I enjoy one of the best driving commutes of anyone I know. I drive from San Francisco, California down the Highway One to the University of California at Santa Cruz, where I teach. Usually I drive down the coast on Mondays, and back up on Thursdays. This week I downloaded King-FM’s application onto my iPhone and took the Monday trip accompanied by classical station’s excellent Second Inversion channel.
Me in the car looking at the coast while listening to Cage.
It was hard to take notes while I drove and listened, so I don’t remember all the pieces. But it was heavenly getting close to Pacifica and Half Moon Bay while listening to John Cage’s beautiful piano work In a Landscape. This is one of Cage’s very listenable compositions, just perfect for motoring down the HWY1 and sneaking peaks at the water, when possible. Finally I just parked at a spot around Montara to the listen to the rendition the end.
Second Inversion defines itself as a project “dedicated to rethinking classical music.” It is “built on a foundation of classical music with intent to explore the vast range of music in and beyond the genre.” You can get a sense of the stream’s priorities on its on demand Soundcloud channel. Listening to the top choices, I sort of feel like I’m in a very gentle jazz/fusion Schoenberg-land, or someplace like that. It’s quite perfect for motoring up and down the northern/central Pacific. You should try it if you can.
