Thursday, January 17, 2013

Track Listings 1/17/13

Distance: 2.01mi
Time: 17:52
Pace: 8:54

      Skipped my run Tuesday due to the icy conditions and whatnot. It wasn't exactly warm today, but at least it wasn't freezing/wet/slippery.

1. Vampire Weekend - One (Blake's Got a New Face)
     No idea what this songs about, but it definitely will get stuck in my head every time I hear it. It was a nice bouncy little number to start off on I thought.



2. AC/DC - Hell's Bells
     Wow, an honest to goodness rock and roll song coming on my iPod, how often does that happen? I kinda felt like this one dragged a little bit at the beginning on the intro part with the bells ringing, but once it kicked in, it was just fine.



3. Elton John - Honky Cat
      A nice, bouncy piano number, this one worked ok. There was a line in this song towards the end, that came one when I was kind of dragging. It was something like: "How can you stop when your feet say go." And I was like, right on, Elton.



4. The Clash - Police and Thieves
     I don't know if it gets much better as far as running songs for me. A nice straightforward beat and some crunchy guitar. It was a good way to end it today.


Saturday, January 12, 2013

Track Listing: 1/12/13

Distance: 3 mi
Time: 27:35
Pace: 9:12/mi
Location: The Usual

     Whew, I haven't run three miles in at least couple of weeks 'cause I got lazy over the holidays, so this felt a little rough. At least it was still nice upper 60's temps (I actually wore shorts!), and I managed to pretty much completely avoid the ensuing monsoon. Though, it was still pretty wet, and I did have to try to avoid a lot of big puddles/mud holes. By the time I was done with my first mile, my feet felt water logged and heavy.

1. Wilco - Far, Far Away
     Starting off with a pretty slow one today. This was a little helpful though, because I was trying to kind of pace myself since I haven't gone three miles in a little while. This is the kind of Wilco song that I really dig, kinda makes me feel like I'm in some hole in the wall dive bar at closing time for some reason.



2. Randy Newman - Living Without You
     Keeping with the slow stuff. I love Randy Newman, though, and this is one of my favorite songs of his.I think he gets a bad rap because of his affiliation with Disney. But, he's done a lot of awesome stuff as far as I'm concerned and this is one of the most beautifully sad songs I know.



3. Sondre Lerche - Heartbeat Radio
     The first sort of upbeat number I've had so far this time around. Super catchy song, plus it's kind of a song about how the radio is mostly terrible, which is something I can generally get behind.



4. Pearl Jam - Last Kiss
     This one worked out okay. Not a whole lot to say about it otherwise, I guess.



5. Tenacious D - Master Exploder
     A nice short, heavy pick up here. I did not mean to blow your mind.



6. Modest Mouse - Dig Your Grave
     A little 15 second long interlude, this was pretty much inconsequential, but I guess I should list it anyway.



7. The Clash - White Riot
     A nice fast punk rock pick up now. I think it worked out pretty well, the way I had a lot of slow stuff earlier in my run today to help me try and pace myself, then some faster stuff towards the middle/end to keep me going.



8. Beastie Boys - Remote Control
      Another nice up-tempo one. This is one of my favorite Beastie Boys songs, and was a lot of fun to run to. It got hectic quick.



9. Sondre Lerche - Pioneer
     One thing I've noticed about shuffle on most of my i-devices is that it usually kind of clumps songs by the same artist together, so I get to Sondre Lerche songs today. This one is definitely a much slower effort, though it wasn't too bad, because I was dragging ass a little bit by this point. The only clip I could find of this song was a live one that was obviously shot on someone's cell phone, and even that's awesome. I think I need to see this guy live one day.



10. Vampire Weekend - I Think Ur a Contra
     Another slower song now. This one was kind of trippy and ethereal though, which I thought worked great and made me feel in kind of a trance that matched what felt like my plodding zombie-like pace at this point.



11. Red Hot Chili Peppers - My Friends
     Great song. I only got through like half of it before I was done, but it worked out nicely.



Thursday, January 10, 2013

Track Listings: 1/10/13

Distance: 2.01 mi
Time: 17:55
Pace: 8:56
Location: The 'Hood


     It was a pretty nasty day for running, wet and windy. At least it wasn't actively raining when I went, plus it wasn't as butthole-puckering cold as it has been lately.

1. Jason Falkner - Tell Me You Love Me
     I love Jason Falkner, and I'm sure I'll be writing about other songs of his on here because I've got a lot of his stuff on my iPod, this one was a little slow and sappy for running, though. Alas, I couldn't find a video or sound clip for this anywhere (anywhere being youtube and google). +1 for obscurity.

