Our annual Summer Stars series features a variety of groups making the rounds on the festival circuit. Today we feature Foxygen. We’ve also checked in with The Flaming Lips, Allen Stone, Lord Huron, Shovels & Rope, Passion Pit, John Scofield, The Lumineers, Futurebirds, Tea Leaf Green and moe..

You are not going to to find a better album for the summer of 2013 than Foxygen’s We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic. The nine cuts that comprise the San Francisco duo’s latest outing pit the English psychedelic warmth of Arthur -era Kinks against a grit of streetwise California soul – worthy of the namesake attributed to the new LP’s lead single “Shuggie.”

The band broke a few hearts when they hastily canceled their European tour earlier this year, citing “creative health” concerns in a public statement. But fans will be jazzed to learn that they staved off crossing the Atlantic in order to track freshly written songs for their next long player, which they will be recording in between American festival dates.

“We really need that time to record our new album,” explains guitarist Jonathan Rado. “We’ve been touring for so long that we haven’t had any time to work on it. [Vocalist] Sam [France] and I haven’t gone more than a year without recording ever, so it’s starting to wear on us.”

The pair plan on hitting up the stateside festival circuit with appearances at Firefly, Solid Sound, Forecastle, Pitchfork and Pickathon through August. Live, Rado and France embrace the back pages of Frisco’s paisley streets as if D.A. Pennebaker was perpetually filming them, albeit with a rawer edge that might take fans of their studio work aback.

“I feel that people are often disappointed at our shows,” Rado muses. “Our live show is a whole different thing than our records.” *

Album for a Hot Summer Night: Todd Rundgren, A Wizard, A True Star

Summer Drink: Coca-Cola straight out of the can

Festival Stops: Firefly, Solid Sound, Forecastle, Pitchfork, Pickathon, more.