The Lariat Mix: Best Driving Songs The Lariat Mix: Best Driving Songs
BY JEREMY HAAS We all know what it’s like to have one of those days, or even those weeks, where you find yourself driving... The Lariat Mix: Best Driving Songs

BY JEREMY HAAS

We all know what it’s like to have one of those days, or even those weeks, where you find yourself driving a whole lot more than usual.  How about that time when you hit every red light  on the same day you conveniently happened to leave the house late? Or even when you are convinced that your fellow drivers have conspired to form an alliance against you, cutting you off at every possible chance, forming walls of swerving snail-driver hybrids to keep you at their low speed.  Driving can be therapeutic, but it can just as easily serve as another way to stress you out.   However, regardless of the road and the condition of the drivers on it, you should always come prepared with a driving playlist, a few songs to fit any situation you may encounter on the open highway, the residential streets, or the tricky back roads. We all know the basics, The Allman Brothers’ “Jessica,” Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid,” and basically every other rock and roll song to come out between 1960 and 1980. However, there are a few modern classics, a few tracks that have gone moderately unnoticed for their extreme impact on a driving experience.  Maybe these next five songs aren’t objectively the “greatest” driving songs of all time, but they certainly do a good job keeping you interested and jamming out on the road.

Through the Roof and Underground – Gogol Bordello

The first time I heard this song was in an uber-angsty indie flick called Wristcutters: a Love Story. I had heard of Gogol Bordello, the crazy, foreign gypsy punkers before I saw the film, but their music never really struck a chord with me until this one scene of the movie ( It was a driving montage, of course).  A rag tag group of three were driving a crummy car down a deserted highway while “Through the Roof and Underground” played in the background, the characters happily/sloppily singing along. Every time the song comes on in the car now, I can’t help but turn it up, whether I’m alone or with friends.  The ballad gives a hovering sensation necessary to a good driving song, establishing it through a bouncy set of minor chords and low humming keys playing on a distant melody.  It’s inviting in nature, and while the lyrics aren’t clear or even all that intelligible, they provoke thought, and are catchy enough to mumble along to.  Yes, the track originally struck me as a “driving song” because it was featured in a driving scene of a movie, but with time, it evolved into so much more.

Karma’s Payment – Modest Mouse

I obviously couldn’t leave Modest Mouse off of this list, considering the fact that one of their albums almost entirely follows a driving theme (This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About). Truth be told,  Modest Mouse may just be the best overall driving band of all time.  “Karma’s Payment” isn’t on Long Drive though, rather, it’s on a following EP called The Fruit that Ate Itself. The track has a certain reminiscence of being on the road,  yes it mentions a car breaking down, but that’s beside the point.  The music itself has a different floating sensation than most “driving music”. In fact, I wouldn’t consider it a floating sensation at all, rather it is a trudging one.  A lot of aspects of “Karma’s Payment” remind the listener of shiftily speeding through a herd of cars during rush hour, only to get stuck at the next light with everyone else.  It makes you feel like you’re in a busy school zone, as an ominous crossing-guard sounding whistle loops within the backdrop of the track.  The lyrics are also thought provoking, and at times very relatable, making the song a different, yet equally effective driving soundtrack.

My Kind of Woman – Mac Demarco

Mac Demarco is a cool guy, there’s no way around that.  His broodingly angelic vocal style reminds one of the blues, but a little less sad and a lot more carefree.  My Kind of Woman” is the perfect example of this.  The track is as typical as a love song can get lyrically, but perhaps that’s what makes it stand out so much.  Mac Demarco doesn’t try; he’s just a cool guy with a cool voice that likes to play tasty jams.  So much of modern music , and  especially indie music, lacks this simplicity. I’d even go so far as to consider Demarco the antihero that will save indie rock from falling irreversibly deep into sheer hipster abyss.  This track is cool, calm, and collected, it features a heavily reverb ridden set of guitar riffs over a loungy drum beat and bouncy bass, complemented ever-so-slightly by a synthesizer buzzing single notes. The song not only makes you feel relaxed, it’s also intensely cool. Your fuel-efficient hatchback turns into a classic American muscle car as your speakers blast “My Kind of Woman” and sing along with the poster boy of nostalgia.

Surf Wax America – Weezer

I hate the beach. That’s right, I said it.  The beach is a half an hour of driving, and five bucks worth of parking to get sticky, sweaty, and insecure about your body. Visits to this mistakenly adored watering hole of misery also entail anticipation of finding sand all over your body, car, and personal belongings for weeks to come.   Alas, I live in Florida, and so, I’m forced to go to the beach at least once in a while.  When I do, “Surf Wax America” is one of the few songs that get me ready, and even a little, dare I say, excited…for the sand, salt water, and half naked humanoids.  Look out for a possible beach playlist in the future…but for now, let’s just stick to driving.  While “Surf Wax America” makes the beach seem tolerable, it also does wonders for driving around a lot of other places too.  This is a fun song, the kind of song that just puts you in a good mood, forcing you to sing along with sheer enthusiasm.  It’s catchy, but in a way that isn’t  annoying in the slightest.  Maybe that’s why it’s such a great “going to the beach song,” I mean sure, it’s about the beach, but it’s also a numbing agent, a laughing gas, drugging you into bliss, whether you’re gearing up for oceanic hell, or just taking another mundane drive.

Funny You Should Ask – The Front Bottoms

The Front Bottoms are a newer band, a duo that sings upbeat songs about everyday, sometimes sad topics.   Their vocalist/guitarist, Brian Sella, has a very raw way about his songwriting techniques, it’s as if he writes these wordy stories intending to turn them into lyrics, but somehow forgets to do that, still somehow trying to pass them off as melodic.  This, in addition to the fact that he only plays an acoustic guitar, and his voice is crude, shrill, and unrefined, make the Front Bottoms incredibly likable for their untouched energy.  The less-is-more drumming approach allows them to go all out, also adding to the cadence.  Still, they include synthesizers and trumpets to complement wordy, chord-ridden, and fast paced ballads, turning them truly upbeat, and dare I say…pop songs?  While this all sounds a little like an extended criticism of the band, it’s actually why I like them so much.  They take that childish energy of immature songwriting, and turn it into something more mature and, perhaps, even beautiful.  This keeps the sound relatable, the topics interesting, and therefore, a track like “Funny You Should Ask” downright jammable.  The Front Bottoms have a way of stretching their songs out, repeating choruses around six to eight times a song, not so far off of a classic rock habit.  This helps though, trust me, I mean, have you ever heard a classic rock song you didn’t want to drive to?  It’s easy to get lost in Sella’s stories told through a perpetually cracking voice, and then have all your energy built up into a 90’s pop punk sounding chorus, in other words, a climax of screaming along in your car.   “Funny You Should Ask” is everything you want in a driving song – catchy, drawn out, energetic, and oh…did I mention catchy?