Dance Dance Party Party Workout Mix Tape #13 Download Halloween Edition Now Available

THE MIX TAPE IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE!

My 13th mix tape now available for download from my website here. It's the Halloween edition! These are some jams I've been enjoying during workouts, and they are also the songs I used for tonight's Dance Dance Party Party session. Somehow I fit 21 songs in one hour. Part of the way I was able to fit that many songs in such a short span of time is because I edit out the boring parts of songs, especially if I'm trying to keep my heart rate up.

Sidenote: I got bluetooth headphones, and they have revolutionized my workouts. For one, no cords! For second, they sound so much better than the crappy earbuds you get free when you buy a device. Why did I wait so long to make the change? Well, money, honestly. They cost a sum that's a bit outside of my budget, but whatever keeps me working out, well, that's worth the money. So if you're listening to this mix on less than stellar headphones, sure, it'll be fine, but if you're running with music, it really helps to have some non-shitty headphones, if you're battling outdoor sounds. For me, the trick in considering new headphones is thinking about the fact that I'd be sweating on them, so I had to buy ones that were water resistant, or at least, ones that would be OK with a little bit of sweat. I got the Plantronics BackBeat Fit model, and they're totally worth the price. Also, I can't believe with all the sound editing stuff I do that I didn't get nicer headphones until now, and these totally do the trick.

OK, I've done my Consumer Reporting good deed for the day.

Dance Party Workout Mix Tape #12 Download Link

Ye me encanta bailar: I love to dance

I made another dance mix tape for you to download as one track. Here it is on my website. It starts and ends with warm up and slow down songs. The last fast song is started with an airhorn to signal it is the last fast song. I find these mixes to be not just good for dancing but also for cleaning, running and commuting. And here's a blog post I wrote about it for Dance Dance Party Party on the DDPP blog. I DJ under the name MC Escher.

Enjoy!

Mix Tape #11 Download

Here's a link to stream or download my most recent mix. Technically it's a dance mix for working out, but I also find it good for running or just sort of well, partying, whatever party means to you.

This particular mix is 21 songs in one hour. Totally not intentional. Some songs are pretty short but with others, well, it's just that when I stream stuff together I cross fade, so the beginning and ends of songs are a lot less drawn out. And if a song is awesome but has parts that are a bit of a drag to dance to, well out those parts go. It's like just taking the money shots of songs I like. What a nice image to plant. You're welcome!

I DJ under the mixmaster moniker MC Escher for Dance Dance Party Party (DDPP), where I am also a “den mother” for the Wednesday night sessions here in Chicago. It's a one hour dance party for the ladies. This was my most recent mix for the session on 7/29/15.

Download & Reflections On My Most Recent 'Work It Out On the Dance Fla' Mix

This past Wednesday (5/6/15) I was the DJ for Chicago's Dance Dance Party Party (aka DDPP, or when I'm extremely lazy, which is often, I call DDP). I made my mix one long mp3 which you can stream or download here so you can groove on it at your leisure. I find that not only are my mixes composed of songs I want to dance to, I also enjoy running to my mixes as well -- as much as I can say I enjoy running, which is, not a lot, but good music makes a task I don't like doing (running) infinitely better.

What I am finding is that there are some songs that are good dance songs that are also good running songs, but this is not always true that every song that is good for one is good for the other. By and large I have found that I enjoy strutting down the street to Johnny Marr's solo albums but dancing to them is difficult. This is not surprising to me; I read an interview with him where he said something to the effect that he writes songs that people will feel cool when they're strutting down the street listening to them, which I can totally see. I tried to put his amazing song Generate! Generate! on a trial DDPP playlist. It got high marks for when I was listening to it out running down the street (feeling cool, of course), but in the privacy of my own bedroom, it didn't pass the dance test (so it didn't end up in the dance mix). That is, it was a challenge figuring out how one dances to it. However, one can jump up and down on the bed to it, so it passed the Jump Up and Down On the Bed test with flying colors. I should mention though, that a diploma from that particular university (Jump Up and Down On the Bed U) is pretty useless in the rest of the world.

A good way to figure out the potential success of a song in a dance environment is if I can easily figure out how to dance to it. If I can't dance to it, it doesn't go on the playlist. I will admit that often I am heartbroken because a particular tune will be a great song, but it doesn't pass the dance test. It breaks my heart when I realize that it will have to go on some other non-dancing mix for a later time. Maybe it will have to be for running only. Killing my darlings! And by darlings I mean, songs I can in no way assume any ownership over writing whatsoever but hope that I, in sharing that I like them with the rest of the world in a personalized and curated context, will communicate my superior taste and skill, which, now that I think about it, is pretty teenager-y of me.

