2026 will bring another Ratboys album produced by Chris Walla. I’m looking forward to hearing the rest of this release, and getting tickets when the band plays Albuquerque. 🐀

Here's a re-working of a popular Haruomi Hosono song from 1982, with more of a bluegrass sound.

Just a hundred days to go until spring training.

What song best captures your current phase of life?

I was going to skip this prompt entirely, and then Apple Music surprised me with this song out of the blue this evening. The words “you are who you’re supposed to be” sound like an affirmation to my ears.

A flower pressed in a book of songs What's left to wonder after we're gone?
And don't spend, don't spend your whole life Waiting on the turning of the season of your mind

Your favorite demo or unreleased version of a song.

I like what they do here without instrumentation, just vocals.

Your favorite live version of a song.

I really like what the addition of a symphony (and what sounds like a choir) does to bring this song and album to life. Never seen the Flaming Lips live but this recording makes me want to get tickets.

New Antibalas release out today!

A song from college or early adulthood.

I wasn't 18 when this song came out, but 2004 was a pretty big year for me. Losing a grandparent, finishing high school, starting university. Angst, heartbreak, you name it.

I did not have an iPod at this time, but I did have a CD player, and then later a network of computers in our dormitory sharing their iTunes libraries. Feel in many ways that a song like this is a marker for a whole era of music.

If you were a professional athlete, what is your walk up or intro song?

I didn't have to think about this one too hard. It would have to be Hendrix.

What is a song that makes you think of your first job?

“Hey Ya!” came out around the time I started working and was everywhere on the radio for a year (and beyond). Not really much to do with the actual job, but the song transports me back to those last years of high school.

What's a song that instantly makes you smile?

The Memphis style horns and the male falsettos just gets to me every single time.