stick a fork in it

FORT MAHON, France—1991.

© Harry Gruyaert / Magnum Photos

As arbitrary a marker as Labor Day can seem for the under-employed and over-educated, America's workforce has won out on the quest to determine the end-point of summer. I hope they're happy about it. It's not a job I would relish. Nobody wants to shoot Old Yeller (summer), but I guess someone has to do it. This summer was nothing if not awesome and, yet, there was a rabid, feral quality to it (soaring heat index, unmitigated environmental disaster, Glen Beck). True, this summer must be destroyed so that younger, healthier summers can have their day. And let's not forget the perks of autumn. The recent influx of cool air into NYC has reminded us all that fall is not without its beauty, its perks. Here it comes, trotting up to us as a forgotten stray, shyly licking our hands and asking us to look into our pockets for a few small scraps of food, a small piece of our attention. But before we feed that mutt, we have to shoot the old dog dead with a small selection of end-of-summer jams.

Recently released video for summer staple "Down by the Water" by Drums.

Beautiful video for a beautiful song by a band filled with beautiful people--The Naked and Famous. It's a fireworks show of a jam. Their cut "The Sun" is more like watching leaves fall while listening to Radiohead. Another win for record label Neon Gold (marry me).

Falling leaves. Pumpkin seeds. Get ready for a lot of dead smells.

No one knows how fickle summer can be than M.I.A. One minute you're munching on French fries calmly explaining foreign policy for a NYT Magazine puff-piece, the next you're bombing on Governor's Island in the rain. But at least this video rocks.

That's all she wrote. To quote the immortal (and "on hiatus") Rilo Kiley: "The grass was a-tickin' and the sun was on the rise; I never felt so wicked as when I willed our love to die." See you next year summer. I gotta get a job.