SOD: Phosphorescent -- Song for Zula

"Song for Zula" lunges straight for the heart, sinks its soft teeth, and does not stop tearing for a full 6 minutes and ten seconds. And that is only if you can resist playing it on repeat. That's not something I've been capable of lately. It's the second track on Phosphorescent's 2013 album, Muchacho, which comes out on 3/19. Stream the album on NPR First Listen.

I love it when an artist (Matthew Houck is Phosphorescent), takes this much care in his lyrics, clearly writing them first, but shapes them to work so effortlessly in the melody. Song for Zula is a gateway to Muchacho, an album I think will take weeks to fully discover. I'm looking forward to the journey.

Some say love is a burning thing, 
That it makes a fiery ring
Oh but I know love as fading being
Just as fickle as a feather in a string
See, honey, I saw love, you see it came to me
It put its face up to my face so I could see
Yeah, then I saw love disfigure me
Into something I am not recognizing

SOD: Josh Ritter -- A Certain Light

This is a damn good breakup song. Although Josh Ritter is singing about his recent divorce, "A Certain Light" will speak to the sixteen-year-olds who have had their hearts broken for the first time as much as it does to those facing the end of their marriage. But there is an absence of bitterness here. Instead, there is a sense of looking forward without dismissing the past, the pain, and the love lost. Josh Ritter's latest record, 'The Beast in Its Tracks', comes out today, March 5.

Some of my favorite lyrics:

"My new lover sweet and kind / The kind of lover that one rarely finds / And I'm happy for the first time / In a long time"

"And she only looks like you / In a certain kind of light / When she holds her head just right"

"It's been winter for a while / The north winds will cut like a baby child's / It was hard to think her smile / Could bring the springtime"

Listen to the album in full at NPR First Listen, and listen to an entire Josh Ritter concert from March 4, 2013.

SOD: The Modern Lovers -- Roadrunner

The Modern Lovers, Pavement, Guided by Voices. I've only listened to them for the past three years, but I feel like I've known them since I was 14. If I could go back, I'd have discovered them earlier. Maybe I've invented the nostalgia, but I think that listening to bands from another era is about connecting with songs regardless of time.

Roadrunner plants itself in my head on many long runs, road, trail, and races of any kind. The lead singer, Jonathan Richman, sounds like he's walking a slack line, ready to unhinge from ordinary life at any moment, lose his shit, and start freaking out...if it weren't for pop music. He's so obviously in love with pop, rock, and music at large that it becomes his catharsis, his introspection, his dance all at once. The man can ride the slack.

Dang, I've fallen so in love with this song that I can't write about it. Jus' listen?

SOD: Johnny Marr -- Upstarts

Johnny Marr is not a name I expected to see in music headlines in 2013. To be clear, I love The Smiths, and liked Marr's work with Modest Mouse and The Cribs. Yes, I'm a Johnny Marr fan. But he's never released anything as a front man, so I had low expectations for Marr's first solo record, "The Messenger", which is currently streaming free on Rolling Stone.

"The Right Thing Right" opens the record with a Brit-pop banger that's in line with Achtung-era U2 vocals and Oasis' unstoppable pop force. The song is a damn fine opener. The next two songs continue to push angular sonics with catchy hooks, and then comes "Upstarts".

"Upstarts" kicks hard with a signature Marr riff, followed by a brash vocal delivery that Nick Lowe would be proud of, singing "Ohhhh, I feel it comin' round / I heard it sounds the good life I know". The lyrics aren't quite up to the level of production or instrumental performance, but this is a guitar rock album first and foremost, and at that it succeeds. I'm surprised and excited to give "The Messenger" a lot more plays in coming weeks.

April is the Coolest Month

April is stacking up to be an incredible month of music and racing. Follow the links below to hear the tracks that have been released so far from these upcoming records.

Albums set for release in April (ranked by my giddy level):
4/2: Telekinesis -- Dormarion
4/22: Phoenix -- Bankrupt!
4/8: James Blake -- Overgrown
4/9: The Knife -- Shaking the Habitual
4/16: The Thermals -- Desperate Ground
4/2: Caveman -- Caveman
4/2: Flaming Lips -- The Terror
4/30: !!! -- Thr!!!er
4/15: Iron & Wine -- Ghost on Ghost

Races:
4/15 -- Boston Marathon

My first Boston Marathon! In 2010 I qualified at the Monumental Marathon with a 3:10, hoping to run Boston in 2011, but Monumental was a week after Boston unexpectedly filled just 8 hours after opening, so I was shut out. In 2011, they dropped the qualifying time to 3:05, so I ran the Chicago Marathon in October 2011 and qualified again, this time in 2:58. It's been a 2 year wait, but I'm finally going.

