By – Jackie Lo

As summer approaches, humidity cranks to 100, graduations are behind us, beach vacations scheduled, and new beginnings are planned for the fall, we should all put together a summer playlist to celebrate.  This year has graced us with a ton of great music already, but in the next few months there are some amazing albums that I can’t wait to be the soundtrack of my summer. Here are the 7 most anticipated summer albums on my list.

June 2  Bully – Lucky For You

Nashville based rock band Bully will release their 4th album Lucky For You on Sub Pop June 2nd and it includes, already on my new music playlists, “Days Move Slow”, “Hard To Love”, and “Lose You” featuring Soccer Mommy. Alicia Bognanno is one of my favorite songwriters and if the rest of the album is even close to being as good as these three tracks it’s going to be a contender for album of the year for me.

June 9  Feeble Little Horse Girl – With Fish

Digging through my weekly new release playlists, I came across Feeble Little Horse, and fell in love with their tracks “Steamroller” and “Tin Man”. They’re a fuzzy, melodic, noise pop, Pittsburgh band and I’m excited to hear Girl With Fish out on Saddle Creek June 9th.

June 9  Dream Wife –  Social Lubrication

The first time I heard Dream Wife was 2018 with their track “Hey Heartbreaker”, a perfect female-screaming anthem. Dream Wife, an English, London-based band is a perfect mix of pop, punk, and indie that always makes me smile and the first single off Social Lubrication, “Hot (Don’t Date A Musician)” definitely makes me excited to hear the rest of this album.

June 16  Killer Mike – Michael

I’m a HUGE fan of Killer Mike from his solo work to Run the Jewels to social and political justice work.  When he enters the room I pay attention. Killer Mike has announced his first solo album in a decade, Michael that will be out June 16th. He describes Run The Jewels as his X-Men and this album is his Logan, his origin story. The first single “Don’t Let the Devil” is out now and he collaborates on it with his RTJ partner El-P.

July 7  PJ Harvey – I Inside The Old Year Dying

If you listen to my show, you know PJ Harvey is one of my favorite artists of all time. It’s been six years since we’ve gotten a new album from her and she’s releasing her tenth studio album, I Inside The Old Year Dying, on July 7th on Partisan Records. The first single, “A Child’s Question, August” is already released and it sounds beautiful, ethereal, and throws me back to the first time I heard Dry and realized she was going to be my best friend to get me through life.

July 14  Snooper – Super Snooper

We all need some fast tempo, upbeat, fun, punk rock in our lives and Snooper, a Nashville punk band, is going to fill my punk rock heart with their new album “Super Snooper” this July on Third Man Records. Both released singles, “Pod” and “Fitness” are under two minutes each and this 14 track album is going to be short and sweet and filled with tasty morsels throughout.

July 14  Palehound – Eye On The Bat

Palehound has been on my radar and in my playlists since their first album Dry Food in 2015. A Place I’ll Always Goand Black Friday were also stellar and their collaboration with Jay Som on their project Bachelor (Doomin’ Sun) made my album of the year in 2021. El Kempner is one of my favorite songwriters and describes Palehound as “journal rock” a term they describe as “all of my biggest fears splurted onto some vinyl, no different from writing a diary, really”.  Check out the new song “The Clutch” off this new album to get a taste of what else to expect.  Hint: it’s great.