Staff Pix 4/7: Car Chase

The Milk Crate staff’s favorite tracks of the week, inspired by classic action movie car chase scenes and presented with blurbs worthy of a promotional sticker on a jewel case. Tune in Fridays from 2-3 EST to the Staff Pix radio show.

Stephanie Weber

J’OUVERT by BROCKHAMPTON

“J’ouvert” is French for “break day,” a preamble to the traditional carnival celebration. With origins in Trinidad, J’ouvert is lively and festive, full of colors, extravagance, and an element of surprise. “J’OUVERT” is the same. Off of BROCKHAMPTON’s fifth album iridescence released in 2018, “J’OUVERT” is fast paced, providing a perfect backdrop to any car chase whether real or imagined. It features high frequency noises almost as if it was recorded in a hospital room and, minus the vocals, could be a song in a Matrix reboot. The song opens with the lyrics, “When there's a rough patch, don't eyefuck the parachute/ They goin' AWOL the second that the light goes on,” setting a mind bending tone for a car chase, specifically from some authority figure. The same goes for the lyrics, “'Til the casket drops, I will play God/ Fuck the world, let's start a riot, got too much too quick,” hyping up the driver and all their passengers. The song is loud, coming in at just under four minutes. If I were to ever drive in a car chase, I’d want it to be soundtracked to this song.

Farah Rincon

Getaway Car by Taylor Swift

I recently re-watched Taylor Swift’s documentary film Miss Americana, which caused me to find myself repeating the catchy chorus of "Getaway Car” while simultaneously doing chores. Aside from its memorable melody that just won’t leave my head, Swift manages to do what she does best: tell a vivid story, all which you can picture in your head, through her phenomenal lyricism. As this week’s theme is being in a car chase, I truly believe that Getaway Car is a perfectly fitting song for this occasion, as it uses the experience of taking off in a lover’s car with their money and keys as a way of expressing the emotions of having a constant need of leaving a significant other. While not quite literally setting the scene for a car chase, Swift gives her audience a sense of urgency by being chased away from the fear of staying in this relationship, and therefore drives away from it suddenly. Personally, if I was in an intense car chase, this song would create the perfect balance of speed and adrenaline to scare off my enemies. 

Julia Norkus

Blame by Gabriels

Perhaps I’m Jay Gatsby, or maybe I’m a femme mobster in a pinstripe suit with a cigarette dangling from my lips as I slam down on the gas with bags of money in my backseat. Whatever I am, “Blame” by Gabriels makes me feel as though I’m driving a Ford Model A Deluxe Roadster at astronomical speeds through the suburbs in an attempt to evade the cops after killing my husband for his family’s fortune. Heavily layered with syncopated strings and jarring bass drum hits, “Blame” has an eerie energy to it—not to mention Jacob Lusk’s deep and sultry voice that almost feels ghostly. Dark tones come to mind while listening—rich greens and blues, layered with yellows that feel like the foreboding morning clouds indicative of drama or chaos. Maybe it’s just the perfect sky for committing crimes, but something bad always happens under a cloudy, yellow sky. “Blame” is the song underscoring my car chase, with tears and mascara running down my face with blood smattered across my hands and my neck, my cries and screams drowned out by the sound of Lusk’s moans and howls.

Izzy Desmarais

BellBottoms by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Baby Driver is one of my favorite movies of all time. It manages to take a simple theme (good vs. evil) and twist what could have been a copy-paste narrative in a unique and captivating way. Baby’s childhood trauma and borderline unhealthy dependence on music work together to create such a strong protagonist for the audience to root for. What I especially love about this movie is how it gives you the option to dig deeper or take it at face value. Incredible narrative aside, Baby Driver is an action movie. I couldn’t not pick a song from this soundtrack when we decided this week’s theme would be car chase. “Bellbottoms” by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion scores the opening scene, which is an out-of-this-world car chase. Music plays such a vital role in Baby Driver, whenever I listen to the songs featured in this movie I am immediately transported into the story. I can’t listen to the soundtrack while I’m driving because I would end up going way over the speed limit and I am absolutely terrified of getting pulled over.

Minna Abdel-Gawad

Animated Car Chase by Alexandre Desplat

Nothing says car chase more than a song that was quite literally a song conducted to be in a car chase. Featured in Wes Anderson’s latest film The French Dispatch this track is silly, whimsical and fast paced as any good car chase is. “Animated Car Chase” features a full orchestra including bassoon, piano, banjo, viola and the flute that paint a vivid, off kilter soundscape. The song itself feels like a conversation or conflict between the repeating bass line with the twinkling piano, it creates this all encompassing cacophony of sound, truly transporting you to the streets of France watching a criminal get away. Anderson and Desplat are a perfect pair, having worked together on Fantastic Mr. Fox and Grand Budapest Hotel soundtrack before this, pairing sound and visuals together so perfectly, you get a perfect sense of what is on screen by merely listening to the track.

