Nine out of 10 homicidal motorists agree that it works. Whoosah! "Water" | Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
This cover of Fela Kuti's "Water No Get Enemy" by the eight-piece Chicago brass ensemble doesn't necessarily match the sheer awesomeness of the Afrobeat original, but it comes pretty damn close. Released in 2010, it's almost impossible to dislike this song after you play it. It just feels so frickin' good!
Songs about being under pressure aren't supposed to sound this relaxed. Play this during your morning/afternoon commute and watch all your problems float away like Jhene's half-sung/half-whispered vocals. Just chill until the next episode. Jhene understands.
"Coronus, The Terminator" | Flying Lotus
Here's a little piece of FlyLo trivia: this song, found on his recently released You're Dead! album, is actually about — you guessed it, the Terminator. No, really. Though Ah-nold was incredibly violent in both films (any movie after
Terminator 2 doesn't count), this song is anything but, as FlyLo sings about saving people over an eerie-yet-airy soundscape full of cymbal crashes, falsetto vocal punches, and wind chimes. Go with him if you want to live through traffic-filled roads.
"There for You" | Damian Marley
"Verbal conflict is a waste of words; physical conflict is a waste of flesh." What could be more calming than a song by one of the Marleys, the poster children for calm, cool, and collected? Put this on while stuck in traffic and get lost in the island riddims. Just don't light anything up, because, well, it's still illegal.
"Velvet" | BADBADNOTGOOD
Though it was made and released almost three weeks ago, this post-bop jazz masterpiece sounds like something straight out of the early '70s. Made by a trio of musicians from Toronto, "Velvet" is the perfect song to play while trying prevent a verbal 187 on other drivers. Yes, people still do make post-bop jazz in the '10s.
BONUS:
"Tied Up in Nottz" | Sleaford Mods
It's kind of hard to pinpoint the genre of music that the Sleaford Mods make exactly, but if we had to guess we'd call it pissed-off British spoken-word punk music. Yeah, this probably won't help you de-stress; we just think they're pretty awesome. But it's like reverse psychology; If we encourage you to indulge in your fantasies of vehicular wrath, maybe you won't do it. Nah, we don't believe that either.
