Build a Workout Mix: Successful Mix 6

If you’re not sure what this is about, start by heading HERE and reading the introduction to this section of my blog.

This mix is an altered version of Successful Mix 5 which can be found HERE

1. Boom Boom Pow – Black Eyed Peas

2. We R Who We R – Ke$ha

3. Crazy In Love – Beyonce

4. Poison – Bell Biv Devoe

5. Chariots of Fire – Vangelis

6. IT’S SHOWTIME!! – B’z

7. Du Hast – Rammstein

8. Gone Away – The Offspring

Its been a MONTH since my last workout post! The lesson here is that sickness is the absolute enemy to working out. I actually ran this mix a month ago, then got sick before I could write about it. Ran the mix again a few weeks later and then again was sick. I finally ran this mix for a third time last night and I’m finally getting a chance to sit down and write about it after throwing “A Feast for Crows” across the room to stop myself from reading it long enough to work this up. (See my Current Obsession)

Obviously if you remember Successful Mix 5, much here has changed. If things are working, I’d like to add lots of new stuff so that the lists will continue to build and you in turn will have more tools to work with. The only songs that remain are “IT’S SHOWTIME!!” and “Du Hast” which have been moved to the latter half of the mix.

We start off with Warm Up “Boom Boom Pow” which worked perfectly for me. Each verse adds a bit to this ever changing futuristic beat. My body was constantly being pushed to run a little bit harder and a little bit faster which is EXACTLY what you want from a Warm Up. Plus that moment where Fergie asks Will.I.Am. to drop the beat pushed me into a frenzied dash. And excellent warm up for anyone more interested in electronic sounding music. I’ll also point out that I used the 4 minute radio edit rather than the 5 minute album version.

Continuing with the electronic theme, I rolled right into “We R Who We R” for my first stride. The song just has this pulsing driving beat that works perfectly. Ke$ha is definitely a hate it or love it kind of pop star so if you dont like Ke$ha, definitely dont add this to a mix. If you love Ke$ha, this song could actually work as both a Warm Up (cause it will get your blood pumping) or as a Burnout (cause Ke$ha love has an huge intensity about it! 

Rounding out the electronic theme of this opening fast paced mix is Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love”. Just like Ke$ha, I think a love for the artist goes a long way in making her songs work for Burnouts. That being said, the horns that make up the back bone of “Crazy In Love” should propel anyone forward for that extra push. I ran to this a couple times and every single time, the horns shamed be into running that extra mile. How can you slow down with those blaring in your ears?

My second stride for the run is the amazing “Poison”. I absolutely cannot listen to this song and not picture Mac from Always Sunny doing karate chops in the Dance-Off episode. Seriously go find that video if you’ve never seen it. The repetitive drum beat kept me moving at a constant place for its entire four minute length while the different vocalists and playful nature of the song keeps your mind occupied along with your body.

This song was literally made for running to! I mean thats what the movie is about right? I will say that I still associate this song most with Will Ferrell doing is acrobatics in Old School. A perfect Warm Up because not only does it build at a soft slow pace, it motivates your psyche. Its very important that you listen to music that almost forces you to want to win and succeed because otherwise theres nothing stopping you from quitting. To be honest, making this your alarm when you wake up the mornings you plan to run couldnt hurt.

“IT’S SHOWTIME!!” and “Du Hast” I’ve already spoke about and each song still served me well near the end of my run.

Finally, I selected “Gone Away” for my cool down. I really wanted to use this song for a stride or burnout but it wasnt well paced enough for the former and not energetic enough for the latter. I think it works well as a cool down because it has that end of the movie feeling to it. There’s an element of exhaustion in the delivery that coincides well with those final walking minutes after a long run. If you still have breathe, feel free to sing along!

So thats it for this long delay mix post! Hopefully the next one wont need another month to go up. Im sure my belly is hoping the same.

