Japanese engineers have developed a musical surface called “melody roads” that recalls rumble strips except with grooves cut and spaced precisely to recreate notes when a car passes over them at 28 mph.1
There are three musical strips in central and northern Japan, one of which plays the tune of a Japanese pop song. Notice of an impending musical interlude, which lasts for about 30 seconds, is highlighted by coloured musical notes painted on to the road.
Which reminded me: I needed to get cracking with the on-the-road music-mixes for my Thanksgiving vacation to our nation’s Square States beginning tomorrow. I’d made a mixtape for Dana and I to listen to, but I was already getting bored just looking at it, so I did the next best thing: I solicited mixtapes from two of my coworkers, prescreened for their excellent musical tastes and in-house ability to quickly crank out playlists of driving songs before I fly out of New York tomorrow.
My directives were loose, though I cautioned, “Transitions are important, as is verve. The songs don’t necessarily have to be about travel/driving unless you are some sort of Clever Dan.” I concluded: “I will repay you by either saving your life someday when you least expect it or by giving you a gift-wrapped box of Jell-O brand Pudding Pops. But only the plain kind, not the swirly chocolate-vanilla kind.”
I got S.’s first. She lives for shit like this and admitted as such. I’m a big fan of covers, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the Arcade Fire song is by the Talking Heads, the Nouvelle Vague song is by Tuxedomoon and I think she slyly chose the M. Ward song “Sadie” (originally by Joanna Newsom) because the original version fits the criteria for her Album-Song Name Game. S. was originally going to have “The Passenger” in her mix, then pulled it when she saw it in my own; then she included the same Clap Your Hands Say Yeah song I’d originally been considering for my own mix. Weird.
| Attn Jason | |
|---|---|
| Devotchka | How It Ends |
| Arcade Fire | This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) |
| A.C. Newman | Drink To Me, Babe, Then |
| Feist | I Feel It All |
| Clap Your Hands Say Yeah | Over And Over Again (Lost And Found) |
| M. Ward | Sadie |
| The Decemberists | Here I Dreamt I Was An Architect |
| Guided By Voices | My Valuable Hunting Knife |
| Built To Spill | Car |
| Neutral Milk Hotel | Holland, 1945 |
| The Walkmen | Thinking Of A Dream |
| Flake Music | The Shins |
| Simon & Garfunkel | America |
| Asobi Seksu | Thursday |
| Nouvelle Vague | In A Manner Of Speaking |
| Ferraby Lionheart | Won’t Be Long |
| Bonnie “Prince” Billy | Let’s Start A Family (Blacks) |
| Belle & Sebastian | Dress Up In You |
| Blonde Redhead | 23 |
I nearly didn’t think I’d get one from K., but he passed his disc over at the last moment, scrawled in blue Sharpie with “JaYo’s 2007 Thanx Giving Trip Mix.” Lots of drum-machine beats with bloops and bleeps recalling Postal Service mating with My Bloody Valentine, mixed with some sort of mopey stuff, a wholesale swath of Diamond Dogs, stray weirdness and unexpectedness. Had I mentioned “Against All Odds” was my favorite Phil C. song? Or is that everyone’s favorite Phil C. song?
| JaYo’s 2007 Thanx Giving Trip Mix | |
|---|---|
| Ambulance LTD | Stay Where You Are |
| Black Rebel Motorcycle Club | Howl |
| Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash | Girl From The North Country |
| LCD Soundsystem | All My Friends |
| Blur | Badhead |
| Clinic | Distortions |
| Doves | Some Cities |
| Leonard Cohen | Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye |
| Peter Bjorn And John | Up Against The Wall |
| Sufjan Stevens | All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands |
| Patrick Wolf | The Magic Position |
| Phil Collins | Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) |
| M83 | Don’t Save Us From the Flames |
| Prefab Sprout | Faron Young |
| David Bowie | Sweet Thing |
| David Bowie | Candidate |
| David Bowie | Sweet Thing (Reprise) |
| All The Ghosts | Self Medication |
And here’s mine. I like how all three of us included at least one track from the ’60s/’70s amidst a lion’s share of tracks from the current and previous decade, in order to show our tastes have a range, or something.
| Songs Of The Open Road | |
|---|---|
| Robert Pollard | Come Outside |
| Pavement | Frontwards |
| Neil Young With Crazy Horse | Don’t Cry No Tears |
| Frank Black | Speedy Marie |
| The Cars | Bye Bye Love |
| Kings Of Leon | California Waiting |
| New Order | Age Of Consent |
| Wilco | I’m Always In Love |
| Morrissey | Satan Rejected My Soul |
| Sonic Youth | Incinerate |
| The Futureheads | Meantime |
| Pretenders | Middle Of The Road |
| Iggy Pop | The Passenger |
| The Strokes | Under Control |
| Guided By Voices | Cheyenne |
1 Via the article “Japan’s Melody Roads Play Music As You Drive” by Bobbie Johnson, technology correspondent for The Guardian, Tuesday, November 13, 2007. [back]