Welcome to Burnes’ Turns, something that I began a few years ago when I was the Entertainment Editor of The East Texan. This was a weekly part of my Soundtrack column where I listed my favorite songs that I’d listened to that week, and was inspired by my favorite Rolling Stone writer David Fricke. I’m very excited to be at it again with The Soundtrack Online, so here are my first five picks for not only this week, but really the entire summer since I’ve been away from making these lists. Look for a new, five-track playlist every Wednesday in honor of the day of the week my roommate Sean, my good friend Kyria, and I would deliver The East Texan to the masses of Texas A&M University-Commerce.

1. “The Godfather Waltz” – London Pops Orchestra
   The most life-changing thing I did this Summer wasn’t writing a thesis or graduating from college, it was viewing The Godfather for the first time. Vito and Michael Corleone have that charisma, that class, that many have attempted to emulate, and this track helped me get through the trials of writing and defending a thesis and helped keep me calm before what seemed like a jury of executioners with time working against me with every click of the clock. Listen to the original version if you can, but Spotify’s London Pops Orchestra version will do just fine.
2. “The Rising Sun (Shinsuke Nakamura)” – CFO$
   Although The Godfather changed me more as a person, If I had to pick the one song that has defined my summer, it would have to be this one. Shinsuke Nakamura rocked the wrestling world when he debuted against Sami Zayn at NXT Takeover: Dallas (which I attended). It was one of the greatest matches I had ever experienced that was won by an icon unlike any I had ever seen. CFO$ has made some questionable musical choices in the past (I feel for ya, Cesaro), but they did no wrong with this exquisitely awesome violin-centric piece, which has single-handedly piqued my interest in the instrument.
3. “The Kraken – Score” – Hans Zimmer
   This driving, six-and-a-half-minute production plays when The Kraken emerges to drag another hapless ship and crew down to the depths of Davy Jones’ Locker in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, but the anger that it conveys in its organ-laced musicianship is relatable to a much wider frame.
4. “Kickback” – Seansational
   Seansational’s newest EP Brilliance takes what 22-year-old one-man-band Sean Bates learned from his Electronic EP Ethereal Drift from earlier this year (under the name In Orbit), adds a significant dose of disappointment and heartache, and brings it all together in a dark Rap track vowing to “bring back the Wildfire.” I’m ready when he is.
5. “Bad Blood” – NAO
   This trippy Trance-Pop nugget was a hell of a debut from London singer-songwriter NAO in 2015, and it just gets better and catchier with every subsequent listen.

For more playlists, including my master Burnes’ Turns playlist that contains nearly 2,000 songs, search for Andrew Burnes or Burnes’ Turns on Spotify.