road trips

michael · Post by **michael** » Tue May 11, 2004 12:26 am

are fucking exhausting. drove back from texas to georgia w/ my family. they take all the energy out of you. not even doing anything. i just slept when i wasnt even sleepy.

also, lousiana & mississippi are just miles and miles of bridges over water/bogs/marshes/bayous/rivers. its actually pretty cool. very scenic.

driving through alabama is horrible. driving through texas is really awesome at night cuz you can listen to stuff like black dice or sunburnt hand of man and its like youre travelling through an alien world.

user_57 · Post by **user_57** » Tue May 11, 2004 4:11 pm

my last road trip was when i went skiing in colorado. we drove all the way home in one day. took 10 hours to get back to lubbock where we barely made it back because my brothers jeep was screwing up.

from there me and a friend drove the 9 hours back to houston. it was awesome. we mostly just played new order and cure the whole way and threw in a couple things like radio berlin, stockholm monsters, interpol, gary numan, and such.

at some point in the middle of nowhere we had picked up some 40's and were driving in class.

faster · Post by **faster** » Tue May 11, 2004 7:35 pm

2001 drove straight from boston to potland oregon with jp jenkins and bryan eubanks. 50 hours. stopping only for toilet, gas. one short meal stop (cooking eggs in a parking lot). Listened to lots of woody guthrie. we drove in 4 hour shifts: 4 hours driving, 4 hours front seat (awake), 4 hours back seat (sleepy time).

the tour was over. we wanted to go home.

user_147 · Post by **user_147** » Tue May 11, 2004 10:24 pm

travelling can be exhausting.

the worst fun i had was taking the bus from texas to georgia, stopping at podunk towns and the driver nearly fell asleep. the bus from central mexico to texas was another thrill ride. i was sick with the tourista, my window wouldn't close, my seat was wet and the bathroom door was locked. 20 hour flights to japan aren't much better.

that said, i'm ready for a drive thru the south. love those swamps and bridges and dialects.

user_83 · Post by **user_83** » Tue May 18, 2004 12:14 am

Going cross-Canada can be the ultimate road trip. If you can make it throuhg Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario then you must have entertaining friends and good music, or a strange obsession with flat and tree-less monotony. The little towns are entertaining though.

user_305 · Post by **user_305** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 1:51 pm

gonna hit the road next wednesday for one of the most boring drives i've ever done... cleveland to NW south carolina. a bunch of swervy mountains and nothing to look at once you've taken in the mountains (which are really cool when you're not driving on them). i did this once this year already (me, my brother and dad went down to see my grandparents for fathers' day). i am not looking forward to it.

driving from cleveland to anywhere is never any fun. cleveland to philly is just hours of the void between pittsburgh and philly... cleveland to chicago is only fun if you stop and gawk at the utter decay that is gary, indiana. also, has anyone else ever tried to record shop in south bend? all we could find was this crappy cd warehouse type place/head shop all in one.

Post by **mudd** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 1:57 pm

it's difficult for me to express fairly the degree to which i despise south bend, indiana.

i need to think of some good tunes for a drive down (and then up) california next week. that my little sister will like. the latter part being trickier, as hip hop is my favorite driving music, and she doesn't dig it.

m

user_305 · Post by **user_305** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 2:16 pm

ok, so now i'm going to switch this to the 'road trip music' thread.

beck - one foot in the grave <--- great when you're in the middle of nowhere
any pavement
creedence
neil young
british punk

i know theres tons more i'm missing, but that is what came to mind immediately. i've always found that comedy cds work very well on road trips. my two favorites in that category are longmont potion castle and david cross.

user_70 · Post by **user_70** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 6:01 pm

nighttime driving requires singalongability and/or a beat.

user_57 · Post by **user_57** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 6:10 pm

notech wrote:ok, so now i'm going to switch this to the 'road trip music' thread.
.

always the hardest part when packing for a trip. just stick to the classics. some personal faves.

david bowie - huky dory, ziggy stardust, man who sold...
bob dylan - highway 61, the freewheelin..., blonde on blonde (too many to choose)
rolling stones - between the buttons, beggars banquet, many choices
van morrison - astral weeks, moondance
t. rex - electric warrior, slider

lots of shoegazer stuff ala ride, slowdive, pale saints, swervedriver, mbv, early lily's, and etc.

lots of early 80's post punk stuff

jamc - psychocandy, darklands
spacemen 3 - perfect prescription, playing with fire
sonic youth - daydream nation, sister
magnetic fields - charm of the highway strip
gbv - alien lanes, bee thousand
cure - disintegration, head on the door
new order - technique, low-life, brotherhood
blondie - parallel lines

and many more.

user_98 · Post by **user_98** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 6:10 pm

I tend to like slow melancholy music while driving around late at night. Instrumental, droning stuff too, which isn't always suited for long trips, but usually works if you want to fall asleep at the wheel.

user_70 · Post by **user_70** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 6:24 pm

gershon yosef wrote:I tend to like slow melancholy music while driving around late at night. Instrumental, droning stuff too, which isn't always suited for long trips, but usually works if you want to fall asleep at the wheel.

Yeah, that stuff is great if you're not tired.

user_70 · Post by **user_70** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 6:26 pm

I used to love driving around in creepy urban wastelands at night while listening to Trans Am, Tortoise and Autechre.

hatta · Post by **hatta** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 8:27 pm

Everybody knows the best driving music is Bagpipe music: You put it on and try to outrun it.

(I kid, I kid, I love the pipes)

nirav · Post by **nirav** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 3:14 am

I listened to Charlie Mingus's The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady like 3 times straight through in a road while my family was driving through the red clay mountains in Rajasthan, India. I'll never be able to disassociate that album from the color of rust.

Also listented to the Legendary Pink Dots' "Stained Glass Soma Fountains" a lot on the same drive.

Amongst my fav. driving moments was John Fahey's "Georgia Stomps, Alambama Struts..." at 6:00am or so when the sun was rising as an (at the time) friend and I were driving out to Georgia to hike. That was in fact the only good thing about that entire trip, the aforementioned "friend" and I no longer speak.

user_30 · Post by **user_30** » Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:19 am

polyphonic wrote:nighttime driving requires singalongability and/or a beat.

Any driving for me requires this. I fall asleep really quickly if not. So it's either pop music, pop rock, or albums that I've listened to so many times I know all the words.

bombinthebeehive · Post by **bombinthebeehive** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 12:11 pm

i never thought noise would be appropriate or pleasant for car travel, but one day i popped in bastard noise while driving and things havent been the same since

user_305 · Post by **user_305** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 1:16 pm

good call on the john fahey... anything rooted in folk or blues seems really good for driving through rural america. obvious? yes... but it works.

user_59 · Post by **user_59** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 10:51 pm

neil young - works especially well anywhere in the western u.s.

for some reason, i've only ever liked 'goo' by sonic youth on the road.

underworld - beaucoup fish, dubnobass...
neu!
stereolab
vu - white light/white heat in the summer

ditto everyone on the quiet/ambient at night when you're awake... SAW II, softer Tim Hecker, Stars of the Lid, lots of dark ambient

faster · Post by **faster** » Mon Nov 22, 2004 12:49 am

Joseph Spence