Night Drive

Accurate title. This is absolutely an album to take a night drive to.

Cool ambient music to work to. Dug it a lot.

Really just a fun time, and the Kate Bush cover was a welcome one.

This kind of dreamy, semi-detached synth-pop is right up my alley. The loose concept album helps maintain its moody, cinematic appeal throughout the long runtime.

The cover (reminiscent of Duran Duran's Rio) tells you exactly what you're in for. This album is a spacious synth pop masterpiece. The music is minimalist with some great orchestral touches throughout. I really like that this album is not afraid to lean into the ambient and instrumental aspects. There's a sense that everything here has room to breath and expand and the Chromatics trust their audience to go along with it. The result is something that feels very much like a night drive, how appropriate.

I liked this pretty well in its solider moments. The cover of Running Up That Hill did highlight the limitations in the singing. Serviceable but no Kate Bush. And then there were some extended intervals of really intolerable BS noise.

Yes! Chromatics is what this list needed, thank you for sending this one in!

The Chromatics have done some great covers over the years, I'm on fire, Into the black and this album features an absolutely gorgeous version of Running up the hill. This album had a nice transition from Side 1 to an atmospheric Side 2. Great recommendation and a great find!

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Night drive, Mask, Tomorrow is so far away, Circled Sun, I want your love

6/10. Definitely a pleasant listen, though I think I'd have gotten bored on some of the longer tracks if I hadn't been focused on work at the time.

Mix of synthy electronic sometimes with the modern whispy vocals and sometimes just grooves. Enjoyed it, could’ve been a little shorter for me

Chromatics must be credited with their interest in taking synthpop beyond its usual boundaries. They don't always achieve what they seem to be trying to do, but they are creative and adventurous enough to make the journey always worth it. Here, their approach to synthwave, their dream pop landscapes, and their experimentation in a genre so little given to it, labeled them at the time as a group to keep a close eye on

Not a bad album to work to at 5am. Very hipstery, odd, minimalist electronica. I think if it hadn't suited my mood at the time I would have hated it, but here we are. 3/5.

Love me some Chromatics, even if this isn’t their best work (check ‘Cherry’ for what I think is their personal opus). This one drags a tad too much for four-star territory, but it’s still got the classic synthwave stylings and luscious, 80s-esque production that the band made into their own personal style. Not as strong melodically as their other works, but it contains some of my fav tracks from the band - ‘Tick of the Clock’ is a nervy masterpiece, and my first intro to the band courtesy of Hotline Miami.

The more I listen to Chromatics the less pretty sure I am that I dig the approach. Healer highlights, and the Bush cover is more typical; Not bad, but a flat ambientfied take on the material. Nothing wrong with vibes, but mere invocation of nighttime does not draw out a concept as time so easily can.

So so. Not a classic or a missing album

My pick, great to see it come up. My favourite album of the century so far, one that really works as a whole rather than as a collection of tracks - like all the best albums. Feels like a real journey, with the details left to your imagination. Wonderful

Loved the first half. The start of the second dragged a little, but it really ended with a bang. 4.5/5

This was definitely NOT what I was expecting from a band from Portland Oregon. I was a little perplexed at first, but fell into the groove quickly and really enjoyed this album! The cover of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” surprised me, both in that someone covered it, and that it was really my least favorite song on the album. It’s hard not to pale in Kate’s shadow… but that one ill-advised song choice aside, this is terrific!

Nice album. "Tick of the clock" is quite extraordinary. I like it.

Consciously retro Synth and New wave. The sort of sound I love. It's a collection of the best music tags from Joy Division to the Suspiria soundtrack (Italian Giallo band Goblin) and a bit of John Carpenter thrown in (Halloween?) It's the vibe that I like the most- so languid and nocturnal. This could have been one of my favourite albums from 1979 but instead it's a new favourite from 2007. I'm now checking out their other albums......

Vaporwave - the album! I had a good time.

I never knew this band really, but I think I've heard a few songs here and there from soundtracks, etc. Sounds like this album was a bit of a departure from their previous sound of noisy lo-fi; this is very much a polished nostalgia. Apparently reminiscent of Italo Disco? I can see it. Has a nice low-key quiet dance to it. Was a decent working soundtrack. A bit too long though. I do have a playlist called "Driving" and as advertised a few tracks work well for that. For that reason I'm rounding up 3.5 to 4.

Enjoyable. Some synthwave-like music was needed in the list

Something decent at last!

