SOD: James Blake -- Retrograde

Speaking of meteors flying into the earth's atmosphere, enter the video for James Blake's gorgeous new single "Retrograde" off his soon to be released record, "Overgrown". In the video, a blazing light falls to earth  while a lone motorcyclist arrives at a house and discovers people frozen in time inside, as well as a woman giving signs before the meteor hits.

The images work because Blake's darkly somber voice often sounds like someone who floated off alone into space to write songs about his life on earth before plummeting back to pick up where he left off. And the chorus isn't far from those isolation themes: "I'll wait, so show me why you're strong. Ignore everybody else. We're alone now."

Nothing tops the lush keyboard build 3/4 of the way through the track, rises to near explosion, and then sighs away as you can finally let go of that breath you've been holding. 

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.