Mexican Summer is the type of label that when it puts out an album, you give it your full attention. Unfortunately, I’ve been vacant of late. This is tragic, though the good news is that Mike Wexler has brought me back into the Mexican Summer light. A dreamy psychedelic pop sound, filled with chill ambient sounds, borderline haunting with Wexler’s vocal rasp. It makes songs like “Pariah” very cool.

Get ready for your summer 2010 album. Best Coast returns after a successful 7″ release for “She Was High (So Was I)” and last year’s Something In The Way with Crazy For Your. Coming to us via the always astounding Mexican Summer label, Best Coast dishes out the lo-fi garage pop sound everyone’s been raving about two years now. Fitting well with bands like Real Estate and Woods, and meshing even better with Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls, and The Splinters, Crazy For You finds Best Coast …

Campfires creates what I would dub as melodic noise pop. Harmony is created through peaceful chords and the chaotic, fuzzy percussion is organized nicely with synchronous guitar strums. Campfires will warm your soul on a mildly chilly evening. The woody smell of smoke permeates these songs, wafting circular with the wind and occasionally burning the eyes. The instrumental “Pancake City” blends almost too perfectly into “Burning Rivers, TV Flickers, Drifting Off to Bed”, the title track from the band’s cassette on Leftist Nautical Antiques. It’s …

Washed Out channels an 80s-style synth pop and hones the influence into a soft, electro-atmospheric calm. There’s this airy quality about the songs, from the more electronic “You’ll See It” and “Hold Out” to the softer, laid-back “Feel It All Around”. Washed Out is on par with The Radio Dept. circa “Against The Tide”. It has that chill downbeat sound, what some dub as chillwave and others as bedroom synth-pop. Both are adequate, though I’d say it’s more fit for the living room.

Insanity comes in many forms, most undesirable. However, there is one that is much more intriguing and inspirational than the others: audible insanity. Golden Triangle (MySpace) is the perfect example of outstanding audible insanity. It can be heard in their music, and seen in the photographs of their live performances. They don’t call it garage punk for nothing.