Never heard of this band before. Excellent composing, pleasant electronic music and one outstanding cover version :)

Another one I have never heard of. I'm open minded and enjoyed the journey. It is relaxing and cool... something I could play on a long drive or while studying / working. Amazing, no, but definitely worth time spent listening. 3.75

Started off loving it as it was different and the main list really needed more albums like this, the Kate Bush cover not so good, but the rest of the album is ethereal and great. 4

Funny Italo Pop album by Chromatics. I knew only their previous music and this is something completely different.

Dreamy new wave

Never heard of Chromatics before, but really enjoyed this, late night ambiance can see me coming back to this more.

This one completely works for me. It's a bit of a haunting electronic vibe... it is all very approachable and just finds a consistent groove track after track. There's nothing that is out of the park (and there are some interesting choices in the long Tick of the Clock track), but overall i really enjoyed this.

This is some Kavinsky-type stuff. Loved it. First user-recommended is a hit.

Love this album, a classic for me! Put on by DRIVE of course, as "Tick of the Clock" was featured in the movie. But so much great depth to this one, it's a sort of electronic/ambient album, with a bit of dance to it. Really great stuff, and love the album cover too. Thank you for reminding me of the greatness! 4.5/5

Great album by itself but certainly enhanced through Drive’s use of Tick of the Clock. Still wild the main version is 15 mins. Very versatile album and artist. Some great electronic instrumentals and others with vocals. Love the album cover too.

I really enjoyed this. Good fun. It did sound a little simple in places and it reminded me of what the kind of thing everyone starts making when they Garageband or Ableton but it was cool.

There's been a couple examples of this kind of thing coming up in the user list. Very produced, "dreamy" vocals. I tend to like that style because the backing music is very krautrock-adjacent, but it does lack that certain *das weiß ich nicht*

Really quite enjoyed this

The phonecall at the start sets the tone perfectly: this album is the soundtrack to cruising empty city streets after dark, bathed in neon and solitude. The title track kicks things off with purpose; moody, minimal, and cinematic. “I Want Your Love” and the Kate Bush cover “Running Up That Hill” take the intensity down a notch, and for me, they break the spell a bit. But from “Killing Spree” onward, it regains its footing. “Healer” is excellent, and “Tomorrow Is So Far Away” might be my favourite track on the album—icy, melancholic, and beautifully restrained. It all winds down with the slow 15-minute build of “Tick of the Clock,” which stretches time and lets the whole thing dissolve into atmosphere. It’s a fitting end. It's some nice dark electro with a moody, gothy atmosphere that reminds me a bit of Kirlian Camera and while it’s not flawless, Night Drive is definitely something I’ll come back to.

This is ok. On the one hand, I like the idea of a decently ambient album that scores a night drive. On the other hand, it's just a little boring. And I really don't like Running Up That Hill. 6/10

When I saw the words "Italian disco" I have to admit I was overcome by a feeling of dread. But this was actually very good. A little long maybe, but overall enjoyable. 3 stars.

Decent enough, but for me primarily background music. Just under 3 1/2 stars.

Italo disco, synthwave, synth-pop. Ni fu ni fa.

I love the slick, moody, atmospheric vibe of this album. There's something not quite right about Ruth Radelet's vocals though, which are overly soft and lacking in depth. This style of music is still right up my alley though, and I would listen again. Fave Songs: Let's Make This a Moment to Remember, Tomorrow Is So Far Away, Healer, Running Up That Hill, Tick of the Clock

A Kate Bush cover?!

"Sparse" doesn't even feel like a strong enough word. To find out this was recorded in the mid 00s is surprising, it'd slot right in during the early 80s. Very post-punk. A little samey, and vocally isn't the strongest, but it's not bad by any means. It's just not my thing. Favorite tracks: "I Want Your Love", "Tick Of the Clock"

Pretty cool album even if it's only a 3rd studio album. Really unique and modern tracks, and the vocals support the music well. It was an interesting take on Running up that hill. However that one track has more listens than all the other tracks combined. I wonder if the album would have been better without that cover?

Slick. Ending on a 15-minute minimalistic instrumental was an interesting choice

An interesting album. Poppy italohousey fun that's at its best when it gets weird and dark.

Definitely not the best song called night drive but this album is pretty entertaining. Some of the songs drag on a bit long for me but feels like that’s what they intended. Not sure how much I’d listen to the whole album again but night drive and the up on the hill cover are solid. 6.1/10

I only know chromatics from their awesome song on the twin peaks revival and this isn’t exactly what I was expecting. I was hoping for vaporwave like shadow is but this was more electronica with some ambient stuff. It was fine and the running up that hill cover was interesting but it was a bit too long with quite a few songs that didn’t really add much to the album.

Donkey Kong Country music. Pretty interesting, despite the fact that I don't exactly dig this sort of electronic music. The Kate Bush cover was surprisingly really well made. "Tick of the Clock" was the standout though. Despite being 15 minutes of roughly the same thing, it's strangely hypnotizing.

