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 00
  Minus, 1998
• Sandra Electronics – It Slipped Her Mind
  Minimal Wave, 2014
• Public Image Ltd – Flowers of Romance
  Virgin, 1981
• Adult. – Silver Screen Shower Scene (Remix)
  City Rockers, 2001
• Tuxedomoon – No Tears (Continous Mode Mix)
  International Deejay Gigolo Records, 2001
• Aural Indifference – Park
  Minimal Wave, 1981
• Cranes – Beautiful Friend
  Dedicated, 1994
• Demdike Stare – Hashshashin Chant
  Modern Love, 2010
• Squarepusher – Love Wil Tear Us Apart
  Warp, 2002
• The Crystals – Then He Kissed Me
  Philles, 1963
• Vainqueur – Elevations II (Reprise)
  Chain Reaction, 1997
• Martin Dupont – I Met the Beast
  Lice Records, 1985
• Muslimgauze – Sandtrafikar
  Staalplaat, 1997
• Suicide – Devastation
  Chapter 22, 1988
• Shackleton – Blood On My Hands (Ricardo Villalobos Mix)
  Skull Disco, 2007
• 13th Floor Elevators – Slip Inside This House
  International Artists, 1967
• Jefferson Airplane – White Rabbit (Atlas Minor Loop)
  RCA Victor, 1967

James A. Reeves – Desert Run I

2023 | 59:59 | Download