I have a California hangover.

We just spent a long weekend in San Diego/Temecula for a wedding, and I had the same thoughts every Arizonan does in the throes of idyllic 70-degree temperatures: How fast can I move here? It’s hard to describe the deflating feeling of driving back across the merciless desert into the awaiting inferno of another Phoenix summer, the temperature gauge in the car mocking you all the while. Granted, those California dreams are quickly tempered by reality – you pay what in rent? – but even in my sunburned state, I dream of summers in which I can wear a sweatshirt at night.

As I attempt to transition back to the real world this week, I at least have this breezy ode to the Left Coast from Dirty Gold to soothe me. The San Diego trio linked up with Autumn Tone Records – headed up by Aquarium Drunkard proprietor Justin Gage – in December and released an EP, Roar, in April – just in time to carry us through the summer.

• Dirty Gold | California Sunrise

Aaaaahhh, 2005. Do you remember? The second wave of music blogs – including this one – were sprouting up and we were all drunk on promotional CDs, determined to find the Next Great Myspace Band. We swore the good times would never end. Yes, those were heady days in the blog(spot) world – before Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook ruled the world. And before Blogger started crushing our souls and erasing sites without warning.

I, for one, devoured most everything that came through my mailbox and inbox. Bands and artists came and went, but many left an impression. One of ’em was Tom Vek, a young Londoner who quite successfully meshed synth pop and rock on his bustling 2005 album We Have Sound.

It was all a little jagged and a little raw but still danceable (the remixers loved it and Pitchfork sorta did, too). I couldn’t wait to hear what Vek would do next. Turns out, waiting is all we would do.

I guess, according to his new official bio info, this five-plus-year hiatus was all part of a master plan: “Following the justification of his debut album’s reception, Vek wanted to fulfill the idea of a ‘multi-faceted individual’ and remain in complete control of his creative output. An artist with a unique and singular vision, Vek has a systematic way of working. The second album’s creation was two-fold: a 3 year set-up period followed by a 2 year stretch of musical output. A process encapsulated up in the album’s title, Leisure Seizure.”

In other words, Vek has a new album called Leisure Seizure due for digital release on June 7. Whether 2011 will be as kind to him as 2005 was remains to be seen. But this new track, A Chore, is off to promising start.

With the exception of Odd Future’s raucous turn on Jimmy Fallon earlier this year, I can’t recall a more rousing late-night performance than the one the Joy Formidable delivered Tuesday night on Conan.

I’m a latecomer to the three-piece band from North Wales and now regret missing its show last month at the Rhythm Room, which surely must have been a deafening experience.

This song, Whirring, which got a major co-sign from Foo man Dave Grohl, comes off the band’s first proper full-length, The Big Roar, which was released in January.

What can I say: I’m a sucker for that big, shoegaze-era wall of a sound – and also when a dude puts his head through a bass drum.

Not sure how I hadn’t seen this series from TDK before, but here’s a pretty cool five-plus-minute video interview with members of The Walkmen, who discuss their influences and making mixtapes, among other topics. I especially enjoy the guys talking near the end about the inevitable consequences – most notably the “decimated” attention span, of which I am a sufferer – brought on by the iPod generation.