I’ve been able to check out a lot of new music this week thanks to Peel. Here are a few of my favorites from the week.

We’ll start off with a chilled out Electro song:

Take My Picture (Digitalfoxglove Surprise Remix) – Heads We Dance

Download

And then we’ve got a little extra bass from down under in this Nu Skool Breaks track:

Pressure Point (Thayer’s Drop The Bass mix) – Nick Thayer

Download

Then we’ll close things out with an epic Nu Disco track:

I Want U (Disco Trash Music’s Bounce Mix – unreleased version) – Azzido Da Bass & Jence

Download

Let me know what you think, and if you’ve found any great tracks recently, make sure to share.

One of my favorite ways to find new music is to follow way too many music blogs. My Google Reader music folder currently has 1000+ posts from a few dozen music blogs that I wish I actually had the time to read. Obviously, I don’t, so I’ve been dreaming for a year about a feed reader made specifically for music blogs. I couldn’t find anything until a few weeks ago when I was complaining about this problem and someone told me it had already been solved. I nearly jumped out of my shoes in excitement and couldn’t wait to get home to try it. Of course, I completely forgot about it by the time I managed to get in front of a computer, but today, I found the note in my bag about it. I immediately checked it out.

The answer to all my problems is Peel, and it is better than what I had dreamed about. Peel is very simple, you add a blog, and it finds all the MP3s in the RSS stream. When a new song is added, it pops up under that blog in Peel. Peel doesn’t force you to download the song before listening. Instead, you stream the song straight from the blog. Peel keeps track of which songs you have already listened to. If you like the song, one click (or a keyboard combo) allows you to download it, add it to your iTunes library and even add it to a playlist for that blog if you’re so inclined.

Unfortunately, for many of you, Peel is Mac only right now. It has a 25 day trial and costs $14.95. I’m already 100% positive that I will purchase it at the end of the trial period. Peel is an amazing example of a beautifully simple app built to accomplish one thing. What used to be a task that would take hours for me to do has been reduced to a simple background task that I can do all day long. Peel is going to make music discovery a much more enjoyable experience for me.

By the way, normally, I wouldn’t endorse software on my blog, but this is just too cool and I know many others would benefit from know about Peel.

Occassionally, on a Tuesday night, you should ignore everything you are supposed to do and listen to deafening music that makes you dance. Thank you Designer Drugs.

I decided that I’m going to keep Sunday posts simple and fun. Today, I wanted to share some music I like listen to when I work out. A few days ago, I wrote about the music I listen to when I’m working to stay productive. The right music is even more important when you’re working out.

I prefer to listen to DJ mixes when exercising because they tend to be more energetic and the BPMs stay pretty consistent. BBC Radio 1 has a weekly show called The Essential Mix where they invite DJs of all styles to play for two hours. Often, it results in some really amazing mixes. And two hours is about how long I’m in the gym for most workouts. Here’s a few of my favorite mixes from over the years.

Essential Mix (04-10-2005) – Mylo

Download / Track List

Essential Mix (02-01-2005) – Radio Soulwax (2mandydjs)

Download / Track List

Looks like a good time right? Well, it does to me at least. The guy with his pants falling down? That’s Boys Noize, and he’s one of the best Electro music producers around. And yes, he throws amazing parties.

He’s here the weird thing, I’ve been listening to him a lot recently while I’m working—while I write, while I empty my email inbox, while I’m researching stuff on the web, whatever. I listen to a lot of dance music that is at least 120 bpm.

Check out my top 20 artists on Last.fm over the past year. Since scrobbling isn’t supported properly for the iPhone, this is almost entirely from when I’m in front of my laptop.

That’s a lot of dance music, and I was on a serious Girl Talk kick for a while there. When I tell people that I write while listening to Girl Talk, most people think I’m crazy. There’s a lot of non-dance/slower music in there as well, but what this chart doesn’t represent is that most of the time, I’m listening to podcasts and new tracks from blogs, friends, etc., and almost all of that falls in the dance music category. I’d estimate that 90% of what I listen to while working has a bpm of 120 or higher.

Why do I listen to this stuff?

You would think it would be nearly impossible to actually get any work done listening to Girl Talk or Soulwax (one of my favorite live bands by the way) or The Prodigy. Oddly enough, I’m more productive. I think I might just be wired differently than most, but when this music is blaring in my ears, my head starts bouncing, and I’m able to zone everything else out.

If you know me, you know that I move at 100 mph. I just don’t stop moving, ever, both physically and intellectually. I stay up late. I get up early. My mind is always working, typically thinking about my business. I make decisions quickly and start acting on them even more quickly. This type of music just feels in sync with my thought process.

I get some of my best work done at 3 in the morning when no one is around and the music is so loud that it will probably effect my hearing someday. This is when I’m most productive. Music is a key part of my life. Without it, I don’t know if I’d actually be able to work the hours that I do. From conversations I’ve had with others and blogs that I’ve read, I think music is a key part of a lot of tech entrepreneurs’ lives. It’s probably why there are so many music startups.

I’m going to leave you with a podcast recommendation, again, by my good friend Supermucho. If you’re interested in mashups, dance, pop, whatever, you need to listen to this.

Philanights Radio [iTunes Link]

By the way, what do you listen to when you work?

Yesterday I decided that I was going to attempt to write something on this blog every day for the month of December. I’m doing this for several reasons. Life is crazy right now starting my business, and I want to write about it so that I have a record of it someday and to share what I’m learning along the way. Also, I want to get in the habit of writing again regularly which I have not had to do since high school.

I’m currently reading Outliers by Malcom Gladwell, and if there is one thing I’ve learned from it, the only way to get better at something is to do it and to do it a lot.

If for some reason, you decide to actually read this, you’ll probably hear a lot about these topics:

1. Going crazy starting a business
2. Green stuff (buildings specifically)
3. Music (mostly the dancey kind)

By the way, you’re probably wondering about the penguin. I always like to include pictures with my posts. Sometimes they are relevant to the post; sometimes they are not, but they always have something to do with my personality. I want a pet penguin, but I don’t think it is meant to be.

Time to get some actual work done, but I’ll leave you with a music track I’ve been digging lately. It’s a mashup of Paramore and Justice (weird, I know, but it works) from my good friend Supermucho (aka Ryan Measel). I’m posting it without his permission, but I’m sure he won’t mind. Check it:

supermucho – waterswaterswaters of Nazareth [Paramore v Justice]