Salem Ross

Deathcamp (FEAT. ALEXANDER COLE) BY TYLER, THE CREATOR

The Ford Pinto had a gas tank located near the bumper. In 1974, they were recalled for their habit to explode when rear ended. Now when there is a choice of cars to take in a car chase, I would take the risk of the Pinto (for the bit of course). Tyler the creator’s Cherry Bomb is the definition of a car chase. From the music video being visually a chase between go-karts, battle cars and oddly… an ice cream truck, the hard, loud, fast, gritty sound of the opening song fits it perfectly. Alexander's backing vocals sound like they have been through a wood chipper with his guitar as tense as the song. The opening verse grows in anger with each line passing. Anger in wanting to be understood and taken seriously by an audience. The tone emphasised on, “And I really dont wanna be rude to you sir, but fuck you mean I can’t wear my hat in here” push forward his narrative. Running towards the heat rather than away from. Deathcamp is the song playing in the car that's being chased, blaring from the speakers with the rubber running flat. It's the song that plays when a police cruiser hits the back of your  Ford Pinto. It's an explosion, a Cherry Bomb If you will.

Kaitlyn Hardy

2 + 2 = 5 by Radiohead

This may be valid, this may be embarrassing, but Radiohead is one of my go-to artists to listen to while driving. So, regardless of the situation – car chase or not – there’s a fairly likely chance that “2 + 2 = 5” is blaring through my car speakers. I have had to restrain myself multiple times from breaking into an illegally high, car-chase-style speed whenever the song amps up around 1:55. The liftoff from the quieter part of the song to the bombardment of beat feels like the whiplash you’d get driving too fast on the crest of a hill. Becoming airborne, suspended above the ground, wheels spinning, then hitting the pavement with a clang. From there on out, all hell breaks loose – and I love every exhilarating second of it. As the song rages, you race off at the speed of light, the world blurring through your car door windows. “2 + 2 = 5” is just pure energy, pure frenetic mayhem, pure ecstatic chaos. How can it not rile you up, illicit at least a semi-aggressive head bob, if not the dangerous need for speed. Fellow Milk Crater and my lovely roommate Minna Abdel-Gawad said, “I want to speed down a highway to this.” Trust us both.

Karenna Umscheid

Off To The Races by Lana Del Rey

I’m picking a Lana Del Rey song for staff pix again! Who’s surprised! Everytime I return to my car at home I drive through the rural Oregon roads and twisty backstreets, dangerously speeding because I am listening to “Off to the Races.” This classic Born to Die track is so fun to belt to in the car that I drive faster than I should, like a car chase occurring solely in my mind, the wheels of my Accord twisting up and down the streets to Lana’s descriptively weird yet perfect banger.

Lily Suckow-Ziemer

Tokyo Drifting by Glass Animals and Denzel Curry

When I think of car chase, I think of my favorite movie franchise: Fast & Furious. “Tokyo Drifting” by Glass Animals and Denzel Curry isn’t in any of the ten movies, but the sentiment is there. Like many songs by Glass Animals, the lyrics focus on lead singer Dave Bayley’s alter ego, Wavey Davey. In “Tokyo Drifting” Wavey Davey’s doing drugs and driving a nice car. Plastered against the electronic beat, his life sounds like it is out of a movie. Curry’s appearance in verse three only cements this, making the song perfect for a car chase. Curry sums up the feeling of the song perfectly in the line that gave it its title: “If this is my life then I’m Tokyo Drifting.”

Amelia Oei

Lustful Expanse by Evanora Unlimited

“Lustful Expanse” is the title track on Evanora: Unlimited’s 2020 album. It is heavy with angst, synth-punk feel, and industrial wails that could drown out the sounds of police cars’ sirens chasing after me. The song is loud, fast, and over quickly — it’s just over a minute long. In this small increment of time, Evanora is scream-singing in his signature monotone voice repetitive lyrics that echo our generation’s angsty anger and desire for self-indulgence, feelings that sound like an exact prescription for an out-of-control car chase. I wish this song lasted longer; just how I imagine I wish the adrenaline rush from a car chase would last forever. Listening to this song allows me to escape the reality of my own actions — I feel powerful, insane, and extreme. But only for a minute. Thank God though; I think that if this song was longer it might lead me to act on these feelings…

Che Wetzel

Éternel été by Ezechiel Pailhès

With an ominously curious beat that quickly builds to an undeniable bop, this song is exactly reminiscent of a car chase shrouded in mystery. Listening to it, I can see the comically small European cars weaving in and out of sight, their French occupants smirking behind their waxed mustaches. To English-speaking listeners like myself, the song is an enigma, both compositionally and lyrically. Labeled as indie-pop, the arrangement is so starkly different from the American definition that before the lyrics even appear, it’s clear that the song is not one of local origin. Maybe that’s what makes it seem so intense and evocative of foreign excitement and intrigue. If I could describe this song in one sentence, it would be “The song that Wes Anderson would use in a car chase.”

Rachel Charles

The Night I Drove Alone by Citizen

When I think of “car chase,” I think of Citizen’s gut-wrenchingly sad “The Night I Drove Alone,” a quintessential 2010’s midwestern emo anthem. This song is meant to be played when you’re driving a little too fast on the highway with the windows down and tears rolling down your cheek, not knowing where you’re going, and not really caring. Its evocative and heavily emo vocals are meant to be screamed along with all that repressed emotion you can only express when you’re alone in your car.