Artist: Felix da Housecat
Song: Silver Screen (Shower Scene)
Album: Kittenz and Thee Glitz
Time: 4:40
Genre: electronic/electroclash
BPM: 120
Category: climb
Available: Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon Music
Oh my gosh, what a find! Here’s some insight about how we find our music to keep it fresh, and the results of that find in this killer song. There are so many ways for us to find music. As instructors, our radar is always up, right? Besides following ICA, it’s helpful to have go-to sources for quality music. That means stepping outside the offerings of what Apple Music or Spotify serve up to you based on your algorithm. It can take some digging.
I like to follow various music magazines, and one of my favorites is Pitchfork, an online music magazine with weekly reviews of the best music from myriad genres—and in this case, a feature on “electroclash.” What’s that? Pitchfork describes it as consisting of “syncopated rhythm of early electro with its hardware corrupted and its mind in the gutter….Above all, it has to be a banger.”1 That actually sounds pretty concise, especially after you listen to “Silver Screen.” Or, there is this description from another music critic: “Electroclash is a filthy, trashy, beautiful mesh of Synthpop and Techno with strong elements of early Punk and New Wave, and came into its prime in the early 2000’s.“2 Okay, are you sold yet? No? Then listen in.
“Silver Screen” is written and composed by Felix da Housecat (stage name for Chicago House artist DJ Felix Stalling). It has this strange verse repeated several times:
Sweet seduction in a magazine
Endless pleasure in a limousine
In the back shakes a tambourine
Nicotine from a silver screen
This cool, cypher-like verse is interspersed with deep-banger bass on corrupted hardware “choruses” at 0:43 (30 seconds) and 1:37 (30 seconds). I like to use these as steep sections of a tough seated climb (though your riders may be driven to stand!). At 2:07, it gets even more interesting as the drama builds at the last verse before all hell breaks loose. At 3:02, the song shifts into high gear, announced with tension-building descending synth notes that spell trouble ahead (repeated six times). Add resistance here. Then, at 3:50, it’s time to stand, mega resistance for the big finale (40 seconds).
I’ve played it in two classes now, and it’s been a hugely popular hit. It’s so powerful and motivating, I like it as a class finale, right when everyone is in their peak cardio state.
Note there are several versions of this song. Be sure to find the 4:40 version.