Hello, hi, how r u?
I hope you’ve had a great two weeks! It’s the busiest I’ve been in a long time, but the happiest too, go figure?!
This week’s letter is, I think, maybe a bit of a cop-out. BUT it is something that a lot of people have asked me for over the last 18 months, so maybe I’m just sending you what you want? I hope so!
The last letter took such a big lift, that getting to finally hit ‘send’ on it knocked me for six a bit. I’ve written about this before, but the catharsis of finishing something you’ve been thinking about and working on for so long is such a dreamy feeling for me, and I really (maybe weirdly) enjoy the feeling of having an empty creative tank for a few days.
Now I’m ready to start filling it back up again.
Over the last few years I’ve found a few different ways that help me to take stock and fill up again. Listening back through old records, reading books with very little connection to what I’ve just been working on, idle chats with brilliant people. But the best? The best is running.
I love running. It gives me an unbridled sense of freedom, it fills my head with endorphins, and I (embarrassingly) almost always smile like an idiot the whole time I’m out. It also lets my mind wander, chew over ideas (good and bad, small and big), and if the run is long enough, it clears my head completely. If the creative process is a raucous party, the run is the cathartic tidy up the next day (I love tidying too). Over the last eighteen months I’ve become so obsessed, that I dread my day off each week.
Now, checking the calendar, it’s February, and so I think it’s a fair bet that you might be running too - and maybe, given the dark mornings and evenings, you might be looking for something to pep up your runs. I always listen to music on my runs, and most of the time I listen to new music, but I do have a playlist that I play at least once a week that is my perfect soundtrack to a long run.
It starts slow, builds a steady rhythm, hits some happy notes, gets the spring in my step for the middle section when I want to up my pace, plays the hits, then really cranks through the gears in the last third when I want to finish strong, and then a final few tracks to cry to at the finish line. It never fails, and today, for the first time ever, I’d like to share it with someone. You.
So, here’s my gift to you. Get your trainers on, put your headphones in, and run for the hills.
See you on the pavement,
Jed x
PS. I know quite a few of you have moved to TIDAL recently, so alongside the Spotify and Bandcamp link, I’ll start including a playlist link to a TIDAL version of the playlist too
PPS. If you're new here then this is how it works. Here’s what you’ve missed so far.
TL;DR Section 🌪
Sorry for the brevity this week.
Watch… The Church Built On A Love Supreme
Read… At Home with David Hockney (1993 classic!)
Listen to… Martyn’s Darkest Light Junie Morrison special
Watch… Don Cherry’s It’s Not My Music
Read… The Banality of Genius (on Get Back)
Listen to… Six more hours of Theo
Do… Tell a friend about Love Will Save The Day ❤️
Old notes home 📚
…on the future
…on culture
Rebuilding culture: fixing the asymmetry of art, culture, and commerce
A response to the argument that culture is boring these days
…on music
…on mental health
The tracklist 🎶
David Bowie - Love Is Lost (Hello Steve Reich Mix)
LCD Soundsystem - Oh Baby (Lovefingers remix)
The Asphodells - A Love From Outer Space
New Order - Your Silent Face
Brian Eno and John Cale - Spinning Away
Axel Boman - Fantastic Piano
Doc L Junior - Sentimental Breakdown
Lindstrom - I Feel Space
Kolsch - Der Alte
Daft Punk - Da Funk
Central Line - Walking Into Sunshine (Larry remix)
3 Winans Brothers - Dance (Louie Vega Funk remix)
Cajmere - Brighter Days
M-Beat - Sweet Love
SHY FX - Shake Ur Body
Danny C - The Mexican
The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up
Motorhead - Ace Of Spades
Metallica - The Four Horsemen
The Distillers - Drain The Blood
Queens Of The Stone Age - Little Sister
Azzido da Bass - Doom’s Night
Mr. Oizo - Flat Beat
New Order - Blue Monday
Armand van Helden - You Don’t Know Me
Basement Jaxx - Rendez-Vu
Ten City - That’s The Way Love Is
Terrence Parker - Love’s Got Me High (Marc Romboy remix)
Whitney Houston - Love Will Save The Day
Caribou - Can’t Do Without You