Raul's Finite Playlist: August 2011

Raul's Finite Playlist: August 2011

There isn't an all-encompassing theme to my playlists apart from the fact that these are all songs I like and find myself listening to a lot during the month. Most of the songs are new releases or new finds, but there are also old favorites. This month a few of the songs are from acts I saw live. It was a rare month where I saw not one, not two, but three concerts--all within a week! I'm still recovering. Old 97's and Josh Ritter are longtime favorites of mine and they played a show at the Wiltern. "Nineteen" was the first song I recall hearing from Old 97's way back in the late 90's. That's actually a late intro to the band as they had released three albums prior to "Fight Songs," which were arguably their best work.

I first heard Josh Ritter performing a live set on KCRW's "Morning Becomes Eclectic" in 2003. I fell in love with his poetic bent and rushed out to buy "Hello Starling." He has since released three consistently brilliant albums. That he hasn't broken through big time is a shame. He's an infectious performer. FJ noted at the Wiltern show that he exudes pure joy while performing, something that is strangely absent in a lot of bands/artists. "Change of Time" is from his most recent album, "So Runs the World Away," and can also be heard on an NFL Network commercial that has been airing recently.

I also won tickets to Death Cab for Cutie and Frightened Rabbits this month. I'm lucky, I guess. Both bands are--to describe them in one word--sincere, but not in the off-putting way. Both are too melodic and too talented to be denigrated for being sincere. They wear their hearts on their sleeves but also make beautiful, catchy music. "The Sound of Settling" is from "Transatlanticism," Death Cab's 2003 album, which they used to close out their set. Frightened Rabbits played an impressive opening set. Their songs all tend to soar, which makes for an uplifting and inspiring experience. They didn't perform "The Twist," but here it is anyway.

For new favorites, the list is led by the Belle Brigade's "Losers." The Belle Brigade is an extremely appealing brother-sister duo. Their free show at Pasadena's Levitt Pavilion was a delight in spite of the stomach virus Barbara Gruska was dealing with. Gardens & Villa opened for Generationals in July and impressed me with their sound. The flute figures prominently in their music but that's no mere gimmick. There's a free love vibe to their sound and in "Orange Blossom" it presents itself with a sexy-time groove and vaguely sexual and ridiculous sounding come-ons as "Think of me as a swarm of bees/Buzzing around your leaves/To pollenate means ecstasy." You get the idea?

Dirty Gold's "California Sunrise" is perfect California summertime listening. I don't know much about the band, but I'm definitely curious to hear more. Same goes for Ben Howard's "Old Pine," which seems to be about the joys of summertime camping with good friends.

The morning benders' terrific cover of the Strokes' "Last Night" is their contribution to the song-by-song tribute by Stereogum of the Strokes' seminal debut, "Is This It?". Owen Pallett contributes to the album titled "STROKED: A Tribute to 'Is This It'" along with other bands. It's a free download, so check it out on the Stereogum website.

I've had Seapony's album for a while now but haven't had the time to fuly listen to it, but then "What You See" came on while my iPod was on shuffle and I fell in love with it.

The playlist is rounded off by two old favorites, the Rapture and My Morning Jacket, who both have new albums. "How Deep Is Your Love" isn't vintage the Rapture but it is still undeniably catchy and "Wonderful (The Way I Feel)" is a beautful song about mortality as only My Morning Jacket can do.

Enjoy the playlist!

Raul's Finite Playlist: May 2011

01 "You Are A Tourist - Death Cab for Cutie

02 "The Wilhelm Scream" - James Blake
03 "Changing" - The Airborne Toxic Event

04 "Goin' Home" - Dan Auerbach
05 "Hockey Teeth" - Bahamas

06 "Powa" - Tune-Yards
07 "No Names" - Mutual Benefit
08 "Movin' Away" - My Morning Jacket
09 "Steal Your Heart" - Augustana

10 "Just a Growin'" - Young Man
11 "Putting the Dog to Sleep" - The Antlers
12 "Peace on the Rise" - Chad VanGaalen

Raul's Finite Playlist: April 2011

01 "Good Day" - Tally Hall


02 "Sydney (I'll Come Running)" - Brett Dennen


03 "Down in the Valley" - The Head and the Heart


04 "Helplessness Blues" - Fleet Foxes


05 "Rewrite" - Paul Simon


06 "Everything, All at Once" - Correatown


07 "Home" - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros


08 "ÜBerlin" - R.E.M.


09 "Tiny Man" - The Dears


10 "Civilian" - Wye Oak


11 "She's So High" - Tal Bachman


12 "Legend of a Cowgirl" - Imani Coppola

The More the Merrier

I can definitely vouch for this article's argument in favor of exercising socially. I probably would not have run all these marathons had I not trained with a group. They keep me honest and knowing that my friends are out there waiting for me gives me a sense of obligation.

My Sandwich Lady Misses Me

Egg Salad Sandwich, originally uploaded by savemejebus.

I love J&J Sandwich in downtown. I think they make a terrific egg salad sandwich. I try not to order it too often, so it has been a while since I've gotten lunch there. Today, though, I craved an egg salad sandwich. When I got there the nice Korean lady who owns the shop smiled at me and said, "Long time no see." She missed me! Of course the cynical side of me thought that she probably says that to everyone and is trying to guilt me into ordering more often. Still, it made my day.

There's something about the sandwich shops I visit here in downtown. The owner of the appropriately named Sandwich Shop knows my name even though I only order once in a blue moon. There is really something nice about going where the proprietor knows your name.

