Summer Playlist Roundup

Three playlists covering the season

Jul 19, 2025

I went to a small mall in Beaverton recently and there was a cholo up in the parking garage tuning his honda and taking pics. It was one of those summer evenings where the nostalgia is so thick and soft you could cut it with a dull knife and spread it over a croissant sold at Tous Les Jours.

I stood at the edge of the lot and looked out over an abandoned field that surely will be filled with another parking lot and buildings someday. I realized in that moment as the dry summer heat penetrated my bones that the ice cream I’d bought at Salt & Straw was dripping down my hand, so I licked off the caramel salt ribbon that had already ventured nearly to my wrist—and continued to people watch.

I love summer and it’s the season of my birth (2 August). But I have rarely had moments of silent reflection over recent summers. It was an unforgettable moment to stand there and watch the femme security guard chatting up the cholo about his rig, as I finished the rest of my ice cream and wandered off to nowhere in particular.

I created these playlists over this summer, carefully adding tracks I came across through friends (thanks DJ Oceanspray), Yoyaku, other internet wanderings, serendipity.

Writing out these descriptions made me think of sensual pleasure after I got done, but I never really meant them that way.

There’s a lot of dimensions to life, and a lot of dimensions to experience. It’s cool to be in and with them.

Here’s a bonus: a music video I made for one of the last tracks on SEGO LILY