AWmusic

Namely, I tried to put together a playlist that shows which songs by which folks would likeliest accompany someone going for a jog.

It was a mixed success, as most of the current crop is better suited to a brisk walk.

With the exception of a pair of blazing tracks from Jamaica and We Are Scientists, most of the music I stumbled across fell into the 120-130 range.

But, at the very least, I was able to weed out the slow, atmospheric stuff.

Moreover, as the Busta track proves, a song needn’t be quick to have momentum.

Anyway, here’s what I found, if you want to take a gander:

Busta Rhymes – Fire – 93 BPM

Jamaica – I Think I Like U 2 – 156 BPM

Chromeo – Bonafied Lovin’ – 126 BPM

Bjork – Hyperballad – 136 BPM

Yacht – I’m In Love With A Ripper (Party Mix) – 115 BPM

We Are Scientists – After Hours – 161 BPM

Wiz Khalifa – Say Yeah – 144 BPM

Cut Copy – Lights & Music – 125 BPM

Nujax – Super Duper Fly – 129 BPM

Grum – Through The Night – 133 BPM

Chris Lawhorn runs an online workout music database.

To hear samples of current tracks, vote on upcoming ones, or find more music with a particular BPM–check out his workout music site.

If you had told me that the three songs from Still Life Still‘s Pastel EP were B-sides from Broken Social Scene‘s s/t album I definitely would’ve believed you. I mean, its missing that female element, but from the minute the single guitar starts on “Pastel” it just wreaks of BSS. Part of that stench, or more appropriately ‘sweet smell’, is their connection to BSS through the Arts & Crafts label, and, of course the other part is that Kevin Drew produced their EP.

That said, it’d be unfair – only 3 songs into what promises to be an excellent career – to label them as some type of BSS knock-off. The band and the label seem to have a better handle on things than to allow them to cast in that kind of light, as flattering as it might be, at least initially.

Their lineage, in conjunction with their reputation for being a wild group on stage, certainly boads well for the band (and the label, I suppose). Luckily for everyone, at least in Southern Ontario, you’re going to get a chance to see SLS before they “expose themselves” to the rest of the world. Upcoming dates include a few shows in Toronto, in-and-around NxNE, including a June 18th show with The Most Serene Republic, Timber Timbre, and Zeus, as well as stops in London, Brantford, and St. Catherines… and the Pastel EP is going to officially be released June 16th, although you may be interested to learn that you can stream the EP via their myspace.

[mp3] Still Life Still – Pastel

I’ll prove some mp3s along the way and you can share your own shuffles.
Invasion by Eisley
The Longest House of My Life by Everybody Else
Lousy Reputation by We Are Scientists
Lost At Sea by Eisley
Lions of the Kalahari by Sam Roberts
Who You’d Kill Know? by Frightened Rabbit
100 Degrees by Shout Out Louds
Hysteria by Muse
Burn The Witch by Queens of The Stone Age
Hello, My Treacherous Friends by Ok Go

Wow I dodged some big bullets. Songs that I will keep a secret but I have quite a bit of guilty pleasure. This list is actually a list I could listen to on occasion.

Allan:How was it doing the interviews for NME? It seemed awkward at times when a few interviewees didn’t seem to get what you guys were doing.
We Are Scientists: “Comedy is rarely comfortable.” Oscar Wilde said that. Just kidding, I made that up a second ago. It’s true enough to be Oscar Wilde, though.

A: What records in 2008 are you digging?
WAS:M83, Mystery Jets, Last Shadow Puppets, Frightened Rabbit. No record has yet approached our new one, of course, in terms of how much money I get if it does well.

(A: I probably should check out these records, I’m a big fan of Frightened Rabbit’s Midnight Organ Fight.)

Are you guys into any sports? Have a favorite team?
Not sports fans, no. I like sports in the sense that I like to play high-energy games, but watching other people play high-energy games is without appeal for me. Exactly like eating: I love to do it, both solo and with others, but would almost never opt to spectate as other people ate. The exception, obviously, in each case, would be if some historic endeavor was being undertaken — a record broken, an entirely new approach demonstrated, etc.

If you guys were not musicians what profession would you see yourselves in? (Other then being scientists of course)
Sick, sick, sick snowboarders.

Do you still read reviews of your records?
Frankly, yes — if not avidly. And it makes me happy when a reviewer likes the record and sad when he doesn’t. Although if a reviewer, in writing about the record, outs himself as illiterate or humorless or stupid, or ugly, I definitely feel much less sad. Less sad than if he argues persuasively and intelligently for the record being a piece of shit.
I can’t defend this, though, reading the reviews — I don’t think it’s constructive.

On to less serious stuff…
What “chemicals” do the We Are Scientists experiment with?
Just alcohol, really. And semen. (I have a beautiful little kid whom I love, so I can totally say that.)

(Allan: I read experimenting with semen the wrong way…..)

