Andrew Cedarmark - Moon Deluxe

I have once again returned to this medium of communication. My life has changed severely over the past few weeks, which is my excuse for not working out. My workout environment is now completely different. I now workout in a public fitness center on campus. I've decided the only way I'm going to motivate myself to workout is by doing it early in the morning, before class.

Unfortunately, with this comes a change in the way I listen to the music. Before, I could just blast my tunes on my studio monitors in privacy. Now that I'm in public, this is obviously not socially acceptable. As working out with my expensive headphones would cause more harm than good, I'm using to mid-to-low tier headphones that are lightweight and non-obtrusive. This means my critiques of the sonic aspect have to be shifted down as well, because I'm not getting that full effect of the track. So, still take my reviews with a grain of salt, and see them as more personal experiences than anything. So, where do I begin?

Moon Deluxe is an indie rock album with some very well executed, and sometimes heavy, sequences of lo-fi. It bears quite a resemblance to the more rock-oriented tracks Phil Elverum has put out under The Microphones, but this is certainly not a bad thing. Eleverum is really the only other person occupying that same type of folky lo-fi. It jams harder than than Elverum ever really has as well, which lead me to enjoy this album quite a bit. It keeps up it's more uptempo rhythms throughout, but never becomes overly noisy or too abrasive. Provided a enjoyable return to workouts. Definitely check it out.

Calories: 315.0
Distance: 2.64mi

Guided By Voices - Propeller

This being the predecessor to Guided By Voices' smash-hit Bee Thousand, I was left wondering what this could possibly sound like by comparison. Considering how lo-fi and in some ways destroyed Bee Thousand was, it's sort of odd to hear them play sweeter and catchier songs, but still have that low fidelity sound that Guided By Voices is known for. I really enjoyed what I heard on this album. The short songs allow for the album to slide in and out of sounds quickly, which keeps you on your toes. It never drags which is exactly what I want from a workout album. I feel this album is perfect for a jog and sometimes jams hard enough for me to sprint. Loved it.

Calories: 328.1
Distance: 2.55mi