WWWP

5. Ludovico Einaudi – Una Mattina



Although he rejects the label himself, I’m not sure how else to classify the composer aside from “minimalist.” Una Mattina is thoroughly meditative, and my favorite album to drive to when it’s raining heavily. It will always evoke scenes from my first winter in California, spending countless hours in the living room listening to this album while sewing, reading, writing or just thinking while I stared out at the rain through the French doors. I’d never spent so much time alone, and I’d never seen so much rain.


4. Hop Along – Is Something Wrong?



Her first release under the Hop Along moniker, this seven track EP is, in my opinion, Frances Quinlan’s showcase album as far as songwriting is concerned. While I enjoy her first album, Freshman Year (released under the name Hop Along, Queen Ansleis) for the experimentation and innovation it contains, Is Something Wrong is just a better example of what she’s capable of creating. This is an album I like to listen to when thinking deeply about the creation of music, and when I want to feel inspired to write my own. I study her lyrics while I’m driving, marveling at the melodies she creates. I urge any fan of Get Disowned to check out Hop Along’s earlier work.


3. Daniel Johnston – Fun



While the next two albums are personally used for listening while pondering, this album is for when I want to expend excess energy at the end of the day or escape from the mindset of life’s tedium. I love most of what Daniel Johnston has done – I think his status as artistic genius is not only acceptable but is, in that recognition, relieving – but Fun is truly his finest work. He is confident and playful in his songwriting on this album, and that translates into unequivocally pleasurable listening.


2. The Jesus and Mary Chain – Psycho Candy



Melancholic and melodic, Jesus and Mary Chain’s debut album is echoic and has the air of being unintentionally revolutionary. It’s the perfect album to drive to at sunset, when your eyes begin to adjust to the change in light and your thoughts begin to drift to the philosophical. Utter sonic frenetic mayhem - just as stuttering as it is smooth, this album is great whether being used for background driving ambiance or a more direct listening experience.


1. Guided By Voices – Alien Lanes



It evokes the vagabond mentality, the heart full of wanderlust, allures remembrance of tranquil scenes and feelings of ease. Unless thwarted by rain I always drive with my windows down and my sunroof open. In the dead of winter I’m known to have the heat cranked and the windows open, relishing feeling the mixture of warm and cool air blowing through my hair and across my skin. The gritty, garage-band influenced, four-track recorded twenty eight song record with not a single track breaking the three minute mark, Alien Lanes has earned a cult following, and rightly so. This is an arm-out-the-window, high volume, first cup of coffee of the day, driving for the sake of driving good album.

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