adrian is rad

I went to Aquarius Records while I was in the city yesterday. I was surprised at how small it was for a well-renowned record store.

The haul and first impressions:

• the Mountain Goats the Sunset Tree I really like this. I think it’s his best studio album (that is, non-boombox album). I’d heard it before, but bought it because I liked it so much. The songs are good as are the production (thanks, John Vanderslice) and the orchestration.
• Death Cab for Cutie John Byrd EP Limited edition EP sent to special independent record stores like Aquarius and Amoeba. Recorded live. Pretty good from first listen.
• 13 & God s/t This is the collaborative album between the Notwist and Themselves [I told this to someone and they wondered how that worked out and I laughed. It’d be really PoMo if the Notwist had made a collaborative album with themselves.] Good. Not what I expected but I didn’t really know what to expect. More experimental, more hip hoppy (vocals), less rocky/ poppy.
• the Album Leaf Seal Beach EP [reissue] Take a very good EP and reissue it with five bonus tracks. Yeah, it’s good.

Yesterday morning I went swimming in Aquatic Park, in San Francisco. Aquatic Park is protected from the nasty tides and choppiness of the Bay, but’s just as cold. Estimates yesterday were in the high 50’s in degrees F.

I went without a wetsuit or even a swim cap. I waded in and it was cold but manageable when I was standing in there waist-deep. When I dove in and started swimming, I immediately came up and treaded water for a couple minutes; I had gone into panic-breathing; I couldn’t control my breathing. I settled down and started swimming and I felt I did alright. I wasn’t swimming all that fast and my natural stroke (without lines on the bottom to guide me) apparently veers a lot to the right. But the cold wasn’t unbearable and I actuallly got used to it after a bit.

I might go up again next weekend.