2020 Artists of the Year Countdown!

 

Mountain Goats ca 2005

Well here it finally is! The Artists of the Year Countdown for 2020! It's a very good one and I love making these things, it's just that I found myself doing a lot of podcasting with other people this year and kept putting the recording of this show off. You understand. But here it is! I hope you enjoy it!

2020 Artists of the Year Countdown

***Featuring***

Alanis Morrissette
Bad Religion
Barenaked Ladies
The Beatles
Bob Dylan
Elton John
Fall Out Boy
The Mountain Goats
New Found Glory
Outkast
Talking Heads
Taylor Swift
The Wonder Years

New Post!: 2019 Artists of the Year!

The Wonder Years

Here we are again for another glorious Artists of the Year countdown. I love it so much and this one is an EXCELLENT one. Great songs, but also songs that point to specific events in the year, which is just what you want in an AOTY countdown, you know?


2019 Artists of the Year Countdown

***Featuring***
Barenaked Ladies
The Beatles
blink-182
Cast of Hamilton
Fall Out Boy
Gin Blossoms
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
The Mountain Goats
New Found Glory
Pearl Jam
Taylor Swift
The Wonder Years

12 Years of Last.fm (Part 5) (#10-1)

P.O.S

Well here we are, in the last episode of the 5 part countdown of the top 50 artists that I've listened to in the past 12 years (2/14/06-2/14/18) and there are very few surprises here, so maybe the surprises are the order that they're in? Or maybe the surprises are the friends we made along the way!


12 Years of Last.fm (Part 5) (#10-1)

***Featuring***
Barenaked Ladies
The Beatles
Blink-182
Bob Dylan
Dessa
Doomtree
fun.
New Found Glory
NOFX
P.O.S
Smashing Pumpkins

2017 Artists of the Year!!!!

Barenaked Ladies

I think the Artists of the Year countdown is consistently my favorite show of the year. It's a fun way to look back at my listening habits and generate a pretty eclectic show to boot! Enjoy it! I know I will!


2017 Artists of the Year

***Featuring***
Barenaked Ladies
The Beatles
Blink 182
Bob Dylan
Busta Rhymes
Cast of Hamilton
Diet Cig
Kendrick Lamar
New Found Glory
P.O.S
Radiohead
Smashing Pumpkins

2016 Artists of the Year

Red Hot Chili Peppers

So here we are in 2017 and it's time for another Artists of the Year countdown. A LOT of familiar faces that got shoved into the bottom 10 of the Top 20. So it makes for a very interesting list. I hope you enjoy it and I'll see you very soon for our RSP (Reg. Sched. Prog.)


2016 Artists of the Year

***Featuring***
Barenaked Ladies
Blink-182
Bob Dylan
Leslie Odom Jr.
Modern Baseball
New Found Glory
NOFX
P.O.S
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Ruth B.
The White Stripes

Throwback Thursday: 1998 (1 Week at #1)

A whopping THREE songs hit #1 for just one week in 1998. And I am VERY familiar with one of them. Enjoy the eclectic mix today!

Divine - Lately (11/28)

I don't know this one from the title, but now that it's playing, I suppose it kind of rings a bell. Maybe? I guess Divine were trying to fill the space between TLC and Destiny's Child? This song is pretty catchy. I like it!

Barenaked Ladies - One Week (10/17)

Winning the award for most appropriate title of a song for this feature, we have the song that really busted BNL into the mainstream. It was their first and only #1 and one of two Top 40 hits for the band (the other was "Pinch Me" a couple of years later.)

Mariah Carey - My All (5/23)

I don't know this Mariah Carey song, I don't think. I pretty much lost track of her until 2005 after "Honey" which was the single directly before this one. And actually, listening to the chorus, this sounds vaguely familiar. You know, I do tend to like MC songs.

2015 Artists of the Year Countdown!

Fall Out Boy

It's funny. I usually think of this as the last countdown of the year, but really it's the first countdown of the NEW year! So, Happy New Year and I hope you enjoy this countdown as much as I enjoyed making it!


