In this week's music section you can read an interview with Laura Stevenson, the New York-based songwriter responsible for writing some of the most addictive pop songs I've heard in years.

Lyrically, her latest album Wheel can get pretty dark, but musically some of the songs—"Runner" and "Sink, Swim" especially—sound just like summer to me. So with summer songs on my mind, I asked Laura if she could share her own summer playlist with us. Have a listen, and maybe these morning clouds will burn away.

(Glad someone else still appreciates "Semi-Charmed Life," too—doo do do, doo do do doo!)

Remember that post from Jan. 7 about Finders Keepers label boss Andy Votel’s top 15 horror-film soundtracks? Of course you do. Now Votel has uploaded a continuous mix of music from those giallos gialli over at the Red Bull Music Academy’s site. If you’re a connoisseur of spooky soundtracks, you probably can’t find a better guide than Votel to expose you to the most marrow-chillingest obscurities. If you're not a connoisseur of spooky soundtracks, The Applehead Crepaxian Interligne Mixtape ought to set you on the path to becoming one.

Not sure if you're aware, but it’s Valentine’s Day, and seemingly everybody and her mother-in-law is making mixes to commemorate this occasion. I've not listened to every blessed one of these, because days aren’t 72 hours long, but it seems safe to say that nobody except the Sight Below has done a mix composed entirely of My Bloody Valentine gems ranging from their mid-’80s cutey-pop phase to 2013’s sleeper hit, m b v. The selections include "Only Shallow," “Slow,” “Cupid Come,” “Kiss the Eclipse,” "Soft as Snow (But Warm Inside)," and “Loomer.” This is a connoisseur's endeavor, made out of true love(less). A Totally Awesome Valentine Mixtape* is 86 minutes of dream-pop bliss, no matter the status of your personal life.

* Calling MP3s uploaded to the web a "mixtape" makes the linguistic fundamentalist in me go crazy, but I realize trying to stop this ubiquitous usage is futile. I get it: People love to fetishize analog formats, but making a mockery of meaning is a weak way to do this.

UPDATE: The Sight Below (Rafael Anton Irisarri) writes to clarify a few things about this post.

for the record: a "bunch of mp3's" were not used in the making. even the new MBV tracks are high resolution .wav, which I acquired when I purchased/ordered the vinyl+CD version off their website.... I was very dissatisfied with the album's mastering however - did you notice how unbalanced the levels are? I'm no fan of the volume wars, but this particular record overall volume is really low - it's My Bloody Valentine for crying out loud, if anyone if going to have a loud album it's them! So being the tech nerd I am (and a mastering guy myself), I spent two days remastering it to my own liking, the results I used on this mix. Rest of tracks came from my own collection of cd's, etc. I sat down in my studio the other night and went through my MBV collection, figured out the key signature and/or tempo for each track (some I know by heart of course); then determined which ones could work well together and curated the so-called "mixtape" afterward.

A totally awesome Valentine's mixtape by The Sight Below by Thesightbelow on Mixcloud

Scottish DJ duo Optimo (Jonnie Wilkes and Keith McIvor) did an expansive, eclectic, and exciting set at Q Friday December 14, and the good people at Trouble recorded it all. Settle in for 340 minutes of trippy deepness, starting with the great Arthur Russell and Peter Zummo and finishing with a Slayer/Nina Simone mix. Yes!

Seattle DJ Jimi Jaxon (aka Trevor Walker) recently put up a sweet mix on Soundcloud that captures the spirit of our brief but brilliant Indian summer. Now that fall’s kicked in with a vengeance, this salubrious and seductive collection of house-music Vitamin D is most welcome. [Track listing after the cut.]

Jaxon—who runs the Disco Droppings blog and 7 Deadly label and is also a street-promotion assistant and resident for Decibel—opens for Mount Kimbie and Cedaa at Chop Suey Sat. Nov. 10. More info here.

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You may have seen me babbling in these pages about Motor, an event held every other month by Sam Melancon of Debacle Records that focuses on unconventional electronic music. it’s one of my favorite new nights in Seattle and now DJ Slow, a frequent performer at Motor, has constructed a 64-minute mix of artists who’ve played it. It's a vigorous, stimulating blend of mainframe-busting techno, cosmic disco, heavenly ambience, and razor-edged IDM.

The next Motor takes place Sat. Dec. 1 at Lo-Fi Performance Gallery with Goodwin, Dr. Troy, DJ Slow, and the live debut of TJ Max (Jayson Kochan and Timm Mason of Midday Veil).

Tracklist:
Patternmaster - DM3
Mood Organ - 10 Hearts A
Airport - Sweat
HOM - Cult of Sleep
Black Hat - #000000
Crystal Hell Pool - Visionaire
TJ Max - Quintesson
UWE 60D - Strung Out on Zen
Panabrite - Atoll
Megabats - Ill Eagle
Goodwin - Surface (edit)