Chris Lawhorn, the resident DJ at Marie Claire and Real Age, reviews 300-400 singles every month, trying to find the best new music for a workout. Every week, he’ll be posting an indie-centric playlist for MAGNET readers. To vote on upcoming tracks, hear this month’s contenders and find more resources for matching songs to the pace of your exercise routine, you can visit his workout music site.
There’s been a fair amount of love discussed in recent dance-music releases. There’s always lust. And the word “love” gets thrown around willy-nilly. But in more than a few new releases, there’s been a tangible, emotional quality that doesn’t usually turn up in club tracks. I’m not hoping to break any of these tracks, as a couple of them have been out for more than a year. But I did want to highlight the trend and collect a few of the standouts. Robyn’s VMA breakthrough is an obvious choice. The Chemical Brothers’ “Swoon” is pretty succinct with its repeated reminder: “Fall in love/There’s nothing else.” And I’ve seen several publications call Underworld’s latest single its best since “Born Slippy.” And the song’s refrain (“It’s OK/You give me everything I need”) is … it’s transcendent. I don’t want to overstate the point, but all this emotional music has made me emotional! Also, it probably goes without saying, but since these songs are uptempo, they’ll likely work for a jog as well.
Check them out below.
1. The Chemical Brothers “Swoon” (124 BPM)
2. Pedro Cazanova “Selfish Love” (126 BPM)
3. Underworld “Scribble” (174 BPM)
4. Edward Maya “Stereo Love” (127 BPM)
5. Robyn “Dancing On My Own” (118 BPM)