Referring to your myspace, while animals are a great influence and sounding like 50 other animals is wonderful, how come you don’t list the Panda Bear? (not of fan of Noah Lennox?)
We just haven’t, in all honesty, been influenced by Pandas, whereas we definitely have been influenced by the Alligator, the Dove, the Kookaburra, the Ram, the Ant, the Dragon, the Leopard, the Raven, the Antelope, the Dragonfly, the Lion, the Raccoon, the Armadillo, the Ducks, the Lizard, the Road Runner, the Badger, the Eagle, the Llama, the Robin, the Bat, the Egret very much, the Loon, the Rooster, the Bear, the Elephant, the Lynx, the Sea Anemone, the Beaver, the Elk, the Magpie, the Seahorse, the Blackbird, the Falcon, the Margay, the Seal, the Blue Jay, the Fish, the Monkey, the Skunk, the Boar, the Flamingo, the Mockingbird, the Snail, the Buffalo, the Fox, the Moose, the Snake, the Bull, the Frog, the Mouse, the Spider, the Butterfly, the Giraffe in particular, the Ocelot, the Squirrel, the Camel, the Gorilla, the Opossum, in weird ways the Swallow, the Cardinal, the Grackle, the Otter, the Swan, the Cat, the Grasshopper, the Owl, the Tapir in particular, the Catbird, the Griffin, the Panther, the Tarantula, the Chipmunk, the Grouse, the Peacock, the Tiger, the Condor, the Hawk, believe it or not the Pegasus, the Turkey, the Cougar, the Hedgehog, the Penguin, the Turtle, the Coyote especially, the Heron, the Phoenix, the Unicorn, the Cow, the Hippopotamus, the Pigeon, the Vulture, the Crane, the Horse, the Porcupine, the Weasel, the Cricket, the Hummingbird, the Prairie Dog to a lesser extent, the Wolf, the Crocodile, the Hyena, the Quail, the Whale, the Crow, the Jaguar, the Rabbit, the Woodpecker, the Deer, the Kingfisher, the Zebra, the Dog, and of course the Dolphin.

I’m a big fan of your advice column…here are a few questions seeking help:

Query: I’m looking to get a tattoo but I’m not sure what to get and where to get it. Do you have any tattoos and what would you suggest?
I don’t have any tattoos. Keith has a large Fidel Castro on his back, because he hates Castro and wanted to graphically demonstrate that he has “turned his back on Castro.”
Knowing little about you personally, I would suggest you get a squad of Smurfs — eight Smurfs, say — with full Vietnam-era U.S. Army Infantry outfitting (camos, M16s, radio pack, etc.). This is vague enough that it can express your feelings about The Nam regardless of what they are. Get it on your face.

Query #2: I’m looking to lose some weight but I’m having a hard time. How do you guys keep slim? And what would you suggest I do to lose weight?
We barely ever eat. You should eat less. Eating leads to fat, and fat makes you fat. To reduce fat buildup in your body, eat only on special occasions like family get-togethers or a close friend’s birthday party. Drinking milkshakes or big glasses of raw eggs are not effective ways of “not eating”, because if those things were in solid form, you would consider them food (ice cream and scrambled eggs, respectively). Try to drink only things that, when in solid form, don’t count as food: water and vodka.

MP3: Chick Lit by We Are Scientists

Allan: How was your reaction to Michael’s decision to leave the band?
We Are Scientists: It was a decision we came to mutually over the course of many conversations and much thought and several coin tosses. So the element of surprise was sucked out of it. It was more like a retirement than a resignation. Lots of build-up; big party; gold watch; catering by Nathan’s Hot Dogs. The works.

A:With the addition of new members to the band, were there any issues incorporating the new members into your band?
WAS: No “issues”, I don’t think — no behavioral problems or anything like that, no criminal records to get expunged or vicious drug habits begging for aggressive rehab. The biggest creative challenge was figuring out how best to play our songs with four guys. The old songs were all written with three sets of hands and vocal chords in mind, and the songs on Brain Thrust Mastery were all written without regard for how many actual people would be needed for a religious live rendition.
So on the old songs we had the job of figuring out in which direction to aim our new weapon, Max. Do we beef up the guitars by doubling them? Add a subtle bed of key pads? Maybe crow-bar in a Dre-style synth lead? It turns out that you should always crow-bar in a Dre-style synth lead.
And on the new songs we often had to figure out how to either strip down the album versions or just play them altogether differently, but well. Not to have them be shitty — this emerged as one of our guiding principles.

A: Was songwriting for this record any different from what you did for your previous releases?
WAS: Not markedly. The big difference was that we spent a good deal more time thinking about the production, messing around with how the songs would sound. The time was well spent: they sound good (everyone thinks).

A: Do you ever wish to write funny or quirky songs that portrays more of your character rather then seemingly serious stuff?
WAS:Not really. We feel that funny songs suck. Quirky songs are usually bad, too, although they succeed maybe 20% of the time. There’s never been a good funny song, though. A band like Art Brut makes fantastic songs — don’t get me wrong — but they aren’t fundamentally funny songs. They’re rock songs whose lyrics are incisive and witty, and make you laugh. Weird Al Yankovic’s songs are fundamentally funny songs, and yeah, they might make you chuckle sometimes, but they fucking suck.

I think we have no more intention of making songs that portray our funny side than we do of making, say, video shorts that portray our non-funny side. The video short is a medium whose apotheosis is humor. The video short can do drama, too, but have you ever seen a good dramatic video short? Do you email your friends telling them to check out this amazing dramatic video on Youtube? No, you tell them to check out the video of the parrot who took acid and thinks the G.I. Joe action figures are his family.

A: Going forward what are you hoping to achieve?
WAS: I’d like to continue making songs that everyone in every country loves, and I’d like to put LSD inside a parrot and find out if that changes how he thinks about Joes. This latter would be filmed.

A:Are you ever in awe with the amount of success your band has achieved already?
WAS: I don’t think I’ve ever felt self-awe; there’s something inherently delusional about it, I think. You can feel awe toward other people and their achievements because you tend to hear about them in capsule form, and everything — bad or good — is more affecting in capsule form — all the tedious interstitiality gets left out. How could you ever be in awe of yourself? You’ve had so much time to get used to the idea.

Callbacks by We Are Scientists

Lousy Reputation by We Are Scientists