Playlist: At the Beach

Today, I have been fortunate enough to experience a temperature high in Sarasota: 86. And usually, when the weather is this mild and this humid (96% humidity), I can be found lounging by the pool or chilling at Siesta Key. I like to tan; but I also like to swim. In another life, I would have been a mermaid (or a gymnast...), and when I like to tan (albeit I am already considerably "dark"), a similarity found amongst many, I listen to my iPod, listening to calm, soothing tunes. I have a large variety of genres for different and specified moods, but for tanning/going to the beach/lounging in the sun, my music has to fit a specific mood. When I am relaxing, I like to listen to relaxed and tranquilizing melodies. In true beach fashion, this specific playlist is certainly trite, with its surfboard anthems, overused titles, and simple guitar chords, but when I want to enjoy the sun, these songs induce a sleep that is perfectly remedial.

Summertime playlist:

1. Our Swords--Band of Horses

2. Falling Out of Trees, It's About Time, Stars, Lesser Things, Come Back When You Can, Get Up, Response, You Will Pull Through, Numb, Please Don't Go, and the Takers--Barcelona

3. Doo Wa Witty, Kokomo, California Girls, Surfing USA, and Good Vibrations--The Beach Boys

4. Full Moon--The Black Ghosts

5. Fistful of Sand--The Bravery

6. Behind Enemy Lines--Demi Lovato

7. There Goes the Fear--Doves

8. Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries--E.G. Daily

9. Summertime Blues--Eddie Cochran

10. Burning Love--Elvis Presley

11. Mushaboom--Feist

12. When She's Near--Fiction Family

13. That's Life--Frank Sinatra

14. Venus--Frankie Avalon

15. Gazing--Future of Forestry

16. Rhinestone Eyes--Gorillaz

17. Southbound Train--Jon Foreman

18. Walking on Sunshine--Katrina & the Waves

19. Stare at the Sun and Stall Out--MuteMath

20. Umbrella Beach--Owl City

21. Speedy Gonzales--Pat Boone

22. Reckoner--Radiohead

23. Beach Comber, Pool Swimmers, Old Folks, Suburban Dogs, Black Lake, Fake Blues, Snow Days, and Green River--Real Estate (serious surf-y music)

24. I Thought I Saw Your Face Today--She & Him

25. Australia--The Shins

26. Holiday--Vampire Weekend

27. Bitter Heart, Poppy, Honey Bee, Is This the End?, Monte, Kantoi, I Am Me Once More, Darlin' It Ain't Easy, and the Story—Zee Avi

Even if you're at home, under a thick blanket of snow, these songs and its melodies, whisk you to a warm and beautiful place. (If you're looking for more music in regard to this genre—surfy rock/pop—go to http://music.pacsun.com.I guarantee you that they have seriously good surfy, beachy music. I suppose it helps that their headquarters is located in California...)