Music

Forgive me for sounding like a halfwit on ‘Top Gear’, but what is

the best driving music? Offers usually range from Steppenwolf’s ‘Born

To Be Wild’ to early Beach Boys and, according to my mum, the

Lighthouse Family. My choice, though, would be Krautrock. It’s steady,

propulsive and jubilant, the perfect mix to stay alert as you put metal

to the floor.

Here’s another one for the autobahn, the second

album from Dallas via New York trio Secret Machines. They spent much of

2005 on the road, at times supporting Oasis and U2. Unsurprisingly,

then, ‘Ten Silver Drops’ has a driving and rather climatic feel. Fields

whoosh past a window in your mind as Neu!-filtered space rock builds

into euphoria on ‘Lightning Blue Eyes’ and ‘Faded Lines’. Meanwhile,

‘All At Once (It’s Not Important)’ almost empathises with frustrated

drivers as Brandon Curtis’s crabby Americana vocal collides with

brooding, ‘Low’-era Bowie.

Another must for car music is to be

able to hum and drum along. ‘Ten Silver Drops’ certainly provides that.

It’s got more tunes than 2004 debut ‘Now Here Is Nowhere’ and Josh

Garza’s drumming is heaven-made for finger tapping. Just try not to

close your eyes during the lysergic ‘Daddy’s In The Doldrums’.