Workout Wednesday: 124 bpm (Disco Odyssey)

Here’s one to start you off. This is Monday, Week One in my program. I use it for the StairMaster, but at 124 beats per minute it’s good for a brisk walk, too.

124 bpm 1: Disco Odyssey
Covered In Punk – Portobella
Dark Side Of The Spoon – Alexander Robotnick
Ride A White Horse (remix) – Goldfrapp
When The World Is Running Down... – The Police
Theme For Great Cities (parts I and II) – Simple Minds
I Need More Love – Robert Randolph and the Family Band
(cooldown) (Something Else Is) Working Harder – The Golden Palominos

Notes:

This was kind of slapped together when I first started with the StairMaster, and it probably needs a polish; and it’s a little lazy, with a couple of extended tracks doing yeoman’s duty. Still, I’m pretty pleased with some of the transitions—and I think it shows how the “dance” and “rock” sides of my brain can converge.

Slight tweaks to volume levels and tempos throughout. I added the echo effect to the end of the Portobella track, to provide a rhythmic anchor until the Robotnick really gets going. It’s kinda goofy, but “Covered In Punk” is a joyously goofy song to begin with.

The full title of the Goldfrapp remix is “Ewan Pearson and Al Usher Disco Odyssey mix, parts 1 & 2.” I remember the days of twelve-inch singles, where you’d have a more-or-less straight remix of a song on the A-side and a stripped-down synth version on the other. I always liked that. That’s why I used that naming convention for the Simple Minds track, too—which is actually two tracks; the original album version, and a skeletal reinterpolation that turned up on some Brazilian rave compilation. The outro to the original crossfades nicely into the intro of the remake.

Also: How fucking hot is that Robert Randolph track? With just drums, keys, bass and pedal steel (!), these guys sound like the entire Family Stone. It’s a damn solid record, and it deserves to blow up huge.

Finally: Barbelith folk will remember this born-to-lose anthem. What better way to start a course of self-improvement than to have someone tell you it’s doomed from the start? Spite is the fuel that powers my motor; every step I take is another Fuck you. This releases me from the pressure of having to enjoy myself. It’s okay to hate you’re doing, as long as it grinds a heel into the other guy’s nuts. And as long as you keep doing it.

Download this mix (46:02, 42 meg: YouSendIt link good until 10 January).

[ MP3 expired - so sorry ]