I spent the first weeks of January cobbling together my favorite running songs because I needed some solid entertainment to keep me moving through the desert's scale and monotony.

My running life is messy: long stretches of moaning while I drag myself along, interrupted by occasional bursts of speediness. This mix reflects my style: speedy songs (Tuxedomoon, Demdike Stare), chugging songs (Thomas Brinkmann, Vainqueuer), and abrupt shifts in tempo. There are no biometric rhythms here, just peaks and valleys.

I need distraction when I run, so there's a lot of swirling reverb, mumbling AM radio voices, and trails of static. I extended a few favorite breaks, trimmed some songs in half, and added layers until the thing served my needs. It starts slow, gets going at the 7-minute mark, and if I gut it out to the end, there's a psychedelic classic to carry me home on wobbly legs.

This hour-long mix works well for a five-mile run or a couple of three-mile runs, and it includes plenty of time for shoe-tying, cursing, dithering, and even a bit of stretching if you do that sort of thing. But cheetahs don't stretch.

  1. Thomas Brinkmann - VR 01 01 02 00
    Minus, 1998
  2. Sandra Electronics - It Slipped Her Mind
    Minimal Wave, 2014
  3. Public Image Ltd - Flowers of Romance
    Virgin, 1981
  4. Adult. - Silver Screen Shower Scene (Remix)
    City Rockers, 2001
  5. Tuxedomoon - No Tears (Continous Mode Mix)
    International Deejay Gigolo Records, 2001
  6. Aural Indifference - Park
    Minimal Wave, 1981
  7. Cranes - Beautiful Friend
    Dedicated, 1994
  8. Demdike Stare - Hashshashin Chant
    Modern Love, 2010
  9. Squarepusher - Love Wil Tear Us Apart
    Warp, 2002
  10. The Crystals - Then He Kissed Me
    Philles, 1963
  11. Vainqueur - Elevations II (Reprise)
    Chain Reaction, 1997
  12. Martin Dupont - I Met the Beast
    Lice Records, 1985
  13. Muslimgauze - Sandtrafikar
    Staalplaat, 1997
  14. Suicide - Devastation
    Chapter 22, 1988
  15. Shackleton – Blood On My Hands (Ricardo Villalobos Mix)
    Skull Disco, 2007
  16. 13th Floor Elevators - Slip Inside This House
    International Artists, 1967
  17. Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit (Atlas Minor Loop)
    RCA Victor, 1967

James A. Reeves - Desert Run I

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Desert Run
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