Discovered who The Chromatics were through their inclusion in the soundtrack of the third season of Twin Peaks (The Return). Went back to this 2007 album right after that. It's pretty well-crafted synthpop / dream pop, but in the grand scheme of things there's nothing in this record that Beach House hasn't pulled off ten times better in the following years. First proper song "Night Drive" is a nice calling card for the rest of the tracklist, but it's not exactly thrilling either. "I Want Your Love" is overlong and a little cheesy. The Kate Bush cover is OK, but I don't really see what it brings to the original song. "Killing Spree" and "Tomorrow Is So Far Away" use the same "Diamonds Are Forever"-adjacent xylophone/ glockenspiel gimmick (remember that old James Bond title song?), which makes one of those cuts a little redundant (the first one for me). "Healer" is a little more exciting than the rest, with a nice build-up towards the end. "Tick Of The Flick" is, on paper at least, an interesting 15-minute (!) attempt to ape Kraftwerk's hypnotic dirges, but lack of clear stakes and intents makes it fall on its face after only five minutes. "Shining Violence" and "The Gemini" are shorter and wonderful moody instrumental pieces, though. But the songs in between are just a borefest for me. And that female lead singer definitely lacks punch to properly dynamize her performance. Fortunately, closer "Accelerator" is awesome and mesmerizing. Very cinematic, the way some Kavinsky cuts are. Crazy how only the instrumentals shine on the album's second half. So yeah, it's a mixed bag for me. Not excluding that album from my list of keepers right away because of its peaks, but I highly doubt it will make the final cut. To be honest, I also hold a huge grudge against the Chromatics because of a later hit song ("Shadows") which rips off the melody of Sonic Youth's "Wish Fulfillment" in such a blatant and even odious manner it's amazing the New York band didn't sue at the time (guess they had other fish to fry, or were just not greedy enough to give a rat's ass about it). But that song wasn't on *Night Drive*, so I guess in this doesn't weigh too much on my assessment here. The thing is, I just hope they didn't plagiarize any other artist in this particular album. That would not paint the project in the best of lights, right? 3/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 8/10 for more general purposes (5 + 3) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 1 Albums from the users list I *might* include in mine later on: 3 (including this one) Albums from the users list I won't include in mine: 2

I love that kick tone on I Want Your Love. This is hard to put into one camp of electronic music, which is why it feels very scattered sonically.

OK I guess

This was alright

The instrumentals were top notch. The 'greek chorus' of the lyrics didn't seem intense enough to match

Great as a mellow backdrop when I'm working, or when I'm having trouble sleeping. But other than that it's not all that exciting.

I do not really know what to make of this. First the album was too long to keep me fully interested. Second, it was too dreamy as if nothing really happened. Last, if you do cover, make it count. This was too straight forward.

Naaaaaaa not my ham 2 Didn't make running up that hill that good. That can't be too hard

Some ok electro-pop reminiscent of icy Depeche Mode or early New Order, but the boring soundtrack bits were way too long. Two minutes of synth-wind at the end of one track is unnecessary.

Ok

I'm not really sure what this is, which isn't always a bad thing, but on this occasion I didn't like it much. Ambienty, poppy nothingness. Rating: 2 Playlist track: Running Up That Hill Date listened: 11/11/24

It was okay

Night Drive would definitely be a better listen in a dark night drive, not a morning one, it was okay, nicely put together with atmosphere but a bit meh for me. 2/5.

This kind of album starts pretty annoying and pretentious, but since it stays with us for more than one hour, we ended up almost enjoying it. Almost.

I found this very dull and it's not because I don't enjoy minimalist/lo fi stuff I just don't think this was very good.

I really wanted to like this because Chromatics’ song Shadow was a moody standout from the Twin Peaks: The Return soundtrack. Unfortunately nothing on this album really came close Their overall vibe is good - eerie and ethereal synth pop with enough atmosphere to crush a space shuttle - and the album started off well. But then there was the god awful Kate Bush cover, with pitchy and hesitant vocals that absolutely ruined one of the greatest songs of all time. The few tracks after that mostly went on for far too long and got very repetitive very quickly (did the closer really really need to be 15 minutes?) A bit disappointing even though I enjoyed the overall aesthetic

I found this album quite dull and boring. And then 'Tick of the Clock' came on. Multiple times I thought: "What is this song?", "Why is this even a song?", "Why is this 15 minutes long?!?"... This 1 song completely broke the album for me, and is the main reason of giving this the lowest rate

The only song I enjoyed was a cover. The rest were dull dull dull

Nonsense, with a rubbish Kate Bush cover thrown in. Why? Just, why!?