Music Monday [6] – Songs To Make You Jump Around

Well Hello, it must be Monday again. I don’t know about you, but sometimes, despite my varied schedule, I do still tend to suffer from a touch of Monday-itis. One of the better ways to combat my sluggish Monday Mode is to listen to some up-tempo fun tunes to get me in the mood to tackle the day head on. So in this post I’m going to focus on four songs to get your heart rate up and a smile on your face.

This first song is what I call my #1 workout song. If anyone ever asks for a recommendation on a song to add to their exercise playlist, I recommend this one without fail. A few years ago when I was heavily into jumping rope for exercise, I used to use this song to do a mad skipping workout. At around 7 minutes long, and 145 BPM (that’s beats per minute) you are sure to get a kick out of working out to this. And if you skip to it, I guarantee you at around 5 minutes into it, if you can keep up, the endorphins really start to kick in. I’m pretty sure I had an out-of-body experience running to this song once too. For me, it’s the perfect mix of tempo, sound and build-up, so fantastic to dance to or exercise to in whatever way you love to exercise. The lyrics are definitely not happy shiny rainbows, but that just leads to a way more powerful song, in my opinion. Workout songs don’t have to be happy and cheerful, in fact, some of the best ones are a bit darker, and can motivate you to push that little bit harder when you have to.

Infected Mushroom have been around since the mid-90s, and are just an incredible psytrance group hailing from Israel. I have seen them live three times, and each time has been mind-blowing. Honestly, if you’ve never heard of them before, it is well worth checking them out. And if you have heard of them before, no doubt you are nodding your head in agreement whilst I wax on about how great they are. I personally recommend the album Legend Of The Black Shawarma as a good jumping off point.

Ahhhhhh
I hope I can chill and stay the same
Stop the bleed inside / And feel again
Cut the chain of lies / You’ve been my feeding my veins
I got nothing to say to you…

Keeping with the psytrance theme (you may come to learn through my Music Monday posts that I adore psytrance), here is another of my favourite psytrance groups, Pendulum. Pendulum originated in Perth Western Australia in 2002, and like Infected Mushroom, are known for mixing harder rock elements with electronic music, creating their own sub-genre of psytrance / electronica that has been a global success. I have never seen Pendulum live, but I’m pretty sure I’d feel like I’d died and gone to heaven if I did.

The Vulture never fails to fill me with energy and make me want to bounce around like a mad thing. At 174 BPM it makes a great workout song, and will make you want to fistpump the air as you do it.

We’re taking the power…

Now onto something a bit happier – let’s get some hardcore into our lives, shall we?  When my husband was a DJ “back in the day” Darren Styles was his absolute favourite dance artist. And, of course, that totally rubbed off on me. To be fair, Styles has had an enduring career and is really at the top of his game when it comes to this genre of music. Not only is he an outstanding DJ and producer, but he also does the vocals on most of his tracks, making him a complete triple threat. Total talent, and fantastic tuneage.  This is an old song, circa 2007-ish, but in my mind it’s a classic. Styles tours the UK and Eurpoe quite often, performing at all of the biggest dance music festivals around. If you’ve ever had a chance to see him perform, I’m completely envious of you.

I have been waiting, all of my life
For you to come along, and make everything alright
My body’s shaking, right through my bones
So take me by the hand, please don’t leave me here alone
And I wonder if you know just how I feel…

To round of today’s fab four, I figured what’s exercise without a bit of Crystal Castles. I’ve included them in Music Mondays before, but this song is a little more mainstream than the last tune I recommended. I’m Not In Love comes in at a respectable 136 BPM, so is good for jogging, warm ups, cool downs or weights. As an added bonus – Robert Smith!  Yes, I even managed to find a slightly “goth” work out song – go me!

‘Cause it’s cold outside, when you coming home
‘Cause it’s hot inside, isn’t that enough
I’m not in love…

Aaaaand that’s a wrap!

As always, leave me some comment love and let me know what you think of my playlist for this week. I hope I’ve managed to introduce you to some tunes that you hadn’t heard before, or just revisited some old faves you haven’t listened to in ages.

Happy Listening!

