New Countdown: Mug mug mug

Foster the People

Running a little bit behind, but we're getting things done this weekend! It's a fun, punky little show this week and I think you'll enjoy it very much!


Countdown #373

***Featuring***
AJR featuring Rivers Cuomo
Alice Merton
Descendents
Foster the People
Imagine Dragons
The Killers
lovelytheband
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Muse
Pennywise
Portugal. The Man
Walk the Moon

New Countdown: A Countdown Went to CCC

The Strumbellas

Well, here we are, folks. Countdown #300. It's been a long ride and it just keeps on going. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am! Also, I was so proud of this blog post's title. I double checked to make sure that I had my Roman numerals correct. And I did!


Countdown #300

***Featuring***
Blink-182
Cage the Elephant
Cold War Kids
Descendents
Fitz & the Tantrums
Kaleo
KONGOS
The Lumineers
Panic! At the Disco
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Strumbellas
twenty one pilots

Super-nerdy-link-post. Not worth reading :)

This post is to serve as a link to the post that I just made with this week's countdown. There were bonus songs I wanted to label, but I blew past the character limit. So, here's a link to that post. More content to come soon :)

Early morning posting!

Well, it's bright and early on Wednesday and here I am posting the new countdown. It's a pretty good one, in my opinion.

Couple of other things:

- I now have a twitter account. I realized that there were some people (Contrast Podcast alums, mostly) that didn't have Facebook, but DID have Twitter. And so, to better keep in touch with them, I have a Twitter account. Its @james80d (I think that's how you tell people what your Twitter username is. That's how I've always seen it done, anyways)

- My good friend Andy is treating me to tickets to the Smashing Pumpkins (Playing the National in Richmond, July 13th) for my birthday. So look forward to a post on that as it will DEFINITELY be a lifelong (or at least "since-I-was-16-long") dream come true. I'm so so stoked.

- The Smashing Pumpkins are still going strong with their mission to release 11 4-song EP's, one song at a time, for free. They released the first song of the second EP yesterday. It's at smashingpumpkins.com. I haven't heard it yet, but the other songs from this project have been pretty damn impressive.

And finally, here's the countdown!

Countdown #14

See you later guys!

Would have sucked without you here...

Ok, first, I still am taking votes for the latest round of Battle of the Bands (see the previous post).

But more importantly, I want to put some songs out here to help you out. This is kind of going out to someone, but it's also going out to you, if you need it. When I was a freshman in college, I needed this song. I found it shortly after I stopped needing it, but it still made me feel good to know it was there. It's a song for a very specific feeling and I'm not sure who's having this feeling, but I want to put it out there. It's about getting over someone and realizing that they're missing out on you. It doesn't matter if this is a romantic relationship or just a friendship or a job or whatever. If you need to replace the word "she" in the song with "they" or "he", then by all means, please do.

Less Than Jake - Great American Sharpshooter from Hello Rockview

Another song (which contains the title of this post) was written by one of my best friends. He was the Best Man at my wedding. And he gave me the song above. Well, he pointed me to the album. This is an amazing song based on a simple fact. Everyone has a song called "Everything Sucks." This one should be a mood brightener too.

Murphys Kids - Everything Sucks from Don't Wait

and if you're not feeling like having a brighter mood, here are two "Everything Sucks"'s that aren't so smiley. :)

Descendents - Everything Sucks from Everything Sucks
Reel Big Fish - Everything Sucks from Turn the Radio Off

Well, maybe that RBF song is a little smiley and who can't smile at the sheer sarcasm that Milo spews in every Descendents song?

Brackets

Ok. So NCAA Basketball March Madness is pretty much over now, but I decided I wanted to try something related to tournament brackets. The classic rock station that we occasionally listen to at work is having a battle of the bands with this tournament bracket and everything. So that's what I'd like to do too.

I'm a part of this website called Last.fm that keeps track of music that I listen to on my iPod or computer. And so, using the chart that it has for the Artists I've listened to most, I have made up a bracket of my own. It's really neat, but I don't think you get to see it yet. First, I'm going to gauge the interest in this endeavour with something of a pre-tournament set of match-ups. There are some positions on the bracket that are ties (basically, I've listened to two or more artists the same number of times) and so we're going to pick who gets those positions right now.


RULES FOR SAMPLE SONGS (Pre-tournament and Round 1):

For the first two contests, I will be posting songs from the contestants' most recent LP (not including greatest hits, live, or B-sides collections) that I own. Round 2 will have a different set of rules.


Oh, and the winner of the whole thing will have an entire post devoted to them including a playlist created by yours truly that you can download and burn to a CD in memory of the time we've spent together! Awww.

OK. So here are the pre-tournament match-ups and their sample songs:

1. Fall Out Boy vs. Sufjan Stevens
Fall Out Boy - You're Crashing, But You're No Wave from Infinity on High
Sufjan Stevens - Decatur, or, Round of Applause For Your Stepmother! from Come On Feel the Illinoise

2. Outkast vs. Blink-182
Outkast - Idlewild Blue (Don't Chu Worry 'Bout Me) from Idlewild
Blink-182 - Easy Target from Blink-182

3. Coheed and Cambria vs. Catch-22 vs. Taking Back Sunday
Coheed and Cambria - Feathers from Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV: Volume 2: No World For Tomorrow
Catch-22 - So Cold from Dinosaur Sounds
Taking Back Sunday - My Blue Heaven from Louder Now

4. Jack Johnson vs. Sublime
Jack Johnson - Sleep Through the Static from Sleep Through the Static
Sublime - Jailhouse from Sublime

5. Alanis Morissette vs. MxPx
Alanis Morissette - Everything from So-Called Chaos
MxPx - Well Adjusted from Before Everything and After

6. Ben Folds vs. The Get Up Kids vs. Foo Fighters (Now, that's Ben Folds (solo) not Ben Folds Five)
Ben Folds - You to Thank from Songs For Silverman
The Get Up Kids - Martyr Me from Guilt Show
Foo Fighters - Let It Die from Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace

7. Descendents vs. Linkin Park vs. No Use For a Name
Descendents - I Won't Let Me from Everything Sucks
Linkin Park - Given Up from Minutes to Midnight
No Use For a Name - Bullets from Keep Them Confused


So, take a listen if you don't know the artist, leave a comment with your votes and I guess the voting will close at like 11 pm EST on Monday. Thanks in advance for participating!