2015 Artists of the Year Countdown

***Featuring***
Barenaked Ladies
The Beatles
Dessa
Diet Cig
Doomtree
Fall Out Boy
NOFX
P.O.S
R.E.M.
Smashing Pumpkins
Taylor Swift

Flashback Countdown: What "5 Years Later" Sounds Like

Barenaked Ladies

Well, it's been 5 freakin' years of doing this podcast. There have been lots and lots of highs and maybe a low here and there. I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon so buckle up! It's the safe thing to do. You should buckle up even if I do stop sometime soon, though.

Enjoy the memories :)




Flashback Countdown #6 (1993)

***Featuring***
Barenaked Ladies
Bjork
Blind Melon
The Catherine Wheel
The Juliana Hatfield Three
New Order
Pearl Jam
Pet Shop Boys
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Smashing Pumpkins
Urge Overkill

Flashback Countdown #5: 1998

Eve 6

Well, I'm in Virginia Beach this weekend (and most of the week, actually) so here, as has become tradition, is a Flashback Countdown. This time we're heading back to 1998. It's a fantastic episode full of fantastic songs. Look down at the list of artists. Then think of the first song that comes to mind by them. That's the song, in all likelihood. It's so great.

Flashback Countdown #5 (1998)

***Featuring***
Athenaeum
Barenaked Ladies
Beastie Boys
Eve 6
Fastball
Fuel
Goo Goo Dolls
Harvey Danger
Marcy Playground
Semisonic
Smashing Pumpkins

One Year, 100 Albums: #10 Barenaked Ladies "Maroon"

Barenaked Ladies Maroon, 2000

Barenaked Ladies are another band where there was really no way to satisfactorily pick just one album that is my "favorite". They all have pros and cons. In the end, I went with Maroon. I think that it typifies the kind of music that people don't realize BNL are capable of making.

I feel like the album is a primer in Barenaked Ladies' songwriting, starting off with some over-the-plate pop songs ("Pinch Me" "Too Little Too Late") and then getting into some more ornate, detailed fare ("Go Home", "Falling For the First Time") before kicking it into high gear with detailed stories ("Conventioneers"), pun-heavy dramas ("Off the Hook"), and gut-wrenching tragicomedies ("Tonight Is the Night I Fell Asleep At the Wheel").

This is the kind of album that you play for someone who thinks that the band is just a novelty act playing cheesy "rap" songs like "One Week" or "Another Postcard".

Actually, the funny thing about Barenaked Ladies is that MOST of their songs are at least semi-serious. They're certainly not saying to themselves "What wacky subject matter can we write about next?" when they go to record a new album.

Go get this album, fall in love with the band, and then get the rest of their albums. (NOTE: When Steven Page left the band, something happened to them that I'm not sure is entirely good. I often think that maybe he was the catalyst that made the band step up to the plate. I am still trying to wrap my head around All in Good Time (the first album after he left) and I haven't even heard Grinning Streak (the second).

Barenaked Ladies - The Humour of the Situation
Barenaked Ladies - Helicopters

You can buy Maroon at Amazon, Amazon MP3, and iTunes

New Countdown: White Stripes on the Bonus Segment, We Hardly Knew Ye

Arctic Monkeys

Now, THIS is a more typical show, in terms of deadline. I'm not early. I'm not late. I'm right where I usually am: typing up the blog post for a podcast at nearly 1 AM. It's a sultry, film-noirish life I lead, isn't it? (Just noticed the word "noirish" looks like "no irish", which is a stance I certainly don't hold any truck with. Irish Welcome!)

There's a very indulgent bonus feature thing in this episode, but you have to get through the first half to find it. Happy hunting!

Countdown #191

***Featuring***
Arctic Monkeys
Barenaked Ladies
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Fitz & the Tantrums
Foster the People
KONGOS
Lorde
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Neighbourhood
Phantogram
The Vandals
The White Stripes
Young the Giant

2013 Artists of the Year Countdown! Some new some old!

Barenaked Ladies, ca 1996

Here we are again for another Artists of the Year Countdown! It's good fun, though, as happens every year, it feels like I have a list of 4 or 5 (or 6) standbys that are ALWAYS on this list. But that's ok. I like them! That's why I listen to them!

