moodymann

I don't usually listen to podcasts during my morning walk. I want to go at a certain pace and podcasts tend to distract me. The weather today is crap and I am doing well going out to walk. I continued to listen to All Songs Considered. Today's mix is just that. Some electronic stuff, some dance, some hip hop, some old jazz. If I were at home, I might fast forward through some of the songs. This morning I was bundled up and too lazy to remove my gloves to get the iPhone out of my pocket. I listened to all the songs.
Sami Yenigun introduced Moodymann's Sunday Hotel. It has been over twenty years since I went to a disco. I am not one to listen to dance music. I found it to be the perfect beat for walking. It reminded me of Detroit and Chicago. I came home and purchased the track and added it to my walking playlist.

tangerine keeps me walking

A friend told me about potionfactory years ago. It wasn't something I needed then. I decided to try it out last summer when I found listening to podcasts while walking wasn't working out.

I like listening to podcasts but it doesn't help with my pace. It does help if the podcast is funny and I laugh while I walk. I get the walk and an ab workout at the same time. Never mind any funny looks I get from laughing by myself.

One of my favorite podcasts is All Songs Considered. The podcast is only weekly and I like listening to music while I walk. I find myself walking to the beat. If the song has a fast tempo, this is good. If the song has a slow tempo, it is not so good.

I downloaded the trial of Tangerine and got to work making a playlist. Some songs were too fast and some were too slow. I adjusted the requirements and found a list that made me walk faster but not too fast. There are several training samples such as interval training to help you get out of a rut and improve.

I like that I can add more rules to allow for only the songs I rated 3 stars or greater, and songs that haven't been played lately. When I come back from a walk, I move the songs that work the best for walking into another playlist called walkings faves.

I was falling behind in my podcasts so I went back to listening to them. There are some podcasts which offend my dad. But when I found myself slowing down again and I decided to try it again.

I have been using Tangerine again for a few weeks now. I have find that my average pace has increased. This is mostly because of intervals. One morning my playlist started with a fast song. I wasn't quite ready for it but found the pace and stuck with it. I know that the body prefers to be at stasis. Especially mine. Walking at the same pace will get easier and results will wane. Intervals make the body react and do more work and improve.

Listening to music lets my mind wander and I find myself thinking of the eclectic selection of songs. I use shuffle so I never know what song will be next. Some of these songs, I don't remember ever hearing let alone buying.

Say You Love Me Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits
Crystalised The xx Crystalised
C'mon Guster Ganging Up On the Sun Rock
Mercy Matt Nathanson Modern Love
Taste the Summer Duran Duran Astronaut
Paperback Head Tegan and Sara Sainthood
Water In The Well Spirit Of The West Save This House
Postage Stamp World Rogue Wave Out of the Shadow

I don't know who Matt Nathanson is. Was this a free song I never listened to? Taste the Summer is something that I usually skip but the beat works well for walking. Paperback Head is a little difficult to find the right rhythm. Artists make sone for interest, not for walking. Water in the Well? I have 3 albums from Spirit of the West that I got in the 1990's. I don't think I have listened to them since I ripped the CDs into iTunes.

Love Song Sara Bareilles Love Song
Rollin' And Tumblin' Eric Clapton Unplugged
Perfectly Good Guitar John Hiatt Perfectly Good Guitar
Summer Sunshine The Corrs Borrowed Heaven
Wouldn't It Be Nice (Stereo Mix) The Beach Boys Pet Sounds
You Will Pay Tomorrow Terence Trent D'Arby Neither Fish Nor Flesh
Outrageous Paul Simon Surprise
Let's Stick Together Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music Street Life

Tangerine is really working for me this time. My walks are getting better and I am listening to more of my music.

cold but walking

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We are having weird weather in Florida. It is cold. We typically only need to turn on the heat a handful of days each year. It seems like the heat has been on most of the winter. 

I go walking most mornings. I don't own running tights or sweatpants. I walk in a skort made for biking. Most mornings I am OK. Today is was cold and windy and even my teeth got cold.

Thankfully I had a playlist that kept me moving. I use Tangerine to evaluate my music and give me tracks that will keep me moving at a fairly steady pace. My dad thinks I should walk to Sousa Marches. I like my eclectic mix.

1. California Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
2. Girlfriend Is Better Talking Heads 126bpm
3. Phone Call From Leavenworth Chris Whitley 124bpm
4. Wind Up Foo Fighters 126bpm
5. Say You Love Me Fleetwood Mac 127bpm
6. Wild Vanilla Kristin Hersh
7. Wouldn't It Be Nice The Beach Boys

new music

Amazon is having one day sale. I saw a couple of people tweet about it. Who can resist albums for $2.99?

I went over and checked out the albums. I went through several pages and opened new tabs of albums that looked interesting. There was a time when I knew what albums I owned without referring to my library. I cannot do that any longer. Age and too many albums are to blame.

A couple of albums I had already purchased from amazon. I love that amazon tells me at the top of the page. The rest I had to check against my iTunes library. I eliminated a few more until I had 8 albums left. 

I decided to eliminate some more and only purchased 5 albums. It seems like a lot but that was only $15 which is about the price of one album at retail. These are the albums I purchased:

Iron & Wine Around the Well

The Shins Chutes too Narrow

LCD Soundsystem

Sound of Silver

The Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs Volume I