In this, the next installment of Converse’s “Three Artists, One Song” song/shoe promotion, listeners are treated to a fine summer tune by Bethany Cosentino (of Best Coast/Pocahaunted/Wavves’ girlfriend fame), Kid Cudi, and Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend. While the lineup certainly doesn’t have the instant-name recognition of Converse’s previous song, featuring Santogold, Pharell and Julian Casablancas, the shoe company certainly managed to capture the zeitgeist of the 2k10 music landscape.
Released as a free download and accompanied by a creative video, “All Summer” is about as inoffensive as it gets: there’s something for all genres of listeners. It’s not too difficult to imagine tweens ‘getting hyped’ for their days by quoting lines like, “My intentions for all summer have simply been this: maintain, keep my brain sane, with a little rage.” But Cudi’s verses are largely hit or miss; he can deliver lines like “Lookin’ at the ocean on shrooms is way iller,” but then also drop these bars in the same verse: “Callin’ my mama, tell her not to worry, I’m a man of the wild and the wild is the best.”
There’s not much to say about the actual instrumentation (Rostam’s part of the song, I imagine), as it’s a simple drum/guitar/bass affair. The real highlight is Bethany Cosentino’s honey-sweet vocal contribution, delivering the chorus in a manner that can’t help but elicit thoughts of sunny days at the beach with some buds. For what is ostensibly a shoe commercial, listeners could certainly do worse than this jam, which, though formulaic, is still a pleasing listen.
