It’s been way too long since I posted a full-fledged Hippie Workout Mix, so what better day to post a new one than on the day of the NYC Marathon.
For Volume 5 in our Hippie Workout Mix series, I decided to go back to an old stand-by for workout tunes: Brothers Past. BP’s live shows always provide an intensity that’s just perfect for these mixes. Although they’ve only been gradually ramping up their touring schedule since reuniting a coupe years back, the limited shows they have played have been stellar. Here’s hoping they can expand to a denser touring schedule in 2012, because more people need to get a taste for this stuff in the live setting. Speaking of which, they just announced a decent-sized East Coast New Year’s run.
It seems like every band out there is mixing laptops and electronic elements into their sound, but Brothers Past’s approach is quite unique in the way that they build their improv using drum loops and sequences created on-the-fly by frontman Tommy Hamilton. With so many other bands and DJs tapping into the latest and greatest in electronic music (dubstep?), I find it refreshing to hear Brothers Past retain their own unique sound while they continue to evolve in subtle and interesting ways.
For this podcast, I’ve spliced together a combination of tracks from both past and present BP in order to give it some variety and a sense for how their improv style has evolved. As with other workout mixes, I’ve been personally testing this one out in the gym and during some runs over the last couple weeks…and this one is pretty damn intense. It starts with two signature “building” jams that gradually ramp up from mellower territory to all-out triumphant catharsis. Those two tracks are followed by a mix of different themes, moving from the light and bouncy “Boy” jam to the super dark and dirty “Heroes” outro, and finally finishing things off with the pounding assault from the ending of “The Ceiling, Part II.”
Podcast #071 – Hippie Workout Mix, Vol 5 – BP BPMs.
LIVE MUSIC BLOG.com Podcast #071 – Hippie Workout Mix, Vol 5 – BP BPMs [mp3]
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Tracklist and Download Links:
1 – 2-20-2010 – Words Like Weapons > National Anthem (ending)
(available via BrothersPast.com)
2 – 2-20-04 Squeeze
(available via BrothersPast.com)
3 – 5-23-09 Boy
(available via BrothersPast.com or the Live Music Archive)
4 – 3-27-04 Celebrity
(available via the Live Music Archive)
5 – 6-28-09 Heroes
(available via BrothersPast.com or the Live Music Archive)
6 – 9-26-09 – Forget You Know Me -> Ceiling Pt. I
(available via BrothersPast.com or the Live Music Archive)
We hope you dig it, but if it’s not quite your style, then I’d recommend checking out some of my other improv and workout mixes or digging through the larger podcast archive for something different, as there’s plenty to choose from!
