This is Not a Playlist

Ok so I’m kind of jumping on the bandwagon. Everyone over here at Tastemakers (read: Alyssa and Katie) have been giving you their picks for summer driving playlists. I typically drive a lot in summer and music selection is very important, but I actually hate playlists. I never make any of my own. Jumping around from artist to artist is something I do when I’m bored and can’t find anything I’m really in to. When I’m enjoying music it means I’m listening to an album, not a mix of songs. This is probably a result of listening to Tool so much in my early development. To this day the band does not license their music to iTunes because they do not believe in allowing the songs to be separated from the context of the album. I tend to agree with that. So much work goes in to making a good album be a cohesive set of songs and the track order is often the result of much scrutiny. For this reason I respect the album and listen to music as albums. I’ve never even flicked the shuffle button on my iPod shuffle. So here is a list of my favorites to slide in to the stereo as I drive.

1. Beck – Midnite Vultures

Yeah it was released over ten years ago, but nothing makes you feel cooler and simultaneously like a loser quite like driving around pumping an old Beck album. Midnite Vultures brings weird to a whole new level and you can’t help but giggle driving through the sunshine.

2. Yeasayer – Oddblood
It’s hard for me to say how much I love this album. I literally drove hundreds of miles with it from New Jersey to Boston and back last summer. After all that playtime I still find it as exciting as the day I bought it, which I happen to remember was March 20, 2010′€¦ I have a problem.

3. Anathallo – Canopy Glow
Almost every other album I recommended has been upbeat and dancey, but you can’t go full throttle the whole time. Even summers need to relax. Anathallo has this magical way of coaxing Beauty out of the sky. It doesn’t matter whether it’s sunny, overcast, or a thunderstom.

4. Rilo Kiley – Under the Blacklight
Under The Blacklight is unique album. It’s made up of equal parts folk, country, and pop. It might not actually be the best driving album only because you’ll wish you could be up and dancing, but hey it helps you get around.

5. Nickel Creek – Why Should the Fire Die?
If you have ever walked through a Kohl’s a few years ago you have probably heard ‘€œSomebody More Like You’€ and wouldn’t even guess that it was a bluegrass band. Nickel Creek made some of the most youthful bluegrass in their short career and Why Should the Fire Die? is the perfect album to drop in at twilight as you drive in to on of those endless summer nights. It’s also a good introduction to bluegrass if you’re too scared to jump right in to some Old Crow Medicine Show.

Honorable Mention: Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
I hesitated putting this on here because it has been so overplayed, but if there is one thing this album makes me think of it is summer. I dare you to argue against that. The only problem with this album is, at this point, you are bound to be sick of it as soon as the second play through. So if you include it, make sure its part of a variety of different albums.