You can try to run and you can try to hide, but every year there are some brand new ear-worms that’ll be a constant soundtrack to your summer activities whether you like it or not. At a BBQ, a pool party, or simply a baking hot trip down the corner shop, you can’t escape them, and they’ll be playing away out of a car window near you almost constantly.

Rather than shying away from the inevitable, we’ve decided to embrace the phenomenon by listing our predictions for this summer’s staples. Here are our shouts on the albums you’ll accidentally be imbibing as the weather turns warmer, and the good news is, they’re really not half bad. Read on, and get to know your enemy.

YG - Still Krazy

Expected to be released his summer, new single in May

YG’s 2014 album My Krazy Life was the arguably one of the best gangsta rap albums in years – full of razor-sharp storytelling detail, West Coast sunshine and hyphy-inspired beats that were largely produced by party rap master DJ Mustard. The album’s highly-anticipated sequel Still Krazy is expected imminently, with new single Why You Always Hatin’? set to premiere on via OVO Sound radio on 21 May. While YG’s claimed that the album will feature no Mustard beats due to the pair’s recent disagreements, the Compton rapper’s loose tracks like Twist My Fingaz, I Wanna Benz and the anti-Donald Trump anthem FDT show that he’s not abandoned that bass-heavy bounce that sounds perfect in the sweltering heat.

Mala - Mirrors

Released 24 June

Inspired by his voyages in Peru, Mala’s new LP Mirrors is the follow up to 2012’s Mala in Cuba, which he recorded with collaborators in Havana. Evidently, he is keen to continue the South London/South America musical infusion, as this new album, recorded in Lima, takes a similar format. A number of traditional Peruvian musicians such as Colectivo Palenke, Danitse, Asociacion Juvenil Puno and Sylvia Falcon feature, and the traditional Peruvian sounds and structures mix atmospherically with Mala’s Digital Mystikz brand of seismic bass. If the first available track from the release, Kotos, is anything to go by, it looks like it’s time to add “actively appreciate and enjoy the panpipes” to your summer to-do list.

Metronomy - Summer ‘08

Released 1 July

Our cover star Joe Mount’s fifth album, the aptly titled Summer ‘08, is set for release on 1 July, just in time to be the soundtrack to a BBQ, bike ride or village fete near you. As the follow-up to 2014’s quintessentially British Love Letters, Mount has seemingly ditched the solemn sixties sound, with preview track Old Skool suggesting he’s returning to an indie-dance vibe more synonymous with his earlier work.  This first track boasts mixing from Mix Master Mike of Beastie Boys fame and a retro 70s inspired video, and the guest features don’t stop there: Robyn also features on a track, helping to create a funky pop vibe for all the family to enjoy. Hey Joe! 2008 called – they want their summer back.

Motor City Drum Ensemble - Dekmantel Selectors 001

Out now

As a connoisseur of rare records, Danilo Plessow, the man behind Motor City, has compiled a few of his favourites from his extensive collection for the first of Dekmantel’s Selectors series. After over ten years of his idiosyncratic DJ sets, Plessow is famous for taking his audience on a musical journey through soul, disco, house and jazz, so naturally, this compilation is as eclectic as you can get, showcasing all ends of Plessow’s funky spectrum. With tracks from the likes of DJ Slym, Risque III, Bill Deals and Raphael Green, the album is formatted as unmixed individual tracks, rather than a mix, meaning you can skip through to find the right vibe for numerous moods and occasions. A truly versatile soundtrack to this summer, whatever the weather.

KAYTRANADA - 99.9%

Out now

Kaytranada kicks off his debut LP with the unquestionably summery house of TRACK UNO and it only gets more suitably seasonal from there. Using the signatures that let him gloriously ascend Soundcloud (bouncy beats, throwback vibes, and sunny synths), 23-year-old Louis Kevin Celestin invites a glittering cast of featured artists, including Craig David, Syd, and Anderson .Paak to join his first album party to glittering effect. Jazz, hip-hop, pop, funk – it’s all here, it’s all fun, and it’s all unbelievably infectious. There’s no doubt in our minds that this’ll get you in that ‘oh shit it’s finally summer’ mood in no time at all.

Blood Orange - Freetown Sound

Expected later this spring

Having transmuted several musical monikers over the course of his career, Dev Hynes has used Blood Orange as his nom de plume since 2008, and his disco-tinged Cupid Deluxe of 2003 demonstrated that this is his most exuberant iteration yet. We reckon the forthcoming Freetown Sound will be proof that your summer tunes needn’t be the basic bangers so synonymous with the season, and the clues Hynes has dropped so far hint as much. In an interview with V Magazine, he mentioned Christianity, intimacy, and honesty as influences, and also alluded to the format of the full-length: “It’s inspired by old Dust Brothers records, very cut and paste. It’s like my version of Paul’s Boutique. It kind of plays like a long mix tape.” Sounds like another silky smooth effort from the singer-songwriter to us, and one we want soundtracking our summer.

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