
I spent the first weeks of January cobbling together my favorite running songs because I needed some solid entertainment to keep me moving through the desert’s scale and monotony.
My running life is a messy patchwork: long stretches of moaning while I drag myself along, interrupted by occasional bursts of speediness. This mixtape reflects my style: speedy songs (Tuxedomoon, Demdike Stare), chugging songs (Thomas Brinkmann, Vainqueuer), and abrupt shifts in tempo. There are no biometric rhythms here, just peaks and valleys.
I also need plenty of distraction when I run, so there’s a lot of swirling reverb, mumbling AM radio voices, and trails of static. I extended a few favorite breaks, trimmed some songs in half, and kept adding layers until the thing served my needs. It starts slow, gets going at the 7-minute mark, and if I gut it out to the end, there’s a psychedelic classic to carry me home on wobbly legs.
This hour-long mix seems to work well for a five-mile run or a couple of three-mile runs, and it includes plenty of time for shoe-tying, cursing, dithering, and even a bit of stretching if you do that sort of thing. (But cheetahs don’t stretch.)
- Thomas Brinkmann – VR 01 01 02 00Minus, 1998
- Sandra Electronics – It Slipped Her MindMinimal Wave, 2014
- Public Image Ltd – Flowers of RomanceVirgin, 1981
- Adult. – Silver Screen Shower Scene (Remix)City Rockers, 2001
- Tuxedomoon – No Tears (Continous Mode Mix)International Deejay Gigolo Records, 2001
- Aural Indifference – ParkMinimal Wave, 1981
- Cranes – Beautiful FriendDedicated, 1994
- Demdike Stare – Hashshashin ChantModern Love, 2010
- Squarepusher – Love Wil Tear Us ApartWarp, 2002
- The Crystals – Then He Kissed MePhilles, 1963
- Vainqueur – Elevations II (Reprise)Chain Reaction, 1997
- Martin Dupont – I Met the BeastLice Records, 1985
- Muslimgauze – SandtrafikarStaalplaat, 1997
- Suicide – DevastationChapter 22, 1988
- Shackleton – Blood On My Hands (Ricardo Villalobos Mix)Skull Disco, 2007
- 13th Floor Elevators – Slip Inside This HouseInternational Artists, 1967
- Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit (Atlas Minor Loop)RCA Victor, 1967