So, you’re a runner looking for a playlist. Maybe you do a quick Spotify or Tidal search, hit the one that matches your personal taste the most, or just hit play on the first one that pops up. Maybe you go an extra step to ask a friend or consult a subreddit. Maybe. Eventually, you cobble together a perfectly timed playlist. But what if, what if you just fully composed your own?

That notion struck Finnish DJ, musician, and music curator Aleksi Pahkala, better known as Local Al. Despite being a lifelong athlete, he was forced into a position where running became a necessary method of exercise and movement – not an option he would have ever chosen for himself. But Pahkala seized the opportunity and took his previous relationships with music and musicianship to another space. Putting breakbeat structures and what he deems a subtempo (a state, not a tempo, something that moves with you) for an electronic experience fit for your spiritual and physical cardiovascular health. 

His debut album Subtempo Studieds: Run Now, Understand Later is made to accompany you on your run, not necessarily dictate it. Think of it as an album for running, not exercising. And each element has been put to the test foot-to-ground by Pahkala, tying together music and biology.

Subtempo Studieds: Run Now, Understand Later is out now.

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