Brand X will kill you, too.

Not much to talk about but the perfect playlist for roller riding. I'm sure everyone has their contenders. There's a ton of music out there.

A little at a time I am compiling a scientific collection of single-artist and mix tapes to provide tempos for varied intensity workouts. Since this is but one of many unimportant projects, it could easily never be finished or even progress beyond this point.

Back in the ancient past, when Phil Collins had hair, Brand X produced music described, for want of a better term, as jazz-fusion. For the cyclist they offer cadences that may be overtly fast or concealed. In what seems like a slow tune, a complex underbeat flickers like the mouth parts of a crustacean that otherwise appears sluggish or at rest. Frequently the tunes offer layered beats that give the rider options to pursue an interval workout in the fast layers and rest in the slower ones.

Brand X music can drive some people right out of the room. I like the stuff and it can even drive me out of the room. Everything's cruising along melodically when suddenly you notice that they've really cranked up the jangle factor. It's still melodic and musically tight, just as soothing as a smoke alarm. That can be good when you want to get hyped up for a puking ultra-spin. Pretend you're trying to get out of the room.

Can we call them albums anymore? The albums Unorthodox Behavior and Livestock are more tuneful than offerings like Moroccan Roll and Masques. Since most lyrics annoy me, I haven't spent a lot of time with anything they did with identifiable words. Any of their albums (discs, whatever) may harbor something useful. I just haven't bothered to mine them and put them together yet. As I said, it's not that compellingly important.

Right now I'm looking out at a rerun of February. Snow sifts down from a mat of gray. Directionless light casts a shadowless glare over the fields outside. In whatever the weather brings, I hope to be able to go for a scamper on the skis after work. It could be cold, driving rain.