Seeking best techno songs for workout mix

February 1, 2010 4:57 AM

I'm looking for songs similar to James Brown Is Dead. I don't know a lot about techno but I stumbled on this one last year and it's the best all time workout song for me. I have it at the start and finish of my workout. I'd really like to find other songs with a similar beat and feel to them that I could purchase online.
posted by Melsky to health & fitness (18 answers total)

Have you heard of Jock Jams? M/A/R/R/S needs women (and men) who are in shape.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:13 AM on February 1, 2010

You can also try Benny Benassi (especially "Satisfaction" and "Who's Your Daddy") and Yelle (especially "A Cause Des Garçons").
posted by transporter accident amy at 6:47 AM on February 1, 2010

Thank you, those are the kind of thing I'm looking for.
posted by Melsky at 7:15 AM on February 1, 2010

Also try The Hypnotist's Hardcore You Know The Score - Very much of the same era as James Brown Is Dead - and boy, did we used to (ahem) 'work out' to that one...
posted by Chairboy at 7:39 AM on February 1, 2010

The Goodmen, especially "Give it up" are from this era or slightly earlier. Drumcorps + referee whistles always help to get me going.
posted by zpousman at 8:20 AM on February 1, 2010

from that era:

Crystal Waters - Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)
Army of Lovers - Crucified
2Unlimited - Get Ready for This
Carl Orff - Carmina Burana techno mix
C+C Music Factory - the whole Gonna Make You Sweat album
KLF - Last Train to Transcentral, What Time is Love
and of course: Tones On Tail - Go (back to back with) Jane's Addiction - Stop
posted by toodleydoodley at 8:58 AM on February 1, 2010

2 Unlimited - Twilight Zone

Another approach to consider: Look for mashups that include songs like these. For example, here's Twilight Zone mixed with Sexy Back.
posted by gnomeloaf at 9:33 AM on February 1, 2010

T-99 had a few of these rave anthem kinds of songs: Anasthesia, Gardiac (couldn't find a vid anywhere).
posted by googly at 10:06 AM on February 1, 2010

I used to work out to trancey techno. My favorite was Paul Oakenfold's Tranceport. Here's a clip: Game Master. Might be too trancey for you, but worth a listen.
posted by swerve at 2:26 PM on February 1, 2010

Thank you very much for all the suggestions, it turns out I had a really busy day at work today but tomorrow morning I am going to sit down and listen to a lot of these.
posted by Melsky at 7:24 PM on February 1, 2010

Try these. Not sure if all of 'em will suit your tastes, but worth a listen!

Skin Up - A Juicy Red Apple
The Prodigy - Everybody in the Place
Moby - Go (JCRZ Nowhere To Go Mix) and Next is the E
Rage - Run To You
Urban Hype - A Trip to Trumpton
Channel X - Rave the Rhythm
Praga Khan - Injected With a Poision
2 Unlimited - The Magic Friend
Utah Saints - Something Good
Annie Lennox - Little Bird (Utah Saints Mix)
Pet Shop Boys - Yesterday When I Was Mad (RAF Zone Dub)
posted by velvet winter at 11:09 PM on February 1, 2010 [2 favorites]

Oh, I can help here!

Quadrophonia - Quadrophonia
RTZ Belgium - Dance Your Ass Off
RTZ - In the Name of Love
The Vagen - Buggin'
Jinny - Feel the Rhythm (Usura RMX)
Capella - U Got 2 Let the Music
Capella - Take Me Away
Capella - U Got 2 Know
Felix - Don't You Want Me?
Anticapella - Everyday
Oceanic - Insanity (Dream Tripper)
Bizarre Inc. - Playing With Knives
Westbam - The Mayday Anthem
Dream Frequency - Take Me
The 49ers - Touch Me

You may also like Holy Noise's followup - James Brown is Still Alive. Man, we used to stay up all night, best friends with 10,000 strangers.