Raul's Finite Playlist: March 2011

01 "Rolling in the Deep (Adele Cover)" - John Legend

02 "You Are A Runner and I Am My Father's Son" - Wolf Parade


03 "The Cave" - Mumford & Sons


04 "Rum and Coca-Cola" - Wanda Jackson


05 "Get Some" - Lykke Li


06 "Dry the Rain" - The Beta Band


07 "L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N." - Noah and the Whale


08 "Open Arms" - Elbow


09 "Black Night" - The Dodos


10 "Singing in My Sleep" - Semisonic


11 "Right Hand Man" - Joan Osborne


12 "Someone Like You" - Adele

Additional Notes from the 2011 LA Marathon

As a fan of trivia, I really dig how RunPix breaks down your race. Some of the details are a huge ego boost. My favorite notes:

-in the last 4.5 miles, I passed 395 people but was only passed by 27 runners. Yeah, take that!
-I was in the top 20% of all men and in my division. That could improve, but still good to know I was faster than 4 out of 5 guys.
-My average speed was 6.8 mph. I'll set a goal of doing 7.0 mph next time.
-I was still in West Hollywood when the winner crossed the finish line.

Also, here are some pics from the race. The rain really makes it look dramatic. The raincoat I'm wearing is part of my fall collection inspired by bags of dead leaves I saw on someone's front lawn. Isn't it slimming?

Race Report: 03.20.2011 Los Angeles Marathon

Time: 3:52:37
Average Pace: 8:52/mile

Marathon #12 is done! Still no new PR, but this was my fastest Los Angeles Marathon yet, beating my previous time from 2007 by exactly two minutes. This was also my second fastest time ever. It's almost a minute faster than my Seattle time but still three minutes off my personal best in San Diego in 2007.

I guess the best word to desribe my running the last four years is consistent. My marathon finish times have been within ten minutes of each other, with San Francisco's 4:03 marking my low point since 2007. Not a bad thing. It totally reflects my training the last few years, which has consisted of "maintaining" my fitness. I basically get the miles in that I need to finish the race in four hours. I keep telling myself that I need to do more speed workouts, though. Do I do it? No. I do need to push myself a little more, but I just don't feel motivated. If only I can get faster without trying.

This year's race went as well as it could. The rain really didn't bother me too much. Once you're wet you learn not to dwell on it. I still would have preferred no rain, but what can you do? At least it didn't rain while we were waiting for the race to start.

Looking back on the race I probably should have pushed a little harder because I had juice left at the finish. Looking at my splits above, I was, well, consistent. They took down some of the mile markers due to the wind, so I missed the splits from miles 11-14. I maintained a consistent pace, not running too fast nor running too slow. Usually I slow down the last few miles, but I kept my pace all the way to the end, which again tells me that I could have gone harder earlier. Towards the end my breathing was fine even if my legs were tired. In fact, my fastest mile was the final 1.2 miles, which I ran in an 8:06 pace. Perhaps fittingly, my slowest mile was the first one. Not a bad way to go.

I probably played it too conservatively. I was worried that with the weather that I would cramp up early if I pushed the pace too early. I also took too many water breaks because I was worried about dehydrating. With the rain and the cold, it makes it tougher to figure out if you're becoming dehydrated, so I played it safe and made sure I had enough to drink. Those extra stops probably cost me a couple of minutes.

In the end, though, I can't really complain. I had a great race and felt good the entire time. I enjoyed running in the rain and it warmed my heart to see so many people cheering out in the rain. Running a marathon really does give you hope for your fellow human being. If only people can be as supportive and positive as they are during a race as they are in everyday life, the world would be a better place.

I'm going to end with a short note on this year's logistics. That half mile walk after the finish line to the festival was horrible. It's bad enough to walk that far, even though it probably helped prevent my legs from locking up, but with the weather the way it was, it really made it a miserable experience. Worse was the gear pick up. Last year this was a catastrophe. This year was no different. It looked like the organizers at least took pains to be more organized with the bags rather than just throwing them indiscriminately into a truck as they did last year. But it was obvious when I dropped off my bags in the morning that they needed more pods to house the bags. I'm guessing some volunteers didn't show up because of the weather. There was only one ever-patient volunteer at my pod for the pick-up. Luckily, I found my bag rather quickly. I heard others took much longer.

With that said, though, I want to note how amazing the volunteers were. It's tough enough to run in the rain and the cold, but I think it's much tougher to stand out there for hours. Kudos to the volunteers! And while the finish-line festival was a muddy mess too, the warming buses were an excellent call. Ultimately, the L.A. Marathon did more right than it did wrong. Maybe by next year everything will be perfect.

Raul's Finite Playlist: February 2011

01 "Pumped Up Kicks" - Foster the People


02 "The Power and the Glory" - White Lies


03 "Ringing in My Ear" - Adem


04 "Ruin My Day" - Jon Brion


05 "Unhappy Anniversary" - Loudon Wainwright III

(That's not Loudon in the video, though)

06 "So Many Ways" - Mates of State


07 "16 Days" - Whiskeytown


08 "Looking for a Girl" - Teddy Thompson


09 "Cupid" - Sam Cooke


10 "Poison & Wine" - The Civil Wars


11 "God Only Knows" - The Beach Boys


12 "Walking Far From Home" - Iron and Wine

Raul's Finite Playlist: January 2011

The theme of the month is "pretty."

01 "Lille" - Lisa Hannigan


02 "It's Been a Year" - Greg Laswell


03 "My Blue Tears" - Teddy Thompson


04 "Swim Until You Can't See Land" - Frightened Rabbit


05 "Made in the Dark" - Hot Chip


06 "Becoming a Jackal" - Villagers


07 "Piano Song" - Meiko


08 "Lay Your Head Down" - Keren Ann


09 "Stick With Me Baby" - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss


10 "You and Me" - Penny and the Quarters


11 "The Trapeze Swinger" - Iron & Wine