Whether road-tripping or making that long drive throughout the night to our next destination while touring, the four of us have compiled a list of albums that have made the drives easier.
Pile, Dripping (Exploding in Sound Records, 2012)
Twangy, folky, heavy, beautiful, and easily one of the most-played albums in our van.
Aphrodite's Child, 666 (Vertigo Records, 1972)
This album tells an interesting story of the Apocalypse being performed by a circus while the actual Apocalypse takes place. We were all pretty engaged in the album when we were driving through Washington on our way to Seattle during some heavy rain. Absolutely no talking until we saw a Yeti-like creature bolt across the I-5 and disappear into the woods. Great album, but we freaked ourselves out with this one.
Goldfrapp, Felt Mountain (Mute Records, 2000)
Cinematic soundscapes for excellent highway driving. Perfect balance of emotion for one person to drive to and backseat passengers to fall asleep to.
Radiohead, A Moon Shaped Pool (XL Records, 2016)
A good daytime listen. We were driving through Oregon and it paired so well with the landscape and overall scenery that we had to play it through more than once.
Chris Cohen, Overgrown Path (Captured Tracks, 2012)
An overall "anytime" listen. Very catchy riffs, soothing vocals, and mostly upbeat. Sounds like something out of the late '60s, early '70s era.
Giles, Giles & Fripp, The Brondesbury Tapes (Voiceprint, 2001)
We were really into their vocal harmonies and ended up playing it a lot. Somehow playing this album, at least once through, has almost become like a tour tradition, as it's pretty much bound to be played at some point on the road.
Dungen, Ta Det Lugnt (Subliminal Sounds, 2004)
This album is pretty rad. It incorporates so many different elements and keeps us on our toes. It's shreddy, jazzy, and orchestral all in one, and has some pretty great interludes.
Coldplay, Parachutes (Parlaphone, 2000)
We got a little sensitive with this one. To put a dent in our drive time, we left Phoenix, AZ around 1:00am and popped this album on. The mixture of the music and driving through the desert at night was a good combination
MGMT, Congratulations (Columbia Records, 2010)
Always the perfect soundtrack for the open road. The song "Siberian Breaks," in particular, is larger than life, and easy to get lost in.
Smash Mouth's 10-hour loop of "...and they don't stop coming!"
We decided to test our sanity with this 10-hour loop of Smash Mouth's "All Star" song, where they loop the line "...and they don't stop coming!" for 10 hours straight. We lasted a little over an hour before the headaches and dizziness came about.
