The third installment of my summer’s synth pop playlists, Melting Portal Vision leans into squelchy, rubbery and especially 80s-indebted synth textures more than the others in the series. It aims to be a dizzying, blissful sink into warm waters. Near the end it cleans up a bit, the high wearing off and showing slivers of sunlight through the clouds, but then slides back into shifting, bleary sands right at the end.

As a refresher, this suite of playlists are built almost exclusively from songs released in the late 00s to early 10s, roosting in a realm of nostalgia that’s extra juicy to me right now. Throwbacks to summers with less responsibilities, and ones where the summery music felt sculpted for warm temps and sweaty nights. Melting Portal Vision also includes a few heavy-hitters of the era, like MGMT’s “Electric Feel” + Passion Pit’s “The Reeling” and Grimes’ “Genesis.” Can’t deny the classics! Not always trying to be the coolest guy in the room!

Either way, this playlist drifts between the bleary and the lucid, and is a love letter to the other blogs that are still hanging on, and those that have since passed. Gone but not forgotten (except I’ve definitely forgotten a few, and I’m sorry about that). The tunes definitely sustain. You’ll notice a few more remixes on this one – definitely going to be a major theme for the final playlist in the series coming up after this one.

Listen to Melting Portal Vision via Tidal HERE

1. Porcelain Raft – “Drifting In And Out”
2. Neon Indian – “Annie”
3. Jensen Sportag – “Mapquest”
4. Delorean – “Deli”
5. Roman à Clef – “PSBTV”
6. Cut Copy – “Pharaohs & Pyramids”
7. Neon Indian – “Deadbeat Summer (Toro y Moi Remix)”
8. Passion Pit – “The Reeling”
9. Pictureplane – “Real Is A Feeling”
10. Small Black – “Sun Was High (So Was I)”
11. Nite Jewel – “Nowhere To Go”
12. Ice Choir – “Variant”
13. Future Unlimited – “Golden”
14. Woman’s Hour – “Her Ghost”
15. DyE – “Fantasy”
16. MGMT – “Electric Feel”
17. Teams & Star Slinger – “The Yes Strut”
18. Games – “Heartlands”
19. Surfing – “Lifetime”
20. Men I Trust – “Break For Lovers (feat. Helena Deland)”
21. Blood Orange – “It Is What It Is (feat. Samantha Urbani)”
22. Pure Bathing Culture – “Scotty”
23. Gypsy & The Cat – “Time To Wander (Joan of Arc Remix)”
24. School of Seven Bells – “Half Asleep (Lusine Remix)”
25. Grimes – “Genesis”