It's the end of July and we're already starting to see "back to school" marketing. But you know what? We're still going to celebrate summertime with some of our favorite songs from the month that gave us fireworks, barbecues, picnics, music festivals, and swim parties.
Press play to listen to Pandora Picks – July 2024
Hey, this is Jamie from the creator services team and AURORA from Norway is back with another album. It was really hard to pick my favorite track, but I settled on “Do You Feel,” which just has this amazing, like Godly ethereal thing going on. She is my favorite forest nymph, so I guess it all makes sense. Hope you enjoy.
- Jamie
Hi everyone, this is Julien. My pick for this month is a band that just made history as the very first metal band to play an Olympic ceremony. I am talking about Gojira. It was an immense moment of pride from fans all around the world, when somehow this band showed up on their TV on Friday. What makes me very happy is that Gojira is absolutely legit. They always did things their own way and really earned their place as one of the heaviest bands in the world. As a French metal fan, what a week. So let me introduce or reintroduce you to Gojira with the song “Another World” from their latest album, Fortitude. Enjoy.
- Julien
Hey, Michelle Solomon here from Pandora's Creative Services team and head of jazz, oldies, and stage & screen programming. Hold on to your hats – I've got a delightful doozy for you. You're about to hear the new single from New York-based jazz fusion band, Forq. Which is a Brazilian carnival meets a circus carnival and crashes into Afropop. So, think Sergio Mendez meets Ray Conniff and Esquivel meets Salif Keita with a transistor organ, celebrating the band's undeniable grooves, singular sonic brand, and mischievous humor. Forqin’ awesome!
- Michelle
Hi, this is Eric Shea. So even though I’ve lived in Athens, Georgia for over five years now, I still get a lot of friends asking why I made the move from the San Francisco Bay Area. There are always many different reasons, but one of the main ones is that it’s a town overflowing with stellar, underground music and I’m constantly discovering really amazing bands. One such band is Little Gold who can effortlessly blend infectious indie rock with timeless Americana, especially on this new song “Strange Vacation.” With a little help from Classic City darlings like T. Hardy Morris and Hunter Pinkston from the Pink Stones on the Telecaster, this song plays kind of like mid ‘90s Silver Jews reinventing “Sloop John B.”
- Eric S
Hey, this is Eric Din, curator at Pandora. And my pick for the month of July is Steve Wynn's cover of Peter Case’s “A Million Miles Away,” which was originally recorded by the Plimsouls. Some of you know Steve Wynn from the Dream Syndicate. There's this lovely compilation of Peter Case originals performed by different artists, and it's called A Case for Case. And you know, it's all worth looking into. But I went right for the hit because I really love this song. I have very fond memories of the original. And I was delighted to hear how Steve Wynn's version opens it up and really gives you a look under the hood of the song. It's at a bit of a slower tempo and he does his country twang thing with it, and this just works beautifully. What an amazing song.
- Eric D
You know, in the mid-to-late 90s, I was all about that New Zealand noise thing. So, when I walked into Aquarius Records and picked up a copy of Alastair Galbraith’s 1995 release Talisman packaged in a slimline cardboard CD case, I was all, “Word up!” Well, 20-some-odd years later it gets a nice expensive reissue on vinyl for the first time. So of course, I was like, “What? I gotta get that, yo.” So, I did, but I can also listen to it digitally. Check it out: “Cemetery Raga” by Alastair Galbraith 1995/2024. Legit respect, yo.
- Chris D
This is Diego from the Content Systems team. I've been revisiting the Comsat Angels lately and greatly enjoying their brooding post-punk vibes. A "band's band," the Angels have an outsized influence on a large amount of other artists, even if they never achieved widespread success. If you enjoy tracing threads of this sort like I do, check out "Island Heart."
- Diego
Hey, this is Chris from the Pandora for Creators Community. My pick this month is “Sky Lab” by Electronic System. It's a groovy and hypnotic instrumental track. And while it is over 14 minutes long, you're going to wish it never ends.
- Chris N