2013 Year-End Countdown!

Fitz and the Tantrums

Well here we are again at the Year End Countdown. It feels like we were just doing this last year. Not a lot of surprises here, but it's a very enjoyable show! Happy New Year everyone!

2013 Year End Countdown

***Featuring***
Avicii
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Capital Cities
Fitz & the Tantrums
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
Muse
The Neighbourhood
Of Monsters and Men

New Countdown: Surprise!!!

Fitz & the Tantrums

A great episode that had some surprises that even surprised me!...as they were happening! Stay Tuned to see what I mean!

...remember that movie Stay Tuned? John Ritter and....Shelley Long? vs the Devil who has them trapped in a TV and is trying to kill them and get their souls? Pretty decent, if I recall.

Countdown #175

***Featuring***
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Capital Cities
Fitz & the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
MS MR
The Neighbourhood
Pearl Jam
The White Stripes

New Countdown: In Under the Wire!

Fitz and the Tantrums

This was one of those episodes where you look at the clock and then you look at how much more recording you have before you can go to bed, and your heart sinks just a little. But I think it turned out ok :) I'm just not going to talk a lot on this post.

All I'm going to do is to link you to the Shortlist Voting that I talk about in the episode. Please vote!!!

Countdown #174

***Featuring***
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Capital Cities
Fitz & the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
MS MR
The Neighbourhood
Pearl Jam
The White Stripes

New Countdown: Done Early! Feelin productive!!

Capital Cities

Well, I'm writing this on Saturday morning. It feels very weird to be done with the podcast already. Not bad. Not at all bad, in fact. Just weird.

My son gets baptized tomorrow and we're having family come visit us. Unfortunately not as much family as we thought we would be having before this morning, but still a lot of family and that's a good thing!

Countdown #173

***Featuring***
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Capital Cities
Fitz & the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
MS MR
The Neighbourhood
Thirty Seconds to Mars
The White Stripes

New Countdown! 500 Posts!!

The White Stripes in 2003

Well, you can definitely feel how tired I am by the end of this one. Sometimes the podcast just takes longer and I get distracted by watching Batdad Vines. Fortunately/Unfortunately, it's Daylight Savings tonight, so it's not actually as late as it feels and maybe this is my way of acclimating? Who knows.

I meant to mention that this post was my 500th on the podcast, but I forgot. So let me do it here.

THIS POST IS MY 500TH!!!

In about a month and a half, this blog will turn 6. So that means...an average of about 83 a year. Or 7 a month. Or about a post ever 4 or so days. But the thing is that 299 of those 500 have been in the past 2 years. And 392 of them have been in the last 3 years. So you could say I've picked up the pace.

Wait. That's counting my 6th birthday as today, but I still have a month or so to go till then. But it's pretty close. So, the averages aren't exactly right but the 299 and 392 stats still are.


Oh, the podcast? Sure. Here it is. And thanks for coming to my blog. Here's to 500 more posts before we all simultaneously decide to stop using the Internet and go outside for a global kickball tournament.

Countdown #172

***Featuring***
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Capital Cities
Fitz & the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
MS MR
The Neighbourhood
Thirty Seconds to Mars
The White Stripes

New Countdown! Back on Time!!!

Fitz & the Tantrums

Not going to do a big long explanation/preface this week. Just happy that I'm getting this posted in time!


Countdown #171

***Featuring***
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Capital Cities
Coldplay
Fitz & the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
Tame Impala
Thirty Seconds to Mars

New Countdown! Keepin Myself Honest

Cage the Elephant

Hey there! So....it's not Sunday at 10 am, is it? Well, Saturday night came and I just was not on the Muse's "to-inspire" list. So I kind of let it go. But then Sunday came and I suddenly had the inspiration! It was VERY exciting. And I just don't ever want to fake inspiration. I want it to actually come from the heart, you know?

So I hope you'll enjoy this countdown and then also enjoy one on Sunday. It's a practical smorgasbord of countdown-y goodness.

Countdown #170

***Featuring***
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Capital Cities
Coldplay
Fitz & the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Johnette Napolitano & Danny Lohner
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
Tame Impala
Thirty Seconds to Mars

New Countdown: A Journey Through My Inbox

Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head Tour

I get a lot of music-related emails in a given week, but this week seemed like there was an unprecedented number of them devoted to artists on the countdown. Maybe the robots are getting close to calibrating the perfect combination of music to email me about, or maybe it's just a coincidence. Either way, I spend a good deal of time reading from things that showed up in my inbox in the last week or two. The plus side: Very little mention is made of Wikipedia in this episode (though I recently donated to the Wikimedia Foundation, so my conscience is pretty clean on that front).

Countdown #169

***Featuring***
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Capital Cities
Coldplay
Fitz and the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Kings of Leon
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
Tame Impala

New Countdown: There's a Reason For the Parallel Structure of My Other Regularly Scheduled Blog Posts (or, I Can't Think of a Title!!!!)

Imagine Dragons

This one was a fun one. It was the first time I've ever kind of teased something from next week. It's the first time I've talked about a completely different song for a song's entire intro. And it's the first time I've gotten into the deepest most interesting discussion with myself (I'm insane.) in the very last intro of the show. So I hope you'll inaugurate October 2013 with me and enjoy this episode!

Countdown #168

***Featuring***
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Capital Cities
Coldplay
Fitz and the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
Phoenix
Tame Impala

New Countdown: Return of the King(s)

Imagine Dragons

Very late-night recording. And started the session on very very little sleep. I think it's maybe possible that we should count ourselves fortunate that what I spoke in my groggy state was actually English.


