THE MH PLAYLIST
April 25, 2007
Best. Soundtrack. Ever
Blockbuster soundtracks usually suck, big time. Here's why: Mega-producers try to rope in mainstream bands like Creed or Nickelback, hoping to score a multiplatform homerun by driving listeners into the theaters and viewers to the CD racks. The fat cats thicken their bankrolls, the bands make a quick buck for an already-released song or a hastily-recorded number, and the radio stations push the pap out to the masses.
Problem is, while I'm perfectly happy to waste two hours watching Scream 3, for example, I'm not going to rush out and drop $15 to hear Scott Stapp wail on at length about anything. Check that. The soundtrack for Scream 3 is now going for about $0.80 on Amazon right now. Still a rip-off, if you ask me.
Anyhow, that's what makes the Spiderman 3 soundtrack so rocking. Someone working on the flick clearly knows what they're doing. Never-before-released tracks from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs? Bring it. A Wolfmother jam that rocks so hard it sets your hair on fire? Hell yeah. A track from the Killers that ditches the Bruce Springsteen Americana vibe in favor of flat-out rock? Now we're talking.
You want my advice? Go out and snap up this bad boy. It rules. There's enough there for even a casual listener to appreciate, and you'll probably hear (and dig) a few indie bands you've never been exposed to before.
April 24, 2007
After a brief setbreak...
Sorry for the hiatus there... didn't mean to leave anyone hanging. Just a quick post here to get back into the swing of things.
If you're a live music fan, you're probably familiar with the balls-to-the-wall treatment that many bands give some of their more laid-back songs when they play live. It's one of my favorite parts of a live show, watching songs transform like that. I've actually been swapping live (legal) bootlegs for a while, and I've found it easy enough to snag choice tracks from live shows for workout playlists.
Two bands I've seen recently that absolutely transcend their recorded material: The Shins and Rodrigo y Gabriella, which both played the stellar KCRW benefit in Los Angeles on April 14. The Shins' new album, Wincing the Night Away, is one of my favorites of the year. But it's not something you're going to drop into the playlist before a run. Here's the thing: In concert, they tore the lid off songs that are otherwise fairly subdued. My favorite: the strident, neo-punk version of the song "Sleeping Lessons."
The guitar duo, Rodrigo y Gabriella, are Metallica by way of Mexico: they graft their metal influences onto the flamenco guitar genre, covering everything from "Enter Sandman" to "Stairway to Heaven." They melted more than a few faces in the crowd... Anyhow, I encourage you to check out both bands. If you've been living on an island, there's a chance you may have missed the Shins' rise to fame (Seen Garden State?); odds are you probably haven't heard about Rod y Gab yet.
Listen to The Shins here or here.
Check out some live performances from Rodrigo y Gabriella here.
Oh, and proceeds for the the KCRW benefit went toward helping the station digitize its sizable music archives. That's a worthy cause, if you ask me. For more info, including how to donate, click here.
March 27, 2007
Best New Tunes
Just a quick post here: If you're looking to update your iPod with some barnstormin' new tunes, check out the following releases. They've all shown up in the magazine, on the Time Off page, and they've all turned out to be the new hotness:
LCD Soundsystem (as seen in the March Men's Health)
Sound of Silver (Capitol/EMI)
(STREAM IT!)
Check out: "Us v. Them"
!!! (CHK-CHK-CHK; as seen in the April Men's Health)
Myth Takes (Warp Records)
(MYSPACE IT!)
Check out: "Heart of Hearts"
Menomena (As seen in the Jan/Feb Men's Health)
Friend and Foe (Barsuk Records)
(STREAM IT!)
Check out: "Wet and Rusting"
Post-Punk: What's in a Name?
There's something about anthemic punk rock that does wonders for the body's natural afterburners. I've been shredding treadmills lately with a playlist featuring the last three releases from Seattle, Washington-based group The Thermals (You might have seen them in our March issue). The band's label, Sub Pop, was kind enough to grant us an MP3 for you to download. Check it out, when you have a chance, and tell me if Hutch Harris' post-apocalyptic wails don't help you kick into overdrive:
POLL RESULTS: Metallica
Here they are, hot off the servers: The results of the Metallica smackdown, pre-Black Album. The runaway winner? The title track from the 1986 release, Master of Puppets. "Dyer's Eve," "The Four Horsemen," and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" were the most popular write-in votes. Thanks for voting.
