Music for workouts, Nov. 11 update

When I finally took the plunge to get an iPod in April 2007 — knowing I’d need it for 12 hours of traveling time from Austin to Honolulu — I went for small and cheap. I didn’t like the Shuffle’s lack of an interface, so I went with a 2GB iPod Nano instead. 2GB is chump change in the portable music player world, but I like the space limitation. I’m often paralyzed by too much choice, so the cramped confines of 2,147,483,648 bytes forces me to focus. (No, I don’t know that figure off the top of my head — I used a calculator.)

I just loaded new music in the iPod for the daily workout, so I’ll comment on those the next time. Here’s what was on the player before.

  • The B-52’s, Cosmic Thing I found this album matched the flow of my 40-minute treadmill session very nicely. And of course, the infectious party atmosphere of the album sets a great tone.
  • Bugy Craxone, Northern Hymns I think I would have had a harder time on the treadmill with Bugy Craxone’s albums before this one. They really sound like Number Girl on this one.
  • Do As Infinity, Deep Forest I was listening to a lot of hard and heavy stuff in the last round of music picks, so I thought Do As Infinity is busy enough for headphone listening. I was not mistaken.
  • Duran Duran, The Wedding Album and Rio The slower tracks on The Wedding Album might deaden the momentum of a workout, which is why Rio is a better pick.
  • Ex-Boyfriends, Dear John I didn’t pay attention to the length of this album. It’s about 38 minutes, and I’m usually on the treadmill for 40. Still a good pick though.
  • eX-Girl, Back to the Mono Kero You wouldn’t think music as rhythmically complex as eX-Girl would be so well-suited for a workout.
  • Guns N’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction Very good for drowning everything out.
  • The Killers, Hot Fuss I wanted to listen to some new Duran Duran, but I didn’t want to listen to Astronaut.
  • Madonna, Like a Prayer Pretty good, but this is one of Madonna’s more "serious" albums. This time out, I’m giving Bedtime Stories a shot. Deity help me if I ever have to resort to Erotica or Music. Oddly enough, I found Confessions on a Dance Floor a bit too uniform for the kind of workout I do.
  • NIRGILIS, Tennis Bad choice. The momentum of the album has its peaks and valleys, so there isn’t much of a steady pace on which to latch.
  • Tokyo Jihen, Adult and Kyouiku I have to say, Kyouiku is not aging very well. At one point in the workout, I thought to myself, "I’d rather be listening to Variety or Adult."