The actor Jason Schwartzman (of Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited and I Heart Huckabees fame, amongst others) has a musical side project called Coconut Records. Quite how I came across it, I can't recall - perhaps from last.fm? - but I spent a lot of time a few years ago trying to get a copy of the first album, Nighttiming, which hadn't been released in the UK. Anyway, one of the tracks from that album, West Coast, became the unofficial anthem to the latter part of my trip. Is there anything more perfect than sitting in a great bar on the west coast of America, drinking cider and having West Coast come on the stereo? The answer is no, there really isn't. I also heard the song in a shop in San Francisco, a couple of places in Portland and finally, on my last day, on the radio in Seattle. Perhaps it's actually an official anthem of the west coast? It really was a close-run thing as to what would be the sound of the summer - Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear were on constant rotation on my iPod and the former are of course a Pacific Northwest band - but ultimately it's all about the serendipitousness of hearing a great song out of nowhere.
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