like this just because the band who made it bug me. Call it a mellowing with old age.

“Trees Are Bare”, Brothers and Sisters
This is my friend Karrie’s old roommate’s band, and I spent a lot of time listening to it right before leaving London. It’s not a very serious song, but the male/female vocals are sharp, and it’s all about how hot Texas is, even in the winter, which was exactly what I wanted to listen to during a 60-degree summer before moving back to Austin.

“Just There”, James Eric
This is a cover of a song by my friend Dustin, performed by my friend Jim. All of these songs sound like summer to me, in the different forms it can take, and this is no exception. Sometimes summer is just the sound of your friends.