New and improved “Hand in Hand”.
So, in celebration of the end of the world, I have procured a bass guitar and some newfangled electronic drums and I spent the day re-recording my favorite song about the world breaking down.
Please enjoy. I did, it was literally a (minor) dream come true for me.
I like OK Go and I always have. At least I have since I first saw them on the treadmills (even though I resented the treadmills at the time). I was ignorant of their existence before that point, but all that’s out of the bounds of our current discussion, and so neither here nor there. I always qualified my liking them with the following: “At least I like Oh No, it’s really the only thing I’ve heard from them. It’s really great running music.”
And it is. Oh No is one of those albums that you can pop into an ipod and go. No need to mess with track order or shuffling or creating playlists – it comes ready out of the box. If I had to dig a little deeper into the why of it all, I’d have to say that I like Oh No because it’s energetic and fun. Simple enough, right?
Right.
Well I’m here to tell you that Of the Blue Colour of the Sky is not more in the same. It is energetic and fun in parts, but it is also an ambitious and weighty artistic achievement that deserves your consideration. I’m not going to say that it’s “as good as anything that’s ever been recorded”, I’m just saying that anyone who hears the album with an open mind wouldn’t necessarily laugh me out of the room if I did.
It’s really damned good is all I’m saying.
Someone – at the onion avclub, I believe – said that this album sounded like some sort of Flaming Lips/Prince collaboration. They’re right, it does. It sounds like Prince and Wayne Coyne wrote and arranged a bunch of songs for OK Go. Is this a world in which that could be a bad thing?
It’s not that kind of world. I may like it less after a while, but I doubt it.
Either way, decide for yourself: http://www.myspace.com/okgo
Ran 3 miles
UV Index: 0 Low
Wind: From NNE at 5 mph
Humidity: 35%
Pressure: 29.98 in.
Dew Point: 58°F
Visibility: 10.0 miles
1 musical highlight of the run, the mighty Mos
Something for everyone: The friends of cannabis among us will appreciate this bit of trivia, today marked my 420th run while using Nike+.
Had a good run today. Planned to run 2 miles but ran one extra when I decided I had too much left in the tank. Listened to my current favorite live album Ashes of American Flags. Your musical highlight of the run:
Unrelated: Are you aware of Danny Malone? Really quite something. I was up in Austin a month and a half ago or so and I was changing stations as I drove from one place to another and I came across some public access high school radio show and he was singing. He had two broken strings, but it was damned-near magical. He made it come alive. Check it out if you get a chance.
A continuation of no need to elaborate week (I jump at any excuse to be lazy):
musical highlight of the run
Ran a 5K today. I was encouraged by my ability to keep a steady pace for over 3 miles and across uneven terrain. I have LOTS of work to do, but it’s promising.
This is the part where I tell you that I’ve been sooo busy – and I have. I worked just under 120 hours and 10 days in a row. Got my first weekend in half a month and so I’m back to running. I need to be more consistent, but you have to start somewhere. Did 3 KM today, we’ll see where we go from here.
Week 4 gets going with a great run – maybe the best one I’ve had yet and it came on a 100 degree evening. I feel equal parts great and tired. This week I’m doing 3,4,4,3 and 5 miles on Tues, Wed, Thurs, Sat and Sun.
Musical highlight of the run:
Yesterday’s run sucked – badly. Every bit of it hurt and I just didn’t feel like being out there. I ended up doing 1 and a half instead of 3 miles. Mentally, I wasn’t into it. I wasn’t into much of anything these last couple of days. Been mightily irritable.
Today’s run was much better. I did three miles with tiny breaks at 1.25, 1.75, and 2.25 miles. I hope I get out of this funk soon – I’m sure that I’m not any fun to be around.
Musical highlight of the run:
Wrote two new songs in the last couple of months and I’ve added them and my other songs to a page called Silly little songs.
I’m particularly proud of the last two because they came very quickly – in the past, it had taken me months or even years to finish a song, “No need to Elaborate” and “What’s in Our Hearts” took hours (like 10 or 12) over the course of a couple of days.
Some people say that songs are like children and that you can’t love one more than another. I don’t agree with that, I generally love my latest song more than all the others. Here’s the latest one:
What’s in Our Hearts
Did three more miles today and it went smoothly. I’m amazed at how well my knees, ankles and everything else is holding up – even if it’s only week three. I’m doing my best to not overdo it and so I’m working on keeping smooth, slow paces until I drop some weight and build up some muscle in the right places. We’ll see how it goes.
Musical highlight of the run:
