Well dang, what to say about a song that just makes me feel good? I was planning on writing a big post about the Grateful Dead: what I love about them, what I dislike about them, how some bands today are taking the best parts of the Dead’s sound and making it their own. But maybe this isn’t about the Dead at all.

The Donkeys - Excelsior Lady.

There’s more than a striking resemblance to Garcia and co., but this song is actually just about a moment, any moment, that makes you realize that everything is going fine. The narrator here isn’t as sure - his, uh, lady is with another man, after all - and he’s “so confused I can’t take my own advice.” But then there’s that chorus: so willing, so steadfast. It’s not cocky but moving forward, no matter what.

The Donkeys are from California, and this is from their Dead Oceans debut Living On The Other Side, out Sept. 9. It’s a really strong record, and I highly recommend it.

The Lord Dog Bird - The Gift of Song In the Lion’s Den.

This is the sound of things completed. It’s the sound of the epic journey home, with muffled war drums in the distance, summer crickets on the wind. It’s the sound of a refreshing plunge in the ocean from a decent height, a tall drink on a slow day. Finding your way around this song is easy.

Listen: I don’t know much about the Lord Dog Bird, other than they have a new album out on Jagjaguwar. It came out last tuesday and it’s self-titled. The vocals echo the older prog greats like genesis or yes without getting overly theatrical or ridiculous. The instrumentation is thin but strong, like a new forest.

Anyway, if you’re doing summery things in these last few weeks of August, you should do yourself a favor and drink in some Lord Dog Bird. You can buy it from our friends at jagjaguwar here

Here it is friends, the big-boat dance party we’ve been buzzing about for the last month or so… in collaboration with Metromix.com and AM NY’s Artist-Now Music Showcase, we’re doing a super-duper People Don’t Dance No More Yacht Rock boat-centric boat party.

The $5 advance tickets are selling fast - seriously, we’ve probably got another 25 or so left - so if you don’t have one yet, get one here. We will try to reserve a small number of tickets for you guys to buy at the boat… SOLD OUT. We will do what we can to get people on board, but if you didn’t get a ticket, it probably means you will not get on the boat - sorrrry guys!

We’re boarding at 7pm and leaving the dock promptly at 8, so be on time! Yacht rock! Yacht Rock! Yacht Rock and Disco music on a boat! Absolutely brilliant.

The Softrocks - Saturnalia.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: there are a lot of good bands in Minneapolis. And look, I know you’re thinking “So does where I live, what’s your point?” To which I reply: no, really. The scene here is ridiculously fertile and cooperative; though there’s some healthy competition, bands share bills and befriend each other. These bands emerge from apartments on Garfield, Hennepin and Lyndale, get opening spots at the Triple Rock and the 400 Bar, sell a few records, get played on The Current.

For the most part, however, these Twin Cities bands don’t make any impact nationally (there are, of course, a exceptions). This is both good and bad news; as much as I’d love for bands like Mouthful of Bees and Action Versus Action to be the subject of Pitchfork columns, they remain local secrets that never outgrow the tiny clubs.

So it goes with The Softrocks. How does a band like this go largely unnoticed? Their awesome record Summer Apocalypse has one of the most apt titles I’ve heard. With the menacing guitar lines and handclaps, this is sunny music for the endtimes. I didn’t know what the “feast of Saturnalia” was, so I consulted Wikipedia: It was a feast “marked by tomfoolery and reversal of social roles, in which slaves and masters ostensibly switched places.” Tomfoolery. Excellent.

You can buy Summer Apocalypse from CDBaby.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about bands that make music that isn’t complicated, and doesn’t need to be. This came to me while listening to Bits, the latest from Oxford Collapse. It’s chords, it’s a backbeat, it’s singing (mostly) in tune. And really, that’s all I need.

Love Is Chemicals - Over Land, Over Sea.

Same with Love Is Chemicals. I’m not saying this is overly simple music, nor am I saying this band couldn’t come up with something more complex. I’m saying they don’t need to, because this song works.

Love Is Chemicals are from San Francisco. They consist of singer/guitarist Nate Grover, his wife Courtney on bass, guitarist Nick Mirov, and drummer Steve Galbraith. This song is from their record Song of the Summer Youth Brigade, out now on Near Earth Objects.

You can buy Song of the Summer Youth Brigade over at iTunes.