The Soul Searchers – Ain’t It Heavy
Cecily featuring Tabi Bonney – Heaven In Your Eyes (Instrumental)
MILK$ – Wonder Woman
Nacey – Tripping In Half Moon Bay
Diggs Duke – Love Breeds Love
Brûlée – Raincloud
Little Hunts – Jumping Jacks
Ben Williams – Toy Soldiers
Dane Paris – Dialogue
Akira Otsuka – White OrchidZenon Slawinski – No Support
Mary Chapin Carpenter – Oh Rosetta
David King – Jewels
igloo two – the big ego scene
Aaron Agre – Cloud Empty (Selenelion) I
Incredible Change – Every Every Day
Power Pirate – Infecting Us
Alex Byrd – Webignarly
Deleted Scenes – Seasons of the Wire
Julius Jetson – Eclipse

The compilation includes previously unreleased tracks from producers with ties to the D.C. region, including Outputmessage, Will Eastman, Nacey (of Misun, now in L.A.), Thomas Blondet and Wave Age, who also records as Caleb L’Etoile. For the most part, it’s sunny, accessible stuff that skews toward lightweight house.

Jake Komara — aka DJ Reed Rothchild — helped organize the compilation, which began percolating in February. That time of year “really got me thinking about summer,” Komara writes in an email. “I wanted to put out a music compilation that would capture the feeling of what it’s like to be in D.C. during the summer months. From brunches, to pool parties and rooftop afterhours, D.C. has a pulse during this special time of year.”

Though, at least one song on the collection has origins outside the party: Outputmessage (Bernard Farley) says his track, “Gladys,” is dedicated to his grandmother. From his Facebook page:

This song is particularly special to me. Last year, my grandma Gladys passed away after a long battle with lung cancer. Before she moved on though, she asked me to write her a song. I knew she wouldn’t want a sad song, but a song that was full of life and that’s how “Gladys” came about.

Stream District Summer below.

Flickr photo by William Neuheisel used under a Creative Commons license.

“That’s the first I heard of that,” he says. Chalk it up to a deep appreciation for a 1960s sound, then.

Wallace says “Eli Eli,” the first track from Misun’s Superstitions—the trio’s new album out today—gleans from Motown, “with a Spaghetti Western surf-guitar feel.” For a band that calls itself “aquawave,” that feels like an appropriately catholic description.

Misun’s songs usually peddle vintage-inspired, danceable grooves and an upbeat, fun feel. “Eli Eli” is no different, with guitars that both pulse and meander and Wojcik’s powerful, slightly husky wail. Band namesake and singer Misun Wojcik describes the song as “just good vibes, really.” But the true inspiration behind “Eli Eli” isn’t so sunny.

“For me, it’s just an accumulation of all the times that you just repeatedly feel down,” says Wojcik, who also plays keys. “Just wanting one more second of joy in your life where you can take it, because you need it so bad.” That underside reveals itself in the lyrics (“Give me just one more happy moment”), despite the danceable packaging. But if a sad song is sung in a fun way, is it still a sad song?

“Eli Eli” first came out on Kitsuné America 3, a compilation released in June by the French record label and clothing line. “They just hit us up directly to our email,” says Nacey. The ensemble had just finished recording the track, so it offered it up fresh from the oven. “We’ve been fans of what [Kitsuné has] done over the years, and it was really cool to work with them because I think they exposed our sound to a lot of people in France and the U.K.,” the producer says. “I think our music sounds very American.”

Misun also sounds as distinctive as it did on its 2012 EP debut, The Sea, but Superstitions shows the band shifting slightly, embracing a throwback sound with arms wide open.

“I think it’s just another color on our palette for sure,” says Wojcik. “It still has the same qualities that all our other songs have, but something a little different.”