6 Free Running Songs for July 2012

At the end of June I bought an apartment and since spent every spare minute tearing down wallpaper (wallpaper is evil people), painting, going to Ikea, putting up blinds, curtains, shelves and lots more. I am exhausted and this blog has suffered.  I am leaving on a two week, Internet free holiday this weekend, and I don't want to let July go by without at least one post.  So here's 6 free running songs for July to tide you over.  I promise in August and September to post a lot, I actually have a bunch of songs backed-up that I want you all to know about.

As usual all songs are available on Epitonic for free and legal download.  To download the song, click on the name of the song.  The band name links to the Epitonic page about the band.  They all are close to 90 BPM so work for a 180 SPM (strides per minute) run.  

Angels by The xx 91 BPM
British indie pop, catchy enough to be a hit, real enough for me to like it.

Sinful Nature (Anika with BestMate Remix) by Bear In Heaven 90 BPM
Booklyn indie pop / electronica.  According to last.fm, "the sound of the band incorporates influences from psychedelic music, electronic music and krautrock."

Love (Epitonic saki Sessions) by Secret Colours 91 BPM
From Chicago, Secret Colours,  sounds like an American version of Ride to me.  Garage rock.

Baze by The-Drum 90 BPM
Again from Chicago, The-Drum play and ambient electronic This is my favourite track on the list.

Ghostsong by Daniel Knox 91 BPM
Chicago singer songwriter with a carbaret twist, would sound nice on a mix tape with some Shayer James and Dresden Dolls.

Ex-Dreams by The Men 91 BPM
Booklyn indie rock, very good high-energy fast-sounding runnable track.

Meet You in the Sky

I am not really sure what genre Buzzin' In My Brain by Alū falls into. I think its officially singer-songwriter, but has too strong of an electronic/goth edge for that to be an accurate description. I call this freak.  The BPM is 89 and the song has a really strong beat so good to run to.  I think if she ran, she wouldn't need that lobotomy.  Run your crazy out!

Light Up That Sky

About As Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help At All is the first tack on Dan Mangan's newish album Oh Forture. Dan Mangan is a singer-songwriter from Canada. His tunes are melodic and bitter sweet, with smart poetic lyrics. I listened to his album Nice, Nice, Very Nice on repeat all last summer. Oh Fortune took me longer to like, but it is really an amazing album.

This song is quite interesting as a running cadence song. It's a waltz! So has a 3 beat timing. Why this might work for you?  Stick with me I'll get to the point.  According to Danny Dreyer of Chi Running fame you should be running at cadence of at least 85 steps per minute per foot, and not more than 90 unless you're a sprinter or elite runner - that's 170-180 for people who count both feet. So far I mostly agree with him, although I like running at 180-185 and I am no elite runner! He also uses SPM for steps per minute like my strides per minute. I thought I invented that, but I guess my subconscious just remembered it from his book.  He suggests using a metronome, in fact he says

I would have to say that I have learned more from running with a metronome than I have from any other device, book, or coach. (Chi Running pg 112)

Well I had to try it then.  So I downloaded a metronome app on my phone and went out for a run, but I didn't get past about 30 seconds before ripping out my headphones.  It was so awful, maybe I had the volume up too loud, or maybe I just find music at the right BPM much more motivating and pleasurable while being equally effective!  Think about that for a minute, as far as Chi Running advice goes, getting the cadence right is the most important aspect of injury free running.

But one other thing he says is that you should try to set the metronome to beep every third step, so for 180 SPM that would be 60 BPM.  The reason is that the leading foot switches from left to right and you don't end up having a stronger side.  I tried to do this with songs at 60 BPM and that didn't work.  But this 92BPM song by Dan Mangan is actually a waltz, and even though I stumble a bit the first few seconds (the long intro doesn't help), I find I can run to this.  I hope this works for you and I hope that you are convinced enough to go listen to more Dan Mangan.

Burning Me Inside Out

I've been listening to Sean Hayes all day so decided to post another song by him. If you missed my first Sean Hayes post, it's here.  There I recommend his song Garden, which is one of my all time favourite songs and my absolute favourite running song.  But 3am is a great song too.  The YouTube video is of a live version, its quite close to the album version and he just looks so adorable.  I have such a gigantic crush on this guy!!

Oh an before I forget the BPM is 89, so perfect for a 180 SPM run.  'Set your life on fire. Sean will fan your flames' - Rumi, (well almost)

'A thousand miles from where it all begins'

I have run to Speak For Me by Cat Power so many times. The style is singer/songwriter, which is a style of music I love, but not always for running. This song however is quite powerful, with her deep almost masculine voice, it really gets me running.  If you like Cat Power head on over to her page on Epitonic for some free downloads.

The BPM using MixMeister is 91, so works for a 180 SPM run.

Frühstückstisch

It's been a while since my last post. I have been super busy! So this song, Erwischt, is by a German singer-songwriter whose name, and music!, I just find delightful, Gisbert Zu Knyphausen. Not sure how to pronounce it? Well if you listen close, in the video Gisbert is introduced and the guy says his name. Using a tap for beats per minute tool I get the album version (Hurra Hurra So Nicht) at exactly 90BPM, so perfect for a 180SPM (Strides per minute) run. In the video Gisbert performs the song live and plays a little fast, I get 92BPM.

"We will catch our hearts"

The first song I want to recommend is one of my favourite songs, running or not! The Garden by Sean Hayes. I just love Sean Hayes. Don't let the chilled out feeling of this song fool you, it's 91BPM (just over half of 180BPM) means its a perfect song for running, a little fast even!

Running to stuff that sounds relaxed makes me think of Caballo Blanco from Born to Run,

“Think Easy, Light, Smooth, and Fast. You start with easy, because if that’s all you get, that’s not so bad. Then work on light. Make it effortless, like you don’t give a shit how high the hill is or how far you’ve got to go. When you’ve practiced that so long that you forget you’re practicing, you work on making it smooooooth. You won’t have to worry about the last one—you get those three, and you’ll be fast.”

Let Sean Hayes make your run feel easy, light and smooth!