2. Ryan Adams - Rescue Blues
     This is one of those songs that I found surprisingly good for running. I certainly wouldn't call it a fast song, but it's got one of those slow, steady, possibly somewhat honky-tonk-y beats that made me kinda feel in a grove during it. I also found the lyrics to be somewhat motivational. Kind of a you against the world type of song at some parts: Everybody wants to see you suffer...etc.



3. Marvelous 3 - Indie Queen
      Another song where I felt like I was pretty much in the groove. Some nice bouncy power pop, always pretty good for running. I love the entire album that this song comes from, but I've never been crazy about any of the other Marvelous 3/Butch Walker stuff I've listened to. I'll blame age/timing of discovery on that.



4. The Promise Ring - Say Goodbye Good
     As I said last post, if there's songs that I don't know on my iPod, they're probably Wilco or Promise Ring songs. Sure enough, I'm pretty sure I'd never heard this song before. It worked out almost perfectly for me on my run though. It's definitely a pretty slow song, but I started getting a side stitch right around the end of my first mile, and this song started really early in my second mile. It felt sort of like a dirge pushing me on. It had a slow persistent beat that I felt like I could get in line with, and when the "Hey, Hey, Hey" part with the harmonies came in, it felt almost anthemic. Also at almost 7 minutes long, it took up pretty much my whole second mile.



5. Spoon - Was It You?
     I only got about a minute or so of this one before I was done, but it had a nice little funky drum and bass line thing going on. Spoon is always a good call as far as I'm concerned.

 

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Track Listings: 1/8/13

     So, this is an idea I've been kicking around for a while, so I figured why not finally try it out on the ol' blog. I'm basically going to list the songs that come on my iPod as I'm running and maybe say a little something about them; Were they motivational, good running songs, etc.? I generally just hit shuffle when I run, so some pretty random stuff comes on, and sometimes I'm surprised at what songs I find to be helpful when running and not. Get it, track listings, like on a CD, but also track, like running, sometimes I'm so clever I just want to punch myself in the face. Also, I'll throw some detail about my run up at the top, just as a way for me to keep track of these thing. Anyway, here goes...

Distance - 2.01 mi
Time - 17:34
Pace - 8:45
Location - The Neigborhood


1. Billy Joel - Tell Her About It
     I really only listened to half of this song, because I had finished my last run during it and haven't used my iPod since. Anyway, it wasn't a bad song running-wise. It's decently up-tempo compared to a lot of stuff I listen to, so that helps.



2. Queen/David Bowie - Under Pressure
     Yes! I felt like I hit the jackpot with this one. Plus, it came on pretty early in the run, so I wasn't really winded yet. I felt like I was rolling to this one, especially when it gets to Bowie's part of the chorus. "It's the terror of knowing what this world is about..." Also, the "give love one more chance" part at the end.



3.Nirvana - Jesus Don't Want Me for a Sunbeam
      Probably the slowest Nirvana song you could ask for. Also, maybe just a tad bit depressing, which, sometimes I can find depressing songs to be motivational in a way, wasn't really feeling this one today, though. Plus, since it's from the Unplugged album, there was at least 30 seconds to a minute at the end of just applause and talking, which can kinda throw me off my rhythm.



4. Wilco - How to Fight Loneliness
     Recently I tried to streamline my iPod so that I at the very least know all of the songs that are on it. Every once in a while a song that I'm completely unfamiliar with pops up, usually by Wilco or The Promise Ring. This was one of those instances. I find that knowing a song helps a lot with running to it, for me at least, especially a slow one like this. Plus I was kinda dragging a little bit when this came on, and it did not help at all. I don't think it's a bad song, I just listened to it again as I'm writing this and I was kinda digging it.



5. The Avett Brothers - Kick Drum Heart
     This was a nice little pick me up for the home stretch. I freaking love this song. It's kind of a feel good song for me, and has a nice persistent, if not all that fast, beat which makes it good for running to me. Although, it did make me feel sort of ultra-aware of my heartbeat for a minute, which made me feel kind of weird.



6. Death Cab for Cutie - Summer Skin
     This song started right before I got to where I was cooling down, but I was really feeling the drum beat and bass line for the little bit that I was running to it.



     So, there it is, the inaugural edition of this thing. So, what did you think? Comments and suggestions welcome. If this becomes a regular thing, maybe it can help keep me from missing runs. I try to run Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, so if I don't post something get on my ass.