Hopkinton, Heartbreak Hill, Wellesley girls, Beardsley vs. Salazar, Boylston, I can't wait to run this legendary course.

4/27 -- Leona Divide 50 Miler

Mountain running! For which I'll be terribly under prepared but who gives a damn! It's going to be a blast. I mean, SoCal in spring, surrounded by top runners vying for Montrail Ultra Cup series points, hanging out with friends I haven't seen in far too long, man this race weekend is going to kick ass.

The course profile makes me want to puke with excitement. Five climbs between 500' - 2000' for a total vert gain of almost 9,000'. I can taste the lactic acid already.

SOD: Youth Lagoon -- Dropla

"You'll never die / you'll never die..."

That's one helluva chorus to Dropla, the first single off Youth Lagoon's upcoming Wondrous Bughouse. I'm fascinated by the way the "you'll never die" line is repeated over and over and how it morphs into different meanings the longer you hear it, from a hopeful plea to a deflated dream and through other stages of disillusion. And then when singer Trevor Powers draws out "you weren't there...when I needed" during the buildup, man it just kills me.

Wondrous Bughouse lands March 5. If this first single is any indication, that record is going to be solid. Powers says he's “becoming more fascinated with the human psyche and where the spiritual meets the physical world.” I hope he means the record will have more songs like Dropla.

Hopefully they will tour around here. I caught them at Pitchfork Music Fest in July 2012 (video from the festival below), and they have a very strong live show. Powers' voice carries extremely well live, and the band is tight. 

SOD: Dan Deacon -- True Thrush

It's gotten very cold the past few weeks in Michigan. Wind chills in the negatives, plenty of snow, tough running conditions. I had plans to run 100+ miles per week the last two weeks but conditions limited my mileage. 3 hours running would normally garner 22+ miles, but with all the sliding around, I was only getting a fraction of the mileage for the time. 

Mostly it's been fun. Snow is soft when there is good footing, so the downhills are great to blast down. Hardly anyone else is out there, so you have fresh powder to track. I saw a fox in The Arb and deer in Cedar Bend, just me and the forest creatures. The snow dampens all other sounds, so you seem to have the world in your hands out there. But it's tough to keep going. So I've turned to new music to keep me motivated through the 2+ hour runs. 

Along the way, I've discovered Dan Deacon's LP 'America'. Electronic music, not dance necessarily, but with a range of influences and interests, from Philip Glass to Can. I happen to love both ends of this spectrum, so I totally dig his music. It takes on a language and soundtrack that perfectly matches the long, snowy runs that are so much enveloped in your head and at the same time connected with the harsh world around you.

SOD: Ty Segall -- Thank God For Sinners

Thank god that garage rock still exists and is still this good. Ty Segall is playing the local Ann Arbor dive bar/music venue, the Blind Pig, on 3/7, and I can't wait to drop into that crowd, throw some elbows around, toss our fists in the air, and jump around until we're senseless while this band churns out loud guitar music.

Segall's music output over the last 5 years is overwhelming. He releases at least two albums a year, so it's hard to know where to start. This song is off Twins (2012), and is probably the best door to his expansive house of music.

The NSFW video gives me the oogy feelings all over and the end is satisfyingly disgusting.

SOD: Best Coast -- The Only Place

Happy New Year! It's been a great 2012. This year, I made new running friends, got a promotion at work, finished my first 100 miler, run-explored the trails in Kentucky, Tennessee, Connecticut, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. Some of my best memories were running in Red River Gorge, Pictured Rocks, Great Smoky Mountains, Tecumseh trail, and the Rocky Mountains.

So here's a song about loving where you are and realizing how lucky you are to be right there. For Best Coast that place is California, and they love the waves, the mountains, etc. But the song's not about why CA is awesome and everywhere else sucks. Not to me anyway. It's about being in love with your place, wherever you are.

Produced by pop guru (and underrated), Jon Brion, the title and lead track off Best Coast's 2012 album celebrates everything I love about the band. Tight melodies, hooks that can make crowds smile, and a bouncy rhythm section that is undeniably fun.

"Why would you live anywhere else?" sings Bethany Cosentino.

I have no idea.

