Well, it only took a few days after the calendar struck summer for the season to establish its dominance.
The heat wave over the past week drove people to the pool, the shore, into a seat in front of the air conditioner, and, in some cases, completely mad.
And while we might not be able to do anything about the temperature, Rock Music Menu can assist with the aesthetics of keeping cool.
Last week, we kicked off this year’s Summer Essentials guide with a slew of books to keep the mind occupied while the mercury rises over the next few months.
This week, it’s all about making sure your music is sounding good, coif looking tight but loose, and memories secured.
So, grab your favorite umbrella drink, kick off the flip-flops, and cue up some appropriate songs for the season, here’s the second part of the Summer Essentials series for 2025.
Creative Pebble X Plus Speakers
When you’re obsessed with music, especially when it’s your job to listen to it all the time, you always want to have the best representation of it sonically.
That means traveling with the right headphones, the Bluetooth speaker on the beach, and the best home theater system that’s within your budget.
But just as important as all of that is what’s humming in the background at all times while working at the desk, whether it’s a home space or the office you go into each day.
Founded in Singapore nearly 45 years ago, Creative has always been laser-focused on how people interact with their computers.
Its groundbreaking audio ventures have included forays into gaming headsets, and more recently into desktop speakers, striving to make every product a sensory feast for the eyes and ears.
The Creative Pebble X Plus speakers retain the familiar Pebble look, and feature 2.75-inch full-range drivers, delivering up to 15 watts of acoustic power and a total peak power of 30 watts when connected to a PC USB-C port.
Coupled with a compact subwoofer with dual passive radiators, the speakers deliver a well-balanced, rich audio and deep bass experience.
Like the classic Creative Pebble series, the Creative Pebble X Plus boasts sitting at 45 degrees to precisely angle audio to the listener’s ears for an immersive and personal listening experience.
Rock Music Menu pushed this to the limits recently ahead of the Metallica two-night stand at the Linc, specifically with the “Master of Puppets” album, and we’re happy to report that it passed with flying colors.
Speaking of colors, visually, the minimalist black spherical design with a matte finish of the system enhances any desk setup, elevating the overall visual appearance with customizable RGB lighting.
Utilizing the red, blue, and green color scheme allows for a mind-boggling palette of up to 16.8 million color selections and six built-in presets.
You can choose between wired or wireless modes with USB audio playback, Bluetooth 5.3 streaming, and analog connection via the universal 3.5-mm auxiliary input port.
There are also dual communication ports for headsets and microphones, allowing private listening and easy communication.
Additionally, you can access Creative’s proprietary Acoustic Engine audio technologies, including Surround, Smart Volume, Bass, Dialog+, and Crystal Voice, all via the Creative app.
Finally, you can customize the RGB lighting using the app’s modules on both PC and mobile.
California Born hair products
The packaging might be minimalist and plain, but the product is nothing of the sort.
California Born is a hair care brand based out of SoCal, where all the good surfing and punk rock is located. The mantra of the company is “Look good, feel good, do good,” taking their cues from old-school Hollywood rebels like James Dean and Steve McQueen.
Founder Jason Schneidman also tips his hat toward rock music legends like Jim Morrison, with a goal of the product line to make wearers feel “carefree and confident.”
California Born first caught our eye with Days of Dirt, a hair grooming cream that promises that “lived-in look” you get from an afternoon at the beach, or a few days of not washing your hair.
In other words, it’s the antithesis of squeaky-clean shampooing that results in a floofy, frizzy mess in some people.
Unbelievably, it worked wonders, succeeding where only time and maybe rubbing literal dirt into your scalp would have made headway prior.
Then there’s the brand’s styling paste, which delivers a texture that promotes volume and thickness, with a solid balance of matte and shine. Schneidman developed it for celebrity clientele, and it quickly became an everyman staple, with a nostalgic scent an ode to both the surf wax and suntan lotion from days spent at the beach.
One of the best parts of California Born is that a portion of the proceeds goes to help get people off the streets and break addictions to drugs and alcohol.
Head over to californiaborn.com to purchase, and check out bundles that include Days of Dirt and the styling paste, along with a “Hang Loose” detangler and “California Surf Spray.”
Samsung T9 Portable SSD
The tunes are covered, and you’re looking good, which means there’s probably going to be lots of pictures taken, and maybe even some filming, for what will surely be a summer to remember.
Of course, there’s the cloud, but if you’re old school and want your files on hand, be it images, music, video — and maybe even that novel you plan to write this summer — then the Samsung T9 Portable SSD is a must-have.
The T9 solid-state drive is Samsung’s first portable drive to feature the lightning-fast USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 interface and delivers up to 2,000MB read/write speeds, which is about twice as quick as its predecessor, the T7.
It’s a performance level that allows users to transfer a 4GB HD video in roughly 2 seconds and complete a 21GB 4K video in about 12 seconds.
Looks and ergonomics are sometimes nearly as important as functionality, and the T9 has it covered by coming in sleek, credit-card-sized models available in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities.
The design incorporates an aluminum core with a rubberized exterior, making it rugged enough to withstand drops from up to nearly 10 feet, and it features Samsung’s Dynamic Thermal Guard to maintain peak performance.
Security-wise, the T9 supports hardware-based AES-256 encryption and is backed by a five-year limited warranty.
It’s fully compatible across a wide range of devices, including Windows and Mac computers, Android devices, high-resolution cameras, and gaming consoles, and comes with USB-C to C and C to A cables.
Additionally, Samsung’s Magician 8.0 software suite — a free download with no license — enables users to benchmark performance, manage firmware, migrate data, and monitor drive health.
Vinyl of the Week will return in July.
To contact music columnist Michael Christopher, send an email to rockmusicmenu@gmail.com. Also, check out his website at thechroniclesofmc.com.
