Danger Mouse, Jens Lekman and DJ Jazzy Jeff Help You Get Your Summer On

Homepage photo by Julien Bourgeois

Expressing the sharp nostalgia for hot summer days, lazing around and going on small-town adventures in the heat of the day is almost as old as popular music itself. For example, listen to “The Boys of Summer,” “Under the Boardwalk,” or pretty much anything released by The Beach Boys ever. With the start of the hallowed mixtape tradition (which we here at Paste honor every issue with our new-music samplers) came summer-themed mixtapes packed full of the care-free and reckless attitude of the summer months. Or maybe just some super-hot remixes of great songs. Below, we’ve rounded up five great summer mixtapes circling the Interwebspace right now for your poolside/relaxing/BBQing pleasure. Please enjoy:

Danger Mouse’s Epic Summer Playlist
Dark Night of the Soul, Danger Mouse’s collaboration with Sparklehorse, is already one of our July albums worth checking out. A couple of weeks ago, he composed an epic 170-song playlist of summer jams for Vulture that includes tracks from A.C. Newman, Aimee Mann, The B-52s, Violent Femmes and so many more. “Some of it is old, some new,” Brian told the New York magazine blog. "I wanted to spend the summer sitting on a porch listening to stuff like this, but it looks like I’ll be touring … "

You can check out the list in its entirety here.

The Hood Internet’s Great American Mixtape, Side A
While not specifically geared towards summertime reminiscences or beach days, The Hood Internet‘s new mixtape was released during the summertime, so it totally counts. And anyway, the likes of Jay-Z butting heads with LCD Soundsystem, 50 Cent shaking hands with Ratatat and Outkast cavorting about with The Dirty Projectors makes for some awesome listening. It’s hard not to dance along.

You should probably listen to this one immediately.

DJ Jazzy Jeff and Mick Boogie’s Summertime: The Mixtape
Most of the time, summer is more about being lazy than it is about dancing like a fool. DJ Jazzy Jeff and Mick Boogie mixed together a rolling, chilled-out mix of sunshine-inspired tracks to emphasize the desire to sit poolside or cruise down the street with the windows down with no destination in mind.

Check it out (with a full tracklist) right here.

Jens Lekman’s “Summer In 3/4 Time” Mix
We told you about Jens Lekman’s “Summer in 3/4 Time” mix the other day via our Free MP3 Blog, but we just have to reiterate how great it is. The track selection plays on that special brand of fuzzy-heat-fueled nostalgia and cautiously optimistic, and the waltzy tempo is hard not to sway to.

Tracklist and download available on at JensLekman.com

The Takeaway’s Summer Mixtape Series: Pat Benatar
As a counterpoint to Danger Mouse’s ridiculously long playlist, here’s a ridiculously short one assembled by none other than Pat Benatar and featuring The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin and Stevie Wonder. The mix is part of a summer mixtape series presented by morning radio show The Takeover, who’ve also gotten mixes from Sway (MTV) and Fred Armisen (SNL).

Check it out, complete with a radio segment of Benatar explaining her choices, here.