FUSE TV - Best Coast's New Album: The Next Summer Classic?

UPDATE: Popdust's got the amazing cover, featuring a bear holding California.

The summer of 2010 will go down in history for many things (Wikileaks, Deepwater Horizon or world flooding), but for me (and a few close friends) that summer will be remembered, at least in part, as The Summer of Best Coast. And a great summer it was.

I scored an advance of Best Coast’s debut Crazy for You, and immediately went crazy for it. It proved to be the best album for cross-state road trips, days at the beach, the pool, the park, rooftop parties, BBQs and pretty much any other summer activity you can think of. Its lyrics are lovey-dovey, but in a light and fun way, like a playground romance, which adds to its general summer breeziness. I fell in love, hard, for tracks like “Our Deal,” “Crazy for You,” “Summer For You” and “When the Sun Don’t Shine.” 

It’s what I wanted to hear when I slid my head out the window of a speeding car, driving down a scenic highway (Pacific Coast Highway, preferably), and sucked the air between my teeth and let the sun glint off my sunglasses. Or the soundtrack to bumming around on a blanket, in a park, with a summer crush.

Being from the West Coast, aka the Best Coast, helped, as did knowing that singer-guitarist Bethany Cosentino was a SoCal beach bum with a sense of humor and love for cats (like hers, Snacks), weed (any kind, really) and her skater-punk boyfriend from Wavves.

Then today comes news that Best Coast’s second full-length album, The Only Place, drops on May 15 via Mexican Summer. Well then. That’s just in time for—what else?—summer. Cosentino told Pitchfork that the album—which sports a Cali-centric cover, like its predecessor—is more “grown up” and “serious emo,” which sounds like exactly where my life is at 29. So, saying I’m excited for its arrival would be a grand understatement. 

So will Best Coast’s The Only Place be the album of summer 2012? It may be too soon to tell. However, three tracks from the LP have already made their way online, in one way or another; “How They Want Me To Be” was posted to their blog last summer; “Up All Night” was released as the B-side on a limited edition 7”; and “Dreaming My Life Away” dropped as an online bonus track. It’s off to a good start, that’s for sure.

Listen to the three tracks below, then tell us if you think Best Coast’s The Only Place has potential to be your summer soundtrack. Also, catch Best Coast live this spring.

"How They Want Me To Be"