SOD: Television -- Friction

Once had a music teacher that said try listening to your favorite track instrument by instrument. First just check out the guitar. Block out vocals, drums, bass, etc. Give it a few listens until you get excited about every small sound, and then move to the next instrument. Eventually you'll be able to listen to the whole song on hi-fi stoned out orgasmatron every single time.

Hey, his words, not mine.

Television's song, Friction, off their brilliant 1977 debut, Marquee Moon, is a perfect trial for this kind of listening experience. It's a guitar rock album, and yeah Richard Lloyd (lead guitar) and Tom Verlaine (vocal, guitar, songwriter) are brilliant guitar players, but it's not simply musical masturbation, they're too aware of the very small in between notes that will keep listeners coming back. And so is the rest of the band, especially on this record.

This track starts off with a ferocious riff, but that's not what keeps me coming back for dozens of listens. The lyrics and phrasings are both Costello sharp and Waits funny, and it's all about those in between instrumentation decisions that make this still relevant and exciting today.

Check out the almost accidental early guitar squawk at 2:14, or the drum fills at 2:35 and again at 3:30 and there are more but damn for real that dude can play. Television isn't always an easy listen, but they're always worth it.

Best Albums + Songs of 2012

It's list making time, my favorite time of the year. This music has made me happy, sad, messed up, introspective, and insane sometimes all at once. I can see some of these shifting places, but it's a good snapshot of bands and recordings that are right on point right now.

Albums:

1. Dirty Projectors -- Swing Lo Magellan
2. Beach House -- Lazuli
3. Cloud Nothings -- Attack on Memory
4. Tame Impala -- Lonerism
5. Passion Pit -- Gossamer
6. Shins -- Port of Morrow
7. Tallest Man on Earth -- there's No Leaving Now
8. Japandroids -- Celebration Rock
9. Metz -- Metz
10. Yeasayer -- Fragrant World

Songs:

1. Lotus Plaza -- Monoliths
2. Langhorne Slim -- The Way We Move
3. Cloud Nothings -- No Future / No Past
4. Beach House -- The Hours
5. Grizzly Bear -- Yet Again
6. Japandroids -- Fire's Highway
7. Tame Impala -- Feels Like We Only Go Backwards
8. Alabama Shakes -- Hold On
9. Dirty Projectors -- Dance for You
10. Passion Pit -- Constant Conversations

POD: KEXP -- Music That Matters

Looking to break out of your music rut? Tired of the same 10 bands you've been listening to all year? Check out KEXP's consistently awesome podcast of Seattle DJ selected, (mostly) indie bands, many of whom are from the Pacific NW and have been overlooked by the Brooklyn-heavy east coast music outlets. 

That's right, they play bands that might not even have been reviewed or mentioned on Pitchfork yet. My favorite DJ is John Richards, whose selections make me think he goes to a shit ton of local music shows around the country -- and in GB -- and hand selects the best to play alongside the bigger indie rock music of Cloud Nothings, Modest Mouse, Of Montreal, and Japandroids. 

The KEXP website and their youtube channel are other goldmines of live recorded and free video streaming music. 

Download the podcast free on iTunes or here.

Tallest Man on Earth live performance in KEXP studios:

SOD: Husker Du -- These Important Years

"I think that lyrics don't mean anything unless you can apply them to your own situation, apply them to something you may have seen in yourself or seen in other people." --Bob Mould, lead singer/songwriter, Husker Du

Every day, I exchange pleasantries with coworkers but we rarely try to give each other something to hold onto, a real connection once in a while, rather than the "how's it going?" we bounce off each other. Sometimes it seems like we should be saying, "look, I'm not an asshole, but I don't have anything to say to you."

This is a perfect Monday song, but really it's an everyday song. All Monday long I want to fast forward or drift into a haze and float on by, getting a little closer to home time or to the next weekend.

My preferred plans and expectations are usually tied up in some moment in the future, a weekend trail run, or Christmas vacation visiting my family, and anything could happen to rip those expectations apart in a moment. Ferris Bueller and Bob Mould say, stop to smell the roses, or they might end up on you.

Chorus #2 (sort of):

Expectations only mean you really think you know
What's coming next, and you don't

SOD: Metz -- Headache

Play this song at the start of a hard run.  If it's a hill repeat day, a speed session at the track, or a tempo run that will need a kick in the ass, you've gotta hear the opening track off Metz' self-titled 2012 album, a song called Headache. It's a screamer from this Toronto-based indie punk band.

Pungent, direct lyrics:
"I can't move / I can't stay / I gotta gotta gotta / I gotta get away"