Pump Up Jams

Not too long ago, browsing a friend's photos on Facebook, I found a shot of a climber sitting at the base of a climb pulling on his shoes. Next to him sat a pair of iPod speakers the caption read, approximately: "X putting on his 'send music'." I'm a big fan of send music, but where I come from-- in Austin, Texas --we call them Pump Up Jams and we employ these jams to get psyched for a much wider spectrum of activities than the solitary and punctual act of sending.

A Pump Up Jam can get you ready for a night on the town. It can kick off a road-trip in fine style or, when properly applied in early morning hours when you are most open to the influence of driving, ass-shaking, perma-grin inducing beats, it can take more than a little of the meanness off of facing a day slaving away for The Man. In climbing, a Pump Up Jam played while booting up can fill you up with that extra shot of positive energy to drive you on up and through the cruxes of your route or boulder problem.



I've gone through more Pump Up Jams in my life than I can recall. One of the great joys of the Pump up Jam is that it is a renewable, but fickle, resource. Get it in your mind after reading this post that you're going to find yourself a Pump Up Jam and you will float the balance of your iStore account right down the Rio Nada trying to seek one out. Odds are you probably already have a couple-- they just don't give you that 'new Pump Up Jam' high anymore. Old Pump Up Jams are nice and can give you a kick in a pinch, but there's nothing like the way a new song invades your mind, takes you over, and makes you move with it even when it isn't on your playlist. But those kinds of things can't be forced. A Pump Up Jam will find you when you're ready for it.

Here is a brief list of the number one Pump Up Jams in each of my Five Favorite Pump Up Jam Categories:
1) The best Pump Up Jam (PUJ) for starting a road trip to Hueco Tanks-- "If My Heart was a Car" by the Old 97's.
2)The Best PUJ for climbing 5.11-- "Living Dead Girl" by Rob Zombie -- this song echoes beautifully across La Milagrosa Canyon.
3)The Best PUJ for doing day labor in Alaska-- "Float On" by Modest Mouse. This is the song that people marching out of Babylon subvocally hum as they strut on out of town.
4)The Best PUJ for remembering how beautiful the world is because of a rap solo commemorating The Boss, Bruce Springsteen-- "Speed" by Bran Van 3000 --the title of the award says everything you need to know about this song.
5) The Best PUJ to have in your mind while trying to send the hardest route you've ever been on-- "Shit Luck" by Modest Mouse --the only guys to make this list twice. They must be on to something...

So, because I can intuit what you are and are not ready for, here's your new Pump Up Jam, and a whole lot of Team Tuesday bouldering to go with it.
Special thanks to Seth for introducing me to these guys and to The Go! Team for making every track a Pump Up Jam. Enjoy.
-C-