Music Monday [2] – Throw Your Hands In The Air

Living the Mum Life, I find it very hard to commit to anything. The fact that I’m publishing a second Music Monday blog, like I’m actually doing another one and only a week after the first – well, it’s nothing short of amazing. UH-MAY-ZING. So please, medals, accolades and big-arse bottles of champagne right this way.  I figure if nothing else, Music Monday will keep me blogging regularly, and will hopefully hold me accountable to do so. I can’t promise that I’ll do these every Monday, but I think fortnightly is achievable.

On to my first offering for this week.

This is a song that I can’t get out of my head at the moment. I rejoice when it comes on the radio, and I like it so much that I even **gasp!** downloaded a copy so that I can listen to it over, and over, and over, and over…

(I live on a shoestring budget. Like seriously Scroogealicious stuff. Even downloading a two dollar song is considered a treat to me. So that’s how much I like this damn song)

Eves The Behaviour  (aka 20 year old Hannah Karydas) is an Australian artist based in Brisbane. Think dark electro-pop with some alternative almost goth-style elements. This song Electrical is just my cup of tea. It has a bit of a dark moody vibe, but mainly it’s just haunting and beautiful.

An interesting trivia point for those playing at home, Karydas actually experiences a neurological phenomenon known as synesthesia, in her case this means she associates music with colours. I believe she’s playing at the upcoming Splendour In The Grass festival, so if you’re going along to that, you may be lucky enough to see her play live.

Hazes from New York, slow burning
Blue screen come down
Transition from night to day
I’m synthesized but profound…

This next tune is a lot of fun. A LOT OF FUN. Totally bop-worthy, and guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. Well, it brings one to mine, anyhoo.

The Jungle Giants are a young indie rock band, also based in Brisbane. GO BRISBANE, seriously knockin’ out some great talent of late. Keep it up Brisvegas, you rock! These guys (and gal) have a new album coming out in early August and are touring around the country in September and October. So, if you’re digging on this, going and checking out one of their shows would be pretty rad.

Heads up Perth, they’ll be playing at Metros Freo on September 4th, the Prince of Wales in Bunno on the 5th, and an all-ages show at HQ in Leederville on the 6th. Get on it.

Kooky Eyes. What can I say? This song just speaks to me. We all know a kooky eyes, don’t we?

Kooky eyes / Do you wanna stay the night?
All my friends think you’re a psycho / That kinda makes me like you more though…

Dooooo ya want to be my giiiiirl oh kooky eyeeees!  Come on, tell me that isn’t going to be stuck in your head for the rest of the day?  *ahem* You’re welcome.

Alrighty, now for something equally as cool, but from a band with a bit more leverage under their belts. Modest Mouse have been bringing us excellent tuneage out of the USA since the early 90s, and they’re showing no sign of slowing down. With a new album just released in March of this year, these indie cool cats just keep on bringing the good stuff. Lampshades On Fire was the first single from the new album Strangers To Ourselves, and is definitely worth a listen, even if you’re not a big MM fan or don’t even know of them. Whilst it’s a boppy tune, it also has some underlying themes in there that you can read between the lines with.

Our eyes light up, we have no shame at all / Well, you all know what I’m talkin’ about
The room lights up, well, we’re still dancing around / We’re havin’ fun, havin’ some for now

Pack up again, head to the next place / Where we’ll make the same mistakes
Open one up and let it fall to the ground / Pile out the door when it all runs out…

I’m going to leave you today with something a bit more up-tempo. OK, a LOT more up-tempo. In fact, fuck it, just throw your hands in the air and get your dark rave on!  Crystal Castles is a Canadian electronic band with three albums under their belt, the latest one being III which was released back in 2012. This track, Deicide, is actually from a yet-to-be-released album, and features a new singer mysteriously only known as “Edith”, after former vocalist Alice Glass left the band late last year. Deicide is unsettling and emotive, but still manages to make me want to get up and dance. Whatever Crystal Castles are doing right now, in my opinion, they’re doin’ it right.

Their kindness is charade / It’s used to sedate / They remain unashamed / If you are being used / You should remain confused / To keep them amused…

Alright folks, that’s another Music Monday done and dusted. Please let me know if you’re liking these posts, and if you have any thoughts – I love getting comments, so don’t be shy.