Special Countdown: 12 Years of Last.fm (Part 2) (#40-#31)

Lagwagon

In lieu of the last episode for May, here's another part of the countdown of my most listened-to artists according to Last.fm for the period of 2/14/06-2/14/18. 12 Years and I'm counting them down.


12 Years of Last.fm (Part 2)

***Featuring***
The Ataris
Ben Folds Five
Death Cab For Cutie
Foo Fighters
Jimmy Eat World
Lagwagon
Paramore
Rocky Votolato
Taking Back Sunday
Weezer
Yellowcard

One Year, 100 Albums: #67 Jimmy Eat World - Futures

Jimmy Eat World Futures, 2004

The first album that my friend Riley told me that I should check out and that I would love was Jimmy Eat World's smash breakthrough hit Bleed American. I am almost positive that he was telling me about it before "The Middle" blew up on radio stations, but it was close. And it was definitely pre-9/11 because they rereleased the album as Jimmy Eat World because the first title was too provocative in that hypersensitive world.

But it took me a long time to get into Bleed American. Something didn't quite click for me. It was ALMOST pop-punk. It was ALMOST alternative. But something was off. Of course, I eventually got into it, but it was probably 6 months after Riley first told me that I should check it out (Which is a recurring event in our friendship).

Futures was similar. If I recall correctly, Riley got a copy of it before it was released and was just over the moon about it. Singing along in his room, cranking it in his car. All of the signs of "Riley's in love with an album" that I had grown accustomed to over the years.

But I don't think I truly loved the album until I put it on one day in late 2005 or early 2006. I was working in the lab at a Perdue chicken factory, testing chicken for bacteria and stuff. It was a Saturday and on Saturdays, one person would come in, do a couple of things and then leave, so I was all alone in the lab and I put this on and it clicked. Every song made sense. The loud ones rocked, the quiet ones simmered. It was eye opening. And I can't explain it, but on that day, this became my favorite Jimmy Eat World album.

The things that bugged/bug me about their other albums weren't here. Things like meandering hooks and awkward lyrics. Nothing huge, by the way. They have a solid back catalog. It's just that this album is PERFECT. The hooks hit right when they should, the lyrics are introspective and thoughtful and it's like that on every track. I love listening to this album.

I never saw this video when it was out, but I love the song, so here's the video for "Pain":

And here are two of my all-time favorites by the band, both from this album

Jimmy Eat World - Kill
Jimmy Eat World - The World You Love

You can buy Futures on Amazon, Amazon MP3, and iTunes

New Countdown: Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

If I knew someone named Eve, she might write that I forgot a comma and also that I don't know what day it is. But I don't and I didn't and I do!

Yikes. It's late, but I'll be posting this ON TIME, dammit :)

NOTE: At the beginning of the episode, I say that it's Episode 133. Which is wrong. I just didn't do the crucial "save as" step in my podcast creation process. And I didn't realize that until I tried to export the podcast as an mp3 and was told that the mp3 already existed. Sigh. I wish this was only a "tonight I'm tired" problem, but it's more of a "it's been a busy week" problem.

I'm very excited to record the Year End countdown (#3!) this week and that will go up next Sunday! Surprises abound.

Countdown #134

***Featuring***
Atlas Genius
AWOLNATION
The Black Keys
The Cure
Imagine Dragons
Jimmy Eat World
The Lumineers
Mumford & Sons
Muse
Of Monsters and Men
Passion Pit
Youngblood Hawke

Safe and sound back home

Well the file is back on its normal server, which means that you can download it directly from the site! Hooray!

I also will, for the first time, talk about a song that's on the podcast. I start off the podcast by talking about The Savings and Loan. They are on a label run by a blogger that I really look up to named Matthew. Here's his blog and here's his label's website. If you like the first song on the podcast then you need to go to the label website and get The Savings and Loan album. Also, might I recommend the Inspector Tapehead album as well.

Here's the countdown!

Countdown #35

It may be more difficult to download, but at least it's more rambly!

Well, here is the longest podcast I've ever created. I talk kind of a lot between a lot of the songs. It's so long, in fact, that I had to upload it to another site that hosts bigger files. The problem is that that means the file doesn't end in ".mp3" and so you can't play it from here. I'm really not sure how many people play it from the page and how many people download it and play it later. I have a feeling it's mostly the latter, which is why i didn't worry about it too much! You have to click on the link and then download it from the hosting site. Don't worry. I'm not going to be doing this often. Mostly, you'll be able to get it direct from here.

Oh, and sorry about the ads. Just think of it as a gig in a seedy part of town because that's where the venue is that holds more people. Maybe that'll help.

Countdown #34

Happy People Day, Turkeys! Wait....

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you have a marvelous day!

Here's the countdown!

Countdown #33

And, as promised in this weeks show (and...last week's show, too), here's information about the Festive Fifty vote!

This is the email that Tim sent everyone:

Hello Everyone,

It’s time for the final vote to determine the top fifty songs that will be crowned as this year’s Contrast Podcast Festive Fifty:

Select your favourite 10 songs from the shortlist of 100 below and rank them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 and send the list to our friendly 'statman' James ( janderson716@gmail.com ). You may also (if you are feeling evil) give a negative vote to any single song of your choice! The deadline for doing this isn't far away – Wednesday 1st December.

Please ask your friends, family, blog readers and anyone else you know to send us their votes too – everyone can take part!!

