Desert Run I
I spent the first weeks of January cobbling together my favorite running songs because I need 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 mix 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 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 works 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
Looking forward to this. Sometimes one of the old KinoSport mixes still comes through my iTunes mix rotation
Thanks for listening! It’s nice to hear some of those old mixes are still drifting through the ether.
Very excited to run to this. For some reason I just know it has to go on my iPod Shuffle, which isn’t a device I use often.
I hope it performs well for you—and I dig that it’s inspired breaking out some old gear. (And now that you’ve mentioned it, I wish I still had my iPod; it makes so much more sense than running around with a telephone.)