yacht rock

brat summer's finally officially over, so it feels like the right time to drop the 9th annual installment in our series of modern yacht rock late summer mixtapes...

Presenting the 8th annual installment in our series of modern yacht rock summer mixtapes. Even when it's not, it's still kind of yacht...

Presenting the 7th annual installment in our series of modern yacht rock summer mixtapes: featuring the finest contemporary soft rock, city pop, quiet storm, sophisti-funk, uneasy listening, wavy VHS ephemera, and of course, mad solos...

Presenting the 6th annual installment in our series of modern yacht rock summer mixtapes...

Presenting the 5th annual installment in our series of modern yacht rock summer mixtapes...

The sequel to our favorite comp of last year is coming in May on Light in the Attic, and they already have the vibiest cover art of the year on lock...

Presenting the fourth annual installment in our series of modern yacht rock summer mixtapes: this year's mix was loosely inspired and guided by Light in the Attic's absurdly dope Pacific Breeze compilation of late '70s and early '80s Japanese City Pop that dropped this spring, which the label says lands in some nebulous zone encompassing "easy listening with mutant exotica, tilted techno-pop,

As she prepares to unveil her brilliant new record Designer later this month on 4AD/Flying Nun, New Zealand's Aldous Harding once again illustrates why she's one of our favorite performers around with her haunting take on Gerry Rafferty's 1978 yacht rock classic, from a recent set at Rough Trade in Brooklyn (via Brooklyn Vegan):

Kelsey Lu follows up her lovely Joni Mitchell cover/Sampha collab with a sprawling, dreamily atmospheric rendition of "I'm Not in Love". Video by Alima Lee + Kelsey Lu:

Presenting our second annual summer mixtape of modern yacht rock vibes: Like last year, we’re using the term "yacht rock" loosely here, to include myriad sounds inspired by smooth, sumptous soft rock grooves, while occasionally veering off into balearica, pillowy soft funk, sophistipop, cosmic disco novelties, psych-soul, and darker forms of hypnogogia. Listen/download + check the full t