Here for your listening pleasure is a flash player with all of the tracks on it:

http://www.contrastpodcast.com/festivefifty

and here’s the list …

Aloe Blacc - I Need A Dollar
Arcade Fire - Modern Man
Arcade Fire - Ready To Start
Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Arcade Fire - Suburban War
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Arcade Fire - We Used to Wait
Archie Bronson Outfit - Shark's Tooth
Band of Horses - Infinite Arms
Beach House - Norway
Beach House - Zebra
Ben Folds & Nick Hornby - From Above
British Sea Power - Zeus
Broken Bells - The Ghost Inside
Broken Bells - The High Road
Broken Social Scene - All to All
Broken Social Scene - Meet Me In the Basement
Broken Social Scene - World Sick
Caribou - Odessa
Cee-Lo Green - Fuck You
Danny & The Champions of the World - Henry the Van
Dead Heart Bloom - Someday Will Not Come Again
Deerhunter - Helicopter
Dessa - Dixon's Girl
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Home
Edwyn Collins - What is My Role
Efterklang - Modern Drift
Elizabeth Cook - El Camino
Field Music - Measure
Field Music - Them That Do Nothing
Florence & the Machine - Heavy in Your Arms
Foals - Total Life Forever
Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks
Frightened Rabbit - Living in Colour
Frightened Rabbit - Nothing Like You
Frightened Rabbit - Swim Until You Can't See Land
Frightened Rabbit - The Loneliness and the Scream
Frightened Rabbit - Things
Gorillaz - Stylo
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals - Paris (Oh-La-La)
Grinderman - Mickey Mouse & The Goodbye Man
Hot Chip - One Life Stand
Janelle Monae - Tightrope
John Grant - Marz
Johnny Cash - Ain't No Grave
Junip - Always
Kate Nash - Paris
Kings of Leon - Radioactive
Land of Talk - Quarry Hymns
Laura Veirs - July Flame
LCD Soundsystem - Dance Yrself Clean
LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls
Local Natives - World News
Lost in the Trees - A Walk Around the Lake
M.I.A. - Born Free
Maroon 5 - Misery
Mavis Staples - You Are Not Alone
MGMT - Flash Delirium
Midlake - Acts of Man
Mumford & Sons - Little Lion Man
Mumford & Sons - The Cave
Neon Trees - Animal
OMD - Sister Marie Says
Phosphorescent - Mermaid Parade
Ra Ra Riot - Boy
Sade - Babyfather
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - I Learned the Hard Way
She & Him - Ridin' in My Car
Shearwater - Black Eyes
Shearwater - Landscape at Speed
Shout Out Louds - Fall Hard
Sleigh Bells - Tell 'Em
Spoon - Who Makes Your Money
Spoon - Written in Reverse
Stornoway - I Saw You Blink
Stornoway - Zorbing
Sufjan Stevens - I Walked
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Bottled in Cork
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - The Mighty Sparrow
Teenage Fanclub - Sometimes I Don't Need to Believe In Anything
The Black Keys - Howlin' For You
The Black Keys - Tighten Up
The Black Keys - Too Afraid To Love You
The Decemberists - Down By the Water
The Divine Comedy - Assume the Perpendicular
The Divine Comedy - At the Indie Disco
The Drums - Let's Go Surfing
The Mynabirds - Numbers Don't Lie
The National - Anyone's Ghost
The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio
The National - Terrible Love
The New Pornographers - Crash Years
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Say No to Love
The Vaselines - I Hate the 80's
The Walkmen - Angela Surf City
Tracey Thorne - Swimming
Vampire Weekend - Cousins
Vampire Weekend - Horchata
Warpaint - Undertow
Yeasayer - Ambling Alp

Happy voting!

Early, you say?

Well, as I mention at the beginning of the episode this week, I'm off to a Me First and the Gimme Gimmes concert tomorrow night. I'm super excited and can hardly wait, but it did mean that the deadline I've (sort of) set for myself was not going to work and so here I am. On a Wednesday morning (technically speaking), posting the countdown!

Countdown #29

I'll let you know how the concert was :)

Ok, well, maybe not IN the eight o'clock hour. But certainly near it

Ok, so maybe I end this podcast with something that turned out not to be true, exactly, but it's still a fun podcast :)

Countdown #28

New Countdown! With a new #1!

Here's the latest episode of the countdown!

I'm enjoying publishing it on Wednesday nights/Thursday mornings. It means practically zero wait time before i can see next week's list!

Countdown #27

Countdown #26 and a bit of accidental (though maybe not entirely inappropriate) irreverence

So, before I get my comments section flooded with hate mail (which would still be preferable to the nothing i get usually), I didn't mean to pick the very least appropriate John Lennon song to play in honor of his birthday. Although, I think maybe he might have gotten a dark chuckle out of it?

Countdown #26

25 countdowns in and still going strong!

Well, here it is: That highly anticipated 25th episode of the countdown! Lots of change. Listen and love it!

Countdown #25

23/Book Club!

Hey Everyone! Here's the latest episode of the countdown for your listening enjoyment!

Countdown #23

In other news, Dessa, who I played on the countdown a couple of weeks ago, is starting a book club! The first book is Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and the reading starts on Saturday (9/18). Check out the Doomtree website for more information!

With 15 minutes (by my computer clock that's about 10 minutes slow)to spare, this is still a valid track!

I didn't mean to leave you hanging on
I didn't mean to leave you all alone
I didn't know what to say
I didn't know what to say
Merry Christmas, baby.
Merry Christmas.

Sorry for such a short post. It will be the exception to the rule. I promise. Merry Christmas.

Jimmy Eat World - 12.23.95