Songs. Happy songs. Some of my favorites, in fact.

 1. "Yatal Gueew" - Pape and Cheikh

2.  "Já Sei Namorar" - Tribalistas

 3. "Pampa" - Gustavo Santaolalla

(I will write more tomorrow.)

The past few Sunday afternoons, my girlfriend and I have gathered with friends at a nearby apartment to watch the Red Sox games. We drink cheap beer. Eat hotdogs. Yell at the players. Sing "Sweet Caroline."And celebrate their win (or, as was the case today, quickly forget their loss).

Afterward, I'm all tuckered out. It's August. It's a Sunday. It's 92 degrees outside. And I've just consumed six bottles of beer. Here's the best soundtrack song I could find. It's mellow, but it cooks.

"Don't Let No One Get You Down" - War 

It's quite possible that Strung Out's "STWB" was the first CD I owned by a band that wasn't on a major record label. (While my memory on this is fuzzy, I do recall that my first 7" was by a band dubiously named Gutfiddle, self-titled on Stiff Pole Records).

At that point in my nascent punk rock career, I purchased albums based on the 1/8 page ads that appeared in the pages of Maximum Rock 'n' Roll and Punk Planet.

The year was 1996. SoCal punk was pretty hot. Strung Out released their second album "Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues" on Fat Wreck Chords. Two of my favorite tracks off this album are posted below.

1. "Somnombulance" - Strung Out 

2. "Firecracker" - Strung Out 

What impresses me about Strung Out is that their music hasn't really aged. More than 10 years after its release, the melodies on STWB still go down smoothly and provide the perfect soundtrack to a rowdy beach roadtrip--which is precisely how I would distinguish the best of the SoCal genre from the mediocre. There's nothing somber or serious about this music. It is what it is. Upbeat. Melodic. Adolescent (but in a good way).

And guess what? They're still making music! Check em' out on tour.