So seems the dog dayz of summertide are upon us full force. We had literally four days of pleasant spring weather in early May, followed by a month-long interlude of constant drizzle and now an unrelenting heat wave of nineties-plus days. I find such extremes are only mollified by the most potent of breeze-core. While some Prewitt/Prekop action would definitely fit the bill, today I think I’ll go with some tracks by one of the Chicagoans’ bossanova forefathers, João Gilberto. Emanating that same, irresistibly casual buoyancy as the S&C crew, Gilberto’s 1960 effort, Amor, O Sorriso e a Flor, is a true essential—one of the handful of records that, though recorded more than a half century ago, remain immediately listenable and (rarer still) perfect fare for repeat plays  during these current climes of heat-drenched lethargy. Wonderfully brief and incomprehensibly blithe, I dare you to dislike these songs…