Master of Puppets 22.22%
Fade to Black 14.81%
Welcome Home (Sanitarium) 12.04%
Other 12.04%
One 10.19%
Battery 7.41%
Seek and Destroy 5.56%
Blackened 5.56%
Ride the Lightening 3.70%
Hit the Lights 1.85%
Shortest Straw 1.85%
Harvester of Sorrow 1.85%
...And Justice for All 0.93%
March 26, 2007
Let's get vintage... Best Old-School Metallica?
CHRISTMAS, 1991. Nothing says "Happy Holidays" quite like metal under the tree. This Christmas, my stocking was stuffed with Metallica. I'd been rocking a couple of tapes to that point, Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of the new sound. Listening to the old stuff was like slugging back a shot glass of turpentine: bitter, bracing, bombastic. The new stuff was, well, palatable. I'm probably not the only one here who considers that sea change to be my cutoff point for Hetfield and crew. (I'm also not along in being able to air guitar almost every single riff of the old stuff, either. Pathetic, I know).
Here's what I'm getting at with all of this self-serving nostalgia: Old Metallica rocks, and I'd like to conduct a smackdown to find out which song rocks hardest. If you're game, click below. I've chosen ten of my favorites from the pre-Black Album era. Visit the link to vote for your number one jam. I've no doubt left off dozens of ear-scorching tracks, but you're welcome to harangue me in the comments section.
Check back tomorrow for the list of winners.
Need a refresher? Check out some tunes here.
What’s the most rockin’ Metallica song of the pre-Black Album era?
*Hit the Lights
*Seek and Destroy
*Ride the Lightening
*Fade to Black
*Battery
*Master of Puppets
*Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
*Blackened
*One
*…And Justice For All
*Shortest Straw
*Harvester of Sorrow
*Other
Rage Against the Smith Machine
Hot damn... seems like everyone takes their workout tunes seriously 'round these parts, judging by the comments on my first post. I surfed through in search of a common thread, and the one band that kept popping up was Rage Against the Machine (RATM). No surprise there--Guitarist Tom Morello and vocalist Zack de la Rocha craft soundtracks for armageddon. If you're a RATM fan, weigh in here--we've all heard songs like "Killing in the name" or "Bombtrack." But what's the most underrated Rage song? What song would you most want to hear the band cover?
Great news for fans of the band: RATM is reuniting for the Coachella music festival.
March 19, 2007
Fade in
This blog is based on an extremely obvious hypothesis: music helps you work out harder, longer. Scores of white-coated researchers have proven as much, and I’ll make sure to explore their research in subsequent entries.
But I’m not doing this blog to explore the vagaries of mind-body interaction. I’m doing this blog because I love music, and I want to share some of my favorite songs with you, and hear some of yours.
That said, I'll be paring down the playlist a bit. No harp-backed experimental folk here. And unless Sufjan Stevens or Conor Oberst cover Megadeth, they'll stay on the sidelines, too. I’ll post downloadable MP3s, stream songs, or link to MySpace pages or band and label sites hosting files. I’ll solicit and publish workout play lists from athletes, celebs, and record label folks.
And, yes, occasionally I’ll ruminate on the whole music-fuels-workout phenomenon (What scientific evidence is there to support the extremely obvious theory that ? What BPMs are best? What are the WORST workout songs ever? And why?).
You might not recognize many of the bands you find here at first, but that’s kind of the point of a music blog. I’m not talking about jamming to “Total Eclipse of the Heart” while you’re sweating through Jazzercise class or lifting cast iron plates with Sepultura blasting through the junkyard. These are new bands that I’m hoping will kick your ass into high gear during a gym visit or outdoor jog or whatever it is you do to break a sweat.
Eventually, I’d like to broaden the blog to ruminate on whatever music comes across my desk that’s worthy of discussion. But for now, blogs like stereogum.com, brooklynvegan.com, gorillavsbear.net, and scores of others are doing a fine job of covering all the bases. Let’s start small, shall we?
Enjoy,
Matt
PS: If you want to send a comment, suggest a song or an artist, or nominate an athlete or musician whose workout playlist you’d like to see, leave a comment here, or drop us a line at music@menshealth.com.
