GITweekly

For the spontaneous among us, the Nike+ SportsWatch featuring TomTom technology is the proverbial ducks nether regions. As your everyday watch it makes for a classy, if not a little garish, talking point – but don the runners and it transforms into the easiest to use GPS run tracker on the market. Featuring only three buttons, it’s perfect for simpletons like me. For the rest of you it’s just about everything you’d need for a day on the trails. Or is it? Read the rest of this entry →

Let’s begin with a proviso. This is not going to be pretty. This will be loud. This list will have a distinct lack of Miley Cyrus.

This is “my” top five tracks to motivate you at the gym*. And let’s face it – this could substitute for my best modern rock song top 5.

So why rock tracks and no doof-doof? Well it’s a know fizzamythiological fact that rock rocks and never the twain shall pass through the eye of a needle. Need I say more? It begins with…

5. In the Meantime by Helmet off the album Meantime. With a thundering intro, this song is the perfect primer for punching the living suitcase out of a suitcase. I vividly remember skiving of from my educational institution and heading on into Missing Link Records to snaffle this gem of an album.

4. Propaganda by Sepultura off the album Chaos AD. I still get chills when listening to this song. At 2:42 and 3:07 the guitars are so heavy they could easily inspire you to crush the last hill on any ride. As Molly says, “Do yourself a favour”, get this album. An amazing song from an album so laden in conscience that, if released a few months ago, would have made the Copenhagen Conference a success.

3. Christmas Steps by Mogwai off the album Come on Die Young. Pessimistic album title I agree but this song is an amazing, slo-burning, wall of sounding, tension-building, crushing, and did-I-say-amazing-yes-I-did, song. The perfect, perfect, perfect warm up song. 10 minutes that begin softly – like a 5km/hr stroll. The incline slowly ramps up. Before you know it you’re jogging then sprinting. Crescendo abates. Incline starts declining. You’re back to a jog. And stop. Time to hit the weights. I’ve added the shortened live version below – watch for the reaction of Stuart Braithwaite (guitarist) when his amp kicks in – a Mastercard moment.

2. Club Foot by Kasabian off their self-titled album…err…Kasabian. Ooosh. True Brit grit. Awesome rhythm section, sing out loud lyrics and finally a spiritual successor to our shoe-gazer favourites the Stone Roses.

1. New Born/Stockholm Syndrome/Knights of Cydonia by Muse. 3 songs I couldn’t split. Camp-tastic spaghetti westernised rock tracks that make working out a bearable experience. Beware singing in “man falsetto”, this could get you banned from your local. Off their albums  Origin of Symmetry/Absolution/Black Holes and Revelations. Probably the best frontman and best live band going around at the moment.

*Subject to: whim, change of mind, hearing loss.