Thank you for that little trip down memory lane. It was very enjoyable!
posted by Sutekh at 5:32 AM on February 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Sutekh - Wow, what an excellent list! Great choices. I can't believe I forgot to include RTZ Belgium's Dance Your Ass Off. That tune was one of my favorites back in the early 1990s when my brother was toying with the idea of becoming a techno DJ, and it definitely has the same feel as James Brown Is Dead.
posted by velvet winter at 11:17 AM on February 3, 2010

Discovered some old mix CDs on my shelf, so here are more suggestions for you. The Digital Boy track, in particular, has a very similar feel to James Brown is Dead.

Digital Boy - Gimme A Fat Beat (Frank De Wulf Remix)
Radioactive Goldfish - LSD is the Bomb
Zero Zero - Zeroxed
Eon - Spice
The Shamen - Move Any Mountain
The Movement - Jump (not-so-clean version) or Jump (clean version)
Apotheosis - O Fortuna and Got You Groovin'
808 State - In Yer Face and Cubik
Church of Extacy - Church of Extacy (Crucify the Acid Remix) [My favorite mix of this track is called Oowee I Am Ready, but I can't seem to find that mix].
Moby - Go (Rainforest Mix) [I like this mix better than the one I linked previously, but I couldn't remember the name of the mix I was originally searching for. Ah, here it is!]

I think James Brown is Dead was the biggest hit for L.A. Style, but they also had other danceable tunes - notably Balloony, L.A. Style Theme, and I'm Raving - that are worth checking out.

Hope you enjoy your new music-enabled workouts as much as I enjoyed having a good excuse to pull out my old, much-beloved techno/rave/house/Eurodance/hardcore CDs from back in the day. Happy dancin'!
posted by velvet winter at 12:52 PM on February 3, 2010 [2 favorites]

Yes I thought the same about your list, especially A Juicy Red Apple! And Injected with a Poison! And Zeroxed!

That's spooky, we could have the same record crate! ;)

To the OP, you might be interested to know that one half of Holy Noise, Peter Slaghuis, made one of the most famous dance tracks of all time: Hithouse - "Jack to the Sound of the Underground". He was killed in a car crash in 1991, right at the cusp of the rave tidal wave. He was quite prolific in his brief time. Derrick May had this great quote, not about Slaghuis, about dance music in general:

"It's sad in the 1990s we have to still go the same bullshit route that other artists have to go to get acceptance....If it wasn't for the independents, if it wasn't for the small little dinky little cities, and the few little ghetto black guys trying to make music it would have never happened. As quiet as it's kept, some of these guys will never make a dime. Some of these guys will be poor and die alone. But in the process, they've been the true renegades.

And the true rebels always walk alone anyway."

I know that's more info than you needed.
posted by Sutekh at 5:49 AM on February 4, 2010

Thank you so much to everyone who replied - I'm having a great time going through all of these and making my playlist. It's really interesting to find a whole new genre of music I really don't know at all and get all these great new songs to listen to.
posted by Melsky at 8:35 AM on February 4, 2010

I mentioned this thread to my brother (the once-aspiring techno/rave DJ) during his visit this week, and he reminded me of a few more good tunes to add. He also recommended a highly-rated compilation called XL Recordings: The Second Chapter. All of the tracks from that collection can be found on YouTube; a few are linked below.

Skin Up - Ivory
Cubic 22 - Night In Motion
Frequency - Where Is Your Evidence
Praga Khan - Rave Alarm
Smart Systems - Tingler (State Side Swamp Mix)
Human Resource - Dominator
The Prodigy - Charly (Alley Cat Remix)
posted by velvet winter at 4:08 PM on February 11, 2010

Thanks Velvet Winter! I'm trying to get a copy of that one but so far the cheapest one I have found is 45 bucks. The music I have found is really helping me, I only listen to it when I work out and it makes me look forward to exercising and my clothes that were too tight are now fitting again.
posted by Melsky at 6:49 AM on February 25, 2010