Adrian Michna — known simply as Michna when he’s performing — split time growing up between New York and Miami, a geographical pairing that’s acted as a clear influence on his music. His urban and tropical beats are major fun, and his new Moving Mountains EP is a favorite of ours when we’re on a run or working out. Michna himself is an avid cyclist, making it a good bet that his house-meets-hip-hop sound is great on two wheels as well!

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Kitten is a young band — so young, in fact, that lead singer Chloe Chaidez just turned 16. Despite the less than advanced ages of its members, however, this Los Angeles fivesome blasts out deceptively dark music on the new EP Cut It Out. Track for track, it’s a consistently excellent record, but the one we’ve been spinning most frequently is “G#,” an epic, pounding rocker we can’t get enough of!

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We have a hard time describing Sky Ferreira, since she seems to be constantly switching things up! Her new Ghost EP is way different from the demos she used to upload to Myspace as a teenager before she got discovered in 2010. Confident, dynamic and humble, Sky’s contradictory pop comes across like more modest version of Robyn. The point is, we love her, and her new single, “Everything is Embarrassing,” is one of the best songs we’ve heard all Summer!

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Employing a drums / two-guitar / zero-bass lineup, Fang Island makes music that’s at once triumphant and joyous — in other words, exactly what you need to make your summer that much more celebratory. The Brooklyn band’s self-titled debut LP made us swoon for months on end a couple years ago…yet amazingly, we’re enjoying their new record, Major, even more. Its streamlined, super-melodic songs burst like colorful fireworks, with none more explosive than the album’s lead single, “Sisterly”!

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Kody Nielson spent almost the entire decade of the ’00s with his brother Ruben in the Mint Chicks, one of New Zealand’s best-loved experimental noise pop outfits. After the brothers took that band as far as they felt it could go, they went off in their own creative directions, with Ruben moving on to put together the Unknown Mortal Orchestra while Kody formed Opossom with former Mint Chicks bassist Michael Logie and celebrated Kiwi singer-songwriter Bic Runga. Featuring brilliant snatches of 1960s psychedelic pop mixed with doses of modern indie rock, Opossom’s upcoming album Electric Hawaii is a fully immersive listening journey — and we’re into “Blue Meanies” best. (After all, any reference to the animated film Yellow Submarine is fine by us!)

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It’s not much of a shock that we’ve had summer on our minds a lot lately…but when we listen to Seapony‘s newest material, we can’t help but hear the sound of autumn. On their 2011 debut, Go With Me, the Seattle trio summoned the sunny spirit of summer days with its twee-influenced dream pop. However, their upcoming follow-up, Falling (out in, naturally, September), possesses a more brisk and robust sound that reminds us of crisp leaves under our feet and sunlight shining down at a sharper angle. We can’t say we ever eagerly await the end of summer, but at least Seapony gives us something to look forward to this time!

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There’s a certain amount of mysteriousness surrounding Los Angeles chill-out duo Poolside (consisting of Filip Nikolic and Jeffrey Paradise), but there’s no doubt they’ve chosen apt names for both their band and new single. The track, “Slow Down,” is a languid piece of what Nikolic and Paradise call “daytime disco,” and listening to it, you can’t help but feel lilted away…whether you’re reclined on a Chaise lounge next to a turquoise-colored swimming pool or not. Poolside’s full-length release, Pacific Standard Time, is out this month, so look for it!

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By now, Chan Marshall — best known to anyone who’s followed music for the last decade-plus as Cat Power — doesn’t really need an introduction. The once-erratic singer-songwriter managed to conquer her formidable demons and fears in the ’00s, and after a pair of covers albums and a stint in Memphis working with seasoned gospel and R&B musicians, she’s once again doing her own thing. Cat Power’s new album, Sun, will be released in September, and we’re offering a taste of it here with its chiming lead single, “Ruin.” Lighter, airier, and possessing a relaxed swagger, we’re betting that Sun will end up as one of our favorites of 2012 by year’s end!

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If you unscramble the letters in Field Report, you get the last name of the lead singer, Chris Porterfield. While his name might not ring a bell, you’ve definitely heard him before, since he produced and played on Bon Iver’s records. He lives in Wisconsin too, making a similar strain of quiet folk rock that floats by like a breeze from an open window. Singing from his chest instead of in a falsetto, Porterfield is a littler rougher around the edges than Bon Iver, but that’s not a bad thing. He’s currently touring all over the country, supporting the self-titled Field Report album, which we love.

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This isn’t the first time we’ve checked in with Sister Crayon, whose Enter Into Holy (Or)ders EP was one of our favorites from a couple years ago. The band’s infectious beats, burbling keyboards, and smart female vocals just scream “Roxy girl” to us. Now they’re working on a new release, and they’ve leaked a demo to us called “Arcane.” With softly brushed drums, and hushed vocals it sounds like we’re being let in on a secret. During this blistering hot summer it’s nice to relax with a gauzy, dreamy song like this, and we’re hoping they finish up the rest of them soon.

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