One final note: I constructed a sound collage that made me chuckle for my first song (the warm up song where you stretch out, not quite moving and grooving just yet), inspired by a particular trend I noticed in contemporary music. It's a montage of parts from songs where they tell you to raise your hands in the air. Sometimes they command you wave them around (like you just don't care), sometimes they demand that you merely raise your hands up, sometimes they want you to throw them in the air. Listening to this collage I made later, I thought, hmmmm, this sounds like something the guy from the Evolution Control Committee would do, which I thought was pretty awesome. That montage? Three fucking minutes long. You're welcome.

Dance Dance Party Party Update Update

A month (or is it two? or three? I can't remember) I took over as one of the "den mothers" at the Chicago chapter of Dance Dance Party Party (DDPP). It's this one hour dance party for ladies only. No boys, no booze, no judgement. You dance around however you want, a different woman DJs every class, and it's the best workout ever. It's $5 a class. You come in your workout gear, the lights go dim (except for some disco lights), and you just dance, like the way you dance when you're a little kid with your friends. There aren't any instructors or rules. There's a warm up song, a cool down song, and there's music to dance to in-between. And that's it. It's on wednesdays, 7-8pm and on sundays 4-5pm at the Perceptual Motion Dance Studio at 4057 N. Damen.

Being a "den mother" for DDPP means I help with organizing, blog posts, setting-up-style duties, organizer-y type of stuff etc. I DJ under the mixmaster moniker MC Escher. Here's a link I put up on the DDPP blog to a spot where you can download my most recent mix. I think it makes for a perfectly timed workout, whether you're dancing around, going running, or whatever it is that you do (if you do). I do also have some links to a few previous mixes here on my website at LizMasonIsAwesome.com.

*Note! During the summer, the sunday sessions go from being every sunday to every other sunday, so check the DDPP social networking platforms for updates.

MC Escher D2P2 Mix Tape July 2012

So my most recent scientifically-tested super special July mix tape is up, which is the perfect upbeat mix for dancing or working out to (if I don't say so myself) Dance Dance Party Party (more info about that dance party style exercise class) mix is up on Soundcloud, where I DJ under the name MC Escher. (Apple killed Mobile Me which was my web host for my own website where I normally upload my sound-related stuff up like mixes, performances and so on). So in the mean time, until I have that up and running, you can download one long mp3 of the mix to listen to/dance/work out to. It starts with a slow warm up part, ends with a last fast song and then there's a cool down song. And for that last fast song, there's a voice that announces it's the last fast song so you know to really work that shit out. I edited them together with cross fades, and some of the songs I just took the money shot, you know, the best part of the song.  click here to go to Soundcloud (or on the image above) to download the mix (or just stream it), and there's a track listing there if you really like something and want to seek it out elsewhere. I usually announce in advance on Facebook when I know I'm going to be DJ-ing so you can come to class and hear it.

Unrelated sidenote: Why did I not think of this perfect DJ name to describe me? Britney Van Halen. Doh!

And final sidenote, even less related: my bike is parked outside the window and people keep dinging my bell on it, which is a little hamburger, and I want to go outside and shout "Paws off the hamburger!" But I would just sound like a crazy person. But really! Paws off the fucking hamburger!!!

Dance Dance Party Party Mix Tape #2

Here's a link to a free download of my Dance Dance Party Party Mix Tape #2.

I DJed as MC Escher on 3/21/12 at Dance Dance Party Party (DDPP or D2P2, as I like to call it). Chicago hosts one of the many chapters of the female-only cult phenomenon known as Dance Dance Party Party. No instructors, no fitness goals and there are only three rules in the room – no boys, no booze, and no judgment. It's an hour of booty-busting music twice weekly for ladies only. The lights go down, the music goes up, and like when you used to dance around in your room when you were a kid.  ddppchicago.wordpress.com

And hey! SteampunkChicago.com published an updated version of a piece that originated on this blog, which I then revised for my zine. It's a review of a steampunk erotica book called Carnal Machines but it's also a meditation on the difficulty in writing for a specific genre. Huzzah! Thanks, Lords and Ladies of SPC!