music

An aural sendoff to summer

I can't imagine sand is good for an acoustic guitar but YMMV. Photo by Ibrahim Rifath / Unsplash

I know meteorological summer has already come and gone, but much like my hairy-knuckled ancestors, I prefer the stars to dictate my calendar, so I've got a few more days to say good-bye and, frankly, good riddance to my least favorite season.

That puts me in the minority, of course, and I didn't always view the season with such a jaundiced eye. It probably goes back to when I stopped playing baseball every summer – my last season with the Minneapolis Blue Sox was 2000. Before then, I always had baseball to look forward to. Watching and covering the sport does not provide the same thrill that playing once did. So summer checks in fourth, right behind fall, spring and winter.

I've also never been that keen on summer music, a topic I will explore in a post next week. Nor have I felt very tapped into the zeitgeist when I hear people talking about the Song of the Summer. I haven't listened to KDWB since the college days – is it still a thing? It could have a nu-jazz format these days for all I know. Because I am an Old. But that's where all these latest pop jams seem to be played in this market, so they fly over my head like a Dennis Miller analogy to the average Monday Night Football viewer (yeah, that's a reference from 2000).

But this summer, strangely, I found myself diving hard into a few songs, returning to them frequently enough that I am comfortable calling them My Songs of the Summer. Allow me to share them with you. (Note: The Generalist doesn't require a song to have been released in the summer of 2026 – or even in 2026 at all – for it to be eligible for Song of the Summer designation. Thank you for your understanding.)

Ratboys – "Anywhere"

I'm a little late to the game when it comes to the Chicago indy darlings. Even after discovering them, I wasn't all that sure how widely known they were. But over the summer, I saw them referenced by the great Will Leitch in his fabulous weekly newsletter. Then they were featured on the NPR Tiny Desk Concert series, and that told me all I needed to know about Ratboys' reach.

I forget how I stumbled onto "Anywhere" – I even asked the younger daughter if she had turned me onto them, because she's generally been the source of anything I like that's been recorded after about 2015. But she swears it wasn't her. Anyway, this song, to put it in the current parlance, slaps. (Is that still the current parlance?)

I'll admit, for the first 30 seconds or so I wasn't sure about singer Julia Steiner's voice – the sing-song melody of the verses in this song really emphasizes what could be an annoying, little-girl affect in the hand of a lesser artist. But she sounds like this in all their songs and it just works. Also, once the chorus hits and drummer Marcus Nuccio announces his presence with authority, I can't stop bobbing my head and tapping my feet. It's just catchy as hell and really scratches my power-pop itch. The guy in the video with the goldfish is adorable too.

Father John Misty –
"I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All"

This is proof that disco is not inherently evil. As friend of the Generalist and proprietor of the outstanding Midwest Excellence Stu pointed out in a recent entry of his popular "Hector Swimming Pool Bangers," even country music found ways to meld with disco in creative and pleasant ways.

IGTJMFOUA allows FJM to lean into his smooth, slinky stylings with seemingly effortless vocals sharing lyrics that tell better stories than anything you'll find at an airport book stand. He populates his songs with characters who are at once universal and still impossibly unique. Here, he layers them over a bed of soaring synthesizers and greasy guitar licks backstopped by an irresistible drumbeat that could've been lifted from any number of late-70s Bee Gees tracks.

This song was released on his 2024 "Greatish Hits" collection, and Wikipedia notes that at least one verse here is autobiographical – FJM himself was once told he was the least famous person to ever turn down the cover of Rolling Stone. I'm guessing there's a lot more of Josh Tillman's life story embedded in this track. Half the fun of it is figuring out how any of it relates to your own life as well.

RAYE – WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!

This is probably the least surprising – or at least the most unoriginal – entry on the list, because it's surely popped up on any number of "Song of the Summer" lists. Even Barack Obama feted it on his Summer 2026 playlist, which always feels like it's been run past 13 focus groups to ensure all constituencies are covered (Neil Young? Check. SZA? Check. Chaka Khan? Check and mate.) – once a politician, always a politician I guess.

I first heard this jam at a Twins game. During batting practice, the PA plays a list of tunes that I assume were chosen by a sociopathic ex-radio DJ with a grudge (seriously, where did you even find a dub-step version of any Foreigner song?). But occasionally they get one right. And when I heard the frantic vocals, the crashing horns and that sexy little cymbal keeping time during the verses, I was hooked. Didn't even need to run it past a focus group.