My Cover, My Shelter

A long, long time ago, in a land far, far away over a vast ocean, I was seriously charmed by a certain young Metallica-head, Brian Lew. Brian took trash metal very seriously, he went to all the shows, took photos, swapped bootleg tapes, and had lots of t-shirts, organised fan clubs and hung out backstage with bands. My little brother was also super into Metallica, so for a few years Metallica was a sort of sound track to my life. I remember loads of times driving to parties or shows with Master of Puppets, blasting on the car stereo, and at home, well they were always on.  I hated it! It was only recently, in a fit of nostalgic, that I played them again.  And you know what, I discovered a great running song, Sad But True, from The Black Album. It has a 90BPM tempo, i.e. perfect 180SPM (Strides Per Minute). 


And now for some shameless friend-promotion.  Brian and Harold Oimoen (who I don't know) just came out with a photo book about thrash metal in the Bay Area, Murder in the Front Row, for anyone so inclined! Buy it on Amazon. Or check out this review, which has some photos of Metallica where they are so young, really worth a look. 

Sorry the video can only be played directly on youtube, Metallica are super tight-ass about their music. They are not on Spotify, or Deezer or anywhere else I can find.   Yes that's sad, but true!

So Very Good For Me

Prove My Love by the Violent Femmes was a hit in the 80s when I was a teenager, but I still think it has kept its charm.  The BPM is exactly 90, so if you want a running cadence of 180 SPM (strides per minute) this will keep you in time.  It sounds sort of frantic, with loads of energy, so great for speed intervals!

Prepared Now For Myself

Seether are from South Africa, but to me they sound like they're from Seattle.  Their song Fine Again is a nice 89BPM so will get you going at 180SPM (Strides per minute), or 178SPM so close enough. The lyrics are super dark, but hey I'm in the middle of getting divorced, give me a break!  At least it ends on an up note. 

I am aware now of how
everything’s gonna be fine one day
Too late, I’m in hell
I am prepared now
seems everyone’s gonna be fine
One day too late, just as well
I am prepared now,
seems everything’s gonna be fine for me
For me; for myself.
For me, for me, for myself
For me, for me, for myself

I am prepared now for myself
I am prepared now and I am fine... again

I run to get a perfect soul

I can't believe I haven't done this song yet, Creep by Radiohead. Its BPM is 92 so its a tad fast, but worth making an exception for!!

I don't care if it hurts
I want to have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul

Between Me and the Rain

Often I have run to withstand, no release the pressures of my life; motherhood and my 'real' job and a difficult marriage.  Almost a year ago now I had a serious running injury, fractured cuboid.  Don't fracture your cuboid, it takes forever to heal.  Its been only recently I have done a few short runs and I can still feel the injury is not healed.  So I've been biking a lot and that's fun, but its just not the same as running, it doesn't 'excercise my demons' in the same way.  And without the intoxication of running I had to take a sober look at my marriage, and it did not survive that.   So ironically this injury saved my life.  But still some things, motherhood especially, I don't want to quit!  So if running can release some of the pressure of that and bring me back to it calm and full again, well that's just great.  Some of my running music is kind of dark, maybe even angry, or wild, because that's how I sometimes start my runs, so these songs are usually at the beginning of my running play list, like this one Hurricane Drunk by Florence And The Machine.

No walls can keep me protected
No sleep
Nothing in between me and the rain
And you can't save me now
I'm in the grip of a hurricane
I'm gonna blow myself away

Its at a BPM of 90 so works for a SPM (strides per minute) of 180.  Oh and plus the album's called Between Two Lungs. 

6 Free Running Songs

I've been kind of quite recently, had a lot of crazy stuff going on. To make up for it this post contains 6 free running songs! All these songs can be freely and legally downloaded from the amazing music site Epitonic. Click on the name of the song to download it. I've linked the band name to their corresponding Wikipedia entry for hardcore music fans to get band info.

1. Excuses by Bibio 91BPM
   This song starts a bit low key and takes about half a minute to really get into the beat. But it is worth it! This is a beautiful electronic landscape - with nice lyrics too. I think it might be my favourite on the list. Oh and if the slow start doesn't work for you while running, you could always trim it.
2. R.I.P Burn Face by CocoRosie 90BPM
   Sweet tune, strange lyrics, just as I like it.
3. My Time bu Minus the Bear 92BPM
   Although its a little fast, this is a great tune to run to. A nice little indie pop rock song, hard not to like.
4. Glass Table Girls by The Weeknd 89BPM
   Warning lyrics contain bad words, otherwise super hip and cool, and is he rapping some old Siouxsie and the Banshees lyrics? "this is a happy house, we're happy here in our happy house"
5. Civilian by Wye Oak 90BPM
   According to Wikipedia, Why Oak have been described as "earnest folk-influenced indie rock with touches of noise and dream pop". Yeap.
6. Black Night by The Dodos 91BPM
   Straight up indie rock to get those feet moving.

Mon âme et mon amour

Here's a tune from frenchie Emilie Simon, who I discovered when she did the soundtrack to the film La marche de l'empereur, a beautiful documentary film about penguins. The soundtrack is great, but this song, The Devil at my Door, is from the album The Big Machine and it hits a perfect 90BPM to get those feet moving at 180SPM (strides per minute).

Always Live Forever

Using Tap For Beats Per Minute Holocaust of Giants by Rasputina is a sweet 90BPM.  Back in a previous life I played the cello, or at least tried to, and Rasputina is a cello band, so I love listening to them.  According to Wikipedia the cello has been described as being the instrument that has the closest sound to the male human voice.  So this song has a very human almost organic sound that feels good to run to.

Oh and be careful if you're using headphones, the sound in the video is really loud.

Got it Under Control?

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." - Mario Andretti 

ApSci have it Under Control, or do they?  I fecking love ApSci, they are about as hip-hop as I get, a sort of electro pop hip-hop.  They are a husband and wife team and their personalities, or musical personalities at least, are so different and so complimentary.  They make me believe in true love!  Yes I guess I am a romantic...  I also love the video, and I usually don't feel like the video adds anything to the music, but not here, the video is part of it.  Well you can't take the video with you on a run, but the tune at 89 BPM is just right for your running playlist.  Just don't try too hard to keep it under control, go as fast as you want, that's what running is all about.

Catch Up November 2011

Well I started this blog last October and have suggested quite a few songs. Since its already December I thought I'd make playlist of all the songs so far on Spotify. So here it is the Run To The Beat November 2011 playlist.  I hope you find a song to two to add to your run playlist.

All the songs are close to either 90 BPM or 180 BPM so good for a 180 strides per minute running cadence.