 

 

Build a Workout Stride: Rammstein – Du Hast

Industrial Metal and specifically Rammstein music lends itself VERY WELL to the stride. Strides are all about keeping a steady pacing which is most easily found in dance music. Metal rhythms are also great because a good guitar riff works much the same way. “Du Hast” works to combine these two elements into something great. The metal side adds lots of little guitar flourishes to keep your brain occupied and the dance side adds little digital noises like at 2:04. I must also mention that the drums are beast!

 

Build a Workout Mix: Successful Mix 5

If you’re not sure what this is about, start by heading HERE and reading the introduction to this section of my blog.

This mix is an altered version of Successful Mix 4 which you can find HERE

1. One-Winged Angel (orchestral version) – Nobuo Uematsu

2. Du Hast – Rammstein

3. IT’S SHOWTIME!! – B’z 2003

4. Aaj Ki Raat – A R Rahman

5. My Body Is A Cage – Arcade Fire

6. Totalimmortal – AFI

7. Baby Boy – Beyoncé

8. Path Vol 2 – Apocalyptica

9. Aint No Sunshine – Bill Withers

10. Down to the River to Pray – Alison Krauss

The first thing you’ll notice about this mix is that it is LONGER! It’s a good idea that you constantly push yourself to run further and faster. To run longer, obviously you want to add more songs but you also want to have more strides since this is the portion where you can gain some steady productivity. Faster requires more burnouts to encourage you to run your hardest. Lets look at the changes.

I started off with a new warm up. Most people who know “One-Winged Angel” would immediately think of burnout. The final boss music for one of the most beloved videogame villain of all time. I chose the lighter orchestral version specifically so that I could use it as a warm up. The song does have a slowly progressive nature as it spins and winds toward something grander. This allowed my body to start off at a gentler pace and slowly work my way faster. It never got me running at top speed but it definitely prepared me for the additional ten minutes on the end of this run.

Industrial Metal and specifically Rammstein music lends itself VERY WELL to the stride. Strides are all about keeping a steady pacing which is most easily found in dance music. Metal rhythms are also great because a good guitar riff works much the same way. “Du Hast” works to combine these two elements into something great. The metal side adds lots of little guitar flourishes to keep your brain occupied and the dance side adds little digital noises like at 2:04. I must also mention that the drums are beast!

Continuing this so far all new mix, we have a new burnout in the form of B’z’s all caps “IT’S SHOWTIME!!” How can a song with a title in all caps and two exclamation points not be a burnout? This song was used a lot in Japan for national sporting events and even the 2004 Olympics. The song was specifically made to ramp you up and thats exactly what it does!

I was then treated to ANOTHER new stride! Here’s another from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. “Aaj Ki Raat” is a monster of a stride topping out at over 6 minutes! It kept me going with its simple danceable beat and trance inducing singers mesmerizing me for the entire time. So pretty!

We finally get to some familiar ground with the newly located “My Body is a Cage” warm up which I absolutely loved in my last run and couldnt bear to part with yet.

This was followed by two other recent staples, the burnout “Totalimmortal” and the stride “Baby Boy” which both continue to succeed completely. I was definitely getting tired by the time I got to “Baby Boy” and thought I’d slow to a walk. The beat was so good I had to keep running for another four minutes!

“Path Volume 2” by Apocalyptica is one of the rare occasions where the band is accompanied by a singer. This song blew my mind the first time I heard it years ago and I knew it would work perfectly as a burnout. I mentioned how tired I was at the beginning of “Baby Boy” and this point I was ready to collapse. The haunting vocals and insane chugging cellos made it impossible for me to slow down and there I was off sprinting all over again!

Wow. What a beautiful cool down! Bill Withers sexy voice and thumping guitar slowed me way down so that I could stretch out my sore muscles walking the last couple minute of my workout in perfect bliss.

“Aint No Sunshine” was originally intended to finish off the mix. This leads to another lesson for a successful mix: ALWAYS CARRY SOME BACKUPS! In this case, my legs just werent ready to stop walking. They were really tensing up and cramping and I needed another couple minutes to walk it off. Thankfully I always pack some spares so I simply pulled out this wonderful acapella spiritual that I first heard on the O’Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack and walked off those extra couple minutes in peace. This song is the perfect way to cool down after a long and tiresome run.

76. Rammstein – Mutter

My love of Rammstein is a little bit complicated. Where as most artists on this list I can talk about for hours, I try to know as little about Rammstein as possible. This is partially due to their lyrical content which most of the time is less than appealing. Think torture porn levels of violence and aggression that can show up in the lyrics. (That being said, I do understand that the band is very intelligent and a lot of their lyrics serve as metaphors and are meant to shake you and make you think) However, I got into Rammstein in the infancy of the Internet and listened to the band without the lyrics. For me, the music was always just something I felt, and the vocalist was simply another instrument in the band. There was a time at the beginning of the century where I was heavily into metal and industrial music and Rammstein fed that hunger better than any other band. I love their music because it can provide a huge sense of power while getting work done but at other times can delivery an emotional overload that can break you down in a moment of depression. They also use lots of choral and orchestral elements that I love in my metal. Mutter especially I think, has some of their best musicianship and song writing on it which is how it ended up here. Again if I could describe Rammstein’s music in one word, it would be POWER. Also, Till Lindemann has an amazing voice. One which I don’t think I’ve heard anyone else to have.

 

What does it make me feel like?

 

Like I’m an unstoppable general in some war of machines and men in the distant future.

 

What to Listen for Track by Track

 

– Mein Hertz Brennt is the perfect album opener. The way it starts with violins and talking. A simple drum beat comes in and then…. “MEIN HERTZ BRENNT!!” and an ASSAULT of orchestra! Then the song uses an acoustic guitar to keep the beat. Is there anyone else making music of this combination?? And the prechorus… the way the strings create that “end of the world” tension before it all comes crashing down in the chorus again! And I must mention the solo at 3:39. Chilling.

– It all starts with marching. Links 2-3-4 has an amazing chorus complete with orchestra but once again, it’s the appearance of acoustic guitars at 1:58 that seal the deal for the song.

– Sonne is definitely one of my all time favorite Rammstein songs. I love the countdown that opens the song and appears continually throughout the chorus. I love Till’s vocals on the chorus and the strange backing vocal that accompanies him during the final third of the song.

– The powerful beat of Ich Will is both intoxicating and addicting. Then 2:26 brings the guitars and strange noises in for an amazing bridge.

– The power shows no signs of stopping on the crazy drums of Feuer Frie!, though its highlight is again the soft interlude in the middle of the song.

– Mutter finally takes it down a notch for a creepy german metal ballad complete with strings and awesome guitar solo

– Nebel definitely takes the album out on a pensive note and the female vocals always give me chills. It has that final song feeling to its chorus that always makes me respect an album.

Example Track

Song of the Day 01/29/13: Rammstein – Klavier

Speaking of the late 90’s and early 00’s, I’m a big fan of Rammstein’s work during that time. Rammstein is tough for me because when I listened to it in the 90’s, there wasnt internet access in the way that there is now(Or at least I didnt have a good enough grasp to use it that way). I just listened to the songs in german and had no idea what was being sung. I still loved it and the voice was simply another instrument. It’s not a big surprise but it turns out they wrote a lot of really disturbing lyrics. I still prefer to listen to them without the lyrics because I like to preserve the songs I love the way I perceive them. Not be disturbed by what they are actually about. That being said, I cant help but look up my favorites from time to time. I always knew this song was about a piano. Thats about it. Turns out its about a guy who is obsessed with a piano player and when he finds out that she plays piano not just for him (not sure if thats literal or a metaphor), he kills her. The songs verses describe him sitting at the piano with her  corpse while her family or the police (not sure which) try to get him to unlock the door. See what I mean? I was once told that the way in which the lyrics are written, almost every Rammstein song has a double or triple meaning and that they are very deep and that its a shame I cant speak german. Not so sure I feel that way. Still, I love the song just as much. It always did have a beautiful and creepy vibe even before I knew it’s subject matter.