- I’ve long liked the concept of a “summer record”. I suppose it helps to have only lived in regions that have cold winters and warm summers, but what makes a summer record is its looseness, and the almost gullible way it makes you follow along to every word and melody. NEW FOUND GLORY have written an entire shelf of great summer records. MIXTAPES first full-length, after three very catchy and convincing EPs could not be more perfectly timed with its mix of emotionally flirty indie rock and manic pop punk. The band is personified by its interplay of male and female vocals, and its their ability to flicker through tempos like an ocean breeze. Every time I listen to this record, I think of a scene where the band is in the van and discussing out loud, “what if we revisited Four Minute Mile, but framed it in the view of The Upsides”? Just a cool, cool release…