6 Songs To Add To Your Road-Trip Playlist This Season

Thursday, September 18, 2014 Of Minds & Mixtapes | Zaheera 0 Comments



Best Day of My Life American Authors
This one should go at the top of your road-trip playlist this season. It is chock-full of hummable melodies, sing-along "oohs" and "ohs", the polite alt-rock guitar, and even a banjo. With 31 million hits on YouTube, this catchy and hard-to-dislike track has done pretty well on Billboards across the world. You might also remember it from the trailer for 'Walter Mitty'.


Most would agree “Best Day of My Life” opens with a riff that sounds almost a bit similar to the intro of Imagine Dragons’ “It’s Time”. In fact much of their songs have borrowed elements from Imagine Dragons. Perhaps it is just as the saying goes, and imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Nonetheless, the song is a sweet slice of modern folk rock reminiscent of the best bands of the new genre like ID, Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers.

I Want You Andrew Allen
Andrew Allen is a Canadian singer-songwriter from British Columbia. His name may not be one that draws quick recognition, but give it time, coz his music surely compares to Jason Mraz and John Mayer. Wait, he does not play guitar like John Mayer does! No comparison there.



The Writing's on the Wall OK Go
OK Go is an American alternative rock band originally from Chicago formed in 1998, but didn't have any major success until they bagged a Grammy for Best Music Video in 2007 for "Here It Goes Again".
"The Writing's on the Wall" is the first single from the group's upcoming album Hungry Ghosts. The album is due to release a couple weeks from today, and this video surely cements OK Go's reputation of making bizarre, complicated, difficult music videos. This four-minute, one-take video is full of optical illusions, crazy camera tricks, and one giant warehouse.


 

I am not a fan of OK Go's music, but I can't deny the amazing creativity of their music videos. They've been committed to this creativity for years, churning out YouTube hit after YouTube hit. There was the treadmill video, and the Rube Goldberg machine, and the one with all the dogs. "The Writing's on the Wall" is a half-decent song, but I bet you'll forget the song long before you'll stop watching the video.

Candy Shop The Baseballs
The Baseballs are a German rock and roll band founded in Berlin in 2007. They became popular with 50s and 60s style rock cover versions of modern hits. Ever wonder what Rihanna’s “Umbrella” would sound like as skiffle? Probably not, but they’ll show you anyway. They churn out radically reworked covers, mostly 2000s pop redone the Elvis way. They are quite good at what they do: the rockabilly groove, the crooning-and-howling vocalist does a good impersonation of Elvis Presley.


 

We know 50 Cent's original "Candy Shop" peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and is a good song dripping with sexual energy, but we like this old Rock'n'Roll style better. It’s fun. This really looks like a Johnny Bravo version of Candy Shop!

King of the Road Randy Travis & Josh Turner
I'm not a big fan of Country music coz the sameness in their songs is a bit sickening. But every once in a while I like to listen to an old Country classic. This time I found Nashville artist Josh Turner, who brings a slightly more traditional sound back to the Country scene with his booming bass voice, and one of the most grandfatherly of Country music stars --Randy Travis, with his fiddling notes and proud tuft of hair, at the 2006 CMT Cross Country show with a warmly engaging performance of "King of the Road". It is a 1964 song written and originally recorded by country singer Roger Miller. The lyrics tell of the day-to-day life of a hobo who despite being poor (a "man of means by no means") revels in his freedom. It sketches the portrait of a footloose man at the bottom of society with short phrases, by including quotes from cheap hotel notices: "no phone, no pool, no pets." The gently rolling melody makes it even more easygoing, like those old campfire songs. Here's Randy Travis and Josh Turner:
 


When the Night Aaron Nazrul & the Boom Booms
Aaron Nazrul is a Soul singer and front man of the six-piece Latin-soul-rock-reggae band, The Boom Booms. Frontman Aaron Nazrul (actual name is Aaron Ross; Nazrul, from the Bangladeshi rebel poet!) has this amazing raw emotional intensity in his voice that make you connect to their music easily. The group hails from East Vancouver, Canada, and have successfully toured (roadtripped in their yellow School Bus!) across Canada, USA, Mexico, Central and South America, and now Europe, winning fans with their awesome world music vibe that also takes a little Jack Johnson chill and mixes it with a lot of Latinesque beat, and comes out with a sound that brings the beach and the bonfire right to the door --even in the dead of winter. Here's their feel-good party anthem “When the Night” out in 2007:
 


0 comments: