Summer Travel Tracks: Music To Bump While Mobile

by Lee Schlenker on July 1, 2013

Posted in: Eclectic, Electronic, Folk, Hip Hop, Music, Pop, R&B / Soul, Rock

Here we are, Radioland, on the first of July, entering into the heart of summer. Though we’re all off doing our own thing–whether that be finding the cure for malaria in Senegal, unicycling cross-country with a newly formed political activism group, or commuting daily to that chic summer internship you scored back in December (which, as it turns out, is nothing more than a tutorial in obsessive Twitter-updating and Instagram-posting)–there is one thing we all share this summer: being on the move. Summer is that weird time of year where everybody, no matter whether in Connecticut or Calcutta, seems to be on the go, yearning to be in or at places that they aren’t currently in or at. So, I figured that I would compile an essential playlist for each major mode of transportation that will be bringing all of you summer travelers from your couches to places hopefully more interesting (A to B, here to there, Marin to Moldova, the stoop to the kitchen…and back – you get the point). Here it goes; may these tracks make your travels as epic as I intend:

*Disclaimer: sorry in advance to all of you train-hoppers, longboarders, traceurs, mariners and gondoliers. I’ll getchu next time for sure.*

Up in the Air

Nobody likes flying, and if anybody says that they do then they are probably lying and/or trying to seem like one of those people who likes things that nobody else likes. You know who I’m talking about. So, to alleviate the monotony that comes with aviation, listen to these songs. They start off slow and subdued and then rise to news heights, bringing you to far away places you’d only dreamed of going to – kind of like the airplane you’re on (see what I did there?).

Sleeping Lessons – The Shins

Hanna Hunt – Vampire Weekend

Powa – tUnE-yArDs

Cherry – Ratatat

Ether Song – Turin Brakes

Nude – Radiohead

Strange Mercy – St. Vincent

Perch Patchwork – Maps & Atlases

Cruisin’ Like the Cops Ain’t Watchin’

These songs are for those extremely sunny days when you’re cruising hardcore with your best pals, with or without a destination in mind. Turn up the volume, open up the sunroof and breathe in all of the summer that you can – it isn’t gonna be here forever!

Shiraz – Action Bronson

Still – jj

Favorite Song (ft. Childish Gambino) – Chance The Rapper

Obedear – Purity Ring

Runnin’ (Philippians Remix) – The Pharcyde

I Got A Love – Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth

Solange – Stillness Is the Move (Dirty Projectors Cover)

Polish Girl – Neon Indian

Intentional Walking

Sometimes during the summertime you find yourself without any mode of transportation except for that which the Lord bestowed upon you: your own two feet. But do not fret! These uplifting songs–packed with captivating beats, propellors, engines, wheels and wings–will make you forget that you didn’t get your license when all of your friends did, keeping you energized all summer long.

The Fall – Rhye

Free Radicals – The Flaming Lips

Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) – Arcade Fire

Bury Them Bones (Marley Carroll Remix) – emancipator

Angel Eyes – Four Tet

Spiral – Wye Oak

Old Ash – Maps & Atlases

Tron Song – Thundercat

Public Transportation: Good in Theory, Shitty When There’s a Sox Game

Don’t get me wrong: public transportation is awesome and works incredibly well in a lot of cities around the world. However, this isn’t the case with Boston’s underground rail system, which boasts more delays than Earl Sweatshirts’s upcoming album and gets as uncomfortable as the Timeflies concert did this past year. So, when you find yourself jam-packed on the T after a Red Sox game with hundreds of drunk sweaty fans, impatiently waiting to get home after hours of having your face smushed into some dude’s hairy chest, ease your mind with these tracks. Maybe, just maybe will you then forget about your commute and envision ice cream and green grass and hummingbirds and all of those other summer-y things. We can only hope.

Beach Comber – Real Estate

German Fields – Ólöf Arnalds

Unto Caesar – Dirty Projectors

Never Going Back Again – Fleetwood Mac

Feel It All Around – Washed Out

Goodnight Baby – Thee Oh Sees

Annie – Mac Demarco

Feed – Vitamin Seed

(Image Courtesy of Google Images)