The Other Side of Summer: Hang the DJ Vol. 2

Courtesy of Megan Diño

Sometimes we resort so much to quoting that we abuse it.

But no matter: it’s summer. Thinking is not the best way to spend it. And here in Hang the DJ, we celebrate summer with a mix of anticipation and laziness, for in the tropics, summer means having fun with all its friends: the sun, the beach, the sand, the crazy heat, the hot bodies, the beer, the romance novels, the blockbuster movies, and of course, the summer beats!

Our title is lifted from one of Elvis Costello’s hits, “The Other Side of Summer”, released in 1991. Fitting, if not too perfect, that we allude to him, for he is an artist of many things. He is the other side of pop: always relevant and always diverse. In this summer issue, we not only write about Summer albums (click) and Summer songs (click) but we also share our thoughts on albums both old and new, wishing they are relevant and diverse too, and wishing that you will also give them a listen.

To your right, The Spinners give their tuppence worth on Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”, which feels awful late considering her smashing follow-ups, “Telephone” and “Alejandro”. We are also paying our respects to Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse through a series of reviews by two of our writers, DJ Ayn and DJ Chard.

We have included links for this Special Summer Ish to download the tracks we reviewed. A folder of all the Summer Songs is below, available as well for free. Hope you’ll like them.

Here comes the sun as it shines on my keyboard, as Costello continues to sing, The sun struggles up another beautiful day / and I felt glad in my own suspicious way / despite the contradiction and confusion / felt tragic without reason / there’s malice and there’s magic in every season.

The malice and the magic are waiting. Read on, cheers, and till next issue.

– The Master Spinner

(Let’s welcome our new Spinners: Oggs Cruz, Antoinette Jadaone, Romina Mislang, and Edgar Allan Paule.

Lime figures: 30 album reviews, 25 track reviews, 4 new contributors)

Download “Summer Mix”

Download “Hang the DJ 2 (Other Tracks)”