2013 Artists of the Year

***Featuring***
Barenaked Ladies
The Beatles
Dessa
Doomtree
Fall Out Boy
Frightened Rabbit
NOFX
P.O.S
Smashing Pumpkins
Vampire Weekend

New Countdown: Jingle Bell Alternative Rock

Cage the Elephant (Christmas Edition)

I don't think it's possible to convey to you how excited I was to be able to find a picture of the band on the blog post's "cover" (which, as always, was randomly selected) with a Christmas tree on it. I guess miracle really do happen.

This was a fun one. What am I saying? They're all fun!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you get everything you wanted. And I'm not just saying that with regards to Christmas.

Countdown #179

***Featuring***
Arctic Monkeys
Barenaked Ladies featuring Michael Buble
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Fitz & the Tantrums
Imagine Dragons
Linkin Park x Steve Aoki
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
Panic! at the Disco featuring LOLO
Pearl Jam
Wilco

Throwback Thursday: 1998

10. Edwin McCain - I'll Be
9. Faith Hill - This Kiss
8. Deborah Cox - Nobody's Supposed to Be Here
7. Jennifer Paige - Crush
6. Dru Hill featuring Redman - How Deep is Your Love
5. 98 Degrees - Because of You
4. Barenaked Ladies - One Week

3. Monica - The First Night
2. Divine - Lately
1. Lauryn Hill - Doo Wop (That Thing)

Well, I was only going to do the Lauryn Hill song because 1) It's a cool video and 2) It's a fantastic song. But then I saw that BNL had a song at #4 and I wanted to do both. So, dammit, I did both. It's cool to think that both of these songs were on the Top 10 at the same time.

Also, I was definitely one of the kids who got into BNL because of "One Week" and that's mildly embarrassing until I realize that there are a LOT of us out there and that it's a silly thing to be even mildly embarrassed about.

Actually, I think I got into Lauryn Hill because of "Doo Wop (That Thing)" so I mean, I guess that's the theme of this post: Songs That Gatewayed Me Into the Band/Singer. Cool.

2012 Artists of the Year Countdown

I don't normally take this job lying down, but, fun trivia fact, I recorded this entire episode lying down....wait, I really hope that, at this moment, you're not thinking to yourself (or SAYING OUT LOUD!) "Yeah. It shows." But I don't think it does.

This is always an easy episode to record because I know these artists so well. Of course I do! They're the Artists of the Year!

2012 Artists of the Year Countdown

***Featuring***
Barenaked Ladies
The Beatles
Blink-182
Dessa
Doomtree
Green Day
New Found Glory
No Use For a Name
P.O.S
Smashing Pumpkins

One plate breaks, another gets put right in its place

I can think of three songs off the top of my head that have "Bull in a China Shop" as a key part of the song (the title of one and part of the chorus of the other two). Of course, the Dessa song is probably referring to the P.O.S. song, but still.

Are there any other songs like this? Do we have a playlist in the making?


P.O.S. - I Play the Matador (Redo) from Ipecac Neat (Buy Here)
Dessa - The Bullpen from A Badly Broken Code (Buy Here)
Barenaked Ladies - Bull in a China Shop from Are Men (Buy Here)

Also, I realize that these are three artists from my 2010 Artists of the Year. But I love them so much!

2010 Artists of the Year

Here is the podcast where I countdown the top 10 Artists that Last.fm said I listened to most over the 12 month period ending when I looked at the chart on 12/31/10. I wish Last.fm could keep a record of these things by year, too. Maybe they do...hmm...I'll have to check that out.

I'm going to start putting an alphabetical "Featuring" list in these posts. And also making use of the label function, so if you want to see every post (starting with this one) that I talk about Doomtree, for example, you can click Doomtree in the label list at the bottom of the page and it'll sort it all out for you!

2010 Artists of the Year

***Featuring***
Barenaked Ladies
Dessa
Doomtree
Friday Mile
Frightened Rabbit
NOFX
P.O.S.
Radiohead
Smashing Pumpkins
Vampire Weekend

A More Creative Title Perhaps? (More Voting, Random Thoughts, Mixes)

Perhaps not.

I've reached another point in my blogging where I am a bit behind and so I have all these things that I want to talk about and they're just overloading me and then I don't blog so they build up more and more and more. So I'm going to attempt to get them all down. Or at least most of them.

