I was a big-time commuter in LA before moving closer to work and public transportation options. While I can't say that I miss having a car, I do miss the long periods of time when it was just me and my music. There's something about driving that makes everything sound and feel better, isn't there? To satisfy my driving nostalgia I decided to create a playlist of songs from my college days to now that would make me smile, bob my head, and cheer me up even in the worst of traffic jams. That's why there's 17 tracks instead of the usual 10 ;)

Click here or the sidebar player to tune in. Enjoy!

1 Patient Patient The Morning Benders 2 Turn on Me The Shins 3 Benny and the Jetts TV Girl 4 Haiti Arcade Fire 5 I Can Go White Arrows 6 Home Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros 7 Ocean Breathes Salty Modest Mouse 8 Awake Electric Guest 9 Get It Together Go! Team 10 Let's Call Ig Off (Single Mix) Peter Bjorn & John 11 Emergency Call Matt Costa 12 Disco Friends Just Jack 13 Cause=Time Broken Social Scene 14 The Bucket Kings of Leon 15 Long Distance Call Phoenix 16 City Sky Thao Nguyen 17 Out of Tune Real Estate

(image: LA by freeway by Ana Maria Munoz)

bonne route [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwyCpspah0Y?rel=0&w=640&h=25]

Althea & Donna - Uptown Top Ranking

Since moving to London last year I've hardly spent any time in a car. I don't need to in order to get around and I love it (remember when I sold mine and opted to be car-less in LA??? I know, it's cray cray in most people's books).

However, as we drove around the Atlas Mountains in Morocco last weekend I thought back to how much I do love one aspect of driving - the solid time for just me and my music.

I heard this song on KCRW's Eclectic 24 yesterday and instantly pictured myself driving on the 10 freeway during sunset, completely relaxed, one arm on the steering wheel, and nodding my head to the beat. Somehow listening to the same song through my earbuds on a crowded double decker bus doesn't quite have the same effect.

Althea & Donna - Uptown Top Ranking

image: taken in the atlas mountains, morocco