Herb Sundays 188: Car Culture
The Queens producer and DJ shares "low tide" or a genre study "that's hard to exactly pinpoint but you know when you hear it.
Herb Sundays 188: Car Culture
Playlist: Apple Music / Spotify
Art by Michael Cina
About four years ago, I got asked to make a mix for friends radio show on a Provincetown radio station. The theme was ‘low tide’ which was a vague prompt but it spoke to me. I put together a mix that was kind of soft rock, fourth world, smooth jazz, folk, and a lot of what Andrew Aged once described to me as ‘second divorce’ music: when an artist from the 60’s or 70’s started making music in the 80’s or 90’s with really good session musicians. That one is a sound that's hard to exactly pinpoint but you know when you hear it.
The mix ended up being pretty influential to the sound I was developing at the time for car culture- along with the more obvious shoegaze, indie rock and downtempo stuff I was listening to. I’ve always kept a running playlist tracks that I find that fit the low tide vibe with some intention of making another volume. I really like serialized mixes as anyone who follows me knows. I thought that this would be a good time to share that playlist. It’s great for driving or being in motion, and just a classic car culture bittersweet vibe, IYKYK. <3
-Daniel Fisher (Car Culture, Physical Therapy) for Herb Sundays
New Jersey-born, Queens-based artist Daniel Fisher knows how to wear an alias. The latest is Car Culture, after over a decade of his Physical Therapy (as well as DJ Overnite, Floor Cleaner, Kirk The Flirt, Stefan Proper, etc.) project, which has seen him gently skewer DJ culture without malice. As Philip Sherburne has said, Fisher “has the rare ability to bring humor to his music without cheapening it,” even just his playful but sincere presence has set him apart in a scene devoted to self-preservation and ego lift.
The sacred ooze from which the project gained recognition was a post-internet way forward for underground credibility or as Carrie Battan wrote in 2012: “Fisher, along with a crew of acts like Minneapolis duo Elite Gymnastics and seasoned R&B nostaglic Tom Krell of How to Dress Well, work alongside one another in a sea of mixes, remixes, and reworks tied together by clever, internet-literate signifiers, retro-futuristic winks, and a music nerd's collection of obscure samples. They make slick websites that intentionally look like infomercials; they accidentally spawn savvy micro-genres. At times it can feel like just a topical grab bag of cool sounds and images. At other times it feels like an exciting portal into the future.”
I was already a fan of Daniel’s work and his Allergy Season label, especially his witty graphic sense. The Car Culture debut, Dead Rock, in 2021 caught my eye with its Led Zep III quoting cover art, but once I finally tuned in, I was hooked by its soft focus majesty. Little stolen moments apparently written over the course of a decade, or ambient/guitar mantras and Durutti Column flashbacks (“Suspended tones and frictionless glide for long drives, delayed flights and carbon credits”) that had no real peer in my sets. It is both serene, unsettling, and breathtaking in the right headspace.
It was hard to exactly see what Fisher was doing with Car Culture; the climate of the moment could have made you think that the album was a COVID-era hard drive raid, but with the arrival of last year’s Rest Here (NAFF, 2025), the mission was very much clear. A love letter to his fave music that somehow holds together, the album is now on its victory lap for 2026, arriving on CD with more songs (a trend I’m enjoying), plus an exquisite Purelink remix and a version by who else but Physical Therapy. Electronic music is often best in a Face/Off (1997) two-fisted gun battle with itself.
Again, for the sleeve, there’s Fisher, but instead of in the masculine Western garb he has often donned, he’s in full knight’s armor, making him less tough, and instead somehow more vulnerable, which totally fits the gorgeous, fragile pop inside. Always going all the way in, he admitted to me he was annoyed when people thought the image was AI, a would-be reduction of his sweaty nightmare to someone’s lazy gimmick, definitely not a Daniel Fisher move. Execution is king.
As we see more “side projects” start to gain stature, its great to see acts like Car Culture get the accolades their alt personas have yet to. You don’t have to know any of the above to enjoy “a heartsick wall of sound.” “Rest Here,” maybe my favorite of the batch, but a hard tie probably, is a yearning piece of trip-hop that would explode your neurons in the right hotel lobby bar after one swig of a chilly overpriced Peroni. There’s a sense of faded memory in the project; the vocal elements work less as primary drivers and more as affirmations.
The rise of Car Culture would seem strange for a dance music DJ until you remember he’s been working through the same Rubik's Cube, a medley of off-pop, for well over a decade. Listening back to his 2012 Hippos In Tanks debut, you first hear “Record Sales,” which sounds like a Ray of Light/Music-era C-side, the MPC left on so long that it starts to hallucinate. And then you chance upon another 2025 NYC breakout local james K (Herb 163) (and fellow Patrick Holland (Herb 178) collaborator) on “Drone On”, out there looking like a couple of alt universe pop stars in the video. Fisher can be found clad in all-white Western gear, impeccable stuff. The track earned a Pitchfork Best New Track from Ruth Saxelby as well as the EP being served a “worst album cover” designation from the same site, which is awesome stuff.
Car Culture has a DJ’s ear for hooks and riffs, obviously, not needing to mess with the gain knob, instead marinating you in mood and textures, and often found sounds/spoken world, which his best sets reflect. As the bio says: “As Car Culture, Fisher brings focus to his sentimental side. In the fan-favorite Remissions mix series, he collages fuzzy folktronica, found sounds and unexpected edits into foot-gazing narratives. His productions as Car Culture are sometimes serene, sometimes heart wrenching. Zoom out and you hear tranquilizing electronica, zoom in and you find soulful songwriting.”
I caught Car Culture at 101 with Taryn Blake Miller on guitar and alt vocals, an uncanny set. They finish up a European run this week and then head to the US. Fall dates include a run with Chanel Beads. Def catch the project live.
Bonus Beats: Ghostly things
Welcoming the unmatched greatness of Haruomi Hosono to the label with his new album, his 23rd, Yours Sincerely, out this September. Tickets for his Radio City Music Hall and Greek Theater shows are now available.
gum.mp3 stopped by for Ghostly’s Lot Radio show yesterday, listen back.
A couple of Lusine greats come back to vinyl this summer (sleeves designed by Michael Cina).