Countdown #167

***Featuring***
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Capital Cities
Coldplay
Fitz & the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Kings of Leon
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
Tame Impala

New Countdown! I have issues! Well, AN issue!

Tame Impala

This is the kind of episode that half of me is freaked out about posting and half of me couldn't be more stoked. There's a lot of reading involved. Let's leave it at that. That way there's some surprise to the way the episode unfolds!

Two debuts this week! It's good to be back in good ol' 2013. :)

That must be the toughest part of being a time traveler. Keeping up with contemporary pop culture!


Countdown #166

***Featuring***
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Capital Cities
Coldplay
Fitz & the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
New Politics
Tame Impala

New Countdown and a Look Back at Summer Jams

The Neighbourhood

Do you realize how hard it is to be named James and type the word "jams"??

Anyway, it's the first countdown of the Calendar Fall and I've been playing with the spreadsheets, so that gets a lot of discussion in this episode. I really enjoyed the retrospection. I hope you did too!

If you DO enjoy retrospection, you should come back for a Very Special Countdown next week (HUGE HINT) :) See you then

Countdown #165

***Featuring***
Atlas Genius
Bastille
Capital Cities
Coldplay
Fitz & the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Kings of Leon
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
New Politics

New Countdown: When I'm 164...(doot doo)

Capital Cities

This was one of those weeks where it felt like the podcast had been in production FOREVER. It was really only a couple of days, but I feel like it has literally been months since I started recording #164.

We're also in one of those waves where the bands on the countdown (with a few minor exceptions) aren't that well known, so it gives me the feeling that I'm really sharing some NEW music. Which I like :)

Speaking of which, I am pondering starting a series for Mondays called "Mailbag Mondays" where I play songs by bands who I first heard about because they emailed me. So, you heard it here first. And if it doesn't come to pass, then you get first dibs on the ridicule and shaming.

Countdown #164

***Featuring***
Atlas Genius
Bastille
Capital Cities
Fitz & the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
New Politics
Radiohead

New Countdown 17 Years in the Making!!

Capital Cities

Yes, this episode was a long time coming, but I think it's going to end up being one of my favorites. I hope it's one of yours, too!!!

Countdown #163

***Featuring***
Alanis Morissette
Atlas Genius
Bastille
Capital Cities
Fitz & the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
New Politics
Tracy Bonham

New Countdown: James's Bonus Song Emporium!

Imagine Dragons

If you were looking for the nonsensical, seemingly random ravings of a madman, you're in the wrong place, bub! But if you want a podcast where sometimes we have more than 2 bonus songs, then step right in, my friend, have I got the podcast for you!!!

The weather is becoming increasingly fall-like and we're going to have to start to accept the fact that our summer anthem this year was a song about needing to put on a sweater because the weather is too chilly.....which I think we can all do. I'm really excited for some fall weather, actually.

Countdown #162

***Featuring***
Atlas Genius
Capital Cities
Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams
Fitz and the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
New Politics
Radiohead

Top Ten Tuesday: Capital Cities "Safe and Sound"

Listeners to the podcast will recognize this one, which just entered the top ten (#9) this week. What a fun video! How come we can't have this kind of cross-style, impromptu dance competition in real life?

New Countdown, or, a Descent into Madness

Fitz and the Tantrums

Here's another episode where you hear me in various states of consciousness/fatigue. Which can either be a fun ride or a descent into madness....no, not the Muse song. :)

I'm really loving the songs on the countdowns of late. I hope you are too!

Countdown #161

***Featuring***
Atlas Genius
Capital Cities
Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams
Fitz and the Tantrums
Grouplove
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
New Politics
Radiohead

NEW COUNTDOWN: Looks Like We Made It!

The Neighbourhood

This show has everything: volume problems (and volume solutions), dance lyrics that don't translate to spoken word very well, pop-unders. Just everything! But I promise you it all works out in the end! :)

Oh I also have a very special co-host for the first half. He's the strong, silent type.

Countdown #160

***Featuring***
Atlas Genius
Beck
Capital Cities
Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams
Dessa
Fitz & the Tantrums
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
New Politics
Nine Inch Nails

New Countdown: Last Countdown as a Dad of 1!

Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams

Well, this is it. 3 days after this is published, I will become a father to a little baby boy. And I will have to begin training him to take over the podcast when I'm gone (his sister will no doubt be appearing on his shows with her band. Maybe he can have her on as a guest! There IS a tradition of sisters as guests on this podcast)

So here it is, chock full of bonus songs. And I hope you enjoy it! I'll be back with another new countdown on Sunday 7/28. And next week we'll have a special bonus episode: The Ten Lowest Charting Songs (2010-2012). It's a good one, so come on back!

Countdown #159

***Featuring***
Beck
Capital Cities
Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams
Dessa
Fall Out Boy
Fitz and the Tantrums
Imagine Dragons
The Neighbourhood
New Politics
Nine Inch Nails
Thirty Seconds to Mars

New Countdown: Ahead of the Game (for once)

Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams (and Nigel Rodgers)

Well, it is 9:37 on Saturday night. I finished this podcast on Thursday night and I'm halfway through the recording of an upcoming bonus episode. So I'm feeling pretty good about the scheduling of it all.

This is a good episode. We're getting into the heat of the summer. These are the episodes we'll look back on come December and be like, "Oh yeah....remember that?" or at least I like to think we will. Does anyone else ever get pre-emptively nostalgic? Is there a term for that kind of nostalgia?

Countdown #158

***Featuring***
alt-J
Beck
Capital Cities
Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams
Fall Out Boy
Imagine Dragons
Muse
The Neighbourhood
New Politics
Thirty Seconds to Mars