Hailing from the garden state, perpetual personal and blog favvs Real Estate have made light work of creating some lax summer suburbia boredom anthems over the course of the year, across a bundle of 7″ releases and, perhaps most notably, with contributions to the excellent Underwater Peoples Compilation. More straightforward and direct than the likes of Ducktails (whose elevator vibes didn’t seem to captivate too many on his recent tour, sad face), Real Estate are surely one of the easiest finds of the year. Their album, dropped quite recently, is actually a compilation of all their 7″ and CD releases from the year, but still serves as a sweet entry point for the uninitiated. With an understated charm and warmth, these 10 tracks chill up a dreamland of sand-blown beach playgrounds and paint peeling all over the deck at yr parents house, bike rides on the neighbourhood streets and popsicles in the shade on the lawn (pretty sure I need to go to the West Coast). Martin Courtney’s delivery is drenched in the hazy nostalgia that’s been pretty synonymous with alot of hyped releases in 2009, and between the slide in Black Lake, the beautiful delays in Beach Comber, and the deckchair instrumentals of Atlantic City and Lets Rock The Beach, there’s a treasure trove of little moments where everything just feels right. It’s incredibly easy on the ears, the stories don’t stray far from the beach and summer (there’s a track which centres on drinking budweiser sprite), which all sounds about perfect, considering my itinerary is currently occupied by nothing but hazy late wakeups and apple and guava juice in the heat (when the heat is around). Download away and enjoy the glazed suburban dream, it’ll hold you over until exams are done, at which point it’ll take on a whole new level of appropriateness.
