WTD’s Performance Enhancing Mix

I was asked to make a mix of songs that would be suitable for listening to in the gym. I have no idea what other people like to listen to while exercising. A quick google search found some rather complicated and overly-thought out stuff about low BPM and pacing yourself etc etc. I don’t know about anyone else but I think I’d prefer something noisy and fast, something to run as quick as you can to until you can no longer. Something to sing and drum along to mid-stride. Something to stamp your feet to. Something to get the adrenaline flowing.

This mix might be completely wrong for you.

Tracklisting:

Night At The Knight School - Thee More Shallows

Archaeologists - Wintersleep

Sunlight - Harlem Shakes

Salt, Pepa And Spinderella - Johnny Foreigner

Teary Eyes And Bloody Lips - Moonface

In The Now - Cursive

Helicopter - Bloc Party

Daisy - Fang Island

Move To The City - Wildlife

Negative Thinking - The Death Set

Swing And A Misdemeanor - Oh No Forest Fires

A Stare Like Yours - The Thermals

Away - Young Jesus

The Hollows - WHY?

Lamb And The Lion - The Mae Shi

Forever In Armitron - BOAT

Propeller - Tubelord

When I Get Back - Handsome Furs

Nowheres Nigh - Parts & Labor

The House That Heaven Built - Japandroids

*DOWNLOAD*

If you don’t go running or to the gym to lift heavy things, stick this on in your bedroom and enjoy anyway. You know the drill, support the bands. Once you have finished and taken a shower, get on your computer and order a few of the records. Maybe see a show or two.

Handsome Furs + Moonface

The folks from Wolf Parade are certainly very busy people. As soon as Wolf Parade go on an indefinite hiatus, the bands member rush to their other projects and commitments and quickly produce brilliant music under other monikers. I am loath to call these works ‘side projects’ as that implies a superfluous nature to the creations, whereas in actual fact they are of equal quality to Wolf Parade themselves.

Dan Boeckner’s Handsome Furs (who I wrote about briefly back in April) have produced a strong contender for my album of the year in Sound Kapital. They have taken their work onto a new level and seem to have found their perfect niche - somewhere between indie rock and industrial music. This may sound a curious mix but rest assured, it works, both on record and live. I was lucky to catch the couple on tour back in April and was blown away by their ability to combine thumping keyboards with the familiar vocals of Boeckner, neither was required to be subdued to allow the other to be heard.

Sound Kapital is out now, available on Sub Pop and from all the usual outlets.

Moonface is the latest of an ever increasing list of works involving Spencer Krug. If you are unfamiliar then all are worth checking out: Sunset Rubdown, Canadian ‘supergroup’ Swan Lake, Frog Eyes (now ‘Krug-less’) and the instrumental Fifths of Seven. Sunset Rubdown, originally used to release solo recordings, have formed into a fully fleged band so Krug has established Moonface as his solo moniker.

Organ Music not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped is only six songs long but seeing as the shortest track is over 6 minutes long you don’t feel it is too short. Experimental is the obvious blanket term for the album but this doesn’t really explain the sound very well. High tempo electronic sounds are interspersed with Krug’s characteristic vocals (prehaps not at their yelping best but unmistakable nonetheless), producing what a few other reviewers have described as reminiscent of late 70s experimental music with the retro sounding drum machines. It’s probably best you just have a listen and decide for yourself, the highlight of the album ‘Fast Peter’ is available to download here.

Organ Music not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped is available from Jagjaguwar.

Both Moonface and Handsome Furs are on Spotify for you to sample if you so wish.

- Jon -