Round 1F!!!

1.The Beatles vs. Taking Back Sunday

The Beatles - I've Got a Feeling from Let It Be

Taking Back Sunday - Spin from Louder Now

2. Lagwagon vs. The Ataris

Lagwagon - Automatic from Resolve
The Ataris - Not Capable of Love from Welcome the Night


In other news, I've been making and receiving lots of mixes from all over the world. I guess this salvo began with Andy coming up for a visit bearing the latest installment in a series of mixes we've been doing for a year or so.
Here's a song from that:
The Decemberists - Oceanside
I also received a mix from Wayne as part of Anna's Mix CD exchange. The theme this time was "Sub 3-minute songs" and Wayne's mix was eclectic and yet it fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Here's a song from that:

The Housemartins - Happy Hour

and here's a song that quotes that song and I never knew it!

Barenaked Ladies - Hello City from Gordon


And then I received not one, but TWO mixes from Anna which are both based on Lost (one a little more than the other) which is just amazing and it made me want to skip out on work and just go home and watch Lost DVD's

A song for waking up in the hatch. :)
Mama Cass Elliot - Make Your Own Kind of Music

Oh, also, I got a USB record player and have, so far, ripped two LP's and I'm fairly pleased. The second album, Sly and the Family Stone's Fresh was rather frustrating because it has all these little hops in it that I didn't notice when it was recording (because I was in the other room...)

But here's a song that isn't bad.

Sly and the Family Stone - In Time from Fresh


And finally, you should go check out The Hold Steady and My Morning Jacket's new albums:

The Hold Steady - Ask Her For Adderall from Stay Positive
My Morning Jacket - Aluminum Park from Evil Urges

Watching the Lost finale and posting to my blog...what an age we live in!!

I simply love this show. So much.

Anywho, on to some music. First, some bracket action!

Round 1d:

1. Kanye West vs The Suicide Machines

Kanye West - Champion from Graduation
The Suicide Machines - Did You Ever Get a Feeling of Dread? from A Match and Some Gasoline

2. Bad Religion vs No Use For a Name

Bad Religion - Requiem for Dissent from New Maps of Hell
No Use For a Name - Part Two from Keep Them Confused

Happy Voting! Please vote!

In other news, Weezer has released their Red album. And it's certainly an improvement from their recent efforts. Maladroit was ok. But the Red album almost makes a Blue Album/Pinkerton-esque showing. I'm going to post one track, but I'm saving my favorite track for the end of the year. The funny thing is that I've read some negative reviews of that very track...more on that later.

But here's the track.

Weezer - Troublemaker


Finally, I'm going to start a new feature on this crazy thing. I'm thinking of calling it CP B-sides!

Basically, I will use this feature to allay the anxiety of wanting to post more songs to the Contrast Podcast than I'm allowed to. For instance, this week was Babies. And I submitted this:

Alan Wilkis - Bad Mamma Jamma from Babies Dream Big

but I wanted to submit this, too!:

Barenaked Ladies - Baby Seat from Maroon

and now everyone can enjoy both of them! Hooray Internet!

OK everyone! Have a great week or so!

Round 1a!!! and something of an actual update, too!

Ok everyone. We're starting. This is the real deal. The first two match-ups of the first round are:

1. Barenaked Ladies vs. Alkaline Trio

Barenaked Ladies - What a Letdown from Are Men
Alkaline Trio - Back to Hell from Crimson

2. Green Day vs. Pearl Jam

Green Day - American Idiot from American Idiot
Pearl Jam - Nothing as It Seems from Binaural


In other news, we are putting the hammer down when it comes to buying a house. It's a big scary process to buy your first house, but we have a kickass support system and things are looking good on that front. I'll post here if anything big happens (after the family knows), so check this page for all my incredibly interesting adventures in real estate.

Also, has anyone heard the new R.E.M. album? I'm hearing really really good things about it and I'm seriously considering picking it up. They can be hit or miss, but when they're hitting, they hit HARD. Automatic For the People is one of my all-time favorite albums and if you haven't heard it, you should check it out. Here's a great song from it to whet your whistle.

R.E.M. - Ignoreland from Automatic For the People