Whereever you go, there you’ll be.”
My ex-boyfriend’s mom told me that. After four years I was leaving, and this was the message I took with me. After you leave once, it is easier to spot exits in life. Constantly trying to hop to the next place, avoiding the feeling of quicksand in the present time. When you have the urge for change, to travel, to leave, the only thing harder than leaving is staying there. But we do what you are not supposed to do in quicksand, which I gather from Indiana Jones and Blazing Saddles, which is to hold very still. And breath.
This is a mix about travelling. Not “The Best Roadtrip Mix Ever”. This is the short story about the cliffs and valleys of the wanderers. We are all familiar with the phrase “not all wanderers are lost” and this is the playlist for those wanderers. They are using looking for someone, generally themselves.
Enjoy the ride.
Bob Dylan-Subterranean Homesick Blues: I digress. This is the perfect roadtrip song. This song should start all of your trips. The roots of the song coming from his Beats influence. The conflict of the straight and square. The contract between what is expected and where you are going.
Parov Stelar – The Sun (Featuring Graham Candy): This track is the moment you are on your first traveller’s high. Either mentally or otherwise. You got your footing in a new place. Confidence has come back to you after fumbling languages, upsidedown maps and seeing the same road twice. Swaying to the heavy base set down by Parov Stelar and the raspy vocals of Graham Candy, you glide.
Joăo Gilberto – Bim Bom: This is a song for landing on your feet. I found this song on an album in the kitchen of the Airbnb I stayed in in Rome. The homeowner left espresso and this CD in the player to listen to. It was warped and scratched as it had been listened to so much. I asked him about the CD when I was checking out which was titled Songs of Brasil. He had always wanted to go to Brazil and live there. He listened to this CD every day. I listented to it every morning and I felt like I was home in his little kitchen with his little espresso maker and this song playing through the little player. The song sounds like the OM sound for travelling. The perfect balance sound. Comfortable on your feet on new soil.
Tom Odell – Another Love (Zwette Edit) : This is a recent release. And the song is a release. Tom Odell has the vocals you want to hear from your lovers and friends. It’s hopeful, dreamy. “And I wanna kiss you, make you feel alright | I’m just so tired to share my nights | I wanna cry and I wanna love | But all my tears have been used up.” The highlight, the nectars of travelling are the kisses and deep talks with strangers and those intense connections you make quickly and deeply with all of your being. Sharing secrets with people who you will never see again. It is amazing, the secrets you share with strangers you will never see again. This track is for the beer at the bar with your new lovers and friends. For the quick, deep cuts and connections you get on a trip. The ones that leave scars you look at lovingly in a year or five. Still able to taste the memory on your palette.
Frank Ocean – Super Rich Kids: Depending on where you go, you will come across the rich kids. We all are when we travel. You save up so you can be stupid. Be reckless. No one is there watching. The freedom to be the new person you want to be. Any status. From anywhere you want. Trying out accents and zip codes and seeing what fits. This is the creation of you for the moment. The confident, newfound you. And Frank Ocean should be on all travelling mixes.
Milky Chance – Stolen Dance (Radio Edit): The thing about wandering is you need to be comfortable with yourself. This is the time you get in to your head. Why did you leave in the first place for? This song from Milky Chance is the song that comes on at the first hard spot of a trip. Knees are scuffed. When you first fall, the contents of what you were caring around with you spills out and you have to pick it all up, one by one and pick yourself up. We need to look at all of this stuff you cary with out and choose to let some things go.
Caribou – I Can’t Do Without You: When wandering, there is a time you will get home sick. You will miss someone or something or familiarity. It is that sinking feeling in your stomach and usually has bad timing. This song. This song has that feeling. The opening just has the repeating line “I can’t do without you” which explodes into the rest of the music and sound. The beginning acting more like that voice in your head. Not able to shake it, just have to let yourself acknowledge that. This track is from the new Caribou album Our Love.
We are not wondering lost forever. We have wander lust, forever.